the deck house to watch through
the lee door the wild magnificence of the storm. Down came a great green
wave, rushed in a flood over everything, and swept me drenched to the
skin down the stairs into the cabin. I crawled to bed to escape cold,
and slid up and down my berth like a shuttle at every roll of the ship
till I fell into the unconsciousness which is a substitute for sleep,
slept at last really, and woke at seven in the morning to find the sun
shining, and the surface of the ocean still undulating but glassy calm.
The only signs left of the tempest were the swallow-like petrels
skimming to and fro in our wake, picking up the scraps of food and the
plate washings which the cook's mate had thrown overboard; smallest and
beautifullest of all the gull tribe, called petrel by our ancestors, who
went to their Bibles more often than we do for their images, in memory
of St. Peter, because they seem for a moment to stand upon the water
when they stoop upon any floating object.[2] In the afternoon we passed
the Azores, rising blue and fairy-like out of the ocean; unconscious
they of the bloody battles which once went on under their shadows. There
it was that Grenville, in the 'Revenge,' fought through a long summer
day alone against a host of enemies, and died there and won immortal
honour. The Azores themselves are Grenville's monument, and in the
memory of Englishmen are associated for ever with his glorious story.
Behind these islands, too, lay Grenville's comrades, the English
privateers, year after year waiting for Philip's plate fleet. Behind
these islands lay French squadrons waiting for the English sugar ships.
They are calm and silent now, and are never likely to echo any more to
battle thunder. Men come and go and play out their little dramas, epic
or tragic, and it matters nothing to nature. Their wild pranks leave no
scars, and the decks are swept clean for the next comers.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] [Greek: ho teknon ouch hapanta tho gera kaka
he empeiria
echei ti lexai thon neon sophoteron.]

CHAPTER III.

The tropics--Passengers on board--Account of the Darien
Canal--Planters' complaints--West Indian history--The Spanish
conquest--Drake and Hawkins--The buccaneers--The pirates--French and
English--Rodney--Battle of April 12--Peace with honour--Doers and
talkers.

Another two days and we were in the tropics. The north-east trade blew
behin