After two weeks in Holland, two in Belgium, and two in London, we were
ready to turn our faces toward home.
We took the train to Southampton, and a small side-wheel steamer carried
us outside Southampton waters, where we tossed about for thirty minutes
before the _Normania_ came to anchor. The wind was blowing half a gale
from the north, and we were glad to get under the lee of the great
vessel to board her.
The transfer was quickly made, and we were off for New York. The wind
gained strength as the day grew old, but while we were in the Solent the
bluff coast of Devon and Cornwall broke its force sufficiently to permit
us to be comfortable on the port side of the ship.
As night came on, great clouds rolled up from the northwest and the wind
increased. Darkness, as of Egypt, fell upon us before we passed the
Lizard, and the only things that showed above the raging waters were the
beacon lights, and these looked dim and far away. Occasionally a flash
of lightning threw the waters into relief, and then made the darkness
more impenetrable.
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