"Very well," said Leslie, turning to Bill; "you appear to have tolerably good eyes—"

"Main-top, there," interrupted Potter, "are you coming down out of that, or aren't you? If you're not, say the word, and I'll come up myself and start the lot of you."

"For the Lord's sake, sir, go down, I beg ye; or there'll be something like murder up here in a brace of shakes, if the skipper keeps his word," exclaimed Tom, in accents of consternation.

"Leave your skipper to me; I will undertake to keep him in order if he is ill-advised enough to come up here. Now," he resumed, turning again to Bill, "you seem to have reasonably good eyes. Look carefully at that wreckage, and tell me whether you can see anything having the appearance of a man waving a shirt, or something of the kind."

The man looked long and intently, gazing out under the sharp of his hand; and presently he turned to Leslie and said—

"Upon my word, sir, I do believe you're right; there do seem to be something a wavin' over there—"

The sharp crack of a pistol and the whistle of a ballet close past them interrupted the man's speech; and, looking down, they saw Potter standing aft near the lashed wheel with a smoking revolver in his hand, which he still pointed threateningly at the top.

The two men, without another word, flung themselves simultaneously over the edge of the top and made their way precipitately down the rigging, while Leslie, swinging himself on to the topmast-backstay, slid lightly down it, reaching the deck some seconds ahead of them. He alighted close alongside Miss Trevor, who, with her hands clutched tightly together, stood, the image of terror, gazing with horrified eyes at the skipper.

In two bounds Leslie reached Potter's side.

"You scoundrel! you infernal scoundrel!" he exclaimed, as with one hand he wrenched away the revolver, while with the other he seized the fellow by the throat and shook him savagely. "What do you mean by such infamous conduct? Do you realise that you might have killed one of us? Have you gone mad; or what is the matter with you? Answer me, quick, or I will choke the life out of you!"

And, with a final shake that went near to dislocating Potter's neck, Leslie flung the fellow furiously from him, dashing him against the rail with such violence that, after staggering stupidly for a moment, he sank to the deck, sitting there in a dazed condition.

The mate and three or four of the crew came running aft at this juncture, with some indefinite idea of interfering; then paused, gazing uncertainly from one to the other, evidently undecided as to what action, if any, they ought to take. They looked at the mate; and the mate looked at Leslie.

"You had better take him below, and let him lie down for a while, Mr Purchas," said Leslie, assuming quite naturally the direction of affairs. "And when you have done so," he continued, "I shall be obliged if you will kindly afford me the opportunity for a few minutes' conversation."

"All right," answered the mate, "I will. Yes, that'll be best; let's take him below into my cabin. Lay hold here, Bill, and give me a hand to get the skipper down the companion ladder."

With some difficulty they got Potter below and into the mate's cabin, where they laid him in the bunk and, making him as comfortable as they could, left him to recover his scattered faculties. Meanwhile, Leslie, catching sight of the ship's telescope hanging in beckets in the companion-way, took possession of it and, slipping the revolver into his jacket pocket, again ascended to the main-top; from which elevation, and with the aid of the telescope, he quickly satisfied himself that there certainly was at least one living person clinging to the wreckage and intermittently waving what looked like a strip of canvas, with the evident design of attracting the brig's attention.

By the time that he had assured himself of this fact, Purchas had returned to the deck; seeing which, Leslie beckoned him up into the top.

"Look here, Purchas," he said, as the mate scrambled over the rim and stood beside him, "I was right in my surmise, there is some living person, or persons, on that wreckage. Take the glass and satisfy yourself of the truth of my statement."

The mate took the glass, and presently, removing the instrument from his eye, turned to Leslie.

"You are right, Mr Leslie," he said, "there is somebody there, I can see him wavin' something. Now, the question is, what's to be done? The sun's pretty near settin', and it'll be dark in half an hour or thereabouts."

"The more need that you should arrive at a prompt decision," interrupted Leslie. "Now, if I may advise, what I would suggest is this. Let me have the quarter-boat and four hands. I will go down to the wreck and bring off anybody who may be upon it, and if it falls dark before we return, hoist a lantern to the peak, as a guide to us, and we shall then have no difficulty in finding the brig."

The mate considered for a moment. Then—

"All right," he said, "I'll take upon myself the responsibility of agreein' to that. The skipper'll be madder than ever when he finds out what we've done; but I don't care for that, I'm not goin' to leave a feller-creature to die on no wreckage, if I can help it. And if the skipper makes a fuss about it, the authorities at home 'll bear me out."

