o you stay upon deck all the time in spite of
the wind and spray?"

"Well, you see, Miss Renshaw, you ladies have an objection to my smoking
my pipe below; and besides, what with the groans and moans from the
cabins, and the clatter of the swinging trays, and the noise of the
waves, and one thing and another, there is little to tempt me to stay
below But really I shall be very glad when it is over. The ship has been
doing splendidly; and as the wind has blown from the same quarter the
whole time, the sea though very high is regular, and everything is going
on well. Still a gale is a gale, and you can never answer for the
vagaries of the wind. If it were to veer round to another quarter, for
instance, you would in a few hours get a broken sea here that would
astonish you, and would try all the qualities of the _Flying Scud_. Then
again we have been running south with tremendous speed for the last
three days, and if it were to go on for a few days longer we might find
ourselves down among the ice. Therefore, I say, the sooner the gale is
over the better I shall be pleased."

Towards evening there was a sensible abatement in the force of the wind,
and the following morning the gale had so far abated that the captain
prepared to haul his course for the west.

"We have been running south at the rate of fully three hundred miles a
day," he said, "and are now very far down. The moment this warm wind
drops and we get it from the south you will find that you will need
every wrap you have to keep you warm. If the gale had lasted I had made
up my mind to try to get her head to it, and to lie to. We are a great
deal too close to the region of ice to be pleasant."

The change in the course of the vessel was by no means appreciated by
the passengers, for the motion was very much rougher and more unpleasant
than that to which they had now become accustomed. However, by the
following morning the wind had died away to a moderate breeze, and the
sea had very sensibly abated. The topsails were shaken out of their
reefs; and although the motion was still violent most of the passengers
emerged from their cabins and came on deck to enjoy the sun, which was
now streaming brightly through the broken clouds. The captain was in
high glee; the ship had weathered the gale without the slightest damage.
Not a rope had parted, not a sail been blown away, and the result fully
justified the confidence he felt in his ship and her gear.

"It is a co