Therefore the sailor will never say, "cast anchor," and the ship-master
aft will hail his chief mate on the forecastle in impressionistic phrase: "How does the cable grow?" Because "grow" is the right word for the long drift of a cable emerging aslant under the strain, taut as a bow-string above the water.
A crew, a brave crew, all youngsters, all of us, fore and
aft, no man was forty, a mad, gay crew.
He obeyed the idea as a marionette obeys the strings, and started forthwith down the deck
aft in quest of the mate.
Didn't you once say that whatever ship Ahab sails in, that ship should pay something extra on its insurance policy, just as though it were loaded with powder barrels
aft and boxes of lucifers forward?
For an endless period, as it seemed to me, I lay with my head on the thwart watching the schooner (she was a little ship, schooner-rigged fore and
aft) come up out of the sea.
Aft here, ye sons of bachelors, he cried, as the sailors lingered at the main-mast.
"Run away
aft; run away
aft with ye!" cried Hoseason.
Presently the sky became overcast, and the captain came
aft looking uneasy.
About ten o'clock at night he was alone on the poop, in charge, keeping well
aft by the weather rail and staring to windward, when amongst the white, breaking seas, under the black sky, he made out the lights of a ship.
One of the hunters, a tall, loose-jointed chap named Henderson, was going
aft at the time from the steerage (the name the hunters facetiously gave their midships sleeping quarters) to the cabin.
"I've always heard that Greeks don't like Italians," Charley laughed, as he ran
aft to the tiller.
It occurred to me there was no time to lose, and dodging the boom as it once more lurched across the deck, I slipped
aft and down the companion stairs into the cabin.
