Chapter 28

Speed, gallant bark, the tornado is past;
Staunch and secure thou hast weather'd the blast;
Now spread thy full sails to the wings of the morn,
And soon the glad haven shall greet thy return.

_Park_.

The Montauk now lay close to the inlet, and even a little to windward of
its entrance; but the channel was crooked, not a sail was bent, nor was it
possible to bend one properly without exposing the men to the muskets of
the Arabs, who, from firing loosely, had got to be more wary and
deliberate, aiming at the places where a head or an arm was occasionally
seen. To prolong this state of things was merely to increase the evil, and
Captain Truck determined to make an effort at once to dislodge
his enemies.

With this view the gun was loaded in-board, filled nearly to the
muzzle with slugs, and then it was raised with care to the
top-gallant-forecastle, and cautiously pushed forward near the gunwale.
Had the barbarians understood the construction of a vessel, they might
have destroyed half the packet's crew while they were thus engaged about
the forecastle by firing through the planks; but, ignorant of the weakness
of the defences, they aimed altogether at the openings, or over the rails.

By lowering the gaff the spanker was imperfectly bent; that is to say, it
was bent on the upper leach. The boom was got in under cover of the
hurricane-house, and of the bundle of the sail; the out-hauler was bent,
the boom, replaced, the sail being hoisted with a little and a hurried
lacing, to the luff. This was not effected without a good deal of hazard,
though the nearness of the bows of the vessel to the rocks prevented most
of the Arabs from perceiving what passed so far aft. Still, others nearer
to the shore caught glimpses of the actors, and several narrow escapes
were the consequence. The second mate, in particular, had a shot through
his hat within an inch of his head. By a little management,
notwithstanding, the luff of the spanker was made to stand tolerably well;
and the ship had at least the benefit of this one sail.

The Dane had been a seaman of the old school; and, instead of the more
modern spenser, his ship had been fitted with old-fashioned stay-sails. Of
these it was possible to bend the main and mizzen stay-sails in tolerable
security, provided the ends of the halyards could be got down. As this,
however, would be nearly all aftersail, the captain determined to make an
effort to overhaul the buntlines and leachlines of the foresail, at the
same time that men were sent aloft after the ends of the halyards. He also
thought it possible to set a fore-topmast stay-sail flying.

No one was deceived in this matter. The danger and the mode of operating
were explained clearly, and then