The Steam-Packet: A Tale of the River and the Ocean — page 385: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

298 THE STEAM PACKET. CHAPTER XXVIII. IN WHICH THE HEROES OF THIS NARRATIVE ARE PLACED IN A MOST PERILOUS POSITION. fr. Tue morning dawned gloomy and threatening: the wind whistled through the narrow streets of Boulogne, and the sea was by no means of an inviting appearance to ladies and gentlemen whose principal aquatic experience had been derived from pleasant trips between Lon- don Bridge and Greenwich on one side, or Chelsea and Richmond on the other. It was true that the Luminaries had encountered one good gale during their present trip, and had been compelled to land at Gravelines in consequence; but that circumstance had not endowed them with the spirit and valour of thorough sailors. They therefore trembled and turned pale when they beheld the threatening nature of the weather, and their hearts actually sank within them when Lord Noodleton declared at the breakfast-table, ‘‘that it was only a plea- sant little breeze, and that of course they should not be deterred from. undertaking the proposed voyage homewards.’’ No one dared ven- ture a remonstrance to this opinion advanced by a real and genuine lord ; and as Sir William Staunton also expressed his wish to return to London without delay, the Luminaries tacitly resigned themselves to the dreadful fate which they nearly all most firmly believed to be in store for them. Mr. Pifpaf buttered his roll with more deci- sion of manner than usually characterised him: Mrs. Pifpaf hinted somewhat about her ‘‘ poor head ”’ and the pitching of the vessel: Ara- mintha vainly endeavoured to borrow courage from the composed ap- pearance of her lover: Belinda fidgetted, but did not romp: and Sarah declared that no music was so inharmonious as the roaring ocean. 7 The determination of the Earl of Noodleton and Sir William Staun- ton prevailed over all these fears; and as none of the gentlemen ven- tured to win the imputation of cowardice by objecting to the embarka- tion, the alarms of the ladies were of no avail. The captain of the steam-packet declared that there was no danger, although there might be a good swell expected in the channel; and although Mr. Smale did meditate upon the inconvenience of being snatched away from this life before his excellent old grandmother and other heirs and relations, he did not offer an objection aloud. The procession was accordingly Gomichbooks (E(0)