A pretty sheet of water, friends,
and one as snug as rotten cables and foul winds can render desirable, is
this bay of York!"
"You are a mariner of the long voyage," returned the Patroon, unwilling
that Alida should not believe him equal to bandying wits with the
stranger.
"Long, or short; Calcutta, or Cape Cod; dead reckoning, eye-sight, or
star-gazing, all's one to your real dolphin. The shape of the coast
between Fundy and Horn, is as familiar to my eye, as an admirer to this
pretty young lady; and as to the other shore, I have run it down oftener
than the Commodore, here, has ever set his pennant, blow high or blow low.
A cruise like this is a Sunday in my navigation; though I dare say, you
took leave of the wife, blessed the children, overhauled the will, and
sent to ask a good word from the priest, before you came aboard?"
"Had these ceremonies been observed, the danger would not have been
increased," said the young Patroon, anxious to steal a glance at la belle
Barberie, though his timidity caused him, in truth, to look the other way.
"One is never nearer danger, for being prepared to meet it."
"True; we must all die, when the reckoning is out. Hang or drown--gibbet
or bullet clears the world of a great deal of rubbish, or the decks would
get to be so littered that the vessel could not be worked. The last cruise
is the longest of all; and honest papers, with a clean bill of health, may
help a man into port, when he is past keeping the open sea.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57