Chapter 8

"And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward; from a boy
I wanton'd with thy breakers--they to me
Were a delight; and if the freshening sea
Made them a terror--'twas a pleasing fear;
For I was, as it were, a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows, far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane--as I do here."

Byron.

It was past the turn of the day when Roswell Gardiner reached his vessel,
after having carefully and with manly interest in all that belonged to
her, seen Mary to her home, and taken his final leave of her. Of that
parting we shall say but little. It was touching and warm-hearted, and it
was rendered a little solemn by Mary Pratt's putting into her lover's hand
a pocket-bible, with an earnest request that he would not forget to
consult its pages. She added, at the same time, that she had carefully
marked those passages which she wished him most to study and reflect on.
The book was accepted in the spirit in which it was offered, and carefully
placed in a little case that contained about a hundred volumes of
different works.

As the hour approached for lifting the anchor, the nervousness of the
deacon became very apparent to the commander of his schooner. At each
instant the former was at the latter's elbow, making some querulous
suggestion, or asking a question that betrayed the agitated and unsettled
state of his mind. It really seemed as if the old man, at the last moment,
had not the heart to part with his property, or to trust it out of his
sight. All this annoyed Roswell Gardiner, disposed as he was, at that
instant, to regard every person and thing that in any manner pertained to
Mary Pratt, with indulgence and favour.

"You will be particular about them islands, Captain Gar'ner, and not get
the schooner ashore," said the deacon, for the tenth time at least. "They
tell me the tide runs like a horse in the high latitudes, and that seamen
are often stranded by them, before they know where they are."

"Ay, ay, sir; I'll try and bear it in mind," answered Gardiner, vexed at
being importuned so often to recollect that which there was so little
likelihood of his forgetting; "I am an old cruiser in those seas, deacon,
and know all about the tides. Well, Mr. Hazard, what is the news of the
anchor?"

"We are short, sir, and only wait for orders to go on, and get clear of
the ground."

"Trip, at once, sir; and so farewell to America--or to this end of it, at
least."

"Then the keys, they tell me, are dangerous navigation, Gar'ner, and a
body needs have all his eyes about him."