CHAPTER IV.

----"Behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping winds,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrowed sea,
Breasting the lofty surge."
_Shakespeare._


It has been already explained to the reader, that there were
threatening symptoms in the appearance of the weather to create serious
forebodings of evil in the breast of a seaman. When removed from the
shadows of the cliffs, the night was not so dark but objects could be
discerned at some little distance, and in the eastern horizon there was
a streak of fearful light impending over the gloomy waters, in which the
swelling outline formed by the rising waves was becoming each moment
more distinct, and, consequently, more alarming. Several dark clouds
overhung the vessel, whose towering masts apparently propped the black
vapor, while a few stars were seen twinkling, with a sickly flame, in
the streak of clear sky that skirted the ocean. Still, light currents of
air occasionally swept across the bay, bringing with them the fresh odor
from the shore, but their flitting irregularity too surely foretold them
to be the expiring breath of the land breeze. The roaring of the surf,
as it rolled on the margin of the bay, produced a dull, monotonous
sound, that was only Interrupted at times by a hollow bellowing, as a
larger wave than usual broke violently against some cavity in the rock.
Everything, in short, united to render the scene gloomy and portentous,
without creating instant terror, for the ship rose easily on the long
billows, without even straightening the heavy cable that held her to her