But the apparition vanished with almost startling suddenness, as though the old lady had fallen or been violently pulled below. When, later on, I inquired after her, I learnt that she had betaken herself again to her bunk. It was a mighty uncomfortable breakfast. The ship was rolling violently and convulsively upon the short snappish Channel seas--the most insufferable of all waters when in commotion, making even the seasoned salt pine for the long regular rhythmic heave of the blue ocean billow. The fiddles hindered the plates from sliding on to our laps; but their contents were not to be so easily coaxed into keeping their place; an unusually heavy lurch shot a large helping of liver and bacon on to Mr. Hemskirk’s knees; and the ship’s surgeon, Dr. Hemmeridge, came perilously near to being badly scalded by Mr. Johnson, the literary man, who, in reaching for a cup of tea tilted the swinging tray. There was not much talk, and what little was said chiefly concerned the incident of the previous evening. ‘Captain,’ cried young Mr. Fairthorne in an effeminate voice--he was the gentleman, it seems, who last night had been calling upon anybody to smother the ayah--‘whath to become of thothe poor Frenchmen?’ ‘Sir,’ answered Captain Keeling in a manner as stiff as a marline-spike with his dislike of the subject, ‘I do not know.’ ‘Frenchmen,’ cried Colonel Bannister in a loud voice, as though he were directing the manœuvres of a company of Sepoys, ‘are the hereditary enemies of our country, and it never can matter to a Briton what becomes of them.’ ‘Boot my tear sir,’ remarked Mr. Hemskirk, ‘you are a Briton, yes--and you are a Christian too, und der Franchman iss your broder.’ ‘My what?’ roared the colonel. ‘Tell ye what it is, Mr. Hemskirk: it is a good job that you cannot pronounce our language, otherwise you might happen sometimes, sir, to grow offensive.’ Mynheer, who seemed to have had some previous acquaintance with this little bombshell of a man, dried the grease upon his lips with a napkin, and cast a wink upon Mr. Greenhew, whose face of resentment at this familiarity caused me to break into such an immoderate fit of laughter that there was nothing for it but to bolt from the table.