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After the first few days the weather had become quite stormy. Strong head-winds, accompanied often by very heavy rains, had to be encountered. In spite of this the ship had a very good passage northward, and met with no particular obstacle until her course was turned toward the Indian Ocean.
Hold up thy hoop, Pip, till I jump through it! Split jibs! tear yourselves! That's a white man; he calls that fun: humph! I save my sweat. I wonder whether those jolly lads bethink them of what they are dancing over. I'll dance over your grave, I will that's the bitterest threat of your night-women, that beat head-winds round corners.
On examining the record of the voyage which Mr. Talmage kept faithfully every day, we find that the ship had made only twenty seven knots in two days. "June 18. For the last month we have not made rapid progress. We have experienced much detention from head-winds and calms. About a week ago we were put on an allowance of water, one gallon a day to each one on board.
The "Genius," delayed by head-winds, was a long time in making the comparatively short voyage between Greenland and Norway, and did not reach Christiansand until the 12th of July, nor Christiania until the morning of the 15th. That very morning Sylvius Hogg went aboard the vessel.
Talcott played also on the flute, far better than I did myself; and we frequently made a trio, producing very respectable sea-music better, indeed, than Neptune often got for his smiles. In this manner, then, we travelled our long road, sometimes contending with head-winds and cross-seas, sometimes becalmed, and sometimes slipping along at a rate that rendered everybody contented and happy.
On leaving Sierra Leone a course was shaped for the Congo, and after a long and very tedious passage, during the whole of which we had to contend against light head-winds, we found ourselves once more within sight of the river at daybreak. It was stark calm, with a cloudless sky, and a long lazy swell came creeping in from the southward and eastward causing the sloop to roll most uncomfortably.
On the second day after they left Tobago Island they fell in with a small steamer apparently in distress, for she was working her way under sail and against head-winds towards the coast. When the Captain spoke this steamer, he received a request to lower a boat and go on board of her. There he found an astonishing state of affairs.
Strong head-winds and a heavy sea baffled us till we had cleared the longitude of Cape Race; then the weather softened, the breeze veered round till it blew on our quarter, and we had clear sky above us all the way in.
Even then they are delayed by storms and head-winds; and when they do arrive Roldan and his company will not embark in them. The agreement has been broken; a new one must be made. Columbus, returning to San Domingo after long and harassing struggles on the other end of the see-saw, gets news of this deadlock, and at the same time has news from Fonseca in Spain of a far from agreeable character.
But that night, after supper, as the old man was mending his mittens he sat down by his side. "Henry," he began, "how is it that the parson has head-winds? Do you think it's the Lord's will?" "'Tain't the Lord's will, laddie," was the slow response. "Oh no, 'tain't His." "Whose, then?"
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