Being Now To Northward Of The Falkland Islands,
The Ship Was Kept Off, North-East, For The Equator; And With
Her
head for the equator, and Cape Horn over her taffrail, she went
gloriously on; every heave of the sea
Leaving the Cape astern,
and every hour bringing us nearer to home, and to warm weather.
Many a time, when blocked up in the ice, with everything dismal
and discouraging about us, had we said, - if we were only fairly
round, and standing north on the other side, we should ask for
no more: - and now we had it all, with a clear sea, and as much
wind as a sailor could pray for. If the best part of the voyage
is the last part, surely we had all now that we could wish.
Every one was in the highest spirits, and the ship seemed as
glad as any of us at getting out of her confinement. At each
change of the watch, those coming on deck asked those going
below - "How does she go along?" and got for answer, the rate,
and the customary addition - "Aye! and the Boston girls have had hold
of the tow-rope all the watch, and can't haul half the slack in!"
Each day the sun rose higher in the horizon, and the nights grew
shorter; and at coming on deck each morning, there was a sensible
change in the temperature. The ice, too, began to melt from off
the rigging and spars, and, except a little which remained in the
tops and round the hounds of the lower masts, was soon gone.
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