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By and by, an order is given; ``Aye, aye, sir! from the forecastle; rigging is thrown down on deck; the noise of a sail is heard fluttering aloft, and the short, quick cry which sailors make when hauling upon clew-lines. ``Here comes his fore top-gallant-sail in! We are wide awake, and know all that's going on as well as if we were on deck.
"I t'ink he'm church," responded the acquiescent black. "Lord help the dark-skinned fool! Your Honour knows that conscience is d nab-y overlooked in Africa, and will not judge the nigger hardly for any little blunder he may make in the account of his religion. But the fellow is a thorough seaman, and should know a top-gallant-sail from a weathercock.
All sail being set, he now cast loose the life-line, reserved for swaying him to the main royal-mast head; and in a few moments they were hoisting him thither, when, while but two thirds of the way aloft, and while peering ahead through the horizontal vacancy between the main-top-sail and top-gallant-sail, he raised a gull-like cry in the air. "There she blows! there she blows!
"If you permit the stranger to near us, it might be difficult to throw him off the chase, should we be glad to get rid of him." "It must be a fast-going vessel to which the 'Dolphin' cannot spare a top-gallant-sail." "I know not, sir. The sail in sight is swift on the wind, and it is to be believed that she is no duller off.
The second mate holds on to the main top-gallant-sail until a heavy sea is shipped, and washes over the forecastle as though the whole ocean had come aboard; when a noise further aft shows that that sail, too, is taking in. After this the ship is more easy for a time; two bells are struck, and we try to get a little sleep.
The statue is designed to represent Perry, not as he was superintending the cutting down of the forest for the construction of his ships; not as he was meditating the plan of the battle of Lake Erie or the order of its execution; not as he appeared the evening previous to the action advising his subordinate commanders in the words of Nelson, "No captain can do wrong if he places his ship alongside of that of an enemy;" nor as he was opening the battle flag which bore upon its folds the dying words of a gallant captain; not as he was leaving his wrecked ship with the deck strewed with his dead and dying comrades, when by the received cannons of naval warfare the Lawrence and the battle were lost; but as he appeared in that supreme moment of his life, when he had just gained the deck of the Niagara, before he had recovered his knocked-off cap, and while in distinct succession he was giving orders to "Back the main-top-sail," "Brail-up the main-try-sail," "Helm up" "Square the yards," "Bear down on the enemy's line," "Set the top-gallant-sail," "Hoist the signal for close action," orders which infused new enthusiasm into all the American crews; and as pendant answered pendant, from mast-head to mast-head indicating the reception of the order to break the enemy's lines, hearty cheers went up from the entire American force with a fervor that presaged the result of the impending death struggle.
This was no sooner done, than she let fall a sail from her sprit-sail-yard, one bent for the occasion, and a top-gallant-sail was set to a light spar that had been rigged against the stump of the main-mast; the stick that rose highest from her deck.
The crew were to serve in quarter watches, from eight at night till eight in the forenoon, though the acting watch officers were to serve full time. Night came on with the breeze freshening, and the top-gallant-sail was furled. The Josephine then had all she could carry, for Mr. Fluxion was not a fair-weather sailor, and always crowded on all the vessel would stagger under.
It was nothing but ``haul down and clew up, until we got all the studding-sails in, and the royals, flying jib, and mizzen top-gallant-sail furled, and the ship kept off a little, to take the squall. The fore and main top-gallant sails were still on her, for the ``old man'' did not mean to be frightened in broad daylight, and was determined to carry sail till the last minute.
Still, no more sail is taken in, for the captain is a driver, and, like all drivers, very partial to his top-gallant-sails. A top-gallant-sail, too, makes the difference between a breeze and a gale. When a top-gallant-sail is on a ship, it is only a breeze, though I have seen ours set over a reefed topsail, when half the bowsprit was under water, and it was up to a man's knees in the lee scuppers.
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