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This was not long-delayed. "Topmen aloft! In royals and to'gallant stu'ns'ls!" he bellowed, in a tone that put that of poor Mr Bitpin completely into the shade; his voice sounding as if the wild bull which that gentleman had apparently imitated, according to the facetious Larkyns, had since been under the instruction of Signor Lablache or some other distinguished bass singer and had learnt to mellow his roar into a deeper tone.
"Well there with the windlass!" cried Carter delightedly. "Let go your to'gallant and topsail halyards and sheets; man your clewlines; fore and main clew-garnets. Stand by to let go the anchor!" "Ay, ay, sir!" was the response from the topgallant forecastle. "All ready with the anchor. Stand clear of the cable!"
"Pipe watch to set starboard topmast and to'gallant stu'ns'ls!" "Ay, ay, sir," replied the boatswain's mate from his post by the after-hatchway; and, almost in the same breath, his piercing shrill whistle was heard, followed by his hoarse shout repeating Mr Bitpin's gruff command. "Watch set starboard topmast and to'gallant stu'ns'ls!" "Topmen aloft!" "Jiggers at the tops'l lifts!"
Yes, let us get a good offing, and a rapping to'gallant breeze, and I do not think I should care much for two of Uncle Sam's new-fashioned revenue craft, one on each side of me." "How delightful do I find such conversation, Rose!
The order was obeyed with alacrity, and the brig was soon brought under the snug canvas she usually carried at night. "I told ye, Bill, there was no manner nor use setting them studsails nor to'gallant sails neither," said Jem Marlin, as, his watch on deck being over, he turned into his hammock at midnight. "Lord bless ye, nothing could have made us run away from her if we'd tried ever so much.
The wind abated so that by night we shook out our reefs and spread the royals and to'gallant sails to keep up our speed. As we approached De Castries the question of war was again discussed. "If I find only one French ship there," said the captain, "I shall proceed. If there are two I cannot fight them, and must run to San Francisco or some other neutral port."
We sailed with a regular westerly roarer astern of us, to which the `old man' I mean the capt'n, sir, showed every rag that would draw, up to to'gallant stunsails, and the skipper kept well to the south'ard, hoping to make all the easting that he wanted out of that westerly wind.
"The jolly-boat's clean gone; the life-boat's a wreck; the to'gallant bulwark, both sides, is gone, for'ard of the fore riggin'; the staysail blowed out of the bolt-ropes directly the gale struck us; and worst of all we've lost three of our little crowd." "Lost!" I ejaculated. "What d'ye mean, man?" "Just what I says, Mr Blackburn," answered the boatswain.
The yellow of a beach and a snowy gleam of surf showed at their feet, and then, dead ahead and still far away, they opened, and in the gap there was visible the still shining blue of water that ran inland and lay quiet under their shelter. "Stand by your to'gallant halyards!" came the order. "Lower away there!"
In honour of the extraordinary occasion he had donned a great white standing collar which projected above his ears, as the mate of the Olga would say, "like fore to'gallant studd'n' s'ls." Owing to a deplorable lack of understanding between his cotton trousers and his shoes they failed to meet by about six inches, and no provision had been made for the deficiency.
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