"
"Should we not be more certain of accomplishing your plans, by seeking
refuge in Lisbon for a day or two? I confess now I should like to see
Lisbon, and as for the port-charges, I would rather pay them twice, than
that this poor man should be torn from his wife. On this point I hope,
Captain Truck, I have made myself sufficiently explicit."
Captain Truck shook the baronet heartily by the hand, as he always did
when this offer was renewed, declaring that his feelings did him honour.
"Never fear for Davis," he said. "Old Grab shall not have him this tack,
nor the Foam neither. I'll throw him overboard before such a disgrace
befall us or him. Well, this leech has driven us from the old road, and
nothing now remains but to make the southern passage, unless the wind
prevail at south."
The Montauk, in truth, had not much varied from a course that was once
greatly in favour with the London ships, Lisbon and New York being nearly
in the same parallel of latitude, and the currents, if properly improved,
often favouring the run. It is true, the Montauk had kept closer in with
the continent by a long distance than was usual, even for the passage he
had named; but the peculiar circumstances of the chase had left no
alternative, as the master explained to his listeners.
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