and Mrs.
Wolston! O Master Willis! if you had only seen! The sea is furious;
sometimes the waves rise to the skies and mingle with the clouds, so
that it is impossible to say where the one begins and the other ends.
It is frightful, but it is magnificent!"
"And the sloop?" demanded Willis.
"She is not to be seen; she is no longer at anchor in the bay."
"Gone to the open sea, to avoid being driven ashore," said Wolston.
"Captain Littlestone is not the man to remain in a perilous position
whilst there remained a means of escape; besides, nothing that
science, united with courage and presence of mind, could do, would
have been neglected by him to save his ship."
"In addition to which," observed Becker, "if he had found himself in
positive danger, he would have fired a gun; and in that case, though
we are not pilots, every one of us would have hastened to his
assistance."
"You see, Willis," said Mrs. Wolston, "God comes to ease your mind;
were we to allow you to go to the sloop now, the thing is simply
impossible."
"I have my own idea about that," insisted Willis, whilst he kept
beating a tatoo on the isinglass window panes.
Whilst thus chafing like a caged lion, Wolston's youngest daughter
went towards him, and gently putting her hand in his, said,
"Sweetheart" (for so she had been accustomed to address him), "do you
remember when, during the voyage, you used to look at me very closely,
and that one evening I went boldly up to you and asked you why you
did so?"
"Yes, Miss Sophia, I recollect.
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