"I pretended to laugh, sir," said he, "but it's not quite laughing now.
The fog's coming over, and we're just going into cloud after cloud of
it. Don't let either of the ladies peep up again on any account. I'm
afeared o' nothing but collision, but it's regular blind man's holiday
when one o' them comes down."

"I'll see my sister right, Freeman, and I'll come and try if I can have
a peep from your ladder." Then Blair saw a thing which always seems
more impressive than anything else that can be witnessed at sea--except,
perhaps, a snowstorm. A mysterious portent came rolling onward; afar off
it looked like a pale grey wall of inconceivable height, but as it drew
nearer, the wall resolved itself into a wild array of columns, and
eddies, and whirlpools, and great full-bosomed clouds, that rolled and
swam and rose and fell with maddening complexity. Then came a breath of
deadly chillness, and then a horror of great darkness--a darkness that
could be felt. The skipper himself took to the fore rigging, and placed
one of the watch handy to the wheel; finally he called all hands up very
quietly, and the men hung on anyhow. One drift after another passed by
in dim majesty, and the spectacle, with all its desolation, was one
never to be forgotten. After half an hour or so, Blair glanced up and
noticed a dim form sliding down the shrouds; then the skipper rushed
aft, for the helmsman could not see him, and then came a strange dark
cloud of massive texture looming through the delirious dance of the
fog-wreaths. First a flare was tried, then the bell was rung with
trebled vigour.

"Down below, sir, and call all up. He's yawed into us."

Blair saw the shape of a large vessel start out in desperate closeness;
and running through to the saloon, cried quickly, "All up on deck!