On his return, he reported the weather rough, but
moderating, and announced his intention of weighing at daylight
next morning. Satisfied that our days in the southern hemisphere
were numbered, and all anxiety to point her head for home, this
news was most pleasing, putting all of us in the best of humours,
and provoking quite an entertainment of song and dance until
nearly four bells.
During the grey of dawn the anchor was weighed. There was no
breath of wind from any quarter, so that it was necessary to
lower boats and tow the old girl out to her field of duty.
Before she was fairly clear of the harbour, though, there came a
"snifter" from the hills that caught her unprepared, making her
reel again, and giving us a desperate few minutes to scramble on
board and hoist our boats up. As we drew out from the land, we
found that a moderate gale was blowing, but the sky was clear,
fathomless blue, the sun rose kindly, a heavenly dream of soft
delicate colour preceding him; so that, in spite of the strong
breeze, all looked promising for a good campaign. At first no
sign could be seen of any of the other ships, though we looked
long and eagerly for them. At last we saw them, four in all,
nearly hull down to seaward, but evidently coming in under press
of sail.
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