Henry Miller and his father, then, went last winter to spend two or three
days in a town on the south coast of England. The day after they arrived,
they walked to some high ground, from which they could see the water.
Henry had seen rivers and ponds large enough for ships to sail on, but
what now lay before him was very different. A broad sheet of water, shut
in on both sides by high land, stretched out so far that nothing could
be seen beyond it. Whether the water rose till it met the sky, or the
sky came down till it met the water, or whether they met each other half
way, he could not make out. This sheet of water, his father told him,
was called a bay. There were many ships in it, most of them lying quite
still, riding at anchor, that is, each fastened by strong chains to an
iron anchor, which the sailors had thrown over into the water, and which
lay fixed by one of its flukes, or large teeth, to the bottom. Some of
them had their masts broken, for there had been a dreadful storm a few
days before, and they had sailed into this bay for shelter.
In the distance they could see the sails of a tall ship, which was coming
in, but, strange to say, not a bit of the ship itself was in sight—it
seemed to be quite sunk beneath the surface. Mr. Miller reminded Henry
that the earth was round, like the globe in the school-room at home, and
that the reason why the hull of the vessel could not be seen was that the
round surface of the globe came between it and his eye; but that if he
could see through the water between, he would find that the hull of the
ship was floating just like the vessels riding at anchor.
A little way from the land was an island, on which some houses were
built. The land on which Henry stood was so much higher than the island,
that he could see quite over it, and make out, quite well, that it really
was a piece of land surrounded by water.
After standing here a short time, and watching the boats, which were
sailing to and fro, some with sails, and some moved onwards by oars, they
walked down from the high ground by a broad road, and then by some stone
steps which had been cut in the rock, until they stood upon the beach.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account