Two or three stylish sort of men seemed as if they were hankering to speak to me as I sat there all alone on deck; but I didn"t seem to see it, and they contented themselves with looking at me as if I was the most cruel creature on earth; which I meant to be. The loss of one satchel full of doughnuts and things is as much as I can afford on one trip.
By and by that part of the ocean we travelled on kept growing narrower and narrower, till you could see houses on both sh.o.r.es, and splendiferous houses they were, with great meadows a-sloping down to the water; tall trees shading them, and bushes growing together in clumps.
Some were of stone, some of wood, with pointed roofs and cupolas, and great wide stoops, in which you could see people sitting and moving about. Some with spy-gla.s.ses in their hands, a-watching us sweep by them like a house afire.
I felt lonesome and almost homesick, but for all that the sight was exhilarating--very.
"Haven"t we got almost to New York," says I to the captain; "it seems to me as if the sea was shutting in."
"Oh, we are almost there," says he, "close on to h.e.l.l Gate now."
"To what?" says I, almost hopping from the stool I sat on.
"h.e.l.l Gate," says he.
"Oh, mercy! you don"t tell me it is so bad as that? I knew York was an awful wicked place, but I didn"t think an innocent missionary would have to go in it through that gate!"
"It is a little dangerous for sail crafts," says he, smiling, I suppose, to comfort me; "but you are safe. We shall go through with a rush."
I caught my breath.
"But supposing _He_ were on the watch?"
"_He!_ Who?"
"Don"t ask me; I"d rather not mention his name, being a female who abhors profanity."
All at once the captain"s eyes began to sparkle as if he were just longing for a tussle with the evil one.
"Don"t be afraid," says he, "I reckon we shall make the gate without much trouble. The blasting won"t stop us yet awhile."
"Blasting?"
"Yes; they"ll have the all-firedest upheave there, before long, that ever tore a hole in the bottom of the sea."
"Blasting! with fire and brimstone?"
"And nitro-glycerine," says he, as calm as skim milk.
"And you mean to take this big steamboat right through it with me on board?"
He laughed right there in my frightened and pale face.
"I really don"t know any other way to reach New York," says he.
"Let me ash.o.r.e," says I, a starting up, "me and my hair-trunk; I don"t care for the produce; it may serve to cool their tongues down there. But put me and my hair trunk on any land. It is all I ask."
"It"s impossible," says he.
"But I won"t go through that in--that awful gate," says I.
"Why, we are in it now; don"t you see the whirl of the waters?"
"In it now. Oh, mercy!"
I fell down upon my seat, and buried my face in my shawl, shaking from head to foot.
Sisters, that cruel man laughed. O, how hardened he must have got, going through that sulphurious gate.
"I say, madam, there is no danger, we are almost through now."
"Is _he_ there? Have you seen anything of his blasting hosts?" says I under my breath. "Do they mean to fire up just yet?"
"No, no, we are all safe. Quite through--New York is in sight."
I let my shawl drop a little, and peeped out. There was no sign of a gale; the water was a little bubbly and rough, as if it had been rushing through a race-way, but that was all. That captain of ours must have been on good terms with the old serpent that keeps the gate, or he never could have got through so easy. Now that it was over, I almost wished I had found grit enough to see how it was done. As it was, my eyes were hid, and I did not even see the awful old gate.
Well, at last I rose up slowly and looked forward. There was New York City, right before me; just one pile of roofs and walls with cupolas, pointed fronts, and steeples; looking through the smoky haze acres and acres of houses, miles and miles--a whole island laid down with stone.
All around it, just as far as I could see, the water was thick with ships, steamboats, and small boats, all flying up and down and across, like living things, each with an errand of its own. There, along the edges of the city, was what seemed to me like a forest of dead trees, without a leaf or a sign of greenness upon them.
"Well," says the captain, "you see that we have run the gate. Never been here before, I reckon?"
"No, never," says I, "and hope I never shall be again."
"I thought things seemed a little green," says he.
"From the Green Mountains," says I.
"Exactly," says he. "Well, how do you like the looks of the city?"
"Hazy," says I; "dry as tinder. All stone walls, and too many dead trees about for my notion."
"Dead trees? I have never seen any," says he, a-looking around.
"Must be awful short-sighted," says I. "Just look down there; it is like a burnt faller."
He looked ahead where my finger was pointing, and laughed right out.
"Why, that is the shipping," says he.
"Shipping," says I. "Don"t tell me that! I wasn"t brought up in the woods not to know tree trunks when I see them, dead or alive."
"But I a.s.sure you those are the masts of vessels. You can see the hulls now."
I did see the hulls, and felt dreadfully; what would the captain think of me! At once I looked up.
"Yes," says I. "There is no question about it. Those are the hulls of ships, and the others are masts; but I was right."
He laughed: "But you said they were dead trees."