We Could Not Tell What It Was; And, Anxious As
We Were To Know, The Discipline Of The Ship Would Not Allow Of Our
Leaving Our Places.
Yet, as we were not called, we knew there was
no danger.
We hurried to get through with our job, when, seeing the
steward's black face peering out of the pantry, Mr. H - - - hailed
him, to know what was the matter. "Lan' o, to be sure, sir! No
you hear 'em sing out, 'Lan' o?' De cap'em say 'im Cape Horn!"
This gave us a new start, and we were soon through our work,
and on deck; and there lay the land, fair upon the larboard
beam, and slowly edging away upon the quarter. All hands were
busy looking at it - the captain and mates from the quarter-deck,
the cook from his galley, and the sailors from the forecastle;
and even Mr. N., the passenger, who had kept in his shell for
nearly a month, and hardly been seen by anybody, and who we had
almost forgotten was on board, came out like a butterfly, and was
hopping round as bright as a bird.
The land was the island of Staten Land, and, just to the eastward
of Cape Horn; and a more desolate-looking spot I never wish to set
eyes upon; - bare, broken, and girt with rocks and ice, with here
and there, between the rocks and broken hillocks, a little stunted
vegetation of shrubs. It was a place well suited to stand at the
junction of the two oceans, beyond the reach of human cultivation,
and encounter the blasts and snows of a perpetual winter. Yet,
dismal as it was, it was a pleasant sight to us; not only as being
the first land we had seen, but because it told us that we had
passed the Cape, - were in the Atlantic, - and that, with twenty-
four hours of this breeze, might bid defiance to the Southern
Ocean. It told us, too, our latitude and longitude better than
any observation; and the captain now knew where we were, as well
as if we were off the end of Long wharf.
In the general joy, Mr. N. said he should like to go ashore upon
the island and examine a spot which probably no human being had
ever set foot upon; but the captain intimated that he would see the
island - specimens and all, - in - another place, before he would get
out a boat or delay the ship one moment for him.
We left the land gradually astern; and at sundown had the
Atlantic Ocean clear before us.
CHAPTER XXXIII
CRACKING ON - PROGRESS HOMEWARD - A PLEASANT SUNDAY - A FINE SIGHT -
BY-PLAY
It is usual, in voyages round the Cape from the Pacific, to keep
to the eastward of the Falkland Islands; but as it had now set in
a strong, steady, and clear south-wester, with every prospect of
its lasting, and we had had enough of high latitudes, the captain
determined to stand immediately to the northward, running inside
the Falkland Islands. Accordingly, when the wheel was relieved at
eight o'clock, the order was given to keep her due north, and all
hands were turned up to square away the yards and make sail.
In a moment, the news ran through the ship that the captain was
keeping her off, with her nose straight for Boston, and Cape Horn
over her taffrail. It was a moment of enthusiasm. Every one was
on the alert, and even the two sick men turned out to lend a hand
at the halyards. The wind was now due south-west, and blowing
a gale to which a vessel close hauled could have shown no more
than a single close-reefed sail; but as we were going before it,
we could carry on.
Accordingly, hands were sent aloft, and a reef shaken out of the
top-sails, and the reefed foresail set. When we came to masthead
the topsail yards, with all hands at the halyards, we struck up
"Cheerily, men," with a chorus which might have been heard half-way
to Staten Land. Under her increased sail, the ship drove on through
the water. Yet she could bear it well; and the captain sang out from
the quarter-deck - "Another reef out of that fore-topsail, and give
it to her!" Two hands sprang aloft; the frozen reef-points and
earings were cast adrift, the halyards manned, and the sail gave
out her increased canvas to the gale. All hands were kept on
deck to watch the effect of the change. It was as much as she
could well carry, and with a heavy sea astern, it took two men
at the wheel to steer her. She flung the foam from her bows;
the spray breaking aft as far as the gangway. She was going at
a prodigious rate.
Still, everything held. Preventer braces were reeved and hauled
taught; tackles got upon the backstays; and each thing done to
keep all snug and strong. The captain walked the deck at a rapid
stride, looked aloft at the sails, and then to windward; the mate
stood in the gangway, rubbing his hands, and talking aloud to the
ship - "Hurrah, old bucket! the Boston girls have got hold of the
tow-rope!" and the like; and we were on the forecastle, looking
to see how the spars stood it, and guessing the rate at which
she was going, - when the captain called out - "Mr. Brown, get up
the topmast studding-sail! What she can't carry she may drag!"
The mate looked a moment; but he would let no one be before him
in daring.
He sprang forward - "Hurrah, men! rig out the topmast studding-sail
boom! Lay aloft, and I'll send the rigging up to you!" - We sprang
aloft into the top; lowered a girt-line down, by which we hauled
up the rigging; rove the tacks and halyards; ran out the boom and
lashed it fast, and sent down the lower halyards, as a preventer.
It was a clear starlight night, cold and blowing; but everybody
worked with a will.
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