One would have thought so, to have seen our watch,
some nights, sleeping through a heavy rain. And often have we come
on deck, and finding a dead calm and a light, steady rain, and
determined not to lose our sleep, have laid a coil of rigging down
so as to keep us out of the water which was washing about decks, and
stowed ourselves away upon it, covering a jacket over us, and slept as
soundly as a Dutchman between two feather beds.
For a week or ten days after crossing the line, we had the usual
variety of calms, squalls, head winds, and fair winds;- at one time
braced sharp upon the wind, with a taught bowline, and in an hour
after, slipping quietly along, with a light breeze over the
taffrail, and studding-sails out on both sides;- until we fell in
with the north-east trade-winds; which we did on the afternoon of
Sunday, August 28th, in lat. 12 deg. N. The trade-wind clouds had
been in sight for a day or two previously, and we expected to take
them every hour. The light southerly breeze, which had been blowing
languidly during the first part of the day, died away toward noon, and
in its place came puffs from the north-east, which caused us to take
our studding-sails in and brace up; and in a couple of hours more,
we were bowling gloriously along, dashing the spray far ahead and to
leeward, with the cool, steady north-east trades, freshening up the
sea, and giving us as much as we could carry our royals to.
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