"There is no mistake here," said captain Williams, quietly. "That is
_land_, gentlemen."
"As true as the gospel," answered Marble, with the sort of steadiness
despair sometimes gives. "What is to be done, sir?"
"What _can_ be done, Mr. Marble?--We have not room to ware, and,
of the two, there seems, so far as I can judge more sea-room ahead
than astern."
This was so apparent, there was no disputing it. We could still see
the land, looking low, chill, and of the hue of November; and we could
also perceive that ahead, if anything, it fell off a little towards
the northward, while astern it seemingly stretched in a due line with
our course. That we passed it with great velocity, too, was a
circumstance that our eyes showed us too plainly to admit of any
mistake. As the ship was still without a rag of sail, borne down by
the wind as she had been for hours, and burying to her hawse-holes
forward, it was only to a racing tide, or current of some sort, that
we could be indebted for our speed. We tried the lead, and got bottom
in six fathoms!
The captain and Marble now held a serious consultation; That the ship
was entering some sort of an estuary was certain, but of what depth,
how far favoured by a holding ground, or how far without any anchorage
at all, were facts that defied our inquiries.
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