The Cruise of the Dainty

Never was bothered with a more thorough calm! exclaimed my brother Harry not for the first time that morning as he and I in spite of the sweltering heat paced the deck of our tight little schooner the Dainty then floating motionless on the smooth bosom of the broad Pacific. The empty sails hung idly from the yards. The dog-vanes imitated their example. Not the tiniest wavelet disturbed the shining surface of the ocean not a cloud dimmed the intense blue of the sky from which the sun glared forth with a power that made the pitch in the seams of the deck bubble up and stick to the soles of our feet and though it might have failed to cook a beefsteak in a satisfactory manner was rapidly drying some strings of fish hung up in the rigging.