only a pitching but also a rolling motion to contend with; and although
the latter was as yet comparatively slight, it was still sufficient to
induce a further number of our cuddy party to seek the seclusion of
their cabins, with the result that when we sat down to dinner we did not
muster quite a dozen, all told. But among those present was my
left-hand neighbour, Miss Onslow, faultlessly attired, and to all
appearance as completely at her ease as though she were dining ashore.
The general made a gallant effort to occupy his accustomed seat, but the
soup proved too much for him, and he was compelled to retreat, muttering
something apologetic and not very intelligible about his liver. We
remained in tow until the tug had dragged us down abreast the South
Foreland, where she left us, taking the pilot with her; and half an hour
later we were heading down Channel under all plain sail to our
topgallant-sails.

When I went on deck to get my after-dinner smoke the prospect was as
dreary and dismal as it could well be. It was dark as a wolf's mouth;
for the moon was well advanced in her last quarter--which is as good as
saying that there was no moon at all--and the thickness overhead not
only obliterated the stars but also rendered it impossible for any of
their light to reach us; one consequence of which was that when standing
at the break of the poop it taxed one's eyesight to the utmost to see as
far as the bows of the ship; the wind was freshening, with frequent rain
squalls that, combined with the intense darkness, circumscribed the
visible horizon to a radius of about half a cable's length on either
hand; and through this all but opaque blackness the ship was thrashing
along at a speed of fully ten knots, with a continuous crying and
storming of wind aloft through the rigging and in the hollows of the
straining canvas, and a deep hissing and sobbing sound of water along
the bends, to which was added the rhythmical thunderous roaring of the
bow wave, and a frequent grape-shot pattering of spray on the fore deck
as the fabric plunged with irresistible momentum into the hollows of the
short, snappy Channel seas. It was black and blusterous, and everything
was dripping wet; I was heartily thankful, therefore, that it was my
privilege to go below and turn in just when I pleased, instead of having
to stand a watch and strain my eyeballs to bursting point in the
endeavour to avoid running foul of some of the numerous craft t