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The Pilot by James Fenimore Cooper
page 42 of 556 (07%)
anchor.

The higher officers were collected around the capstan, engaged in
earnest discourse about their situation and prospects, while some of the
oldest and most favored seamen would extend their short walk to the
hallowed precincts of the quarter-deck, to catch, with greedy ears, the
opinions that fell from their superiors. Numberless were the uneasy
glances that were thrown from both officers and men at their commander
and the pilot, who still continued their secret communion in a distant
part of the vessel. Once, an ungovernable curiosity, or the heedlessness
of his years, led one of the youthful midshipmen near them; but a stern
rebuke from his captain sent the boy, abashed and cowering, to hide his
mortification among his fellows. This reprimand was received by the
elder officers as an intimation that the consultation which they beheld
was to be strictly inviolate; and, though it by no means suppressed the
repeated expressions of their impatience, it effectually prevented an
interruption to the communications, which all, however, thought were
unreasonably protracted for the occasion.

"This is no time to be talking over bearings and distances," observed
the officer next in rank to Griffith; "but we should call the hands up,
and try to kedge her off while the sea will suffer a boat to live."

"'Twould be a tedious and bootless job to attempt warping a ship for
miles against a head-beating sea," returned the first lieutenant; "but
the land-breeze yet flutters aloft, and if our light sails would draw,
with the aid of this ebb tide we might be able to shove her from the
shore."

"Hail the tops, Griffith," said the other, "and ask if they feel the air
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