"
"I should have seen no beauty," said the generous lieutenant, laughing;
"but there is long Tom, as hard-featured a youth of two score and ten as
ever washed in brine, who has a heart as big, ay, bigger than that of a
kraaken. A bright watch to you, boy, and remember a keen eye on the
battery." As he was yet speaking, Barnstable crossed the gunwale of his
little vessel, and it was not until he was seated by the side of his
prisoner that he continued, aloud: "Cast the stops off your sails, Mr.
Merry, and see all clear to make a run of everything; recollect, you are
short-handed, sir. God bless ye! and d'ye hear? if there is a man among
you who shuts more than one eye at a time, I'll make him, when I get
back, open both wider than if Tom Coffin's friend, the Flying Dutchman,
was booming down upon him. God bless ye, Merry, my boy; give 'em the
square-sail, if this breeze off-shore holds on till morning:--shove
off."
As Barnstable gave the last order, he fell back on his seat, and,
drawing back his boat-cloak around him maintained a profound silence,
until they had passed the two small headlands that fanned the mouth of
the harbor. The men pulled, with muffled oars, their long, vigorous
strokes, and the boat glided with amazing rapidity past the objects that
could be yet indistinctly seen along the dim shore. When, however, they
had gained the open ocean, and the direction of their little bark was
changed to one that led them in a line with the coast, and within the
shadows of the cliffs, the cockswain, deeming that the silence was no
longer necessary to their safety, ventured to break it, as follows:
"A square-sail is a good sail to carry on a craft, dead afore it, and in
a heavy sea; but if fifty years can teach a man to know the weather,
it's my judgment that should the Ariel break ground after the night
turns at eight bells, she'll need her mainsail to hold her up to her
course.
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