rrific as the gale
became I only grew more confident that she would safely weather it.

Yet God knows it was horrible enough even to lie there and listen, to
feel the hurling plunges downward, the dizzy upsweeping of the hull;
to hear the cries, groans and prayers of frightened men, unseen and
helpless in the darkness, the creaking timbers, the resounding blows
of the waves against the sides, the horrid retching of the sick, the
snarling, angry voices as the struggling mass was flung back and
forth, the curses hurled madly into the darkness. They were no longer
men, but infuriated brutes, so steeped in agony and fear as to have
lost all human instincts. They snarled and snapped like so many
beasts, their voices unrecognizable, the stronger treading the weaker
to the deck. I could not see, I could only hear, yet I lay there,
staring blindly about, conscious of every horror, and so weak and
unnerved as to tremble like a child.

Yet the complete knowledge of what had actually occurred in that
frightful hole was only revealed when the violence of the storm
finally ceased, and the guards above again lifted the hatch. The gray
light of dawn faintly illumined the inferno below, and the sweet
breath of morning air swept down among us. Then I saw the haggard,
uplifted faces, the arms tossed aloft, and heard the wild yell as the
stronger charged forward struggling for the foot of the ladder. The
place was a foul, reeking shambles, so filthy as to be positively
sickening, with motionless bodies stretched here and there along the
deck. Sailors and guards fought their way down among us, driving back
the unarmed wretches who sought to oppose their progress, while others
bore to the deck above those who were too helpless to rise. There were
five dead among them, and twice as many more who had lost
consciousness. These were all removed first and then, feeling helpless
to resist the rush, the others were permitted to clamber up the
ladder. Surging out upon the deck, we were hurdled against the lee
rail, menaced by leveled guns, and thus finally fed, while the filthy
quarters below were hastily cleansed.

It was a dark, lowering morning, the desolate sea still threateningly
rough, the heavy clouds hanging low. The _Romping Betsy_ was hove to,
under bare poles, a bit of the jib alone showing, with decks and spars
exhibiting evidence of the terrific struggle to keep afloat. I never
witnessed wilder pitching on any vessel, but the fresh