Here
we were compelled to remain for a week; for after the gale blew
itself out, the wind still hung in the same quarter, refusing to
allow us to get back again to our cruising station.
But on the second day of our enforced detention a ship poked her
jibboom round the west end of the little bay. No words could
describe our condition of spellbound astonishment when she
rounded-to, cumbrously as befitting a ship towing a whale, and
revealed to us the well-remembered outlines of the old CHANCE.
It was like welcoming the first-fruits of the resurrection; for
who among sailor men, having seen a vessel disappear from their
sight, as we had, under such terrible conditions, would ever have
expected to see her again? She was hardly anchored before our
skipper was alongside, thirsting to satisfy his unbounded
curiosity as to the unheard-of means whereby she had escaped such
apparently inevitable destruction. I was fortunate enough to
accompany him, and hear the story at first-hand.
It appeared that none of the white men on board, except the
redoubtable Paddy himself, had ever been placed in so seemingly
hopeless and desperate a position before. Yet when they saw how
calm and free from anxiety their commander was, how cool and
business-like the attitude of all their dusky shipmates, their
confidence in his ability and resourcefulness kept its usual high
level.
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