Chapter 21: The Monster That Slipped Its Leash

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌⁠And there Captain Kirby proved a coward at last,

And he played at bo-peep behind the mainmast,

And there they did stand, boys, and shiver and shake,

For fear that that terror their lives it would take.

 —Admiral Benbow.

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌⁠Rain came with the wind, and the weather settled into a sullen, driving, summer easterly.

Late summer regularly furnishes one of those storms to the Atlantic coast, a recrudescence