ously along for home now, making her usual
good time, when of a sudden she struck the horse latitudes, and her
sail flapped limp in a calm. I had almost forgotten this calm belt, or
had come to regard it as a myth. I now found it real, however, and
difficult to cross. This was as it should have been, for, after all of
the dangers of the sea, the dust-storm on the coast of Africa, the
"rain of blood" in Australia, and the war risk when nearing home, a
natural experience would have been missing had the calm of the horse
latitudes been left out. Anyhow, a philosophical turn of thought now
was not amiss, else one's patience would have given out almost at the
harbor entrance. The term of her probation was eight days. Evening
after evening during this time I read by the light of a candle on
deck. There was no wind at all, and the sea became smooth and
monotonous. For three days I saw a full-rigged ship on the horizon,
also becalmed.

Sargasso, scattered over the sea in bunches, or trailed curiously
along down the wind in narrow lanes, now gathered together in great
fields, strange sea-animals, little and big, swimming in and out, the
most curious among them being a tiny seahorse which I captured and
brought home preserved in a bottle. But on the 18th of June a gale
began to blow from the southwest, and the sargasso was dispersed again
in windrows and lanes.

On this day there was soon wind enough and to spare. The same might
have been said of the sea The _Spray_ was in the midst of the
turbulent Gulf Stream itself. She was jumping like a porpoise over the
uneasy waves. As if to make up for lost time, she seemed to touch only
the high places. Under a sudden shock and strain her rigging began to
give out. First the main-sheet strap was carried away, and then the
peak halyard-block broke from the gaff. It was time to reef and refit,
and so when "all hands" came on deck I went about doing that.

The 19th of June was fine, but on the morning of the 20th another gale
was blowing, accompanied by cross-seas that tumbled about and shook
things up with great confusion. Just as I was thinking about taking in
sail the jibstay broke at the masthead, and fell, jib and all, into
the sea. It gave me the strangest sensation to see the bellying sail
fall, and where it had been suddenly to see only space. However, I was
at the bows, with presence of mind to gather it in on the first wave
that rolled up, before it was torn or trailed under th