and
slap down into it again, while her guards would spring and quiver like
card-board. The engine began to complain, as they will when a boat is
laboring heavily. You could hear it take, as it were, long breaths, and
then stop for a second altogether. I slipped below into the engine-room,
and found Marston looking very sober. 'Kennedy,' said he, 'the
'Ercolano' will be somebody's coffin before to-morrow morning, I'm
afraid. I'm carrying more steam than is prudent or safe, and the
_padrone_ has just sent orders to put on more. We are not making a mile
an hour, he says; and our only chance is to get under the lee of the
land. Look at those eccentrics and that connecting-rod! I expect to see
something go any minute; and then--there's no use saying what will come
next.' He sat down on his bench and covered his face with his hands.

"It seems, the 'Spezzia' question was decided about that time on deck,
and the 'Ercolano's' bow suffered to fall off in the direction of that
bay. The effect was that the next sea caught us full on the weather-bow
with a shock that pitched everything movable out of its place. There was
a twist and a grind from the machinery, a snap and a crash, and then
part after part gave way, as the strain fell upon it in turn. Marston,
with an engineer's instinct, shut off the steam; but the mischief was
done. We felt the 'Ercolano' give a wild sheer, and then a long,
sickening roll, as if she were going down bodily,--and we sprang for the
companion-ladder. Everything on deck was at sixes and sevens when we
reached it '_Sangue di San Gennaro! siamo perduli!_' howled the captain;
and even the poor sea-sick passengers seemed to wake up a little. It was
a bad look-out. We got pretty much of every wave that was going, so
there was hardly any standing forward; and, having no steam on, the wind
and the sea had their own way with us. The gallant little _padrone_
seemed to keep up his pluck, and made out to show a little sail, so as
to bring her by the wind; but that, in a long, sharp steamer, didn't
mend matters much. To make things completely cheerful and comfortable,
word was passed up that we were leaking badly. I confess I didn't see
much hope for us; and having lugged up my valise from below, where there
was already a foot of water over the cabin-floor, I picked out the
little valuables I could stow about me and kicked the rest into a
corner. Still we had our boats, and, as the gale seemed to be breaking a
litt