I have the advantage of knowing the ground well, and must
trust to my memory and God's good favor. Make sail, make sail, sir, and
if you succeed, we will venture to break ground."
The order was promptly obeyed, and in a very short time the Ariel was
covered with canvas. Though no air was perceptible on the decks of the
frigate, the little schooner was so light that she succeeded in stemming
her way over the rising waves, aided a little by the tide; and in a few
minutes her low hull was just discernible in the streak of light along
the horizon, with the dark outline of her sails rising above the sea,
until their fanciful summits were lost in the shadows of the clouds.
Griffith had listened to the foregoing dialogue, like the rest of the
junior officers, in profound silence; but when the Ariel began to grow
indistinct to the eye, he jumped lightly from the gun to the deck, and
cried:
"She slips off, like a vessel from the stocks! Shall I trip the anchor,
sir, and follow?"
"We have no choice," replied his captain. "You hear the question, Mr.
Gray? shall we let go the bottom?"
"It must be done, Captain Munson; we may want more drift than the rest
of this tide to get us to a place of safety," said the pilot "I would
give five years from a life that I know will be short, if the ship lay
one mile further seaward."
This remark was unheard by all, except the commander of the frigate, who
again walked aside with the pilot, where they resumed their mysterious
communications.
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