. Master Rockafellar's voyage . lanking of which were split,as though it had at one time formed a solid bodywhich had been wrenched and mutilated by a blowof the sea. Under the frame, amidships of it,dangled a large ships bell, the tongue of which,vibrating regularly as the heave of the sea swayedthe whole fabric, struck the metal sides, and pro-duced the dismal and melancholy tolling whichhad kept us awake and filled us with consternationthroughout the night 1 Little wonder that thekeenest eyes amongst us should not have per-ceived it; even by daylight, and at a short distancefrom us, it show
. Master Rockafellar's voyage . lanking of which were split,as though it had at one time formed a solid bodywhich had been wrenched and mutilated by a blowof the sea. Under the frame, amidships of it,dangled a large ships bell, the tongue of which,vibrating regularly as the heave of the sea swayedthe whole fabric, struck the metal sides, and pro-duced the dismal and melancholy tolling whichhad kept us awake and filled us with consternationthroughout the night 1 Little wonder that thekeenest eyes amongst us should not have per-ceived it; even by daylight, and at a short distancefrom us, it showed but as a very little object—sosmall indeed, that had it passed us within a biscuit-toss in the darkness, it must have slipped by un-perceived. It was no doubt a part of a wreck, and hadprobably belonged to some foreign ship. Wecould afford to laugh at our fears now, and cer-tainly we deserved the relief of a little merri-ment, for our superstitious alarm throughout thelong hours of the darkness had been very n en < C wc < <fa a X O CHAPTER VIII. HE SEES THE EQUATOR. We crossed the equator a little before noon ona Tuesday. Though I had learnt at school allabout the imaginary line that girdles the earth,yet I was stupid enough to believe what Kennetand the others told me: namely, that if I as-cended to the foretop with a telescope, andpointed it steadily over the starboard cat-head, Ishould obtain a good view of the equator. Nomore was necessary than to ascertain at what hourthe ship was likely to cross the line, so as to savethe anxiety of looking for the circle when it mightstill be some distance below the edge of the the morning of this Tuesday Kennet arrivedon the poop with a telescope in his hand, and said—Poole and I are going into the foretop toview the equator. It should be in sight now fromthat height, for I heard the chief mate tell that if this air held we should be crossing I04 MASTER ROCKAFELLARS VOYAGE. it about half-
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