LAND HO 



27 



air. The horizon became lighter and lighter, the view 

 clearer and clearer — the mist vanished — a hollow sound 

 like distant thunder broke on the listening ear ! It was 

 surf, — there lay the land, and plainer and plainer as the 

 light increased appeared a blue stripe above the dark 

 waves of the horizon. " Land ! " cried I from the mast 

 head, and " land ! " " land ! " resounded from one to an- 

 other between decks. As ants run out of their nest when 

 it is disturbed, so rushed the half-wakened passen- 

 gers up the hatchway, hastened to the bows, and open- 

 ing their blinking eyes as wide as they could, repeated 

 " land ! " although I am convinced that it was not pos- 

 sible to see it from the deck, as the day did not get any 

 clearer, and only the highest pomts were visible. Our 

 lanky friend the tailor came up among the rest, holdmg 

 a plate of butter in one hand, a ship's biscuit in the 

 other ; as he heard the word " land ! " repeated, he set his 

 provisions on one of the hen-coops, and ran with the 

 others to look at the land. William, who probably 

 thought that there would be plenty of time to contem- 

 plate it, sat himself quietly down on the hen-coop, and 

 of course on the butter, wliich had become rather soft 

 after a night spent between decks ; there he sat, kick- 

 ing his heels against the rails, his hands comfortably 

 stowed in his pockets, and whistling to express his 

 content. The tailor returning, naturally anxious about 

 his week's allowance of butter, which he, confiding in 

 the general honesty, had, in a manner, left exposed in 

 the highway, stood immovable with astonishment, 

 with eyes and mouth wide open, looking at this picture 

 of innocence and self-satisfaction sitting in his butter. 

 AYilliam, unconscious of evil, and amused at the tailor's 



