imagined, at the first glance, it was
the component part of a salmon-net; but salmon, we knew on the other
hand, though of the sea, were not to be caught in it. P---- seized hold
of the keg; and, both together, we commenced hauling in the line as fast
as we could. The lapse of a little time brought us to the end of it, and
some dozen lobsters began flapping their goose-like tails in our faces.
We took two out of the trap for our trouble, and let down the rest to
wait the coming of their rightful owner.

The stars now came forth, one by one, to gaze about them, but slunk
back slyly when their Queen, still youthful with increasing horns,
peeped over the eastern wave at us; and when, in her first glance of
splendour, she cast a strong white light on the rocky shore encircling
the bay, its calm, clear water, taking a greener tint from the wooded
sides of the mountains, looked like an emerald set in silver. The scene
was still, and purely beautiful. The cutter lay like a log on the water,
the reef-points rattling on the main-sail like a shower of small shot;
and, every time he heard the sound, the man at the helm would raise his
eyes aloft, and, fixing them steadily on the gaff-topsail for a minute
or two, turn round and scan the horizon; and then, walking to the
quarter, moisten his forefinger in his mouth, and hold it above his
head.

"There's a breeze coming, Sir," he said aloud, but in an under-tone, to
the mate, the officer of the watch; who, coming aft, stood looking, far
and near, on the water, to observe the ripple of a coming wind.

"I see," he said; "it's springing up from the south'ard;" and, pacing
the deck to and fro, he would also turn his eyes to the topmast-head
every time he reached the quarter-deck of the vessel, to mark if the
night-flag moved. Standing, at last, close to the helmsman,

"How's her head?" he asked.

"North, a quarter east, Sir," replied the man. After a short pause, the
mate, taking another glimpse aloft, said,

"Slack off the main-sheet."

"Ay, ay, Sir," several men replied, and hurried, with a kind of trot, to
comply with the command.

"How are the head-sheets?" again said the mate.

"All taut, Sir," answered a voice.

"Ease them off," was the mate's command.

"Ay, ay, Sir," the same voice answered.

"So; belay there," the mate called out to the men who were slackening
the main-sail. Going up to the binnacle, he observed the compass, and
addressing the helmsman, said,

"L