Under sail . dictions, and inspite of a red dawn, the day broke and con-tinued fair, and we were again regaled with aglimpse of land, jagged somber peaks, juttinginto the sky to the north like the cruel teeth of aragged saw, grey blue above the far horizon. I was aft flaking down the mizzen topsl hal-yards on the morning following the landfall whenCaptain Nichols stumped past me from the breakof the poop to the companion. He had been upall night, and the continuation of fine weatherevidently pleased and surprised him. He had apair of binoculars in his hand, and, in passing,he stopped and offer
Under sail . dictions, and inspite of a red dawn, the day broke and con-tinued fair, and we were again regaled with aglimpse of land, jagged somber peaks, juttinginto the sky to the north like the cruel teeth of aragged saw, grey blue above the far horizon. I was aft flaking down the mizzen topsl hal-yards on the morning following the landfall whenCaptain Nichols stumped past me from the breakof the poop to the companion. He had been upall night, and the continuation of fine weatherevidently pleased and surprised him. He had apair of binoculars in his hand, and, in passing,he stopped and offered the glasses to me, point-ing to the southernmost promontory, a cold blueknob rising from the sea. Thats Cape Horn over there, Felix. Take agood look at it. You may never see it again, ifyou were born lucky. Almost staggered by this sudden good fortune,I brought the captains glasses in focus on thedreaded cape, my whole being thrilled with thepleasure of looking through those excellent binoc- 108 UNDER SAIL. 1—1——tiit—liriii Mnuppi in»rniii«><i CAPE HORN 109 ulars at that distant point of rock, the outpost ofthe New World, jutting far into the southernocean. I doubt if the gallant old Dutchman,Schouten, who first doubled it, experiencedhalf the exhilaration that I did on first beholdingthat storied headland. At four bells in the morn-ing watch I went to the wheel, and while thewatch swabbed down the decks after the morn-ing washdown, I was privileged to look at theCape out of the corner of my eye, between timeskeeping the lubbers line of the compass bowlon souwest by sou, for the skipper had shapeda course a point or so further off shore, as thecurrents had evidently set us in toward the landduring the night and he wished to keep his safeoffing. The wind in the meantime had veered roundto west-nor-west, blowing directly off the landand with increasing force. The light sails weretaken in again, and by eight bells we were undertgansls, upper and lower topsls, re
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels
