" We sprang up for our
clothes, and were about half way dressed, when the mate called out,
down the scuttle, "Tumble up here, men! tumble up! before she drags
her anchor." We were on deck in an instant. "Lay aloft and loose the
topsails!" shouted the captain, as soon as the first man showed
himself. Springing into the rigging, I saw that the Ayacucho's
topsails were loosed, and heard her crew singing-out at the sheets
as they were hauling them home. This had probably started our captain;
as "old Wilson" (the captain of the Ayacucho) had been many years on
the coast, and knew the signs of the weather. We soon had the topsails
loosed; and one hand remaining, as usual, in each top, to overhaul the
rigging and light the sail out, the rest of us came down to man the
sheets. While sheeting home, we saw the Ayacucho standing athwart
our hawse, sharp upon the wind, cutting through the head seas like a
knife, with her raking masts and sharp bows running up like the head
of a greyhound. It was a beautiful sight. She was like a bird which
had been frightened and had spread her wings in flight. After the
topsails had been sheeted home, the head yards braced aback, the
fore-top-mast staysail hoisted, and the buoys streamed, and all
ready forward, for slipping, we went aft and manned the slip-rope
which came through the stern port with a turn round the
timber-heads.
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