"Of course they will," assented Leslie. "And now that we have settled that point, the sooner a start is made the better. So please call for four volunteers to go with me in the boat, and I'll be off."

Then, while Purchas went forward to muster a boat's crew, Leslie walked over to where Miss Trevor stood.

"Oh, Mr Leslie," she exclaimed, "what a dreadful man the captain of this ship is! Is he mad; or what is it that makes him behave in so horribly violent a manner?"

"Simply overweening conceit of himself, and an enormously exaggerated opinion of his own importance as master of this ridiculous little brig; together with, perhaps, an unusually violent and ungovernable temper, I imagine," answered Leslie, with a smile. "I am afraid," he continued, "that those mad antics of his with his revolver must have been rather terrifying to you. However, that sort of thing will not occur again— unless he happens to have another of them—for I have the weapon now, and intend to retain possession of it until we are able to take our leave of him, which I hope will be ere long. Meanwhile, I am going away in a boat, for about half an hour, to take a man—or, it may be, a woman—off that wreckage that we were trying to reach this morning when we sighted this brig. It is still quite close at hand, and I shall not be gone very long. And during my absence Purchas will look after you and see that you come to no harm. He is a good fellow, in his way, and will not allow our mad friend to interfere with you."

"Thank you," she answered, with a shade of the old hauteur in the tones of her voice; "I am not in the least afraid. Mad though the man may be, I do not think he will attempt to molest me."

"No," acknowledged Leslie, who had not failed to observe Potter's undisguised admiration of the girl, "to be perfectly frank with you, I do not think he will. Ah, here come the men who are going with me in the boat. I must say au revoir!"

"Good-bye, for the present," answered Miss Trevor; "I hope you will be successful."

"Now then, lads," said Leslie, as the men came aft and began to cast off the gripes, "we have no time to lose. The sun will set in another ten minutes, and then it will very soon be dark. We must look lively, or we shall not reach that wreckage without having a troublesome search for it. Ah, that is all right," as he stood on the rail and looked into the boat, "I see that her gear is all in her, and that you have kept her tight by leaving some water in her. We may as well get rid of that water before we lower her."

And so saying, he stepped into the little craft, and, pulling out the plug, allowed the water to run off.

"We are all ready for lowerin', sir," sang out one of the men, presently.

"Then lower at once," answered Leslie, as he pushed back the plug into its place, "and then jump down into her as quickly as you like."

In another moment the boat squelched gently into the water; the men tumbled over the brig's low side into her and unhooked the tackle blocks; the man who was going to pull the bow oar raised it in his hands and with it bore the boat's bow off the ship's side; the other three men threw out their oars; and Leslie crying, "Give way, men," as he grasped the yoke lines, the little craft started on her errand of mercy, heading straight for the wreckage, the bearings of which in relation to the fast setting sun, Leslie had very carefully taken just before the boat was lowered.

It was at this moment absolutely a flat calm; there was not the faintest breath of air stirring anywhere in the great dome of cloudless sky that overarched the brig; the swell had subsided until it was scarcely perceptible; and the whole surface of the sea gleamed like a polished mirror, faithfully reflecting the rich blue of the sky to the eastward— against which the commonplace little brig, illumined by the brilliant ruddy orange light of the setting sun, glowed like a gem of exquisite beauty—while away to the westward it repeated with equal fidelity the burning glories of the dying day.

The sun was just vanishing beneath the horizon when Leslie caught his first glimpse of the raft from the stern-sheets of the boat, in which he stood, instead of sitting, in order that he might extend his horizon as much as possible. For the next five minutes he was able to steer by the glow of the sunset in the sky; but by the end of this time the glow had faded to a tender grey, and the night descended upon them almost with the rapidity of a falling curtain. The western sky no longer afforded a beacon to steer by, and Leslie found himself obliged to turn round and steer backwards, as it were, by the brig. But in the fast gathering gloom she soon became too indefinite an object to be reliable, Leslie was therefore obliged to face about once more and select a star for his guidance.

The men had been pulling with a will for a full half-hour when suddenly the man who was wielding the bow oar arrested his movements, holding his dripping blade just clear of the surface of the water, as he cried—

"Hark! did ye hear that, sir?"

"What?" demanded Leslie.

The other three men suspended their efforts as the first man replied—

"Why, I thought I heard somebody singin' out, somewheres. Ay, I was right," he continued, as a faint "Hillo!" came pealing softly across the darkling surface of the water.

