He
headed along the coast till the point beyond which Fritz had first
observed the _Nelson_ was fairly doubled; some days before this point
was called Cape Deliverance, it was now, perhaps, about to acquire the
term of Cape Disappointment, but for the moment its future designation
was in embryo.
Leaping on the poop, Willis carefully scanned the horizon as the boat
rose upon the summit of the waves; but seeing nothing, he at last
leapt down again with an expression of rage that, under other
circumstances, would have been irresistibly comic. Abandoning the
direction of the pinnace, he went and sat down on a bulk-head, and
covered his face with his hands, in an attitude of profound
desolation.
"Willis! Willis!" cried Jack, "I shall tell Sophia."
But there was neither the soft voice there, the caressing hand, nor
the sweet fascination of the young girl's presence, and Willis
continued immovable.
Becker saw that his was one of those minds that grew less calm the
more they were urged, and the excitement of which must be permitted to
wear itself out; he therefore beckoned his sons to leave him to his
own reflections.
The wind still blew a gale, and the pinnace pitched heavily; but the
sun was now beginning to break through the masses of lurid cloud, and
the air was becoming less and less charged with vapor.
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