st
mountains were in sight, and the _Spray_, making good headway on a
northwest course, soon sank these out of sight. "Hurrah for the
_Spray_!" I shouted to seals, sea-gulls, and penguins; for there were
no other living creatures about, and she had weathered all the dangers
of Cape Horn. Moreover, she had on her voyage round the Horn salved a
cargo of which she had not jettisoned a pound. And why should not one
rejoice also in the main chance coming so of itself?

I shook out a reef, and set the whole jib, for, having sea-room, I
could square away two points. This brought the sea more on her
quarter, and she was the wholesomer under a press of sail.
Occasionally an old southwest sea, rolling up, combed athwart her, but
did no harm. The wind freshened as the sun rose half-mast or more, and
the air, a bit chilly in the morning, softened later in the day; but I
gave little thought to such things as these.

One wave, in the evening, larger than others that had threatened all
day,--one such as sailors call "fine-weather seas,"-broke over the
sloop fore and aft. It washed over me at the helm, the last that swept
over the _Spray_ off Cape Horn. It seemed to wash away old regrets.
All my troubles were now astern; summer was ahead; all the world was
again before me. The wind was even literally fair. My "trick" at the
wheel was now up, and it was 5 p.m. I had stood at the helm since
eleven o'clock the morning before, or thirty hours.

Then was the time to uncover my head, for I sailed alone with God. The
vast ocean was again around me, and the horizon was unbroken by land.
A few days later the _Spray_ was under full sail, and I saw her for
the first time with a jigger spread, This was indeed a small incident,
but it was the incident following a triumph. The wind was still
southwest, but it had moderated, and roaring seas had turned to
gossiping waves that rippled and pattered against her sides as she
rolled among them, delighted with their story. Rapid changes went on,
those days, in things all about while she headed for the tropics. New
species of birds came around; albatrosses fell back and became scarcer
and scarcer; lighter gulls came in their stead, and pecked for crumbs
in the sloop's wake.

On the tenth day from Cape Pillar a shark came along, the first of its
kind on this part of the voyage to get into trouble. I harpooned him
and took out his ugly jaws. I had not till then felt inclined to take
the life of any anima