Homeward Bound; or, the Chase. A Tale of the Sea. by J. Fenimore Cooper.

She has the heels of us, and she weathers on us, as it is, grumbled the master; "and that might satisfy a man less modest. I have led the gentleman such a tramp already that he will be in none of the best humours when he comes alongside, and we may make up our minds on seeing Portsmouth again before we see New-York, unless a slant of wind, or the night, serve us a good turn. I trust, Leach, you have not been destroying your prospects in life by looking too wistfully at a tobacco-field?"