It was
a sight to look over the ship's bows, to see her keen stem shredding
the water, and the permanent pillar of foam leaning away from her
weather-bow.

This part of the Channel was full of shipping, and I know, by the
vividness with which my memory reproduces the scene, how beautiful
was the picture impressed upon it. All on our right were the English
shores, made delicate and even fanciful by distance; here and there
fairy-like groups of houses, standing on the heights among trees or
embosomed in valleys, with silver sands sloping to the sea: deep
shadows staining the purity of the brilliant chalk, and a foreground
of pleasure-boats with sails glistening like pearl and bright flags
streaming. And to our right and left vessels of different rigs and
sizes standing up or down Channel, some running likeI lost sight of him, that he took a
suspiciously long sniff at the steam under his nose, and then violently
expectorated.

The breeze was now very lively; the canvas was stretching nobly to it,
and the shore all along our starboard beam was a gliding panorama,
brilliant with colour and sunshine. They were having dinner in the
cuddy, and as often as I passed the skylight I could see the captain
glancing upwards at the sails with a well-pleased expression.

I presently noticed the cook's copper face, crowned with an odd kind
of knitted cap, protruding from the galley, and his small eyes gazed
intently at me. I paced the length of the poop, and when I returned,
the cook's head was still at its post, and then his body came out and
he stood staring in my direction.

I