"Hillo!" answered Leslie, sending a stentorian shout ahead through his hollow hands.

"Boat ahoy!" came the answering shout.

"Give way briskly, men," cried Leslie; "the sound seems to be coming from straight ahead. We shall get a sight of something now in a few minutes."

The men resumed their pulling with a will, encouraged by the fact that the shouts kept up by the unseen man were rapidly becoming clearer, more audible, and evidently nearer. Suddenly a dark mass loomed up ahead and another cry told them that they were close aboard the wreckage.

"Oars!" commanded Leslie. The men ceased pulling, and the individual upon the wreckage shouted—

"Boat ahoy! you'll have to pull right round this raffle, and come up on t'other side afore you'll be able to take me off. You can't get alongside of me from where you are; there's too much yard-arm and splintered spar stickin' out in that direction. And I daren't jump overboard and swim to you, for I've been blockaded all day by sharks— see, there's one of them now, close alongside of ye!"

And looking over the side, the crew of the boat beheld, revealed as a shape of fire in the highly phosphorescent sea, a monster of fully twenty feet in length or more, swimming rapidly along, a few feet below the surface; while, some half-a-dozen yards away, a second suddenly revealed his presence.

"All right," answered Leslie, "stay where you are; we will pull round to the other side."

So said, so done; and five minutes later they had got the man—the only occupant of the wreckage as it proved—safe aboard the boat, and were pulling back towards the brig, now barely discernible as a small, faint, indistinct dark blot against the blue-black, star-spangled sky, with her anchor light hoisted to the gaff-end as a guide to the returning rescue party.

The rescued man proved to be—as Leslie had already guessed from the fellow's manner of speech—one of the foremast hands of the Golden Fleece. Like Leslie, he had been dragged under when the ship went down, but in his downward journey had encountered what proved to be a loose cork fender, to which he had clung desperately. The buoyancy of the fender was sufficient to immediately check his descent into the depths, and ultimately to take him back to the surface, where he found himself close alongside a mass of top-hamper, consisting of the ship's fore-topmast with all attached, that had torn itself adrift from the wreck when she went down; and to this he had at once swam, and taken refuge upon it. He told a pathetic tale of the despair that had seized him, when, at dawn, he had found himself the sole survivor, as he supposed, of the catastrophe; and of the alternations of hope and despair that had been his throughout the day when the brig appeared in sight, drifted up to within three short miles of him, and there lay becalmed. The most distressing part of his experience, perhaps, consisted in the fact that, although an excellent swimmer, and quite capable of covering the distance between himself and the brig, he had found himself beset by a school of sharks, and therefore dared not forsake the refuge of the wreckage, and take to the water.

Upon the return of the boat to the brig, Leslie learned from the mate that Potter was still in his bunk, and that the dazed feeling resulting from the blow that he had sustained when thrown against the rail still seemed to be as acute as ever. Purchas, indeed, seemed to be growing rather anxious about him; and eagerly inquired of Leslie whether the latter happened to know anything about medicine; as he thought the time had arrived when something ought to be done to help the man back to his senses. Medicine, however, was a branch of science about which Leslie happened to know little or nothing; but he readily acceded to Purchas's suggestion that he should have a look at the patient; and accordingly— although by this time a substantial meal was set out upon the brig's cabin table, and the ex-lieutenant felt himself quite prepared to do ample justice to it—he forthwith descended to the cabin in which the skipper was lying; and, having knocked at the door without getting a reply, entered.

It was the same cabin in which he himself had enjoyed some hours of sleep after his long spell in the water, and Potter was lying stretched at full length upon the bunk that he had previously occupied. A small oil lamp, screwed to the bulkhead, afforded a fairly good light, by the aid of which Leslie saw that the man was lying with his eyes wide-open, and the eyeballs turned slightly upward, apparently staring at the deck above him. But the gaze was without intelligence; and the fellow appeared to be quite unconscious of his surroundings, for he took no notice whatever of Leslie's entrance; nor did the eyes waver in the least when the latter spoke to him, Leslie laid his hand upon the forehead of his late antagonist, and found it cool to the touch, although clammy with perspiration. Then he laid his fingers upon the man's wrist, and felt for his pulse, which appeared to be normal. Beyond the dazed condition which the man exhibited, there did not appear to be much the matter with him; and when at length Leslie left him and entered the main cabin—at the table of which he found Purchas and Miss Trevor seated, discussing the viands before them—he said as much; adding his opinion that the condition in which he found the skipper would probably end in sleep, and that the man would no doubt be all right in the morning. The conversation then turned to other matters, the mate remarking that he supposed the skipper's indisposition meant an all-night job on deck for him (the mate); whereupon Leslie expressed his readiness to take charge of a watch until Potter should be able to resume duty—an offer which Purchas gladly accepted. It was arranged that, as the preceding night had been a very trying one for Leslie, he should take the middle watch; and accordingly, when the meal was over, as Miss Trevor, pleading fatigue, retired to the cabin that Potter had given up to her, Leslie sought the seclusion of his quarters in the longboat, which had been made ready for him, and was soon wrapped in sound and dreamless sleep.

