Chapter 13 - Page 2

great
guns here-abouts, it is true enough; and when they do, sich a sea comes
tumbling in on that rock as man never seed anywhere else, perhaps; but, on
the whull, I'd rather be close in here, than two hundred miles further to
the southward. With the wind at sow-west, and heavy, a better slant might
be made from the southern position; but here I know where I am, and I'd go
in and anchor, and wait for the gale to blow itself out."

"Talking of seas, Captain Gar'ner," observed Hazard, "don't you think,
sir, we begin to feel the swell of the Pacific. Smooth as the surface of
the water is, here is a ground-swell rolling in that must be twelve or
fifteen feet in height."

"There's no doubt of that. We have felt the swell of the Pacific these two
hours; no man can mistake _that_. The Atlantic has no such waves. This is
an ocean in reality, and this is its stormiest part. The wind freshens and
hauls, and I'm afraid we are about to be caught close in here, with a
regular sow-west gale."

"Let it come, sir, let it come," put in Stimson, again; "if it does, we've
only to run in and anchor. I can stand pilot, and I promise to carry the
schooner where twenty sow-westers will do her no harm. What I've seen done
once, I know can be done again. The time will come when the Horn will be a
reg'lar harbour."

Roswell left the forecastle, and walked aft, pondering on what had just
been said. His situation was delicate, and demanded decision, as well as
prudence. The manner in which Daggett had stuck by him, ever since the two
vessels took their departure from Block Island, is known to the reader.
The Sea Lions had sailed from Rio in company, and they had actually made
Staten Land together, the day preceding that on which we now bring the
Oyster Pond craft once more upon the scene, and had closed so near as to
admit of a conversation between the two masters. It would seem that
Daggett was exceedingly averse to passing through the Straits of le Maire.
An uncle of his had been wrecked there, and had reported the passage as
the most dangerous one he had ever encountered. It has its difficulties,
no doubt, in certain states of the wind and tide, but Roswell had received
good accounts of the place from Stimson, who had been through several
times. The wind was rather scant to go through, and the weather threatened
to be thick. As Daggett urged his reasons for keeping off and passing
outside of Staten Land, a circuit of considerable extent, besides bringing
a vessel far to leeward with the prevalent winds of that region, which
usually blow from northwest round to southwest, Roswell was reflecting on
the opportunity the circumstances afforded of giving his consort the slip.