Town and Country, page 219 by John S. Adams
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n, and piling wave upon wave, till, like pyramids dancing on pyramids, their tops seem to reach the sky; then sinking as deep as it had before risen, and again mounting up to heaven. There's beauty in such a scene, and no less when, calm and unruffled, the setting sun sinks beneath the horizon, and for miles and miles leaves its long, glistening track upon the unmoved waters.
'T was so when the crew of the "Tangus" were assembled upon the deck of that noble ship. The day previous had been one of hard labor; the vessel had bravely withstood the storm, and seemed now to be resting after the contest. Not a ripple was to be seen. Far as the eye could reach, was seen the same beautiful stillness. So with the crew; they were resting, though not in drowsy slumberings.
"I say what, Bill," remarked one, "'An honest man's the noblest work of God,' somebody says, and that's our captain, every inch, from stem to stern, as honest as Quaker Prim, of Gotham."
"Ay, ay, Jack," said another; "and did you hear how that same Prim tried to induce Captain Marlin to deprive us of our right?"
"Grog, you mean?"
"Ay, ay."
"No; but how was it?"
"Arrah, the dirty spalpeen he was, if he was afther a trying for to do that-the divil-"
"Will Mr. McFusee wait? By the way, Jack, he, Prim, got him by the button, and began to pour into his ears a long tirade against a man's enjoying himself, and, by the aid of thee, thy, and thou, half convinced the old fellow that he must give up all, and live on ice-water and ship-bread."
"Did?"
"Ay, ay, you know Captain Marlin. He always looks at both sides, then balances both, as it were, on the point of a needle, and decides, as Squire Saltfish used to say, 'cording to law and evidence."
"By the powers, he's a man, ivery inch, from the crown of his hat to the soles of his shoes, he is."
"Mr. McFusee, will you keep still?" said Mr. Boyden, the narrator. Mr. McFusee signified that he would.
"Well, he balanced this question