Mr. Dodge, you have the high consolation of knowing that,
throughout this trying occasion, you have conducted yourself in a way no
other man of the party could have done."
Mr. Monday was sleeping off the fumes of the _schnaps_, but Mr. Dodge
bowed to the compliment, and foresaw many capital things for the journal,
and for the columns of the Active Inquirer. He even began to meditate
a book.
Now commenced much the most laborious and critical part of the service
that Captain Truck had undertaken, if we except the collision with the
Arabs--that of towing all the heavy spars of a large ship, in one raft, in
the open sea, near a coast, and with the wind blowing on shore. It is true
he was strong-handed, being able to put ten oars in the launch, and four
in all the other boats; but, after making sail, and pulling steadily for
an hour, it was discovered that all their exertions would not enable them
to reach the ship, if the wind stood, before the succeeding day. The drift
to leeward, or towards the beach, was seriously great, every heave of the
sea setting them bodily down before it; and by the time they were half a
mile to the southward, they were obliged to anchor, in order to keep clear
of the breakers, which by this time extended fully a mile from shore.
Decision was fortunately Captain Truck's leading quality.
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