Page:The Plutocrat (1927).pdf/14

 Thirty thousand tons the "Duumvir" displaced; but, as in reprisal, more weight of water than that every few moments attempted to displace the "Duumvir." The attempt was for a permanent displacement, moreover, there appearing to be in the profundities a conviction that this ship had no rightful place upon the surface and should be reduced to the condition of a submarine. The "Duumvir," sometimes seeming to assent, squatted under the immense smotherings; then, shaped in falling water, rose up into the likeness of a long white cataract dimly symmetrical against a chaotic sky. The upheavals were but momentary and convulsive, however; the great metal creature shook itself thunderously and descended again under fantastic clouds of sea; and in both ascent and descent, sought continually to ease itself by lying first upon one side and then upon the other. Under the same circumstances a peanut shell might have shown a livelier motion; nevertheless, the "Duumvir" did many things that a peanut shell would have done, but, being heavier, did them more impressively.

The impressiveness was greatest in the steamer's interior where there were vivid correspondences to what went on outside. For, indoors and off the howl-