"'Tis the end of a lovely craft!" he said, loud enough to be heard by
those beneath. Then he appeared in the air, and sunk into the sea--"The
last signal was from the ward-room," added the dauntless and dexterous
mariner, as he rose from the water, and, shaking the brine from his head,
he took his place on the stage--"Would to God the wind would blow, for we
have need of greater distance!"
The precaution the free-trader had taken, in adjusting the sails, was not
without its use. Motion the raft had none, but as the top-sails of the
Coquette were still aback, the naming mass, no longer arrested by the
clogs in the water, began slowly to separate from the floating spars,
though the tottering and half-burnt masts threatened, at each moment, to
fall.
Never did moments seem so long, as those which succeeded. Even the Skimmer
and Ludlow watched in speechless interest, the tardy movements of the
ship. By little and little, she receded; and, after ten minutes of intense
expectation, the seamen, whose anxiety had increased as their exertions
ended, began to breathe more freely. They were still fearfully near the
dangerous fabric, but destruction from the explosion was no longer
inevitable. The flames began to glide upwards, and then the heavens
appeared on fire, as one heated sail after another kindled and flared
wildly in the breeze.
Still the stern of the vessel was entire. The body of the master was
seated against the mizen-mast, and even the stern visage of the old seaman
was distinctly visible, under the broad light of the conflagration.
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