The Capsina: An Historical NovelBenson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
History
The Capsina: An Historical Novel
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
Greece -- History -- War of Independence, 1821-1829 -- Fiction
"He has beaten out farther to sea," said Mitsos, "for, indeed, he is
more prudent than we are. Well, we are alone in this piece. The Turks,
they say, are afraid of ghosts by night, and so, for that matter, am I.
They shall see a phantom ship, and it will speak with them."
The _Revenge_ was still going south at about right angles to the wind,
and as the coast trended eastward was every moment getting more sea
room. The Turk, as they knew, was drifting due east, but for five
minutes or so after the word to run out the guns was given no lightning
broke the black and streaming vault, and they waited in thick, tense
silence for another flash. But while above them the clouds remained
pitchy and unilluminated, once and again to the south there came a
flash distant and flickering like the winking of an eye, showing that
another storm was coming up from that quarter.
Mitsos stamped with angry impatience.
"That is what I feared," he said; "the wind will shift farther south
and we shall have to look to ourselves. Holy Virgin, send us a flash of
lightning and west wind for half an hour more."
He and the Capsina were standing together on the bridge, Mitsos
bareheaded and tangle-haired to the streaming rain, she with the
brilliantly colored shawl wrapped round her head. Once he shifted his
position, and putting forward his hand on the rail to steady himself,
laid it on the top of hers, and she could feel the blood pulsing
furiously through the arteries in his fingers. She stood perfectly
still, not withdrawing her hand, and, indeed, he seemed unconscious
that it was there. At last what they had been waiting for came; a
furious angry scribble leaped from west to east over their heads, and
peering out into the darkness they saw the Turk to leeward of them,
some four hundred yards distant. At that Mitsos grasped the girl's hand
till she could have cried out with the pain.
"There she is!" he cried. "We have her. We have her. Let go the helm
and be ready to furl the sails on the instant. Oh, Capsina, this hour
is worth living."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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