Soon her spars and hull (old England's wooden wall), a welcome sight, rose higher from the water as we pulled towards her; and as they rose, the low, level, and marshy shore we had left, with all its mangrove creeks and reedy lagunes—its wildernesses of giant leaves, and long and fibrous creepers—its dense jungles, where serpents hissed, monkeys chattered, and crocodiles laid their eggs; where the great yellow gourd and coarse serrated grass flourished under the feathery palm and broad baobab trees, amid slime and miasma, that carry death to the vitals of the European—soon all these diminished and sank astern, as our boat sped through the shining sea; and, ere long, Robert Hartly and I shook each other's hands with honest warmth and joy, when we found ourselves among our own countrymen, treading a deck of good English oak, with the old scarlet bunting floating from the peak halyards above us.
Three days the Havelock remained in the bay; and during that time, you may be assured, neither Hartly nor I had any wish to venture on shore.
I shall never forget the glow of happiness that thrilled through me, when, on the third evening, the Captain gave orders to hoist the boats on board and prepare for sea.
"Man the windlass!" was the cry; "hands, up anchor!"
The bars were inserted by sturdy hands in the huge beam, and then the pauls clattered cheerily, while the iron cable rattled as it was dragged aft along the deck, and soon the great clipper ship came round with her head to the wind.
"Cast loose the courses; away aloft—shake out the topsails, and let fall!"
And anon the snowy canvas fell like white curtains on the lower spars, as the topsail yards ascended to the crosstrees.
"Heave on the cable—weigh!" was the next order.
Tight as if its iron rings would snap like pack-thread grew the mighty chain, for strong hands and muscular arms were tugging with united strength at the bars of bending ash.
"Together, lads—together—hurrah!" cried Hartly, who had supplied himself with a handspike.