eath is at hand most of us do
not think much of such things because then we realise how small they
are. Indeed I was wondering whether within a few minutes or hours I
should or should not see Natalie again, and if this were the end to
which she had seemed to beckon me in that dream.

On we sped, and on. About four in the afternoon we heard sounds from
Bastin's cabin which faintly reminded me of some tune. I crept to the
door and listened. Evidently he had awakened and was singing or trying
to sing, for music was not one of his strong points, "For those in peril
on the sea." Devoutly did I wish that it might be heard. Presently it
ceased, so I suppose he went to sleep again.

The darkness gathered once more. Then of a sudden something fearful
happened. There were stupendous noises of a kind I had never heard;
there were convulsions. It seemed to us that the ship was flung right up
into the air a hundred feet or more.

"Tidal wave, I expect," shouted Bickley.

Almost as he spoke she came down with the most appalling crash on to
something hard and nearly jarred the senses out of us. Next the saloon
was whirling round and round and yet being carried forward, and we felt
air blowing upon us. Then our senses left us. As I clasped Tommy to my
side, whimpering and licking my face, my last thought was that all was
over, and that presently I should learn everything or nothing.

I woke up feeling very bruised and sore and perceived that light was
flowing into the saloon. The door was still shut, but it had been
wrenched off its hinges, and that was where the light came in; also some
of the teak planks of the decking, jagged and splintered, were sticking
up through the carpet. The table had broken from its fastenings and lay
upon its side. Everything else was one confusion. I looked at Bickley.
Apparently he had not awakened. He was stretched out still wedged in
with his cushions and bleeding from a wound in his head. I crept to him
in terror and listened. He was not dead, for his breathing was regular
and natural. The whisky bottle which had been corked was upon the floor
unbroken and about a third full. I took a good pull at the spirit; to
me it tasted like nectar from the gods. Then I tried to force some down
Bickley's throat but could not, so I poured a little upon the cut on his
head. The smart of it woke him in a hurry.

"Where are we now?" he exclaimed. "You don't mean to tell me that Bastin
is right after all and th