Pagina 130 di 416

Rockwell, who had been looking out forward, suddenly called

Code's attention to a flock of sea-pigeons floating on the water

a mile ahead. As the skipper looked he saw the fowl busily diving

and "upending," and he knew they had struck the edge of the

Banks; for water-fowl will always dive in shoal water, and a

skipper sailing to the Banks from a distance always looks for

this sign.

An hour later, when the cook had sent out his call for the first

half, Code made Ellinwood stay on deck and bring the schooner to

an anchorage after sounding.

The sounding lead is a long slug, something like a window-weight,

at the bottom of which is a saucer-shaped hollow. The leadsman, a

young fellow from Freekirk Head, took his place on the schooner's

rail outside the forerigging. The lead was attached to a line

and, as the schooner forged slowly ahead, close-hauled, the youth

swung the lead in ever-widening semicircles.