Explore "In the Sargasso Sea" by Thomas A. Janvier on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
During the next fortnight or so my life on board the brig was as pleasant as it well could be. On the first day out we got a slant of wind that held by us until it had carried us fairly into the northeast trades -- and then away we went on our course, with everything set and drawing steady, and nothing much to do but man the wheel and eat three square meals a day.
And so everybody was in a good humor, from the captain down. Even the mate rumbled what he meant to be a civil word to me now and then; and Bowers and I -- being nearly of an age, and each of us with his foot on the first round of the ladder -- struck up a friendship that kept us talking away together by the hour at a time: and very frankly, except that he was shy of saying anything about the brig and her doings, and whenever I tried to draw him on that course got flurried a little and held off. But in all other matters he was open; and especially delighted in running on about ships and seafaring -- for the man was a born sailor and loved his profession with all his heart.