end to see nothing--unless it be a homeward-bound Californian
steamer--at present, as it is important I should make the
run I contemplate without being traced. I should have much
liked to touch at the Caymans for fruit and vegetables for the
crew, but forbear on this account.

* * * * *

_Monday, December 15th.--_Fresh trade, ship rolling along under
topsails. This running down, down, the ever-constant trade
wind--to run _up_ against it, by and by, under steam--is not very
pleasant. Still, God willing, I hope to strike a blow of some importance,
and make my way safely out of the Gulf.

_Wednesday, December 17th._--The wind blew quite fresh during
the night from about N.E. by N. To-day it is blowing a moderate
gale from about N.N.E. This is probably a _norther_ from the
American coast, modified by its contact with the N.E. trade wind.
The clouds look hard and wintry. Close-reefed at nightfall....
The gale has continued all day, with a rough sea, in
which the ship is rolling and tumbling about. Weather cloudy
and gloomy-looking, and the wind moaning and whistling through
the rigging--enough to give one the blues. These are some of
the comforts of sea-going, and we have had our share of them in
the Alabama.

_Thursday, December 18th._--The gale continues, with dense
clouds in every direction obscuring the heavens so that we get no
meridian altitude. I got a glimpse of the sun at about nine minutes
past noon. When one's ship is in a doubtful position, how
eagerly and nervously one watches the shifting clouds near noon,
and how remorsely they sometimes close up their dense masses
just at the critical moment, shutting out from us the narrowly-watched
face of the sun! One is foolish enough sometimes almost
to feel a momentary resentment against inanimate nature--weak
mortals that we are!

The gale has drifted us so far to leeward that the wind from its
present quarter will no longer permit us to "lay through" the
Yucatan passage, so at 2 P.M. we tacked to the southward and
eastward. Weather still thick in the afternoon, with light rain at
intervals. We had a very ugly sea lashing us this morning--the
ship rolling so heavily as to awaken me frequently, though I sleep
in a swinging cot; and the water swashing over the decks, and
rushing by bucketsful down the companion-way, which we are
obliged to keep open to avoid being smothered.

_Friday, December 19th._--The gale continues with the t