, had seen a great deal of
the world, and picked up a good deal of information in his time, and I
was never tired of listening to his yarns; and thus, though I had no
books, I learned more of things in general than if I had bad; for I was
but a bad reader at any time. Pat trusted to a good memory, for he had
never looked into a book in his life. Thus, with a pretty fair
second-hand knowledge of the world, I sailed on my third voyage to the
West Indies in the _Rainbow_. We had the same officers, and several of
the crew had rejoined her, who were in her when I first went to sea. I
had now become strong and active, and though still little and
young-looking, I had all my wits wide-awake, and knew well what I was
about. The captain had taken another boy in the cabin instead of me,
and I was sent forward to learn seamanship; which was, in reality, an
advantage to me, though I had thus a rougher life of it than aft. Still
I believe that I never lost the captain's good-will, though he was not a
man to talk to me about it.

Once more, then, the stout old brig was following her accustomed track
across the Atlantic. Peter Poplar was also on board. We had been about
a fortnight at sea, when, the ship lying almost becalmed with a blue sky
overhead, a large white cloud was seen slowly approaching us. The lower
part hung down and grew darker and darker, till it formed almost a
point. Below the point was a wild bubbling and boiling of the water,
although the surrounding sea was as smooth as glass.

"What can that be?" said I to Peter. "Are there any fish there?"

"No--fish! certainly not; but you'll soon see," he answered. "I wish it
were further off; I don't like it so near."

"Why, what harm can it do?" I asked.

"Send as stout a ship as we are to the bottom with scant warning!" he
answered. "That's a water-spout. I've seen one rise directly ahead of
a ship, and before there was time to attempt to escape it, down it came
bodily on her deck like a heavy sea falling over a vessel. She never
rose again, but went down like a shot."

"I hope that won't be our fate," said I.

At that moment the captain came on deck. "Get ready a gun there,
forward!" he sung out. "Quick now!" While I had been talking to Peter,
a pillar of water had risen out of the sea, so it seemed; and, having
joined the point hanging from the cloud, came whirling towards us. Had
there been sufficient wind to send the ship through the water, we