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I was aboard of one of Rodneys fleet, dye see, about the time we licked De Grasse, Mounsheer Lor Quaws countryman, there; and the wind was here at the southard and east'ard; and I was below, mixing a toothful of hot stuff for the captain of marines, who dined, dye see, in the cabin, that there very same day; and I suppose he wanted to put out the captains fire with a gun-room ingyne; and so, just as I got it to my own liking, after tasting pretty often, for the soldier was difficult to please, slap came the foresail agin the mast, whiz went the ship round on her heel, like a whirligig.
On Mondays the whole forenoon was devoted to these evolutions, the sails being set one after the other, topsails, topgallants, royals, and even stu'nsails sometimes, besides the courses and headsails below; until, often, the whole ship was piled with canvas as if she were fetching down Channel on a cruise, her spars quivering with the strain frequently, when we had the wind abeam from the southward and east'ard, and every rope as taut as a bar of iron!
And I reckon that he did, too, for we carried that same breeze with us to longitude 115 degrees, when we hauled up to the nor'ard and east'ard. Then about two days later wasn't it, Bob?" "Ay," answered the boatswain, who seemed to know exactly to what Nicholls was referring, "just two days a'terwards, Mr Nicholls."
To reach Magellan we'd hev to work out seaward ag'in, an' back past the `Furies, whar thar's all sorts o' cross-currents to contend wi'. Whereas goin' east'ard through the Beagle, we'll hev both wind and tide a'most allers in our favour. 'Sides, there'd be no bother 'bout the coorse. 'Tair jest like steerin' in a river, an' along the coast ag'in. I'm wall acquaint' wi' every inch o' 't."
"Ain't seen nothing 'long de way nothin' to th' east'ard, has you, capt'n?" "No, I didn't see nothin'. And if I did, d'y' s'pose I'd tell you, you green-sided, patch-sailed whelp's loafer of a black pirate, do you?"
The captain chuckled, laid the letter on the bench beside him and went on with his work. It was perhaps ten minutes later when, happening to glance at the postmark on the envelope, he saw that it was "Concord, N. H." Asaph's vote-gathering trip "to the east'ard" made a full day for him. He returned to the perfect boarding house just at supper time. During the meal he realized that Mr.
"Sun and sea to-morry they'll be back on Au Fer like dried bones o' dead men in the sand! Bear east'ard off of 'em!" The oarsman struggled in the deeper pass water. The skiff bow suddenly plunged into a wall of green-and-purple bloom. The points brushed Tedge's cheek. He cursed and smote them, tore them from the low bow and flung them. But the engineman stood up and peered into the starlight.
See my argument, don't you, Mr. Ellery?" "Yes, I guess so." "Um hm! Why, land sakes, names don't mean nothin' with seafarin' men. I've seen the time when I had more names Humph! Looks kind of squally off to the east'ard, don't it?" That night the sick man was much worse. His ravings were incessant.
I had scarcely closed my eyes, as it seemed to me, when I was awakened by Polson, who was shaking me by the shoulder as he reported: "It's just gone four bells, Mr Troubridge, and there's daylight enough abroad to show us that the ringin' that have been worryin' us comes from a barque 'bout half a mile to the east'ard of us.
"Now, lads," said Skipper Zeb when they had finished their evening meal, and he was puffing his pipe comfortably by the warm stove, "I has a line o' traps to set up to the east'ard of the tilt that I weren't settin' up before we goes in, and two days' work to do about here whatever. We've been havin' a long spell o' fine weather like we mostly has before winter sets in hard.
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