"Hurraar! Brrrraaah! Brrrrrrp!" roared the Steam through the
fog-horn, till the decks quivered. "Don't be frightened, below.
It's only me, just throwing out a few words, in case any one
happens to be rolling round to-night."

"You don't mean to say there's any one except us on the sea in
such weather?" said the funnel, in a husky snuffle.

"Scores of 'em," said the Steam, clearing its throat. "Rrrrrraaa!
Brraaaaa! Prrrrp! It's a trifle windy up here; and, Great
Boilers! how it rains!"

"We're drowning," said the scuppers. They had been doing nothing
else all night, but this steady thrash of rain above them seemed
to be the end of the world.

"That's all right. We'll be easier in an hour or two. First the
wind and then the rain. Soon you may make sail again! Grrraaaaaah!
Drrrraaaa! Drrrp! I have a notion that the sea is going down
already. If it does you'll learn something about rolling. We've
only pitched till now. By the way, aren't you chaps in the hold a
little easier than you were?"

There was just as much groaning and straining as ever, but it was
not so loud or squeaky in tone; and when the ship quivered she
did not jar stiffly, like a poker hit on the floor, but gave
with a supple little waggle, like a perfectly balanced golf-club.

"We have made a most amazing discovery," said the stringers, one
after another. "A discovery that entirely changes the situation.