vapour contained in it; consequently, a vacuum is
thereby produced in the body of it; and, as nature abhors a vacuum in
every case, the water of the sea lying below the overhanging mass is
carried up, in centrifugal fashion, and in a sort of way by capillary
attraction, into the vacant centre of the cloud cylinder."

"Why does it not stop there?" said I. "That one just now burst."

"Ah, that fellow was like a greedy boy who has eaten too much, and has
to disgorge after he has filled his little stomach too full! But, some
water-spouts carry their contents on to the land, where, when the clouds
have been attracted by mountains or some lofty object, they may do great
damage by wrecking houses and inundating the country for miles round.
At sea, they are not half so dangerous, having plenty of room there to
expend themselves without effecting much injury, except a ship should be
right beneath them when they fall to pieces."

"Do you think, sir," I then inquired, "that one would have sunk us, if
it had burst over the _Josephine_?"

"Well, I hardly know, Tom," answered Captain Miles reflectively.
"Although it looked terrific enough at one time, I am not inclined to
believe now that it would have been attended with any very serious
calamity to our ship, had even the whole quantity of water it contained
fallen on our decks. If you recollect, I ordered beforehand the hatches
to be battened down and the scuppers in the waist cleared. Besides, the
cylinder or spiral column of vapour, you observed, was very like a glass
tube in the centre of the water-spout, and this coming in contact with
our masts and rigging it would have been at once broken, when the
surrounding air rushing into the vacuum to restore the atmospheric
equilibrium, the torrent of water would have been forced sideways
instead of descending perpendicularly, coming down merely as a heavy
tropical shower, similar to those you have been well acquainted with in
Grenada. I have heard of some vessels being damaged by water-spouts,
but I have never come across anyone who happened to be on board one of
them at the time, so I rather fancy the tale was one of those generally
`told to the marines.'"

So, laughing it off, the captain finished his little scientific lecture
at this point, while I went below to my bunk, wishing to get undressed
before Harry the steward came to douse the light in the cabin, which he
always did sharp to time.

If the water-spout did us no