I first caught sight of you when you had climbed but twenty feet, and wondered how far you would get, at that pace.

I would have wagered a hundred guineas to one that you would not have kept it up to the top.
"Well, lad, whatever profession you take to, it is certain that you will be a good sailor spoilt." They had now been three weeks out, but had made slow progress, for the winds had been light, and mostly from the southwest.
"This is very dull work," the doctor said to Dick one day, at dinner.
"Here we are, three weeks out, and still hardly beyond the Channel.
There is one consolation.

It is not the fault of the ship.

She has been doing well, under the circumstances, but the fates have been against her, thus far.

I have no doubt there are a score of ships still lying in the Downs, that were there when we passed; and, tedious as it has been beating down the Channel, with scarce wind enough most of the time to keep our sails full, it would have been worse lying there, all the time." "Still, we have gained a good bit on them, sir." "If the wind were to change round, say to the northeast, and they brought it along with them, they would soon make up for lost time, for it would not take them three days to run here.