She rode the mighty rollers like a duck, and at no time was there danger aboard.
Still, this was only a sample of what the old Atlantic could kick up on occasion, and no matter how good the boat, one who has experienced the horrors of a genuine hurricane while afloat, never feels a hankering after its repetition—there is a majesty about the mighty deep when aroused to fury that awes the stoutest human heart; and those who have sailed over its trackless wastes the longest have the greatest respect for its sovereignty.
Of course the storm drove them out of their expected direct route to the Portuguese Azores, and delayed their arrival at the sentinel islands.
Although these islands be along the short route from Spain to her West India possessions,—to be hers no longer—as a usual thing ships from the mother country prefer the longer passage, partly because the runs are more broken, the wind more apt to be favorable, and possibly for the reason that some of her fortified possessions, the Canaries lie off the coast of northern Africa.
Thus, not a great business has been done at the Azores under the best of conditions, and this was interfered with while the war lasted, as Spanish craft feared to sail so far away from fortified ports, lest some of the fast auxiliary cruisers of Uncle Sam, on the eager lookout for prizes, gobble them up.
As they sighted land, Roderic could hardly conceal his impatience.
Was the Sterling Castle in port?
That would be a strange coincidence truly, and yet this sanguine lover had the nerve to believe it might be true.
Upon some men fortune showers favors so readily that they become rank optimists, and expect astonishing results from the most scanty scattering of seed.
Indeed, chance plays quite a part in their calculations.