"An' so she were. We couldn't stay on the sides o' her any more, but had to sit down on the under sides o' the decks—wot shore-folks would call the ceilin'. An' the furniture in the cabin, bein' screwed fast, were all a-hangin' down from overhead.
"'Waal, may I be squilgeed inside an' out with a paint brush,' sez Cap'n Gawge W. Smoke, sez he, 'ef ever I expected fur to be master o' any wessel wot were so undecent as to sail on her head.'
"'Tobias Kitten,' sez I, 'slide back the hatch an inch an' tell us what ye can see.'
"An' Tobias he laid down flat on his face, slid the hatch back, and peaked out. Then he shut it with a bang, an' turned paler'n he were afore.
"'S'help me gracious goodness!' sez he; 'yo can't see nothin' 'cept white steam.'
"Then we knowed we was up in the clouds fur sure, an' we all felt putty ser'ous; 'cos w'y, w'd never bin there afore, an' we didn't know nothin about the rules an' regulations o' livin' up there. All on a suddent there were a most fearful crash o' thunder.
"'By the great hook block!' sez Cap'n Gawge W. Smoke, sez he, 'we're in a thunder-cloud.'
"'An' mebbe w'en it begins for to rain,' sez I, 'we'll git rained down to 'arth agin.'
"'Oh my! Oh my!' hollered Pierre Crust, out o' the cracker-box. 'On our heads! Oh dear! We're all dead men, sure.'
"Waal, arter that fur half an hour it were not possible fur to carry on any werry improvin' conwersation, 'cos w'y, it were a-thunderin' an' a-lightnin' an' a-roarin' all around us, sech as no one never heerd afore. Then all on a suddent the bloomin' deck dropped right from under us, an' we was kinder floatin' around, a-grabbin' right an' left at things, all 'ceptin' Pierre Crust, an' he jess kep' his head in the cracker-box an' kicked out with his feet.