on the way. Once he alighted on an English ship-of-war that
was going into Halifax; the next time upon a small fishing boat on the
Banks. He was not molested at either of his resting-places; and so in
due time he safely reached the shore, and joined his mate at the nest,
in a little green valley in Nova Scotia. He was very glad to get home.
He had not intended to have gone so far to sea. He was blown off by a
strong wind, which came up suddenly while he was playing in the air,
about five miles from shore.

The two prisoners were liberated from their state rooms after having
been kept shut up about two hours. Tiger did not mind this confinement
at all; for her conscience being quiet, she did not trouble herself
about it in the least, but slept nearly the whole time. It was, however,
quite a severe punishment to Hilbert; for his mind was all the time
tormented with feelings of vexation, self-reproach, and shame.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE STORM.

The navigation of the Atlantic by means of the immense sea-going
steamers of the present day, with all its superiority in most respects,
is attended with one very serious disadvantage, at least for all
romantic people, and those who particularly enjoy what is grand and
sublime. To passengers on board an Atlantic steamer, a storm at
sea--that spectacle which has, in former times, been so often described
as the most grand and sublime of all the exhibitions which the course of
nature presents to man--is divested almost entirely of that imposing
magnificence for which it was formerly so renowned.

There are several reasons for this.

First, the height of the waves appears far less impressive, when seen
from on board an Atlantic steamer, than from any ordinary vessel; for
the deck in the case of these steamers is so high, that the spectator,
as it were, looks _down_ upon them. Any one who has ever ascended a
mountain knows very well what the effect is upon the apparent height of
all smaller hills, when they are seen from an elevation that is far
higher than they. In fact, a country that is really quite hilly is made
to appear almost level, by being surveyed from any one summit that rises
above the other elevations. The same is the case with the waves of the
sea, when seen from the promenade deck of one of these vast steamers.

The waves of the sea are never more than twelve or fifteen feet high,
although a very common notion prevails that they run very much higher.
It has be