eadroom underneath the canvas deck or roof. This
completed our preparations--none too soon, for it was now rapidly
growing dark, and the light of our lantern was needed while putting the
finishing touches to our work.

Our task accomplished, we of course at once extinguished our lantern,--
for candles were scarce with us,--and we then for the first time became
aware of the startling rapidity with which the night seemed to have
fallen; for with the extinguishment of the lantern we found ourselves
enwrapped in darkness so thick that it could almost be felt. This,
however, proved to be only transitory, for with the lapse of a few
minutes our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and we were then able
not only to discern the shapes of the vast pile of clouds that
threateningly overhung us, but also their reflections in the oil-smooth
water, the latter made visible by the dull, ruddy glow emanating from
the clouds themselves, which was even more noticeable now than it had
been before nightfall, and which was so unnatural and appalling a sight
that I believe there was not one of us who was not more or less affected
by it. It was the first time that I had ever beheld such a sight, and I
am not ashamed to confess that the sensation it produced in me was, for
a short time, something very nearly akin to terror, so dreadful a
portent did it seem to be, and so profoundly impressed was I with our
utter helplessness away out there in mid-ocean, in that small, frail
boat, with no friendly shelter at hand, and nothing to protect us from
the gathering fury of the elements--nothing, that is to say, but the
hand of God; and--I say it with shame--I thought far too little of Him
in those days.

Not the least trying part of it all was the painful tension of the
nerves produced by the suspense--the enforced _waiting_ for the awful
ordeal that lay before us. There was nothing for us to do, nothing to
distract our attention from that awful, threatening sky, that looked as
though it might momentarily be expected to burst into a devastating
flame that would destroy the world! Some of the men, indeed, frankly
avowed that the sight was too terrible for them, and crept away under
the canvas, where they disposed themselves in the bottom of the boat,
and strove to while away the time in sleep.

At length--it would be about the close of the second dog-watch--we
became conscious that the swell, which had almost entirely subsided, was
gathering we