ughingly called "a cold collation." The day was
indeed a wretched one; there was no temptation whatever to leave such
slight shelter as the tiny cabins afforded, for the launch, and indeed
all the other boats as well, were constantly enveloped in spray blown
from the caps of the seas by the wind, while, cooped up below, it was
unpleasantly warm, and the motion of the boat was so violent that her
occupants were compelled to wedge themselves firmly in one position to
avoid being dashed against their companions.

If the day was one of discomfort, the night which followed was
infinitely worse. The gale continued steadily to increase; the sea rose
to a tremendous height, breaking heavily; the spray flew continuously
over the launch in drenching showers; the little craft, under the merest
shred of canvas, was careened gunwale-to by the force of the wind every
time she rose upon the crest of a sea, and the most watchful care of the
skipper, who had stationed himself at the helm, was sometimes
insufficient to prevent a more than ordinarily heavy sea from breaking
on board. The increasing frequency of these occurrences at length
necessitated the maintenance of one hand continually at the baler in
order to keep the boat free of water, and in spite of all the ladies
were unable to escape a thorough wetting. Nor was this the worst
mishap. The water rose so high in the interior of the boat on one or
two occasions that it got at the provisions, so seriously damaging some
of them that there was little hope of their being rendered again fit for
consumption. It was a most fortunate circumstance for those in the
launch that, thanks to the captain's foresight, she had been fitted with
a partial deck, otherwise she must inevitably have been swamped. How it
fared with the other boats it was impossible to say; the darkness was
too profound to permit of their being seen, if they still remained
afloat; but the manner in which the launch suffered caused the skipper
to entertain the gravest apprehensions for the rest of the fleet, and he
almost dreaded the return of daylight lest it should reveal to him the
realisation of his worst fears.

It seemed to the occupants of the launch as though that miserable night
would never end. The tardy dawn, however, made its appearance at last,
reluctantly, as it seemed to those drenched and weary watchers, and the
moment that there was light enough to enable him to see distinctly
Captain Staunton sta