Wonders really never cease on this mysterious sea.
Barclay went to the masthead, nay, he even shinned up to the very truck itself to look around him.
The discoveries he made were interesting.
First and foremost, the lake of open and weedless water had increased to double its size; secondly, the derelict “ship of the dead,” which they had formerly visited, had drifted much nearer to them; thirdly, a broad lane of water stretched from the open sea as far as eye could reach into the ocean of weeds to the west; last and not least, adown this canal, borne along by the light wind, and wheeling round and round in the current, was another derelict.
“Still another secret of the sea,” said Barclay.
“True,” replied Davie Drake; adding, “Do you remember Longfellow’s poem? how
“ . . . the Count Arnoldos
With his hawk upon his hand,
Saw a fair and stately galley
Steering onwards to the land;—
How he heard the ancient helmsman
Chant a song so wild and clear,
That the sailing sea-bird slowly
Poised upon the mast to hear,
Till his soul was full of longing,
And he cried, with impulse strong,
‘Helmsman! for the love of Heaven,
Teach me, too, that wondrous song!’
‘Wouldst thou,’ so the helmsman answered,
‘Learn the secret of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers
Comprehend its mystery.’”