CHAPTER XXII.
_Again ready--Gloomy weather--A Norther--The Arcas--The second Christmas at sea--The war--Plymouth rock leaven--On the lonely island--"Splicing the main-brace"-- Searching for shells--Tired of hard service--In irons--Well disciplined--A phenomenon--The new year--In memoriam--To sea again_.
The exciting episode of the Ariel was followed by a period altogether devoid of incident, though by no means destitute either of interest or anxiety for those on board the Alabama.

From daybreak to dusk the click of the hammer, and the shrill screaming of the file, arose incessantly from the engine room, as the engineer and his staff laboured without a pause to repair the damage to the machinery.

The task proved even longer than had been anticipated, and it was not until the afternoon of the third day that the mischief had been finally remedied, and the Alabama was pronounced in a condition to resume with safety her destructive career.
Meanwhile, a brighter look-out than ever was kept from her mastheads.
There was still a possibility--though but a slight one--of falling in with the homeward-bound Californian, for which they had been waiting so long and so anxiously; whilst it was more than ever necessary to care against surprise from any of the enemy's cruisers, who might fairly be expected to be in considerable force somewhere in the neighbourhood.
The northern shores of Jamaica, however, off which the Alabama was now lying, standing along the coast, under easy sail during the day, and at night laying her maintopsail to the mast, appeared to be but little frequented by vessels of any kind, and the cruiser was permitted to carry on her repairs without a single interruption in the way of either a chase, or a call to quarters.
And it was perhaps as well that such an interval of rest should have been afforded after the severe strain of the previous few days.

For Captain Semmes, at all events, it was a great boon, for on that officer's never very robust constitution, the continued anxiety and constant night-calls on deck, in wind and rain, had had a very serious effect, and he was fairly laid up with cold and fever.
The evening of Friday, December the 12th, saw the repairs of the machinery of the vessel completed, the Alabama being at, nightfall about opposite to the little town of St.Anne's.

That evening the crew were exercised at quarters; and the next day, after a thorough cleaning of the decks, &c., the vessel ran away to the westward of the Island of Jamaica, _en route_ for another point of rendezvous, at which to take in fresh coal, and other needful supplies.
* * * * * _Saturday, December 13th._--...