"
*The _Agra_, being much larger than the bottle, had drifted faster to
leeward in the storm.
He uttered this foreboding in a tone of triumph, and with a gay elastic
recklessness, which harmonised so well with his makeshift rudder, that
Sharpe groaned aloud, and wished himself under any captain in the world
but this, and in any other ship. He looked round to make sure he was not
watched, and then tapped his forehead significantly. This somewhat
relieved him, and he did his duty smartly for a man going to the bottom
with his eyes open.
But ill luck is not to be bespoken any more than good: the _Agra's_
seemed to have blown itself out; the wind veered to the south-west, and
breathed steadily in that quarter for ten days. The topgallant sails were
never lowered nor shifted day nor night all that time, and not a single
danger occurred between this and the Cape, except to a monkey, which I
fear I must relate, on account of its remoter consequences. One fine
afternoon, everybody was on deck amusing themselves as they could: Mrs.
Beresford, to wit, was being flattered under the Poop awning by Kenealy.
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