The words of assent were no sooner uttered, however,
than Griffith gave forth from his trumpet the command to "heave away!"
Again the strains of the fife were followed by the tread of the men at
the capstan. At the same time that the anchor was heaving up, the sails
were loosened from the yards, and opened to invite the breeze. In
effecting this duty, orders were thundered through the trumpet of the
first lieutenant, and executed with the rapidity of thought. Men were to
be seen, like spots in the dim light from the heavens, lying on every
yard or hanging as in air, while strange cries were heard issuing from
every part of the rigging and each spar of the vessel. "Ready the
foreroyal," cried a shrill voice, as if from the clouds; "ready the
foreyard," uttered the hoarser tones of a seaman beneath him; "all ready
aft, sir," cried a third, from another quarter; and in a few moments the
order was given to "let fall."
The little light which fell from the sky was now excluded by the falling
canvas, and a deeper gloom was cast athwart the decks of the ship, that
served to render the brilliancy of the lanterns even vivid, while it
gave to objects outboard a more appalling and dreary appearance than
before.
Every individual, excepting the commander and his associate, was now
earnestly engaged in getting the ship under way. The sounds of "we're
away" were repeated by a burst from fifty voices, and the rapid
evolutions of the capstan announced that nothing but the weight of the
anchor was to be lifted.
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