During All Which
Time There Was Not A Breath Stirring, And We Lay Motionless, Like A
Mark To Be Shot At, Probably The Only Object On The Surface Of The
Ocean For Miles And Miles.
We stood hour after hour, until our
watch was out, and we were relieved, at four o'clock.
During all
this time, hardly a word was spoken; no bells were struck, and the
wheel was silently relieved. The rain fell at intervals in heavy
showers, and we stood drenched through and blinded by the flashes,
which broke the Egyptian darkness with a brightness which seemed
almost malignant; while the thunder rolled in peals, the concussion
of which appeared to shake the very ocean. A ship is not often
injured by lightning, for the electricity is separated by the
great number of points she presents, and the quantity of iron
which she has scattered in various parts. The electric fluid
ran over our anchors, top-sail sheets and ties; yet no harm was
done to us. We went below at four o'clock, leaving things in the
same state. It is not easy to sleep, when the very next flash may
tear the ship in two, or set her on fire; or where the deathlike
calm may be broken by the blast of a hurricane, taking the masts
out of the ship. But a man is no sailor if he cannot sleep when
he turns-in, and turn out when he's called. And when, at seven
bells, the customary "All the larboard watch, ahoy?" brought us
on deck, it was a fine, clear, sunny morning, the ship going
leisurely along, with a good breeze and all sail set.
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