The Pilot

Chapter 34

"Whither, 'midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue

Thy solitary way?"

_Bryant._

When the young seaman who now commanded the frigate descended from the

quarter-deck in compliance with the of ten-repeated summons, he found

the vessel restored to the same neatness as if nothing had occurred to

disturb its order. The gun-deck had been cleansed of its horrid stains,

and the smoke of the fight had long since ascended through the hatches

and mingled with the clouds that flitted above the ship. As he walked

along the silent batteries, even the urgency of his visit could not

prevent him from glancing his eyes towards the splintered sides, those

terrible vestiges, by which the paths of the shot of their enemy