The space was almost
impracticably small; and the Irish wenches combined the extreme of
bashfulness about this innocent display with a surprising impudence
and roughness of address. Most often, either the fiddle lifted up
its voice unheeded, or only a couple of lads would be footing it and
snapping fingers on the landing. And such was the eagerness of the
brother to display all the acquirements of his idol, and such the
sleepy indifference of the performer, that the tune would as often as
not be changed, and the hornpipe expire into a ballad before the
dancers had cut half a dozen shuffles.
In the meantime, however, the audience had been growing more and more
numerous every moment; there was hardly standing-room round the top
of the companion; and the strange instinct of the race moved some of
the newcomers to close both the doors, so that the atmosphere grew
insupportable. It was a good place, as the saying is, to leave.
The wind hauled ahead with a head sea. By ten at night heavy sprays
were flying and drumming over the forecastle; the companion of
Steerage No. 1 had to be closed, and the door of communication
through the second cabin thrown open.
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