n thin lines on the
pale primrose background of the sky.

Suddenly, however, a curious phenomenon occurred. A subtle but distinct
and instantaneous change of colour took place, which made it seem as
though the spectators were regarding the scene through tinted glass.
All the brilliance and purity and beauty of the various hues had died
out. The dazzling ultramarine of the zenith became indigo; the clear
transparent hues of the horizon thickened and deepened to a leaden-grey;
the sun gleamed aloft pallid and rayless, like a ghost of its former
self; and the ocean, black and turbid, heaved restlessly, writhing as if
in torture. An intense and unnatural silence, too, seemed suddenly to
have fallen upon nature, enwrapping the scene as with a mantle, a
silence in which the flap of the canvas, the pattering of the reef-
points, the _cheep_ of blocks, and the occasional clank of the rudder-
chains, fell upon the ear with a sharpness which was positively painful.

The occupants of the _Galatea's_ deck glanced from one to another,
dismayed; Violet Dudley's startled whisper to Rex Fortescue of "What
dreadful thing is about to happen?" being but the utterance of the
thought which flashed through every brain.

Captain Staunton, turning to Mr Bowles, who was standing beside him, in
low tones requested that trusty officer to keep a look-out for a minute
or two; and then hurried down to the saloon to consult his barometer.
He returned to the deck in less than a minute, his face wearing a look
of anxiety and concern which was very rarely to be seen there.

"_The glass has fallen a full inch within the last half-hour_" he
muttered, as he rejoined the mate.

Then in a louder tone of voice he added, "Call all hands, Mr Bowles, if
you please, and shorten sail at once. Stow everything except the lower
fore and main topsails and the fore-topmast stay-sail; I think we are
going to have a change of weather."

The seamen were as much startled as the occupants of the poop, by the
preternatural change in the aspect of the sky; and they sprang to their
posts with all the alacrity of men who anticipate a deadly struggle, and
believe they may have none too much time for preparation. The work of
shortening sail proceeded rapidly but methodically and in an orderly
manner--Captain Staunton had never before in all his experience
witnessed anything quite like what was now passing around him, and was
oppressed by an undefined foreboding of some