The Pilot

Chapter 24

"Had I been any god of power, I would

Have sunk the sea within the earth, ere

It should the good ship so have swallowed."

_Tempest_.

The arms of Dillon were released from their confinement by the

cockswain, as a measure of humane caution against accidents, when they

entered the surf; and the captive now availed himself of the

circumstance to bury his features in the folds of his attire, when he

brooded over the events of the last few hours with that mixture of

malignant passion and pusillanimous dread of the future, that formed the

chief ingredients in his character. From this state of apparent quietude

neither Barnstable nor Tom seemed disposed to rouse him by their

remarks, for both were too much engaged with their own gloomy

forebodings, to indulge in any unnecessary words.