g2 FOR THE FLAG

utilize the resistance of water more effectively and give
greater speed ?

A few hours yet, and I shall know what to think of this
kind of navigation.

Besides—an effect not less extraordinary—there was no
rolling or pitching. Now, how was it that Pamlico
Sound was in such a state of tranquility? The currents
of the flood and ebb tides ordinarily suffice to agitate its
surface.

These are some of the wearisome thoughts that beset
me! In spite of an overpowering inclination to sleep,
notwithstanding the torpor which is coming over me in
this suffocating atmosphere, I have resolved that I will
not give way to slumber. I will keep awake until day:
still it will not be day for me until the moment when
this queer chamber shall receive light from the outside.
And perhaps it will not be enough for the door to open:
perhaps I shall have to be lifted out of this hole, to be
carried on deck!

I lean against one of the angles of the wall, for I have
not even a bench to sit on. But as my eyelids are heavy,
and I feel myself giving way to a sort of slumber, I rise.
Rage takes possession of me; I hit the walls with my
clenched fist, I shout. Invain. I do but bruise my hands
against the bolts on the plates, and my cries bring no one.

Yes! that is unworthy of me. I had determined to
restrain myself, and there, I begin by losing my self-
possession and behave like a child.

The absence of pitching and rolling proves with certainty