"Wha-hoop! Wha—wha—wha—willy whoop!" said the screw, that had managed to come out of the water and was racing wildly.
"Good heavens! is the ship going down?" said the fat lady, clutching her own private claret bottle that she might not die athirst. The ship went down at the word—with a drunken lurch down she went, and a smothered yell from one of the cabins showed that there was water in the sea. The portholes closed with a clash, and we rose and fell on the swell of the bo'sun's head-sea. The conversation died out. Some complained that the saloon was stuffy, and fled upstairs to the deck. The strong man brought up the rear.
"Ooshy—ooshy—wooshy—woggle wop!" cried a big wave without a head. "Get up, old girl!" and he smacked the ship most disrespectfully under the counter, and she squirmed as she took the drift of the next sea.
"She—ah—rides very prettily," repeated the strong man as the companion stairs spurned him from them and he wound his arms round the nearest steward.
"Damn prettily," said the necked officer. "I'm going to lie down. Never could stand the China seas."
"Most refreshing thing in the world," said the strong man faintly.
I took counsel purely with myself, which is to say, my stomach, and perceived that the worst would not befall me.
"Come to the fo'c'sle, then, and feel the wind," said I to the strong man. The plover's-egg eyes of three yellowish-green girls were upon him.
"With pleasure," said he, and I bore him away to where the cut-water was pulling up the scared flying-fishes as a spaniel flushes game. In front of us was the illimitable blue, lightly ridged by the procession of the big blind rollers. Up rose the stem till six feet of the red paint stood clear above the blue—from twenty-three feet to eighteen I could count as I leaned over. Then the sapphire crashed into splintered crystal with a musical jar, and the white spray licked the anchor channels as we drove down and down, sucking at the sea. I kept my eye upon the strong man, and I noticed that his mouth was slightly open, the better to inhale the rushing wind. When I looked a second time he was gone. The driven spray was scarcely quicker in its flight. My excellent stomach behaved with temperance and chastity. I enjoyed the fo'c'sle, and my delight was the greater when I reflected on the strong man. Unless I was much mistaken, he would know all about it in half an hour.
I went aft, and a lull between two waves heard the petulant pop of a champagne cork. No one drinks champagne after tiffin except.... It.