, bound for Penal Settlement; her captain ought to be tried for his life; her crew ran down men in rowboats with a relish; she mashed up Thames lightermen with her paddles; she fired property with her funnels; she always was, and she always would be, wreaking destruction upon somebody or something, after the manner of all her kind. The whole bulk of the fog teemed with such taunts, uttered in tones of universal hoarseness. All the while, the steamer’s lights moved spectrally a very little, as she lay-to, waiting the upshot of whatever accident had happened. Now, she began burning blue-lights. These made a luminous patch about her, as if she had set the fog on fire, and in the patch⁠—the cries changing their note, and becoming more fitful and more excited⁠—shadows of men and boats could be seen moving, while voices shouted: “There!” “There again!” “A couple more strokes ahead!” “Hurrah!” “Look out!” “Hold on!” “Haul in!” and the like. Lastly, with a few tumbling clots of blue fire, the night closed in dark again, the wheels of the steamer were heard revolving, and her lights glided smoothly away in the direction of the sea.