erry. A hundred years ago the _Spitfire_
would have been reckoned a craft big enough to sail to Australia in."

"Was anyone hurt by the sea as you rounded to?"

"Bobby was washed aft, sir, but he's all right agin."

I plied him with further questions, mainly concerning the prospects of
the weather, our chances, the drift of the yacht, that I might know
into what part of the Channel we were being blown, and how long it
would occupy to storm us at this rate into the open Atlantic; and then
asking him to watch by Grace for a few minutes, I dropped on my knees,
and crawled to my cabin, where I somehow contrived to scramble into my
boots, coat and cap. I then made for the companion steps, still on my
knees, and clawed my way up the hatch till I was head and shoulders
above it, and there I stood looking.

I say looking, but there was nothing to see save the near, vast,
cloud-like spaces of foam, hovering as it seemed high above the rail as
some black head of surge broke off the bow, or descending the pouring
side of a sea like bodies of mist sweeping with incredible velocity
with the breath of the gale. Past these dim masses the water lay in
blackness--a huge spread of throbbing obscurity. All overhead was mere
rushing darkness. The wind was wet with spray, and forward there would
show at intervals a dull shining of foam, flashing transversely across
the labouring little craft.

It was blowing hard indeed, yet from the weight of the seas and the
motions of the _Spitfire_, I could have supposed the gale severer than
it was. I returned to the cabin, and Caudel, after putting on his
oilskins and swallowing a glass of brandy and water--the materials of
which were swaying furiously in a silver-plated swinging tray suspended
over the table--went on deck, leaving the companion cover a little way
open in case I desired to quit the cabin.

Until the dawn, and some time past it, I sat close beside Grace,
holding her hand or bathing her brow. She never spoke, she seldom
opened her eyes; indeed, she lay as though utterly prostrated, without
power to articulate, or, perhaps, to think either. It was the effect
of fear, however, rather than of nausea. At any rate, I remember
hoping so, for I had heard of people dying of sea sickness, and if the
weather that had stormed down upon us should last, it might end in
killing her; whereas, the daylight, and, perhaps, some little break of
blue sky would reanimate her if her sufferings