Chester joined them and looked about.

This surely must be a storm, thought he.

He had often wished to witness one, from a safe position, of course, and here was one.

As far as he could see in every direction, the ocean was one mass of rolling, seething water.

At a distance it looked like a boiling pot, but nearer the waves rose higher, the ship's prow cutting them like a knife.
"Quite a storm," said Chester to a man washing the deck.
"Storm?
Oh, no, sir; just a bit of a blow." No one seemed to have any concern regarding the safety of the ship, so Chester concluded that there was no danger, that this was no storm at all, which conclusion was right, as he had later to acknowledge.