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The usual outfit of pumps , white stockings , loose white duck trowsers , blue jackets , clean checked shirts , black kerchiefs , hats well varnished , with a fathom of black ribbon over the left eye , a silk handkerchief flying from the outside jacket pocket , and four or five dollars tied up in the back of the neckerchief , and we were " all right . - " Stand by the royal halyards ; " - the man at the wheel keeps a good weather helm , so as not to be taken aback . The thought that we were actually going up for the last time , and that the next time we went round San Diego point it would be " homeward bound , " brought things so near a close , that we felt as though we were just there , though it must still be the greater part of a year before we could see Boston . In this state of the weather and before sunrise , in the grey of the morning , we had to wade off , nearly up to our hips in water , to load the skiff with the wood by armsfull . Now began the operation of taking in our cargo , which kept us hard at work , from the grey of the morning till star-light , for six weeks , with the exception of Sundays , and of just time to swallow our meals . Not a ripple upon the surface of the canvas ; not even a quivering of the extreme edges of the sail - so perfectly were they distended by the breeze . The sea was as still as an inland lake ; the light trade-wind was gently and steadily breathing from astern ; the dark blue sky was studded with the tropical stars ; there was no sound but the rippling of the water under the stem ; and the sails were spread out , wide and high ; - the two lower studding-sails stretching , on each side , far beyond the deck ; the topmast studding-sails , like wings to the topsails ; the top-gallant studding-sails spreading fearlessly out above them ; still higher , the two royal studding-sails , looking like two kites flying from the same string ; and , highest of all , the little skysail , the apex of the pyramid , seeming actually to touch the stars , and to be out of reach of human hand .