There was nothing at all exhilarating
in this expedition. I wanted to go rapidly, and I knew we should go
slowly. I had passed a dull day, waiting for the time to start, and, to
avoid thinking of the slow progress we should make, I soon turned in.
I woke very early, and went on deck. I do not know that I can remember a
more disagreeable morning. It was day, but the sun was not up; it was
not cloudy, but there was a filmy uncertainty about the sky that was
more unpleasant than the clouds. The air was cold, raw, and oppressive.
There was no one on deck but Abner, and he was at the wheel, which, on
account of the grocery store occupying so large a portion of the after
part of the vessel, was placed well forward. Only a jib and mainsail
were set, and as I came on deck these were fluttering and sagging, as
Abner carefully brought the vessel round. Now I saw that we were
floating slowly toward the end of a long pier, and that we were going to
land.
As I leaned over the side of the vessel, I did not wonder that Captain
Jabez thought Sanpritchit was not much of a place to do business in.
There were few houses, perhaps a dozen, scattered here and there along a
low shore, which rose, at one end of the place, into a little bluff,
behind which I saw a mast or two.
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