THE VINTAGE
become a man again, and live to see peace and plenty bless a free people. But of that I know nothing, and I do not greatly care. Come, now, what answer do you give me?"
Nicholas rose to his feet; the other had risen too, and they faced each other. There was something in the earnestness and intensity of this man with one idea which could not but be felt, for enthusiasm is the one fact that cannot be gainsaid, a noble disease in which contagion ever makes infection. And his companion felt it,
"Tell me more," he said, eagerly; "but wait a moment—here is the wind."
He hurried aft to give orders to the men. Far away on the polished surface of the water behind them, smooth and shining as a sealskin, a line had appeared as if the fur had been stroked the wrong way. In a couple of minutes the men were busy with the ropes, and two stood ready to slacken the sheets of the heavy square sail if the squall was violent, and one stood at the tiller, for some cross-current had turned the boat round, and it would be necessary to put about. Meantime the rough line had crept nearer, and behind it they conld see the tops of little waves cut off by the wind and blown about in spray. A couple of men had put ont the long sweep-oars, and were tugging hurriedly at them to get the head of the boat straight before the wind before it struck them. But they were not in time; the wind came down with a seream, the boat heeled over till the leeward gunwale touched the water, and the mast bent; then, and with a perfect precision, the shects were slackened for a moment to let her right herself; and, braced again, she began to make way, and in a few seconds they were sendding straight down the gulf almost directly before
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