a Biscayan hooker.

The sun, concealed all day by the mist, had just set. There was

beginning to be felt that deep and sombrous melancholy which might be

called anxiety for the absent sun. With no wind from the sea, the water

of the creek was calm.

This was, especially in winter, a lucky exception. Almost all the

Portland creeks have sand-bars; and in heavy weather the sea becomes

very rough, and, to pass in safety, much skill and practice are

necessary. These little ports (ports more in appearance than fact) are

of small advantage. They are hazardous to enter, fearful to leave. On

this evening, for a wonder, there was no danger.

The Biscay hooker is of an ancient model, now fallen into disuse. This

kind of hooker, which has done service even in the navy, was stoutly

built in its hull--a boat in size, a ship in strength. It figured in the

Armada. Sometimes the war-hooker attained to a high tonnage; thus the

Great Griffin, bearing a captain's flag, and commanded by Lopez de

Medina, measured six hundred and fifty good tons, and carried forty

guns. But the merchant and contraband hookers were very feeble

specimens. Sea-folk held them at their true value, and esteemed the

model a very sorry one, The rigging of the hooker was made of hemp,

sometimes with wire inside, which was probably intended as a means,

however unscientific, of obtaining indications, in the case of magnetic

tension. The lightness of this rigging did not exclude the use of heavy

tackle, the cabrias of the Spanish galleon, and the cameli of the Roman

The Man Who Laughs