Judging from our present progress the _Sea Gull_ would prove herself a clipper once under full steam.

The open decks glistened with water, although the rainfall was light and intermittent; thunder rumbled to the northward, with occasional flashes of lightning.

Even as I stood there, staring forward, endeavoring to make out certain objects in the gloom, the overhanging cloud seemed to close in across the western sky, instantly plunging us into night.

Like a spectral ship we swept through the slight smother, gently lifted by the long swell, without a light burning fore or aft.

I heard no movement of men, no voice shouting orders, yet before that last gleam faded, I had seen outlined several figures on the bridge.