That is the
bluff-like termination of the celebrated high lands of Navesink. By
watching it for half an hour you will perceive its form and surface grow
gradually more distinct."
Eve eagerly pointed out the place to Mademoiselle Vielville and her
father, and from that moment, for near an hour, most of the passengers
kept it steadily in view. As Paul had said, the blue of this hazy object
deepened; then its base became connected with the water, and it ceased to
resemble a cloud at all. In twenty more minutes, the faces and angles of
the hills became visible, and trees started out of their sides. In the end
a pair of twin lights were seen perched on the summit.
But the Montauk edged away from these highlands, and shaped her course
towards a long low spit of sand, that lay several miles to the northward
of them. In this direction, fifty small sail were gathering into, or
diverging from, the pass, their high, gaunt-looking canvas resembling so
many church towers on the plains of Lombardy. These were coasters,
steering towards their several havens. Two or three outward-bound ships
were among them, holding their way in the direction of China, the Pacific
Ocean, or Europe.
About nine, the Montauk met a large ship standing on bowline, with every
thing set that would draw, and heaping the water under her bows.
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