The vessel was hurried on by the increasing wind, until she came to
where the river makes a sudden bend, the only one in the whole course
of its majestic career.[15] Just as they turned the point, a violent
flaw of wind came sweeping down a mountain gully, bending the forest
before it, and, in a moment, lashing up the river into white froth and
foam. The captain saw the danger, and cried out to lower the sail.
Before the order could be obeyed, the flaw struck the sloop, and threw
her on her beam-ends. Everything was now fright and confusion: the
flapping of the sails, the whistling and rushing of the wind, the
bawling of the captain and crew, the shrieking of the passengers, all
mingled with the rolling and bellowing of the thunder. In the midst of
the uproar, the sloop righted; at the same time the mainsail shifted,
the boom came sweeping the quarter-deck, and Dolph, who was gazing
unguardedly at the clouds, found himself, in a moment, floundering in
the river.
[Footnote 15: This must have been the bend at West-Point.]
For once in his life, one of his idle accomplishments was of use to
him. The many truant hours which he had devoted to sporting in the
Hudson, had made him an expert swimmer, yet, with all his strength and
skill, he found great difficulty in reaching the shore.
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