The Water-Witch; Or, the Skimmer of the Seas: A TaleCooper, James Fenimore
General
The Water-Witch; Or, the Skimmer of the Seas: A Tale
Cooper, James Fenimore
Sea stories
These orders were given in rapid succession, and witout a trumpet, for
the young man could, at need, speak loud as the tempest. They were
succeeded by one of those exciting and fearful minutes that are so
familiar to mariners. Each man was intent on his duty, while the
elements worked their will around him, as madly as if the hand by which
they are ordinarily restrained was for ever removed. The bay was a
sheet of foam, while the rushing of the gust resembled the dull
rumbling of a thousand chariots. The ship yielded to the pressure,
until the water was seen gushing through her lee-scuppers, and her tall
line of masts inclined towards the plane of the bay, as if the ends of
the yards were about to dip into the water. But this was no more than
the first submission to the shock. The well-moulded fabric recovered
its balance, and struggled through its element, as if conscious that
there was security only in motion. Ludlow glanced his eye to leeward.
The opening of the Cove was favorably situated, and he caught a glimpse
of the spars of the brigantine, rocking violently in the squall. He
spoke to demand if the anchors were clear, and then he was heard,
shouting again from his station in the weather gangway—
“Hard a-weather!—”
The first efforts of the cruiser to obey her helm, stripped as she was
of canvas, were labored and slow. But when her head began to fall off,
the driving scud was scarce swifter than her motion. At that moment,
the sluices of the cloud opened, and a torrent of rain mingled in the
uproar, and added to the confusion. Nothing was now visible but the
lines of the falling water, and the sheet of white foam through which
the ship was glancing.
“Here is the land, sir!” bellowed Trysail, from a cat-head, where he
stood resembling some venerable sea-god, dripping with his native
element. “We are passing it, like a race-horse!”
“See your bowers clear!” shouted back the captain.
“Ready, sir, ready—”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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