Do you see the
vessel that is driving down upon us so fast?" he sternly demanded of the
watchful seaman who still clung to the wheel of the _Caroline_.
"Ay, ay, sir."
"Give her a berth--sheer away hard to port--perhaps he may pass us in the
gloom, now we are no higher than our decks. Give the ship a broad sheer,
I say, sir."
The usual laconic answer was given; and, for a few moments, the Bristol
trader was seen diverging a little from the line in which the other
approached; but a second glance assured Wilder that the attempt was
useless. The strange ship (every man on board felt certain it was the
same that had so long been seen hanging in the north-western horizon)
came on through the mist, with a swiftness that nearly equalled the
velocity of the tempestuous winds themselves. Not a thread of canvas was
seen on board her. Each line of spars, even to the tapering and delicate
top-gallant masts, was in its place, preserving the beauty and symmetry
of the whole fabric; but nowhere was the smallest fragment of a sail
opened to the gale. Under her bows rolled a volume of foam that was even
discernible amid the universal agitation of the ocean; and, as she came
within sound, the sullen roar of the water might have been likened to the
noise of a cascade.
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