n a certain memorable occasion,"
explained her husband.

"Oh dear, how dreadful!" exclaimed Lady Olivia. "I shall never forget
that time,"--with a shudder--"it comes to me, even now, sometimes, in my
dreams. Shall we be in any danger, Captain?"

"Danger! in such a ship as this?" cried Mildmay. "None whatever. But,
of course, if you feel nervous, we can go up aloft, and avoid it by the
simple process of rising above it; or we can descend one or two hundred
feet below the surface, and ride it out there."

"Oh, but I do not think I should like that; at least, certainly not the
last. It is one thing to go down to the bottom in fine weather, as we
did when you were examining the wreck, and quite another to do the same
when a hurricane is blowing. And, of the three alternatives, I really
think I should prefer to remain on the surface of the sea, and watch all
the wild commotion, if I could feel assured that we were quite safe."

"You certainly may feel assured of that, my Lady," exclaimed von
Schalckenberg. "With this ship afloat and in the open sea, you may
laugh to scorn the fiercest gale. The wind may smite her in its wildest
fury, the waves sweep her from end to end, and she will still go
unharmed and undeterred on her way."

"Then let us stay on the surface and risk it. I should love to witness
a really furious storm, with the feeling that I was perfectly safe,"
said the lady. And so it was settled.

But when Lady Olivia retired to her cabin that night the air was still
calm, and the only difference perceptible to her was that, whereas
earlier in the evening the sea had been almost perfectly smooth, her
swinging bedstead was now swaying with a very perceptible movement due
to the fact that a heavy westerly swell had arisen, and was now
following the ship.

It was not until close upon midnight that any very decided change
occurred; and then came a shower that burst upon the ship with true
tropical suddenness and violence, and in the midst of the shower the
wind came away strong out of the westward, blowing in fierce, sudden
gusts that quickly hardened down to a strong and rapidly increasing
gale. When daylight laggingly came upon the scene the wind was blowing
with true hurricane force, and a very high, steep sea was running, which
would undoubtedly have been still higher had not the wind taken the
crests of the seas, torn them off, and sent them flying away to leeward
in blinding torrents of scud-water