"Oh, papa," said Evelyn, "it is just what I wanted. I am longing to get to Jerusalem!"
"'Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem,'" said Mr. Stanley, with a smile. And then we were sure that he had heard us reading the Psalm.
At sunset the wind became very strong; the ship rolled heavily, and the passengers were glad to go to their cabins. It was a dreadful night. I shall never forget it. Every hour the storm became more terrible. I had never thought that a storm at sea could be so dreadful. The waves were beating over our heads, and, every now and then, the cabin was lighted up by a vivid flash of lightning, which was followed almost immediately by a terrible clap of thunder. Every two or three minutes we heard the crash of breaking crockery, and the broken cups, and jugs, and glasses were thrown backwards and forwards on the floor, as the ship pitched and tossed.
I wonder that so many people have such peaceful ideas of the Mediterranean Sea, after reading the Bible accounts of it. Oh, how often during that dreadful night we thought of St. Paul in the storm, probably just in this very part of the Mediterranean; and we could so well picture that scene in Jonah's life when the sailors, unwilling to cast him overboard, made a last mighty effort to bring the ship to land, but the sea wrought and was tempestuous, and they were not able to manage it.
And then David's description of the storm, in Psalm cvii., must refer to this very sea. How often we repeated those verses to each other that night:
"'He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.'"
"Oh, May," said Evelyn, as I crept to her side when the storm was at its height, "what a comfort it is to know we are safe, isn't it?"
"Yes," I said, "I cannot think how any one dare travel, and go through all the perils by land and water, without knowing that."
"I should not have known it if we had come a year ago," said Evelyn. "Oh, May, I should have been terribly frightened then!"
We did not sleep once the whole night, and very long the hours seemed to us.