combers that every now and again broke over the
bridge, forty feet above the water. The tremendous seas crashed aboard
with a thunderous roar, frightening the more timid among the passengers,
smashing life-boats and ventilators, sweeping the decks from bow to stem
with avalanches of green water. Skylights were shattered, bridge
stanchions bent and twisted, but otherwise there was no damage. The big
ship steamed true on her course, haughtily indifferent to the
capricious ocean's moods, staunch as a rock, and quite as steady as any
railroad-train moving at full speed.

The rough weather had the natural effect of confining most of the women
folk to their staterooms, and as the men also kept to themselves,
preferring bridge and poker in the smoking-room to the wet decks, there
was not much opportunity for social amenities.

Owing to the high seas, no attempt was made to land at Madeira, and
there was no little grumbling because the vagaries of the elements made
it impossible to visit Funchal, the Pico Ruivo, Ponta Delgada, and other
picturesque places of perennial verdure and flowers. The storm gradually
abated, but it was not until the steamer entered the smoother waters of
the Mediterranean that there was the slightest pretense at dress or any
attempt made to put in regular appearances at dinner. However, the
improvement in the weather and the close proximity of land, with the
cheering prospect of going ashore, brought about a quick change in
everybody's humor. The passengers' spirits rose with the barometer.
Fine toilettes made their appearance on deck, the usual little
steamer-chair cliques were speedily formed, and every one now started in
to enjoy themselves as if the voyage had only just begun.

They landed gleefully in tenders, some to inspect the wonders of
England's impregnable fortress, others to visit Spanishtown; they
crowded to the rail as the ship steamed slowly past the enchanted island
of Capri, so dear to the archeologist, and in the Bay of Naples they
gazed in awe upon frowning Vesuvius, still smoking and rumbling after a
disastrous eruption that had cost hundreds of lives. Sheep-like, after
the manner of tourists, they hurried breathlessly through the
attractions Naples had to offer, and then, skirting classic Scylla and
Charybdis, they steamed on to the land of the Pharaohs, where a complete
change of scene awaited them.

So far, Grace had kept much to herself. She was not particularly
interested i