"
"Yes; my head was out of the cabin-window at the time, for I believed
the ship was waring, and thought you had given up, and were going back
into port. I saw the roundshot strike within twenty fathoms of the
canoes, and as for the grape, some of it flew beyond them. Why, we are
more than half a league from the land, boy!--Will Smudge stand that
much longer?"
I then told Marble precisely how we were situated on deck, the sail we
were under, the number of savages we had on board, and the notion the
savages entertained on the subject of turning the ship round. It is
not easy to say which listened with the most attention, Marble, or
Smudge. The latter made frequent gestures for me to turn the ship
towards the coast, for by this time she had the wind abeam again, and
was once more running in a straight line. It was necessary, on more
accounts than one, to adopt some immediate remedy for the danger that
began to press on me anew. Not only must Smudge and his associates be
pacified, but, as the ship got into the offing, she began to feel the
ground-swell, and her spars, aloft, were anything but secure. The
main-top-mast was about half-up, and it was beginning to surge and
move in the cap, in a way I did not like. It is true, there was not
much danger yet; but the wind was rising, and what was to be done,
ought to be done at once.
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