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It was a rather long, richly-gilded vessel, and bore a silver sparrow-hawk as figure-head. In its midst rose a golden canopy with a purple covering, beneath which cushions were conveniently arranged. On each deck in the forepart of the ship sat twelve rowers, their aprons attached by costly fastenings.
The morning before we anchored at Porto Praya, I collected a little packet of this brown-coloured fine dust, which appeared to have been filtered from the wind by the gauze of the vane at the mast-head. Mr. Lyell has also given me four packets of dust which fell on a vessel a few hundred miles northward of these islands.
I could hear him stirrin' 'round up there when I was for'ard just now, and he hollered to the wheel that up to the no'the'ard it looked like planty of fish. 'And I callate we ain't the only vessel got eyes for it, he said." "Yes," said his watch-mate, who had just dropped down, "it's nothing but side-lights all 'round and " Just then came the skipper's voice from aloft.
"She may give up." But she didn't; so far as those on the Uncas could tell the shot had no effect whatever. The vessel kept straight on in her course. "She's counting on the darkness coming," said the lieutenant. But that was not the only reason why the Spaniard did not give up; those upon the Uncas discovered another shortly afterward. "The Cuban coast," exclaimed the officer.
"It's ownly goin' to that Yankee astern av us; but the tide bein' on the ebb, in course, they've got to make foorther up the strame towards this vessel, so as to fetch their own craft handsomely d'ye see?"
For instance, the seabreeze will take a vessel out through the northerly part, and next morning she will have the land breeze to carry her the rest of the distance; whilst, alternating, the same breeze serves to take ships in.
The next day the French plundered Smith's vessel and distributed his crew among their ships, and for a week employed his boat in chasing all the ships that came in sight. At the end of this bout they surrendered her again to her crew, with victuals but no weapons. Smith exhorted his officers to proceed on their voyage for fish, either to New England or Newfoundland.
"It is that vessel that has just got in," said Rollo. "Rollo," said Mrs. Holiday, "look at the mountain." Rollo turned his eye for a moment towards the mountain. All the lower part of it was of a cold and deathlike whiteness, while the tip of the summit was glowing as if it had been on fire. He was, however, too much interested in the smoke of the gun to look long at the mountain.
However, when I got close to her I saw that she was not the Hurst Castle after all, but only another unlucky vessel that had broken her nose in collision and so had filled forward and gone sagging down by the bows.
As we ran in we had our last sight of the distant vessel which had brought us so far on our journey, and Uncle Dick, who was standing up forward to direct me in my steering, cried "Nothing could be better, Nat. It's like landing on one of our old islands. Neither hut nor inhabitant to be seen. This is genuine wild country, and we shall find a river to-morrow.
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