“The wings are as they always are. They glisten now because they flash against a murky background.”
“An omen, Cornelius, for good! I’ll call the sea-birds hope’s carrier-pigeons with messages for us.”
“I would we had their wondrous power of outriding all storms. It is said they can sleep on the waves, even during a tempest.”
“I’ve the heart of a sea-gull, to-night.”
“And not a dread or pang within?”
“No, no! Oh, come, any power, to hurry us to Acre! I’d give way to the merriment of the becalmed sailors, who whistle for the wind, if I only knew the notes of their call.”
“But the old sea-captain is very grave. See how the men at his command are lashing up almost every stitch of our ship’s dress.”
“Oh, well, I’ll be grave, too, to please you; and yet I pray that Old Boreas, and all the Boreadal, come in racing hurricanes, if need be, that we may be sent gallantly into longed-for Acre!”
“A storm at sea is grand in a picture or in imagination; sometimes, though rarely, in experience. To be enjoyed it must be terrible; there’s the rub; it may come with overmastering fury.”