to bed and spend the night holding on to the handles at the
back of our berths, when, all of a sudden, there was a great change. The
rolling stopped, and the vessel seemed to be steaming along almost on an
even keel. She pitched somewhat forward and aft,--that is, her bow and
her stern went up and down by turns,--but we didn't mind that, as it was
so very much better than the wild rolling that had been kept up so long.

"I wonder what this means?" said Mr. Chipperton, actually standing up
without holding on to anything. "Can they have got into a current of
smooth water?"

I didn't think this was possible, but I didn't stop to make any
conjectures about it. Rectus and I ran up on the forward deck, to see
how this agreeable change had come about. The moment we got outside, we
found the wind blowing fearfully and the waves dashing as high as ever,
but they were not plunging against our sides. We carefully worked our
way along to the pilot-house, and looked in. The captain was inside, and
when he saw us he opened the door and came out. He was going to his own
room, just back of the pilot-house, and he told us to come with him.

He looked tired and wet, and he told us that the storm had grown so bad
that he didn't think it would be right to keep on our course any longer.
We were going to the north-west, and the storm was coming from the
north-east, and the waves and the wind dashed fair against the side of
the vessel, making her roll and careen so that it began to be unsafe. So
he had put her around with her head to the wind, and now she took the
storm on her bow, where she could stand it a great deal better. He put
all this in a good deal of sea-language, but I tell it as I got the
sense of it.

"Did you think she would go over, Captain?" asked Rectus.

"Oh no!" said he, "but something might have been carried away."

He was a very pleasant man, and talked a good deal to us.

"It's all very well to lie to, this way," he went on, "for the comfort
and safety of the passengers and the ship, but I don't like it, for
we're not keeping on to our port, which is what I want to be doing."

"Are we stopping here?" I asked.

"Pretty much," said the captain. "All that the engines are working for
is just to keep her head to the wind."

I felt the greatest respect for the captain. Instead of telling us why
the ship rolled, he just stopped her rolling. I liked that way of doing
things. And I was sure that every one on board that