There was nothing in this,
however, to make him SOB. I repeat, therefore, that it must have
been simply a freak of my own fancy, distempered by good Captain
Hardy's green tea. just before dawn, on each of the two nights of
which I speak, I distinctly heard Mr. Wyatt replace the lid upon
the oblong box, and force the nails into their old places by means
of the muffled mallet. Having done this, he issued from his state-
room, fully dressed, and proceeded to call Mrs. W. from hers.
We had been at sea seven days, and were now off Cape Hatteras, when
there came a tremendously heavy blow from the southwest. We were,
in a measure, prepared for it, however, as the weather had been
holding out threats for some time. Every thing was made snug, alow
and aloft; and as the wind steadily freshened, we lay to, at
length, under spanker and foretopsail, both double-reefed.
In this trim we rode safely enough for forty-eight hours--the ship
proving herself an excellent sea-boat in many respects, and
shipping no water of any consequence. At the end of this period,
however, the gale had freshened into a hurricane, and our after--
sail split into ribbons, bringing us so much in the trough of the
water that we shipped several prodigious seas, one immediately
after the other.
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