I
did believe, at one time, her people might be walking and wading on the
coast of Cornwall; but I now believe they are more likely to try the sands
of the great Desert of Sahara."
"It is to be hoped they have escaped the latter calamity, as fortunately
as they escaped the first!" observed Mr. Effingham.
"It may be so; but the wind has got round to nor-west, and has not been
sighing these last twelve hours. Cape Bianco is not a hundred leagues from
us, and, at the rate he was travelling, that gentleman with the
speaking-trumpet may now be philosophizing over the fragments of his ship,
unless he had the good sense to haul off more to the westward than he was
steering when last seen. His ship should have been christened the 'Scud,'
instead of the 'Foam.'"
Every one expressed the hope that the ship, to which their own situation
was fairly enough to be ascribed, might escape this calamity; and all
faces regained their cheerfulness as they saw the canvas fall, in sign
that their own danger was past. So rapidly, indeed, did the gale now
abate, that the topsails were hardly hoisted before the order was given to
shake out another reef, and within an hour all the heavier canvas that
was proper to carry before the wind was set, solely with a view to keep
the ship steady.
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