Rectus had never been very good at calculations, and I was glad to see that he was beginning to take an interest in such things.
The next morning, just after day-break, we were awakened by a good deal of tramping about on deck, over our heads, and we turned out, sharp, to see what the matter was.

Rectus wanted me to wait, after we were dressed, until he could get out his map and calculate where we were, but I couldn't stop for such nonsense, for I knew that his kind of navigation didn't amount to much, and so we scrambled up on deck.

The ship was pitching and tossing worse than she had done yet.

We had been practising the "sea-leg" business the day before, and managed to walk along pretty well; but this morning our sea-legs didn't work at all, and we couldn't take a step without hanging on to something.

When we got on deck, we found that the first officer, or mate,--his name was Randall,--with three or four sailors, was throwing the lead to see how deep the water was.