Adventures in Southern Seas - A Tale of the Sixteenth Century by George Forbes
page 65 of 229 (28%)
page 65 of 229 (28%)
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"Nothing but a gale from the right quarter can save us, Peter," said
Hartog when we held a consultation together in the cabin, "and even a gale will not help us unless it comes soon and before the weed gathers." I knew what he said was plain truth, yet I advised we should keep a brave face before the men, as nothing would be gained by provoking a scare. Notwithstanding our assumed cheerfulness, however, we could see the crew were becoming alarmed, and as each day added to the accumulation of the weed which collected between us and the open sea, anxious looks were turned to the horizon in the hope of detecting the long-expected breeze. So as to give the men occupation, and prevent their brooding, Hartog gave directions to man the boats in order that an attempt might be made to tow the ship through the weed, but after two days' fruitless effort the attempt was abandoned. It was dreadful to contemplate our impotence in the face of this danger, which hourly grew upon us. The seaweed, in itself so harmless that it becomes the sport of children when washed ashore upon the beaches at home, here, in its original and monstrous growth became more terrifying than all the Leviathans of the deep. There was something irresistible in this brown mantle which drew its folds so silently and yet so surely around us that even Dirk Hartog's indomitable spirit quailed at the thought of what might be before us. "What demon led us hither, Peter?" he said to me when a week had passed, and we still rode motionless in the grip of the seaweed. "Of all the perils which mariners must face, whoever heard of a ship's company being brought to their doom by floating kelp?" |
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