There is only One who can see the winds of heaven, or who
can tell when a hurricane is to begin, or where it will end. Still, a
man isn't like a whale or a porpoise, that takes the, air in his
nostrils, and never knows whether it is a southeaster or a northwester
that he feeds upon. Look, broad-off to leeward, sir; see the streak of
clear sky shining under the mists; take an old seafaring man's word for
it, Captain Barnstable, that whenever the light shines out of the
heavens in that fashion, 'tis never done for nothing; besides, the sun
set in a dark bank of clouds, and the little moon we had was dry and
windy."
Barnstable listened attentively, and with increasing concern, for he
well knew that his cockswain possessed a quick and almost unerring
judgment of the weather, notwithstanding the confused medley of
superstitious omens and signs with which it was blended; but again
throwing himself back in his boat, he muttered:
"Then let it blow; Griffith is worth a heavier risk, and if the battery
can't be cheated, it can be carried."
Nothing further passed on the state of the weather. Dillon had not
ventured a single remark since he entered the boat, and the cockswain
had the discretion to understand that his officer was willing to be left
to his own thoughts. For nearly an hour they pursued their way with
diligence; the sinewy seamen, who wielded the oars, urging their light
boat along the edge of the surf with unabated velocity, and apparently
with untired exertions.
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