4Rodney Hawkhurst walked up and down the quarter-deck watching the last-minute turmoil of getting the ship ready for sea. Men were scurrying about the decks; the shrill whistle of the pipes, hoarse orders from the boatswain’s mate and several round oaths told him they were heaving the pinnace up alongside.
On the quay were the usual crowds of weeping women and round-eyed children, their forlorn helplessness all the more pitiable because Rodney knew that many of the men to whom they said farewell were as excited as he was to know that the moment had come to leave the shore and take to the open sea.
He was impatient to the point of irritation with all the last-minute delays which invariably occurred and which, every time one sailed, were unexpected and unanticipated. Among the noises on th
