"Arrived o'er the limitless ocean
In 16 degrees of N. latitude,
Our lips were attuned to devotion,
Our spirits uplifted in gratitude.
"Our hearts with poetic afflatus
Took wing and impulsively soared
As the lead-line (a quaint apparatus)
Reported the depth overboard.
"Oh, oft had I dream'd of the tropics—
But never to see them in person—
So full of remarkable topics
To speculate, sing, and converse on."
It was Mr. Goodfellow who worked the hand-lead, under Captain Branscome's orders, from a perch just forward of the main rigging; but at a mile's distance we carried deep water with us past Crabtree Point, and around the unnamed small cape which formed the south-western extremity of the island. We rounded this, and, hauling up to the wind, found (as the reader may discover for himself by a glance at the chart) that the shore made almost directly E. by N., with scarcely an indentation, for Gow's Gulf.
Here the water shoaled, though for the first mile almost imperceptibly. The inlet itself resembled the estuary of a mighty river, its both sides well wooded, though very different in configuration, the northern rising quietly from shelving beaches of coral-white sand to some of the most respectable hills in the island, while that on our starboard hand presented a succession of cliff and chasm, the cliffs varying, as we judged, from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet sheer.
In three and a half fathoms (reported by Mr. Goodfellow) the water, which was exquisitely clear, showed good white sand under us. Ahead of us the creek narrowed, promising an anchorage almost completely landlocked and as peaceful as the soul of man could desire. We drew a short eight feet of water, and with such soundings (for the tide had not been making above an hour) I expected the old man to hold on for at least another mile, when, to my surprise, he took the helm from Mr. Rogers and, sending him forward, shook the Espriella up in the wind, at the same time calling to Goodfellow and me to lower the main throat-halliards.
"Leave go anchor!"
With a splash her anchor plunged over, took the ground, and in another twenty yards brought us up standing.
"Hallo!" Miss Belcher scanned the shore. "You're giving the boats a long trip, Captain."
"I take my precautions, ma'am," answered Captain Branscome, almost curtly.