The chief steward stood near, balancing himself in apparent defiance of the laws of gravitation, for the ship was now pitching and rolling with a mad zeal.

For an instant she meant to inquire what had become of the transgressor, but she dismissed the thought at its inception.

The matter was too trivial.
With a wild swoop all the plates, glasses, and cutlery on the saloon tables crashed to starboard.

Were it not for the restraint of the fiddles everything must have been swept to the floor.

There were one or two minor accidents.