"Make it south-east."
"South-east, sir," repeated Kendall. "Quartermaster keep her away two points," he added to the petty officer conning the wheel.
"Two points, sir," said Bennington, the quartermaster
"Make the course south-east."
"South-east, sir."
After all these repetitions it was not likely that any mistake would occur; and the discipline of the ship required every officer and seaman who received a material order, especially in regard to the helm or the course, to repeat it, and thus make sure that it was not misunderstood.
It was Sunday; and no study was required, or work performed, except the necessary ship's duty. Morning prayers had been said, as usual, and there was to be divine service in the steerage, forenoon and afternoon, for all who could possibly attend; and this rule excepted none but the watch on deck. By this system, the quarter watch on duty in the forenoon, attended in the afternoon; those who were absent at morning prayers were always present at the evening devotions; and blow high or blow low, the brief matin and vesper service were never omitted, for young men in the midst of the sublimity and the terrors of the ocean could least afford to be without the daily thought of God, "who plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm."
Every man and boy in the ship was watching the speck on the watery waste, which the glass had revealed to be a dismasted, and perhaps sinking ship. The incident created an intense interest, and was calculated to bring out the finer feelings of the students. They were full of sympathy for her people, and the cultivation of noble and unselfish sentiments, which the occasion had already called forth, and was likely to call forth in a still greater degree, was worth the voyage over the ocean; for there are impressions to be awakened by such a scene which can be garnered in no other field.