He was called at midnight by Purchas, who reported to him with some uneasiness that there was no change in the skipper's condition. The night was still beautifully fine, and the weather a flat calm; there was therefore nothing calling for Leslie's immediate attention, and he readily assented to Purchas's urgent solicitation that he should take another look at the patient, and say what he thought of his condition. Upon descending to the stuffy little cabin he found that, as the mate had reported, there was no marked change in Potter's condition; he still lay, as before, without movement, his unseeing eyes upturned, and apparently quite unconscious of the presence of the two men who bent over him. The only difference noticeable to Leslie was that the man's breathing seemed to be somewhat stertorous.

"Well, what d'ye think of him?" anxiously demanded Purchas, when at length Leslie raised himself from his examination.

"To be quite candid with you, Purchas," answered Leslie, "I scarcely know what to think; but I am afraid the man's condition is somewhat more serious than I thought it to be when I last visited him. I must confess that I do not like this long spell of wakefulness combined with unconsciousness of his surroundings. What is actually wrong I am sorry that I cannot say, but the symptoms appear to me to point to an injury of the brain. You have a medicine-chest on board, I suppose?"

"Oh yes," answered Purchas. "It is in the skipper's cabin."

"Um!" remarked Leslie. "That is awkward. We cannot very well gain access to it just now without disturbing Miss Trevor; and I do not think that the case is urgent enough to demand that we should do that. But to-morrow morning, as soon as the young lady is out of her cabin, we will get that medicine-chest and overhaul the book of directions that I have no doubt we shall find in it; and perhaps we shall discover a description of symptoms somewhat similar to those exhibited by your skipper. And, if so, we will try the remedies recommended. Now I would advise you to turn in; and don't worry about the skipper, for I have no doubt that we shall be able to pull him round all right. And perhaps this will be a lesson to him to keep his temper under somewhat better control."

"Well, I'm sure I hope it will," answered Purchas. "If it does that, I shan't be sorry that this has happened; for I can tell you, Mr Leslie, that when the 'old man' gets his back up, as he did this afternoon, things grow pretty excitin' aboard this hooker. Well, good night; and if anything happens atween this and eight bells, you might give me a call—not but what I expect you're a far better sailor-man than what I am."

"Oh, that's all right," laughed Leslie; "I think you may trust me to take care of this three-decker of yours. But if anything happens, and I find myself at a loss, I will not fail to call you. Good night!"

And, so saying, Leslie left the cabin and, making his way up on deck, took a sailor-like look at the brilliantly star-lit sky that stretched cloudless all round the brig from zenith to horizon, as he thoughtfully filled and lit his pipe.

To tell the truth, he was less easy in his mind touching Potter's condition than he had allowed Purchas to see. That the man was something more than merely stunned was now undeniable; and although the injury might not in itself be serious, the complete ignorance of Purchas and himself in relation to medical and surgical matters might possibly lead to wrong treatment that, in its turn, might result in complications ending, who could say where? Of course the man had only himself to thank for it; his conduct had been provocative to the last degree; yet Leslie had been animated by no vindictive feeling when he had attacked the man, still less had he intended to inflict any serious injury upon him; he had, indeed, acted solely in self-defence in taking the fellow's revolver away from him; and as to the violence that had accompanied the act—well he himself considered it perfectly excusable under the circumstances; and so, he believed, would any unprejudiced person. Nevertheless, he regretted the incident; he would much rather that it had not happened; and while dismissing the subject from his mind, for the moment, he resolved that henceforth he would keep himself much better in hand in his dealings with the man.

The calm continued throughout Leslie's watch; and when at eight bells he turned over the charge of the deck to Purchas, the brig, save for an occasional lazy and almost imperceptible heave on the now invisible swell, was as motionless as a house.

