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"Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the fish's belly.

"He goes down in the whirling heart of such a masterless commotion that he scarce heeds the moment when he drops seething into the yawning jaws awaiting him; and the whale shoots-to all his ivory teeth, like so many white bolts, upon his prison.

"And now behold Jonah taken up as an anchor and dropped into the sea; when instantly an oily calmness floats out from the east, and the sea is still, as Jonah carries down the gale with him, leaving smooth water behind.

"But all in vain; the indignant gale howls louder; then, with one hand raised invokingly to God, with the other they not unreluctantly lay hold of Jonah.

"For when Jonah, not yet supplicating God for mercy, since he but too well knew the darkness of his deserts, -- when wretched Jonah cries out to them to take him and cast him forth into the sea, for he knew that for his sake this great tempest was upon them; they mercifully turn from him, and...

"Straightway, he now goes on to make a full confession; whereupon the mariners become more and more appalled, but still are pitiful.

"Aye, well mightest thou fear the Lord God then!

"Fear him, O Jonah?

"'I am a Hebrew,' he cries -- and then -- 'I fear the Lord the God of Heaven who hath made the sea and the dry land!'

"The eager mariners but ask him who he is, and where from; whereas, they not only receive an answer to those questions, but likewise another answer to a question not put by them, but the unsolicited answer is forced from Jonah by the hard hand of God that is upon him.

"But mark now, my shipmates, the behaviour of poor Jonah.

"'What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? Thy country? What people?'

"The lot is Jonah's; that discovered, then how furiously they mob him with their questions.

"The sailors mark him; more and more certain grow their suspicions of him, and at last, fully to test the truth, by referring the whole matter to high Heaven, they fall to casting lots, to see for whose cause this great tempest was upon them.

"In all his cringing attitudes, the God-fugitive is now too plainly known.

"Terrors upon terrors run shouting through his soul.

"And ever, as the white moon shows her affrighted face from the steep gullies in the blackness overhead, aghast Jonah sees the rearing bowsprit pointing high upward, but soon beat downward again towards the tormented deep.

"Wave after wave thus leaps into the ship, and finding no speedy vent runs roaring fore and aft, till the mariners come nigh to drowning while yet afloat.

"But at that moment he is sprung upon by a panther billow leaping over the bulwarks.

"Startled from his lethargy by that direful cry, Jonah staggers to his feet, and stumbling to the deck, grasps a shroud, to look out upon the sea.