The Sea-Witch | Page 8

more the scene was changed! With terrific violence the
vessel flew up in the wind with the rapidity of thought, and a report like
that of a score of cannons fired at the same moment, was heard above
the roar of the winds.
"What lubberly trick is this?" shouted the captain, fiercely, to the old
tar who held his station at the wheel, and on whose faithfulness
everything depended.
"The wheel rope has parted on the larboard side, your honor," was the
reply.
"That is no man's fault," said his commander. "Bear a hand here, Mr.
Faulkner, and bend on a fresh wheel rope. Be lively; sir, be lively!"
The sails had been blown from the bolt-ropes, in an instant of time, and
the vessel now lay wallowing in the sea. Now once more was seen the
power of discipline and the coolness of the young commander, whose
word was law in that floating community. Fifty voices were raised in
shouts above the storm, suggesting this expedient and that, but that
agile figure, which we have already described, sprang lightly into the
mizzen shrouds, and with a voice that was heard by every soul on board
the "Sea Witch," shouted sternly:
"Silence in the ship!"
Not a voice was heard, and every man quietly awaited his order,
looking abashed that there had been a tongue heard save his who had
the right alone to speak.
"Cast the gasket off the foot of the fore and aft foresail."
"Ay, ay, sir!" responded the mate, who having secured the rudder, now
hastened by his commander, followed by a dozen hands, to execute the
order.
"Haul the sheet to port!"
"Ay, ay, sir!"
"Belay that!"
As the vessel felt the power of the canvass thus opportunely loosed and
brought to bear, she gradually paid off before the wind, and once more
had steerage way. Another foresail was now bent, and this time
double-reefed, the foretopsail, too, was bent, close-reefed and furled,

while the fore and aft foresail was once more stowed, leaving the "Sea
Witch" to scud under double-reefed foresail.
Five days of steady blow continued before the vessel could again show
more than a small portion of her canvass. Then the wind once more
hauled to the northwest, and the "Sea Witch" donned heir fore and aft
rig on all her masts steering close-hauled again due cast, until the lofty
headlands of the Cape de Verds hove gradually in sight, and the fleet
clipper craft made her anchorage in the harbor of Port Praya.
The "Sea Witch," whatever her business in this harbor, seemed able to
transact it without venturing inside the forts, or taking stronger
moorings than a single anchor could afford her. At this she rode with
mysterious quiet. Not a soul of the full complement of men on board
were visible from the shore; now and then perhaps the head of some
taller hand than his fellows might loom up above the bulwarks at the
waist, or a solitary seaman creep quietly aloft to reave a sheet through
some block, or secure some portion of the rigging. The captain scarcely
waited for his land-tackle to hold the vessel before a quarter-boat was
lowered away, and with a half-dozen sturdy fellows as its crew pulled
boldly towards the main landing, where he stepped ashore and
disappeared.
A suspicious eye would have marked the manner in which the sails
upon the "Sea Witch" had been secured, and the way in which she was
moored. If need be, three minutes would have covered her with canvass,
and slipping her cable she could in that space of time, had the order
been issued from her quarter deck, have been under way and looking
once more seaward. Whatever her business, it was very clear that
promptness, secrecy, and large precaution were elements of its success.
Nor had these characteristics, which we have named, escaped entire
observation of the people on shore, for at the nearest point of land a
group of idlers were visible, who stood gazing at and discussing the
character of the vessel, while at the same moment her young
commander was seen with his boat's crew pulling back from the
landing to his craft. His business was brief enough, for even now the
anchor is once more away. The gallant ship spreads her broad wings
one by one, and gracefully bending to the power of the breeze, glides,
like a fleet courser, over the fathomless depths of the sea, while the
mind that controls her motions again assumes his reverie on the

quarter-deck.

CHAPTER IV
.
BRAMBLE PARK.

CHANGING the field of our story from the blue waves to that of land,
we must ask the reader to go back with us for a period of years from
that wherein our