When, however, Purchas called him at seven bells—thus allowing him time to wash and dress in readiness for breakfast at eight o'clock, Leslie found, upon turning out, that while the morning was as gloriously fine as the preceding night had been, the brilliant blue of the sky overhead was streaked here and there with light touches of cirrus cloud, the forerunners of a breeze that was already wrinkling the surface of the azure sea and causing it to sparkle as though strewed with diamond dust in the wake of the sun, while it just filled the brig's sails sufficiently to keep them asleep and give the old tub steerage-way. The watch were just finishing off the task of washing decks; the men going over the streaming planks with swabs and squeegees, to remove the superfluous water, while Purchas, sitting on the stern grating, was drying his bare feet with a towel preparatory to drawing on his socks and shoes. Miss Trevor was not visible.

The mate, having bade Leslie good morning, proceeded to inform him that the breeze, which was breathing out from the eastward, had come up with the sun, and that he hoped it would freshen as the day grew older; winding up with an earnest aspiration that it would last long enough to run them into the "Trades." Then, having donned his foot coverings, he drew Leslie aside, out of hearing of the helmsman, to impart the information that, having visited the "old man's" cabin an hour previously, he had found him no better, and that he was beginning to feel "downright anxious" about him.

Hearing this, Leslie proposed that they should both go down together, to investigate Potter's condition; and Purchas eagerly acquiescing, they presently found themselves once more bending over the sick man.

As the mate had said, there was no perceptible change in the skipper's appearance, save that, as Leslie thought, his breathing was a trifle more stertorous. He was lying in precisely the same attitude that he had assumed when first placed in the bunk; indeed, the two men agreed that, so far as they could see, he had not moved a limb from that moment. While they stood there together, discussing the man's disconcerting condition, faint rustling, as of garments, outside the cabin door, accompanied by light footsteps upon the companion ladder, apprised them of the fact that Miss Trevor was moving, and had gone on deck; whereupon Leslie went out and followed her. He found her standing just to windward of the companion, gazing with visible delight at the brilliant and sparkling scene around her. She had evidently rested well, for she looked as fresh and wholesome as the morning itself; and although her costume was somewhat shrunken, and showed here and there patches of whitish discolouration from its long immersion in the sea, she still presented a picture of grace calculated to charm the most fastidious eye.

Lifting his cap, Leslie stepped forward and greeted her, bidding her good morning, and remarking that he hoped she had slept as well as her appearance seemed to suggest; to which she replied, laughingly, that she had, and that she hoped she could return the compliment.

"Oh yes," answered Leslie; "I have slept admirably, thanks. I have had eight hours in, and four hours—the four hours of the middle watch—on deck, having undertaken to stand watch and watch with Purchas during the skipper's indisposition, the mention of which brings me to the point of asking you, Miss Trevor, whether you will permit me to enter your cabin for the purpose of removing a medicine-chest that, I understand from the mate, is there."

"Yes, certainly," assented the girl, "you may enter it at once, if you wish, Mr Leslie. I have tidied it up myself this morning, and intend to do so regularly in future; it will provide me with something to do. But you spoke of Captain Potter's indisposition. Is he unwell, then?"

"Why, yes," said Leslie; "he appears to be. The fact is, that he has not yet recovered from the blow that he received yesterday evening when he forced upon me the disagreeable necessity to disarm him. He has lain unconscious the whole night through, without moving so much as a muscle, so far as one can see; and, to tell you the whole truth, Purchas and I are beginning to feel more than a trifle uneasy about him. Hence my request for permission to have access to the medicine-chest."

"Oh dear, I am so sorry," exclaimed the girl, a note of concern at once entering her voice. "Pray go at once, Mr Leslie, I beg, and do whatever you may deem necessary. I hope it will not prove that the captain is seriously injured; it will be so—so—very—embarrassing for you."

"Well," answered Leslie, "of course I should be very sorry if, as you say, anything serious were to happen; but, even so, the man will only have himself to thank for it."

And, with this attempt to justify himself, Leslie raised his cap again, and vanished down the companion-way.

As his footsteps sounded on the companion ladder, Purchas emerged from the cabin occupied by Potter, and joined him.



CHAPTER FOUR.

DEATH OF THE SKIPPER.

"Well, Mr Leslie," inquired the mate, "is there any chance of our coming at that medicine-chest? To speak plainly, I don't half like the look of the skipper, and that's a fact. It ain't natural for a man to lie like that, hour a'ter hour, without movin'; and the sooner we can bring him back to his senses, the better I shall be pleased."

