k, and hope to those
who had previously given way to despair.

CHAPTER XII

BELL ROCK BILLOWS--AN UNEXPECTED VISIT--A DISASTER AND A RESCUE

It is pleasant, it is profoundly enjoyable, to sit on the margin of
the sea during the dead calm that not unfrequently succeeds a wild
storm, and watch the gentle undulations of the glass-like surface,
which the very gulls seem to be disinclined to ruffle with their
wings as they descend to hover above their own reflected images.

It is pleasant to watch this from the shore, where the waves fall in
low murmuring ripples, or from the ship's deck, far out upon the sea,
where there is no sound of water save the laving of the vessel's bow
as she rises and sinks in the broad-backed swell; but there is
something more than pleasant, there is something deeply and
peculiarly interesting, in the same scene when viewed from such a
position as the Bell Rock; for there, owing to the position of the
rock and the depth of water around it, the observer beholds, at the
same moment, the presence, as it were, of storm and calm.

The largest waves there are seen immediately after a storm has passed
away, not during its continuance, no matter how furious the gale may
have been, for the rushing wind has a tendency to blow down the
waves, so to speak, and prevent their rising to their utmost height.
It is when the storm is over that the swell rises; but as this swell
appears only like large undulations, it does not impress the beholder
with its magnitude until it draws near to the rock and begins to feel
the checking influence of the bottom of the sea. The upper part of
the swell, having then greater velocity than the lower part, assumes
more and more the form of a billow. As it comes on it towers up like
a great green wall of glittering glass, moving with a grand, solemn
motion, which does not at first give the idea of much force or
impetus. As it nears the rock, however, its height (probably fifteen
or twenty feet) becomes apparent; its velocity increases; the top,
with what may be termed gentle rapidity, rushes in advance of the
base; its dark green side becomes concave; the upper edge lips over,
then curls majestically downwards, as if bowing to a superior power,
and a gleam of light flashes for a moment on the curling top. As yet
there is no sound; all has occurred in the profound silence of the
calm, but another instant and there is a mighty crash--a deafening
roar; the great wall of