On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
taken to describe it . Luckily , I had laid hold of a main-shroud xm going to look out to windward ; and , as I swung in my grasp , parallel with the deck , which was now a perpendicular , I turned id look to leeward : all was foam . At that moment she risrhted :
the head-sails had blown away ; yet she shook and trembled as if at her peril * -like a high-mettled steed in a fright ; and I saw a black mass hanging to the leech of the foresail , ( which was gfcretched out like a board , ) over the furiously-boiling sea : a loud tarack followed , — -the sail was split into ribands , and the mass filll heavily into the boat on deck , and immediately leaped out . It was Jose ; all unhurt ! except a bruise as he fell into the
bo $ t . The squall had spent its fury : all was gentle and clear again ; immediately ; and a voice was heard calling for help . Looking in its direction , a white splashing in the water was discerned the helm was put up , and in ^ a ^ TewTninutes the poor
fellow , who had been jerked overboard by the sudden lurch , was safely on deck . For a time , the men , —ay , all of us , except Jose , —stood aghast , heedless of his call to unbend the split sails , and jrouse out others from below , to replace them . Soon , however , they forgot their fears , and set to work with as much activity as English or American seamen would evince tinder similar
circumstances . This crew , living in daily danger of capture , had completely conquered their Spanish indolence . In an hour all Was Snug , and Captain Jose was at his guitar again ; though he called iumself a lubber for not having been on the watch just there , and allowing , the squall to play such pranks with him . Lubber was the first and only word of English he spoke on the passage .
On awaking next morning , without going on deck to prove the fact , the lazy rolling , on an even keel , and the idle splatting of the water under the counter and stern , gave intimation of a plaguy calm : and I lay in a vexed state of impatience till Jose ' s guitar invited me up from the cabin ; and , looking around , I saw nothing but one lifting , bright , hot , and spotless mirror ; except on the haze-covered rocks and hills , which were too distant to
refresh the eye . Oh , reader , if you have never experienced the deli g ht of a settled , mute calm at sea , in a small craft , in the torrid zone , when you have also a great anxiety to reach your journey ' s end , you do not know what blisses there are in life . In ? ain do you shift your position of sitting , standing , lying , or reclining at full length , in the fevered hope of lolling or dreaming •* &y your wretchedness : all is in vain ; every attempt and every change does but bring its own infliction , a new sense of misery . You breathe steam , and move in fire . The water , at other times , in the hottest climates , and under a meridian blaze of
¦ ° n > yields a refreshing effect , as you look on the busy waves fnd galloping ripples : they seem to fan your spirit with a coolly comfort ; you regard the water itself as a friend , which fwddon * 4 you . Mtittt its gambols . But now , its very face scalds
Untitled Article
Dallada . 673
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1834, page 673, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2637/page/71/
-