Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/328

 MARK TWAIN

out what the cause of the detention was. It was barnacles. They collect very fast in that part of the Pacific. They had fastened themselves to the ship s bottom; then others had fastened themselves to the first bunch, others to these, and so on, down and down and down, and the last bunch had glued the column hard and fast to the bottom of the sea, which is five miles deep at that point. So the ship was simply become the handle of a walking-cane five miles long yes, no more moveable by wind and sail than a continent is. It was regarded by every one as remarkable.

Well, the next week however, Sandy Hook is in sight.

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