"What is a water-spout?" I asked Captain Miles later on in the evening after dinner, as he was having a quiet cigar on the poop before turning in. I saw that he then looked inclined for a chat, and thought it a good opportunity to seek for information. He answered my question in the Irish way, by asking me another. "Did you ever see a whirlwind when you were at Grenada, Tom?" he inquired. "Yes," I replied, "I recollect a long time ago noticing one at Mount Pleasant once, and wondering at the way in which all the loose straw in the stable-yard was circled round and round, as if in a funnel, and then drawn up into the sky." "Well, then," said Captain Miles, "the celebrated Dr Franklin has demonstrated, if I recollect aright, that a whirlwind on land, and a water-spout at sea, arise from similar general causes, and may be considered one and the same thing." "But, what is the cause of them?" I asked now. "The action of opposing atmospheric currents, Tom, if you can understand what I mean. Two contrary winds meet: a vortex therefore ensues; and, any cloud that happens to be between these opposing currents of air at the time is condensed into a conical form and turned round with great celerity. This whirling motion drives from the centre of the cloud all the particles of vapour contained in it; consequently, a vacuum is thereby produced in the body of it; and, as nature abhors a vacuum in every case, the water of the sea lying below the overhanging mass is carried up, in centrifugal fashion, and in a sort of way by capillary attraction, into the vacant centre of the cloud cylinder." "Why does it not stop there?" said I. "That one just now burst." "Ah, that fellow was like a greedy boy who has eaten too much, and has to disgorge after he has filled his little stomach too full! But, some water-spouts carry their contents on to the land, where, when the clouds have been attracted by mountains or some lofty object, they may do great damage by wrecking houses and inundating the country for miles round. At sea, they are not half so dangerous, having plenty of room there to expend themselves without effecting much injury, except a ship should be right beneath them when they fall to pieces." "Do you think, sir," I then inquired, "that one would have sunk us, if it had burst over the _Josephine_?"