Читать книгу The Captain from Connecticut онлайн

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The relieved quartermasters were stumbling forward now, bent against the wind. He could tell from their gait how numb and stiff they were--they had been standing with their arms extended, holding the wheel, in an attitude which fairly invited the wind to pierce them to the heart. He would be feeling cold himself if he allowed himself to do so, but he would not. He went on facing stubbornly into the wind. They must be abreast of Elm Point by now.

"Nor'-east by east," he said to the men at the wheel.

"Nor'-east by east, sir," they echoed.

"Hands to the braces, Mr. Hubbard."

"Aye aye, sir."

The Delaware steadied herself on her new course, heeling to the wind, rolling rather more now, and pitching far less. Peabody had never known the Sound to be as rough as this--it was the clearest proof of the violence of the blizzard.

"Seven and a half knots, sir," said Hubbard, marking up the new course and speed. That was what he had expected. Now they would weather Montauk comfortably before dawn. For a few hours he could relax a little--relax as far as an American captain could possibly relax when sailing in the heart of his own country's waters in the midst of enemies.