in its present quarter,
we are fortunate. Should it happen to veer round to the eastward, and
you see the rocks of Tierra del Fuego lashed by the choppy sea that can
run even through a land-locked channel, you will be ready to open two
bottles as a thanks-offering. Is this your first trip round by the
south?"

"Yes, I crossed by way of Panama. Guess a mule-track over the Sierras
is a heap better than the Pacific in a gale. Jee-whizz!"

A spiteful sea sprang at the _Kansas_ and shook her from stem to stern.
The ship groaned and creaked as though she were in pain; she staggered
an instant, and then swung irresistibly forward with a fierce plunge
that made the plates dance and cutlery rattle in the fiddles.

"I suppose we must endure five hours of this," said Elsie, bravely.

"I don't like it. Why does not Captain Courtenay, or even Mr. Boyle,
put in an appearance? I have hardly seen either of them since the day
I came aboard."

Isobel was petulant, and perhaps a little frightened. She had not yet
reached that stage of confidence familiar to all who cross the open
seas. The first period of a gale is terrifying. Later there comes an
indifference born of supreme trust in the ship. The steady onward
thrust of the engines--the unwavering path across the raging vortex of
tumbling gray waters--the orderly way in which the members of the crew
follow their duties--these are quietly persistent factors in the
gradual soothing of the nerves. Many a timid passenger, after lying
awake through a night of terror, has gone to sleep when the watch began
to swab the deck overhead. Not even a Spartan sailor would begin to
wash woodwork if the ship were sinking.

"All ladies like to see an officer in the saloon during a storm,"
commented Christobal. "I plead guilty to a weakness in that direction
myself, though I know he is much better employed on the bridge."

"The captain cannot be on the bridge always," said Isobel.

"He is seldom far from it in bad weather, if he is faithful to his
trust. And I fancy we would all admit that Captain Courtenay--"

A curious shock, sharper and altogether more penetrating than the
Thor's hammer blow of a huge wave, sounded loud and menacing in their
ears. The ship trembled violently, and then became strangely still.
The least experienced traveler on board knew that the engines had
stopped. They felt a long lurch to port when the next sea climbed over
the bows; at once the _Kansas_ ri