The noise of the boats as they were manned, the dropping of the oars into the water, the unshipping of the capstan bars, and the preparations for casting off the rope used to tow the vessel’s head round, now told that the “Halcyon” had reached the entrance of the Bay.
“Set the fore-topmast-staysail, let fall the foresail, get the fore-topsail on her, Mr Lowe. Cast off the warp; give way, my lads, give way cheerily in the boats,” shouted the captain, as he stood on the quarter-deck. “Starboard—hard—let her feel the helm. Steady! so.”
The brig’s head slowly payed off, as she felt the strain of the boats’ towing, and her jib-boom pointed right for the entrance of the Bay. The horizon had been reported clear, nothing being in sight, and sail after sail opened its wide expanse, while the long breathings of the ocean began to be felt, and the idle canvas flapped to and fro in the calm.
“Have you any plans for the future, Enrico mio?” reiterated Isabel.
Hughes had been gazing steadily down into the deep blue water, totally regardless of all that was passing around him.
“I was thinking,” he said, “of Wyzinski’s tales, of the sad remembrances this place has for him; and contrasting them with the startling events, but bright memories, it will have for me. The name of Saint Augustine’s Bay will ever be dear to me.”
The blood mantled in Isabel’s cheeks as she answered—
“When the Senhor has done with his pleasant memories of the past, perhaps he will deign an answer to a poor maiden’s question.”
The men had strained at the oars until the stout ash staves creaked and bent in the rowlocks. The dark hull of the brig had slowly forged ahead, and at the moment Isabel spoke, the “Halcyon” had passed the entrance of the harbour, and was rising and falling on the long gentle swell outside. She did not feel the wind, being under the shelter of the coast; but slight cat’s-paws were playing on the water about half-a-mile ahead, and so the boats continued towing, while on board the main-topgallant and main-topsails were being sheeted home.
“There is our last sight of the Bay,” said Hughes, sighing. “It must now live only in the memories of the past. Plans—no, dearest Isabel; I have been enjoying the present without care for the future.”