Has no one sung out 'land,' yet, from aloft, Mr.
Leach? The sands of New Jersey ought to be visible before this."
"We have seen the haze of the land since daylight, but not land itself."
"Then, like old Columbus, the flowered doublet is mine--land, ho!"
The mates and the people laughed, and looking ahead, they nodded to each
other, and the word "land" passed from mouth to mouth, with the
indifference with which mariners first see it in short passages. Not so
with the rest. They crowded together, and endeavoured to catch a glimpse
of the coveted shore, though, with the exception of Paul, neither could
perceive it.
"We must call on you for assistance," said Eve, who now seldom addressed
the handsome young seaman without a flush on her own beautiful face; "for
we are all so luberly that none of us can see that which we so
earnestly desire."
"Have the kindness to look over the stock of that anchor," said Paul, glad
of an excuse to place himself nearer to Eve; and you will discover an
object on the water."
"I do," said Eve, "but is it not a vessel?"
"It is; but a little to the right of that vessel, do you not perceive a
hazy object at some elevation above the sea?"
"The cloud, you mean--a dim, ill-defined, dark body of vapour?"
"So it may seem to you, but to me it appears to be the land.
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