t
went on shore in a pilot boat, and I expected my father would soon be
ready; then the wind veered more towards the southward, with dirt; at
last it came on foggy, and I could hardly see the brig, and as it rained
hard, and blew harder, I wished that my father was ready, for my arms
ached with steering the coble for so long a while. I could not leave
the helm, so I steered on at a black lump, as the brig looked through
the fog: at last the fog was so thick that I could not see a yard beyond
the boat, and I hardly knew how to steer. I began to be frightened,
tired, and cold, and hungry I certainly was. Well, I steered on for more
than an hour, when the fog cleared up a little, and then I saw the stern
of the brig just before me. My little heart jumped with delight; and I
expected that she would round-to immediately, and that my father would
praise me for my conduct; and, what was still more to the purpose, that
I should get something to eat and drink. But no: she steered on right
down Channel, and I followed for more than an hour more, when it came on
to blow very hard, and I could scarcely manage the boat--she pulled my
little arms off, and I was quite exhausted. The weather now cleared up,
and I could make out the vessel plainly; and I immediately discovered
that it was not the _brig_, but a bark which I had got hold of in the
fog, so that I did not know what to do; but I did as most boys of nine
years old would have done who were frightened, I sat down and cried,
still, however, keeping the tiller in my hand and steering as well as I
could. At last, I could hold it no longer, I ran forward, let go the
fore and jib haulyards and hauled down the sails; drag them into the
boat I could not, and there I was, like a young bear adrift in a
washing-tub. I looked all round me, and there were no vessels near; the
bark had left me two miles astern, it was blowing a gale from the S.E.,
with a heavy sea; the gulls and sea birds wheeled and screamed in the
storm; and as I thought, when they came close to me, looked at me with
their keen eyes, as much as to say, 'What the devil are you doing
there?' The boat was as light as a cork, and although she was tossed and
rolled about so that I was obliged to hold on, she shipped no water of
any consequence, for the jib in the water forward had brought her head
to wind, and acted as a sort of floating anchor. At last there was
nothing in sight, so I laid down at the bottom of the boat and fel