Page:Traits and Trials.pdf/167

Rh Francis turned pale, for he thought of his young and helpless sister. "Why, you wouldn't be only a fair-weather sailor, would you?" and, turning round, the old man began one of those tales of tempests met and baffled by naval skill and courage, which so delighted his youthful auditor. Nearly an hour elapsed, when the narrator was called away to his duty in another part of the ship.

The small white cloud had now spread like a white and gigantic veil over half the sky, and an unequal and capricious wind was awakening the sails from their repose; and by the time the dinner hour came, little order could be preserved among the plates and dishes, which were soon scattered by a sudden squall.

Francis had been accustomed to employ the afternoon in teaching Marion her alphabet, and to spell various small words; but to-day their studies were interrupted—neither could keep their footing a single moment and, by the captain's directions, Marion was fastened in her cot, with a stout silk handkerchief round her waist, and the cot itself strongly lashed to the sides. It was a dismal time, for the waves now ran so high that the port holes were ordered to be closed. Suddenly a deep and