already enjoyed my share of
favoring breezes over the great oceans, and I asked myself if it would
be right to have the wind turned now all into my sails while the
Frenchman was bound the other way. A head current, which he stemmed,
together with a scant wind, was bad enough for him. And so I could
only say, in my heart, "Lord, let matters stand as they are, but do
not help the Frenchman any more just now, for what would suit him well
would ruin me!"

I remembered that when a lad I heard a captain often say in meeting that
in answer to a prayer of his own the wind changed from southeast to
northwest, entirely to his satisfaction. He was a good man, but did this
glorify the Architect--the Ruler of the winds and the waves? Moreover,
it was not a trade-wind, as I remember it, that changed for him, but one
of the variables which will change when you ask it, if you ask long
enough. Again, this man's brother maybe was not bound the opposite way,
well content with a fair wind himself, which made all the difference in
the world.[H]

[H] The Bishop of Melbourne (commend me to his teachings) refused to set
aside a day of prayer for rain, recommending his people to husband water
when the rainy season was on. In like manner, a navigator husbands the
wind, keeping a weather-gage where practicable.

On May 18,1898, is written large in the _Spray's_ log-book: "To-night,
in latitude 7 degrees 13' N., for the first time in nearly three years
I see the north star." The _Spray_ on the day following logged one
hundred and forty-seven miles. To this I add thirty-five miles for
current sweeping her onward. On the 20th of May, about sunset, the
island of Tobago, off the Orinoco, came into view, bearing west by
north, distant twenty-two miles. The _Spray_ was drawing rapidly
toward her home destination. Later at night, while running free along
the coast of Tobago, the wind still blowing fresh, I was startled by
the sudden flash of breakers on the port bow and not far off. I luffed
instantly offshore, and then tacked, heading in for the island.
Finding myself, shortly after, close in with the land, I tacked again
offshore, but without much altering the bearings of the danger. Sail
whichever way I would, it seemed clear that if the sloop weathered the
rocks at all it would be a close shave, and I watched with anxiety,
while beating against the current, always losing ground. So the matter
stood hour after hour, while I watched the flashes of