The signal has been sounded--too grave for the ear of the sailor at the
masthead and his comrades on the deck--who nevertheless feel its vibrations in the ship as the stones of a cathedral are stirred by the bass of the organ.
Then she worked back, port tack and starboard tack, crisscrossing her track, combing the sea for the Acteon Islands, which the
masthead lookouts failed to sight.
He must carry four hundred pounds about with him till Monday, when the neglect could be surreptitiously repaired; and meanwhile, he was free to pass the afternoon on the encircling divan of the billiard-room, smoking his pipe, sipping a pint of ale, and enjoying to the
masthead the modest pleasures of admiration.
But as he did not think of giving this order till five hours after the event--that is to say, till two o'clock in the afternoon--two vessels had already left the port, the one bearing, as we know, Milady, who, already anticipating the event, was further confirmed in that belief by seeing the black flag flying at the
masthead of the admiral's ship.
Nay, the time came when I took joy in the run of the
masthead and in the clinging on by my legs at that precarious height while I swept the sea with glasses in search of the boats.
The captain, darting on deck from the cabin, bawled lustily for his spy-glass; the mate in still louder accents hailed the
masthead with a tremendous 'where-away?' The black cook thrust his woolly head from the galley, and Boatswain, the dog, leaped up between the knight-heads, and barked most furiously.
Then, it was time to fire a gun, for a pilot; and almost before its smoke had cleared away, a little boat with a light at her
masthead came bearing down upon us, through the darkness, swiftly.
Accordingly a sailor was sent up to the
masthead to try to catch a sight of land, and reported that nothing was to be seen but the sea and sky, except a huge mass of blackness that lay astern.
The people and the soldiers, perched on the summits of the rocks, could distinguish the masts, then the lower sails, and at last the hulls of the lighters, bearing at the
masthead the royal flag of France.
Accept it from me, it didn't take that Swede long to see the error of his way and get the red and white pennant signifying "I understand" to the
masthead. Once again the sails flapped idly, and then I ordered him to lower a boat and come after me.
Off Ship Island Light the reefs were shaken out, and at Charley's suggestion a big fisherman's staysail was made all ready for hoisting, and the maintopsail, bunched into a cap at the
masthead, was overhauled so that it could be set on an instant's notice.
The morning before we anchored at Porto Praya, I collected a little packet of this brown-coloured fine dust, which appeared to have been filtered from the wind by the gauze of the vane at the
masthead. Mr.