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Finding neither willing to make an offer for reconciliation , he called all hands up , ( for the captain was ashore , and he could do as he chose aboard , ) ranged the crew in the waist , marked a line on the deck , brought the two boys up to it , making them " toe the mark ; " then made the bight of a rope fast to a belaying pin , and stretched it across the deck , bringing it just above their waists . We were now close upon the southern tropical line , and , with so fine a breeze , were daily leaving the sun behind us , and drawing nearer to Cape Horn , for which it behoved us to make every preparation . Before stowing the hides , as I have said , the ballast is levelled off , just above the keelson , and then loose dunnage placed upon it , on which the hides rest . While on the yard , we saw a sail on the weather bow , and in about half an hour , passed the Ayacucho , under doublereefed topsails , beating down to San Diego . Nothing worthy of remark happened while we were here , except a little boxing-match on board our own ship , which gave us something to talk about . She stood on her way , doomed to eighteen months ' or two years ' hard service upon that hated coast , while we were making our way to our home , to which every hour and every mile was bringing us nearer . Many things which , while I was reading , I had a misgiving about , thinking them above their capacity , I was surprised to find them enter into completely . The ship wore round fairly , the yards were steadied , and we stood off on the other tack , leaving behind us , directly under our larboard quarter , a large ice island , peering out of the mist , and reaching high above our tops , while astern ; and on either side of the island , large tracts of field-ice were dimly seen , heaving and rolling in the sea . " The governor was true to his promise , and they all reached Boston before the middle of March ; the shortest communication ever yet made across the country . He was in this capacity when we saw him ; and though it was much better for him than the life in the forecastle , and the hard work , watching , and exposure , which his delicate frame could not have borne , yet , to be joined with a black fellow in waiting upon a man whom he probably looked upon as but little , in point of education and manners , above one of his father 's servants , was almost too much for his spirit to bear . " " Never say die , while there 's a shot in the locker ! Sometimes , - generally towards noons , - it fell calm ; once or twice a round copper ball showed itself for a few moments in the place where the sun ought to have been ; and a puff or two came from the westward , giving some hope that a fair wind had come at last . A bar stretches across the mouth of the harbor , with water enough to float common vessels , but , being low in the water , and having kept well to leeward , as we were bound to the southward , we had stuck fast , while the California , being light , had floated over . The sun shone bright as long as it was up , only that a scud of black clouds was ever and anon driving across it . At length , a few whiffs came across the water , and , by eleven o'clock , the regular north-west wind set steadily in . He had always been his master , and had nothing to gain , and everything to lose ; while the other fought for honor and freedom , under a sense of wrong . We were all day at this work , and towards sundown , having loaded the vessel as deep as she would bear , we hove up our anchor , and made sail , beating out the bay .