Part 7 (1/2)
As Boalked the deck with a spy-glass under his arm in man-of-war fashi+on, a slistened in his eye; and as he felt the freshening breeze fanning his cheek, and lifting his vessel, as it were, he began to laugh at his momentary suspicions about the character of the speronara and her crew
Every now and then he would stop in his walk, and would look over the side to judge how fast the vessel was going through the water, or he would examine the compasses to assure himself that they were true, or he would cast his eye aloft to see how his sails drew, or his clear, full voice would be heard issuing soovernment of the shi+p
Even Colonel Gauntlett could not help expressing his satisfaction at the propitious coe, as he stopped in his short and otherwise silent walk on the poop to address a feords to theon the fast-receding shore; and it is not surprising that her thoughts were fixed on hi, from its most extreme point, the bark which bore her away Her little Maltese ht eyes, and gazing her last for an indefinite time on the land of her birth, and where all her affections were centred, except those which had lately arisen for her youngexactly where he ought to be, being too dignified, at first, to mix with the men forward, and astonished and confused at enerally the case with his class, always et exactly where he was most in the way
”Port a little, you may, my son,” said the master to the man at the helm; ”steady, so, keep her East-and-by-north is the course,”
pronouncing the north with a strong emphasis on the O, and without the R--as if it were spelt Nothe ”Just get a gentle pull on our weather-braces, Mr Tiain We're , sir,” to the colonel
”She's not going less than six knots an hour, I'll warrant, which, with this light wind, is not bad for a craft of her build--she's no clipper, I own, sir Heave the log here I dare say you'll like to be certain, ht the operation would amuse her
The second -line and reel
Bowse took a half- till all the sand had run into one end, held it up before him The seamen, meantime, held the reel up before him, so as to allow it to turn easily in his hands, and the -shi+p, adjusted the peg, and drew off, with a peculiar jerk of his left hand, several coils of the stray-line, which he held for a moment over the quarter of the vessel, till he saw that his chief was ready with the glass, and he then hove it over into the water The first part of the line is called the stray-line, and its object is to allow the log-shi+p to settle properly in the water, as well as to take it clear of the eddy As soon as this part had run out, a cloth ers ”Turn,” he exclailass The h theit at a stretch
”Stop,” sung out Bowse, as the sand had run out of the upper end of the glass
”Done,” said the mate, and stopped the line
He had not to count the knots run off, for his experienced eye was able to tell the number by the mark on the line It must be understood that this line is divided into a certain number of equal parts, each of which bears the same proportion to a mile, which thirty seconds do to an hour, and therefore, as the log-shi+p re to the nuh, while the sand is running, so is sho h the water
”Six and a quarter,” exclai for a shi+p with a full cargo, in a breeze like this”
”That's e call heaving the log, Miss Garden,” said the h in not quite so succinct a way as I have attelass another tilass runs, in reality, only for twenty-eight seconds, as two are considered to be ee over the reader, by having the operation performed before her eyes, answered that she clearly understood it, and would always, in future, hold the glass
”By this calculation, you see, miss, as it is just two hours since we passed Fort Saint Elmo, we have run exactly twelve knots and a half off the reel; though we didn't go through the water so fast at first, as we are now doing However, by the look of the land, I calculate we are not much less than that off it You see we call miles--knots, miss, on account of the knots which are marked on the line When we can just see the last of so by compass and its distance, and then I shall co the shi+p's course off on the chart, and that is e call taking our departure Now you see there's many people on shore would fancy that e left the port we took our departure; but the ties which bind a seaman to the shore, and to those we leave behind, are not so quickly parted as theyat one of the first atteuilty, thought the next instant he blushed at his own audacity
”It's surprising, miss, what funnyconcerns; but then, what can you expect of the the deep conorance of landsmen ”To say that they don't know the ste about a shi+p, how she's built, how she sails, or what she's like The last voyage I er on board as a cleverish sort of gentleo on for an hour; yet he wanted to knohy I couldn't bring the shi+p to an anchor right out in the Bay of Biscay; and one night, when it was blowing a stiffish gale, with a heavy sea running, he roused me out of my sleep to ask me to send a better hand to the helm; one who kne to keep the craft steady, or else to run into soet it out of his head that he was not in the Thames Now, miss, I see that you are not one of those sort of people, and that you will soon know all about a shi+p, though you may not just yet be able to act the captain To-reenhorns we are doing, e take an observation with the quadrant It's a very pretty instrument, and you will be pleased to kno to use it”
”I shall like very much to learn all you can teach reat effort to rouse herself fro of sadness which oppressed her ”I wonder how ed to traverse, as they did, the most distant seas, before these instruments were invented”
”They used to trust , than they do now, I suppose, miss,” answered the e of a vessel who never takesfound his latitude, runs down the longitude by dead reckoning Souess, and it is extraordinary how often they hit their point Now and then, to be sure, they find themselves two or three hundred et the shi+p cast away I have, too, met vessels out in the Atlantic which had entirely lost their reckoning, and had not the slightest notion where they were Once, I re hohted a Spanish ot up to her we hove to, and an officer calish; and you would scarcely believe it, but the first thing he did was to ask us for the latitude and longitude; and he confessed that the only instruments they had on board were out of repair, and, for what I know, the only man who kne to use them was ill Our captain then sent an officer on board the corvette, and a pretty condition she was in for a er, and his wife and family, and two or three other ladies and their fa about the decks in a state of despair, thinking they were never to see land again They had been a wholehow to find the way home The decks were as dirty as if they had not been holystoned or swept all that time; not a sail was properly set, not a rope flemished down If I hadn't seen it withpossible Our appearance raised their spirits a little, and they began putting thehts as soon as they had ot into the latitude of Cadiz, for their craft sailed very well, for all that they did not kno to handle her, and I believe that they et into port in safety at last”
”I am surprised at what you tell ht the Spaniards could not have so totally forgotten their ancient naval renown as to allow such dreadful ignorance to exist”
”The h, and the officers in the ood sealected, and men were made officers who did not know the stem from the stern of the shi+p, just because they happened to be some poor dependent of one of their nobles, or the son of a valet out of place Things area little noith thearly fellows as you speak of can be induced to go into the navy at all,” said the colonel, who had been listening to the master's story, and was far from pleased at the interest Ada took in what he said ”For my part, I would as soon be a shoe-black; but you seeive my niece a dose of the sea”
”Oh, yes, sir!” answered Bowse, perfectly indifferent to the colonel's ill-te lady a first-rate sailor before long”
”I hope you will do no such thing, Mr Bowse; she thinks a great deal tooanother turn aft