ing arrangements of the "Balaklava." There were two lower berths on
one side the cabin, either of which was large enough for two persons; and
two single upper berths on the other side, neither of which was large
enough for one person. At the proper hour for retiring, the captain's lady
shut the cabin-door to keep out intruders, deliberately arrayed herself in
dimity, turned in with baby in one of the large berths, and reoepened the
door. There she lay, wide awake, with her bright eyes twinkling within the
folds of her night cap, unaffected, chatty, and agreeable; then the
captain divested himself of boots and pea-jacket and turned in beside his
lady (the mate slept, when off his watch, in the other double berth).
Picton rolled himself up in his blanket and stretched out on his locker; I
climbed into the narrow coop, over the salt beef and hard biscuit
department; and so we dozed and talked until sleep reigned over all. In
the morning the ceremonies were reversed, with the exception of the
Captain, who was up first. "I never see a man sleep so little as the
captain," said Bruce; "about two hoors, an' that's aw."

The sun was already risen when I came out on the deck of the "Balaklava;"
but where _was_ the sun? Indeed, where was the ocean, or anything? The
schooner was barely making steerage-way, with a light head-wind, over a
small patch of water, not much larger apparently than the schooner
herself. The air was filled with a luminous haze that appeared to be
penetrable by the eye, and yet was not; that seemed at once open and
dense; near yet afar off; close yet diffuse; contracted yet boundless.
There was no light nor shade, no outline, distance, aerial perspective.
There was no east and west, nor blushing Aurora, rising from old Tithonus'
bed; nor blue sky, nor green sea, nor ship, nor shore, nor color, tint,
hue, ray, or reflection. There was nothing visible except the sides of the
vessel, a maze of dripping rigging, two sailors bristling with drops, and
the captain in a shiny sou-wester. The feeling of seclusion and security
was complete, although we might have been run down by another vessel at
any moment; the air was deliciously bland, invigorating, and pregnant with
life; to breathe it was a transport; you felt it in every globule of
blood, in every pore of the lungs. I could have hugged that fog, I was so
happy!

Up and down the rolling deck I marched, and with every inspiration of the
moist air, felt the old, ti