On and on, unhasting but unresting,
we stolidly jogged, by great good fortune slipping across the
"doldrums"--that hateful belt of calms about the line so much
detested by all sailor-men--without losing the south-east wind.
Not one day of calm delayed us, the north-east trades meeting us
like a friend sent to extend a welcoming hand and lend us his
assistance on our homeward way. They hung so far to the
eastward, too--sometimes actually at east-by-north-that we were
able to steer north on the starboard tack--a slice of luck not
usually met with. This "slant" put all hands in the best of
humours, and already the date of our arrival was settled by the
more sanguine ones, as well as excellent plans made for spending
the long voyage's earnings.
For my part, having been, in spite of my youth, accustomed to so
many cruel disappointments and slips between the cup and lip, I
was afraid to dwell too hopefully upon the pleasures (?) of
getting ashore. And after the incident which I have now to
record occurred, I felt more nervous distrust than I had ever
felt before at sea since first I began to experience the many
vicissitudes of a sailor's life.
We had reached the northern verge of the tropics in a very short
time, owing to the favourable cant in the usual direction of the
north-east trades before noted, and had been met with north-
westerly winds and thick, dirty weather, which was somewhat
unusual in so low a latitude.
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