What He Said, We Could
Not Distinguish, But The Captain Kicked Over His Chair, And Was On
Deck At One Jump.
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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 489 of 618
Words from 134161 to 134427
of 170236
