ng sharply
round, left the cabin with a stride which, for a woman of her size and
character, was most impressive.

Jarring gazed after her with an expression of owlish and unutterable
surprise on his swarthy countenance. Then he smiled faintly at the
unexpected and appalling--not to say curious--fate that awaited him; but
reflecting that, although lugubrious and long, Mitford was deep-chested,
broad-shouldered, and wiry, he became grave again, shook his head, and
had the sense to make up his mind never again to arouse the slumbering
spirit of Peggy Mitford.

It was a wild scene that presented itself to the eyes of the passengers
in the _Lapwing_ when the hatches were at last taken off, and they were
permitted once more to go on deck. Grey was the prevailing colour. The
great seas, which seemed unable to recover from the wild turmoil into
which they had been lashed, were of a cold greenish grey, flecked and
tipped with white. The sky was steely grey with clouds that verged on
black; and both were so mingled together that it seemed as if the little
vessel were imbedded in the very heart of a drizzling, heaving, hissing
ocean.

The coxswain's wife stood leaning on her stalwart husband's arm, by the
foremast, gazing over the side.

"It do seem more dreary than I expected," she said. "I wouldn't be a
sailor, Bob, much as I've bin used to the sea, an' like it."

"Ah, Nell, that's 'cause you've only bin used to the _sea-shore_. You
haven't bin long enough on blue water, lass, to know that folks'
opinions change a good deal wi' their feelin's. Wait till we git to the
neighbour'ood o' the line, wi' smooth water an' blue skies an' sunshine,
sharks, and flyin' fish. You'll have a different opinion then about the
sea."

"Right you are, Bob," said Joe Slagg, coming up at that moment. "Most
people change their opinions arter gittin' to the line, specially when
it comes blazin' hot, fit to bile the sea an' stew the ship, an' a dead
calm gits a hold of 'e an' keeps ye swelterin' in the doldrums for a
week or two."

"But it wasn't that way we was lookin' at it, Joe," returned Nellie,
with a laugh. "Bob was explainin' to me how pleasant a change it would
be after the cold grey sea an' sky we're havin' just now."

"Well, it may be so; but whatever way ye may look at it, you'll change
yer mind, more or less, when you cross the line. By the way, that minds
me that some of us in the steerage are invited to cross the line