The bustle, however, gradually
ceased, and in a few minutes the same silence pervaded the ship as
before.
"We are brought-to, sir," said Griffith, who stood overlooking the
scene, holding in one hand a short speaking, trumpet, and grasping with
the other one of the shrouds of the ship, to steady himself in the
position he had taken on a gun.
"Heave round, sir," was the calm reply.
"Heave round!" repeated Griffith, aloud.
"Heave round!" echoed a dozen eager voices at once, and the lively
strains of a fife struck up a brisk air, to enliven the labor. The
capstan was instantly set in motion, and the measured tread of the
seamen was heard, as they stamped the deck in the circle of their march.
For a few minutes no other sounds were heard, if we except the voice of
an officer, occasionally cheering the sailors, when it was announced
that they "were short;" or, in other words, that the ship was nearly
over her anchor.
"Heave and pull," cried Griffith; when the quivering notes of the
whistle were again succeeded by a general stillness in the vessel.
"What is to be done now, sir?" continued the lieutenant; "shall we trip
the anchor? There seems not a breath of air; and as the tide runs slack,
I doubt whether the sea do not heave the ship ashore."
There was so much obvious truth in this conjecture, that all eyes turned
from the light and animation afforded by the decks of the frigate, to
look abroad on the waters, in a vain desire to pierce the darkness, as
if to read the fate of their apparently devoted ship from the aspect of
nature.
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