Not a cloud had been in the sky all day long, and
as the darkness increased the stars came out, until the whole heavens
were studded with glittering gems.
Suddenly, low down, close to the sea, a point of light flickered and
disappeared, shone again for a moment, wavered and went out, only to
reappear and shine steadily. "A steamer's masthead light," I thought,
and ran to the house to give the news; but Jackson had already seen
the light, and pronounced that she had anchored until the morning. At
daybreak there she was, dipping her sides to the swell of the sea as
it rolled beneath her. It was my duty to go off to her in one of the
surf-boats belonging to the factory; and so I scrambled down the cliff
to the little strip of smooth beach that served us for a landing-place.
When I arrived there I found that the white-crested breakers were
heavier than I had thought they would be. However, there was the boat
lying on the beach with its prow toward the waves, and round it were the
boat-boys with their loincloths girded, ready to start; so I clambered
into the stern, or rather--for the boat was shaped alike at stem and
stern--the end from which the steersman, or _patrao_, used his long oar.
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