e way or
another. Perhaps he had reached the opening of his den, and was
shortening up his arm before he plunged down into it with us after him.
I couldn't stay any longer in that room alone. I looked for the maid,
but she had put out the galley light, and had probably turned in for
the night.

"I went up, and looked out on deck, but everything was horribly dark
and sticky and miserable there. I noticed that my lanterns were not
burning, and then I remembered that I had not filled them. But this did
not trouble me. If a vessel came along and saw our lights she would
probably keep away from us, and I would have been glad to have a vessel
come to us, even if she ran into us. Our steamer would probably float
long enough for us to get on board the other one, and almost anything
would be better than being left alone in this dreadful place, at the
mercy of the Water-devil.

"Before I left the deck I felt another shock. This took out of me
whatever starch was left, and I shuffled below and got to my bunk,
where I tumbled in and covered myself up, head and all. If there had
been any man to talk to, it would have been different, but I don't know
when I ever felt more deserted than I did at that time.

"I tried to forget the awful situation in which I was; I tried to think
of other things; to imagine that I was drilling with the rest of my
company, with Tom Rogers on one side of me, and old Humphrey Peters on
the other. You may say, perhaps, that this wasn't exactly the way of
carrying out my promise of taking care of Miss Minturn and the others.
But what was there to do? When the time came to do anything, and I
could see what to do, I was ready to do it; but there was no use of
waking them up now and setting their minds on edge, when they were all
comfortable in their beds, thinking that every jerk of the Devil's arm
was a little twist in the current that was carrying them to Calcutta or
some other desirable port.

"I felt some shocks after I got into bed, but whether or not there were
many in the night, I don't know, for I went to sleep. It was daylight
when I awoke, and jumping out of my bunk I dashed on deck. Everything
seemed pretty much as it had been, and the fog was as thick as ever. I
ran to the stern and looked over, and I could scarcely believe my eyes
when I saw that we were moving again, still stern foremost, but a
little faster than before. That beastly Water-devil had taken a rest
for the night, and had proba