While she sat on the deck watching the progress of the vessel
with an eager spirit, which would gladly have taken wings to have flown
to the object of her voyage, she first saw the majestic waters of the
Thames. But it was a tyrannous flood to her, and she marked not the
diverging shores crowned with palaces; her eyes looked over every
stately dome to seek the black summits of the Tower. At a certain
point the captain of the vessel spoke through his trumpet to summon a
pilot from the land. In a few minutes he was obeyed. The Englishman
took the helm. Helen was reclined on a coil of ropes near him. He
entered into conversation with the Norwegian, and she listened in
speechless attention to a recital which bound up her every sense in
that hearing. The captain had made some unprincipled jest on the
present troubles of Scotland, now his adopted country from his
commercial interests, and he added with a laugh, "that he though any
ruler the right one who gave him a free course in traffic." In answer
to this remark, and with an observation not very flattering to the
Norwegian's estimation of right and wrong, the Englishman mentioned the
capture of the once renowned champion of Scotland.
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