The Castaways | Page 8

lady who ventured on deck that day--for the weather was so thick
that there was nothing to see, beyond an occasional buoy marking out
the position of a sandbank, a grimy Geordie, loaded down to her
covering-board, driving along up the river under a brace of patched and
sooty topsails, or an inward-bound south-spainer in tow of a tug; but
this fact of her being the only representative of her sex on deck
appeared to disconcert Miss Onslow not at all; she was as absolutely
self-possessed as though she and the general had been in sole
possession of the deck, as indeed they were, so far as she was
concerned, for she calmly and utterly ignored the presence of the rest of
us, excepting the skipper, with whom and with the general she
conversed with much vivacity. By the arrival of tiffin-time we had
drawn far enough down the river to be just meeting the first of the sea
knocked up by the strong breeze, and I noticed that already a few of the
seats at table that had been occupied at breakfast-time were
vacant--among them that of Lady O'Brien--but my left-hand neighbour
exhibited a thoroughly healthy appetite--due in part, probably, to her
long promenade on deck in the wind and the rain. She was still as
stately and distant in manner as ever, however, when I attempted to
enter into conversation with her, and I met with such scant
encouragement that ere the meal was half over I desisted, leaving to the
skipper the task of further entertaining her.
By six o'clock that night we were abreast of the buoy which marks
Longnose Ledge, when the pilot shifted his helm for the Elbow, and we
began to feel in earnest the influence of the short, choppy sea, into
which the City of Cawnpore was soon plunging her sharp stem to the
height of the hawse pipes, to the rapidly-increasing discomfort of many
of the passengers. By seven o'clock--which was the dinner-hour--we
were well round the Elbow, and heading to pass inside the Goodwin
and through the Downs, with most of our fore-and-aft canvas set; and
now we had not only a pitching but also a rolling motion to contend
with; and although the latter was as yet comparatively slight, it was still

sufficient to induce a further number of our cuddy party to seek the
seclusion of their cabins, with the result that when we sat down to
dinner we did not muster quite a dozen, all told. But among those
present was my left-hand neighbour, Miss Onslow, faultlessly attired,
and to all appearance as completely at her ease as though she were
dining ashore. The general made a gallant effort to occupy his
accustomed seat, but the soup proved too much for him, and he was
compelled to retreat, muttering something apologetic and not very
intelligible about his liver. We remained in tow until the tug had
dragged us down abreast the South Foreland, where she left us, taking
the pilot with her; and half an hour later we were heading down
Channel under all plain sail to our topgallant-sails.
When I went on deck to get my after-dinner smoke the prospect was as
dreary and dismal as it could well be. It was dark as a wolf's mouth; for
the moon was well advanced in her last quarter--which is as good as
saying that there was no moon at all--and the thickness overhead not
only obliterated the stars but also rendered it impossible for any of their
light to reach us; one consequence of which was that when standing at
the break of the poop it taxed one's eyesight to the utmost to see as far
as the bows of the ship; the wind was freshening, with frequent rain
squalls that, combined with the intense darkness, circumscribed the
visible horizon to a radius of about half a cable's length on either hand;
and through this all but opaque blackness the ship was thrashing along
at a speed of fully ten knots, with a continuous crying and storming of
wind aloft through the rigging and in the hollows of the straining
canvas, and a deep hissing and sobbing sound of water along the bends,
to which was added the rhythmical thunderous roaring of the bow wave,
and a frequent grape-shot pattering of spray on the fore deck as the
fabric plunged with irresistible momentum into the hollows of the short,
snappy Channel seas. It was black and blusterous, and everything was
dripping wet; I was heartily thankful, therefore, that it was my privilege
to go below and turn in just when I pleased, instead of having to stand a
watch and strain my eyeballs to bursting point in the endeavour to
avoid running foul of some of the numerous