mariners pass whole lives without seeing; but he knows little of the sea
who thinks there is not more wind where this comes from."

"Let it blow!" cried the other, striking his hands together a little
wildly; "I pray for wind!"

All the doubts of Knighthead, as to the character of the young stranger
who had so unaccountably got possession of the office of Nicholas
Nichols, if any remained, were now removed. He walked forward among the
silent and thoughtful crew, with the air of a man whose opinion was
settled. Wilder, however, paid no attention to the movements of his
subordinate, but continued pacing the deck for hours; now casting his
eyes at the heavens, and now sending frequent and anxious glances around
the limited horizon, while the _Royal Caroline_ still continued drifting
before the wind, a shorn and naked wreck.




THE CAPTURE OF THE GREAT WHITE WHALE

From "Moby Dick," BY HERMAN MELVILLE


That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man--as his wont at
intervals--stepped forth from the scuttle in which he leaned, and went
to his pivot-hole, he suddenly thrust out his face fiercely, snuffing
up the sea air as a sagacious ship's dog will, in drawing nigh to some
barbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Soon that
peculiar odor, sometimes to a great distance given forth by the living