"Yes," answered Leslie, "I quite understand how you feel about the matter, and I feel quite as anxious as you do about it; more so, possibly, since it is I who am responsible for the man's condition. I shall be bitterly grieved if he proves to be seriously injured; but in any case I hope you will understand that it was impossible for me to allow him to retain possession of his revolver. He had clearly conceived an extraordinary aversion for me, and exhibited it without restraint. I believe that when he fired at me he fully intended to kill me, if he could, and I was compelled to act in self-defence. If a man allows his temper to get the better of him to that extent, he must take the consequences. But here we are," as he threw open the door of Miss Trevor's cabin, "and that, I take it, is the medicine-chest;" pointing to a fairly large chest standing against the bulkhead.

"Yes," assented Purchas, "that's the chest. Better have it out of this into the main cabin, hadn't we? Then we shan't be obliged to disturb the lady whenever we want to get at it."

"Certainly," agreed Leslie; "I was about to suggest it."

And therewith the two men seized, each of them, a handle and carried the box into the main cabin, placing it conveniently for pushing it under the table, out of the way, when not required. The chest was unlocked, and they threw it open, disclosing an interior fitted with a tray on top, which contained a long tin tubular case labelled "Diachylon Plaster," surgical scissors, surgical needles, rolls of bandage, and numerous other surgical instruments and appliances; while, underneath the tray, the body of the chest was full of jars and bottles containing drugs, each distinctly labelled, and each fitted into its own special compartment. There was also in the chest a book setting forth in detail the symptoms of nearly every imaginable disease, with its appropriate treatment, and also the proper course to pursue in the event of injury. The book was furnished with a very complete index, to facilitate prompt reference.

This book they took out and laid open upon the cabin table, now spread with the breakfast equipage. Anxiously they pored over its pages, finding more than one reference that seemed fairly to fit the case; and at length Leslie, to whose judgment the mate seemed disposed to defer, decided upon a treatment, which they proceeded forthwith to act upon. It consisted in the administration of a draught, and the application of a blister; and owing to the absolute insensibility of the skipper and his consequent powerlessness to assist in any way it was a somewhat lengthy job; but they completed it at last, and then went to breakfast.

As it was not expected that any visible result of their treatment would become apparent for the first hour or so, they did not visit the skipper at the conclusion of the meal; but Purchas went to his cabin and turned in, leaving Leslie in charge of the deck—the latter undertaking to call the mate at seven bells, in time to take the meridian altitude of the sun at noon, for the determination of the brig's latitude.

During the time that Leslie had been occupied below he had been conscious of the fact that the breeze was freshening, as was evidenced by the increasing heel of the brig and her growing liveliness of movement; and when at length he went on deck and relieved the carpenter, who had been temporarily in charge, he found quite a smart breeze blowing from about due east, and the brig, with her weather-braces slightly checked, and everything set, to her royals, staggering along, with a great deal of fuss and much churning up of water about her bluff bows, at a speed of some six knots. He glanced aloft and saw that her topgallant-masts were whipping and buckling like fishing-rods.

"Hillo, Chips," he said good-humouredly, "so you are one of the carrying-on school, I see. But what about those sticks aloft; aren't you trying them rather severely? Of course you ought to know their condition better than I do; but it looks to me as though you are giving them rather more than they ought to be asked to do."

"Oh, they're goodish sticks, sir, are them topgallant-masts, and the skipper's a rare hand for carryin' on; she ain't no clipper, as I dare say you've noticed, sir; but the cap'n makes a p'int of gettin' every inch out of her as she's capable of doin' of. All the same, sir, I believe it's about time them royals was took in."

"So do I," agreed Leslie, as a somewhat fresher puff took the brig and caused the spars to buckle still more ominously. "Royal halliards, let go! Clew up and furl!" he shouted to the men who were lounging on the forecastle over some tasks that they were performing in the leisurely manner usual with merchant seamen.

The carpenter sprang to the main royal halliards and let them run; a man forward dropped the serving-mallet that he was using, and did the same with the fore royal halliards; and while two other hands started the sheets and began to drag upon the clewlines, a third shambled aft and helped the carpenter to clew up the main royal.

This relieved the brig a trifle; but there was a hard look about the sky to windward that promised still more wind; so Leslie said—

"The breeze is coming still stronger before long, Chips; you had therefore better make one job of it, and take in the topgallantsails as well. And when that is done, if the men are not better engaged, let them get to work and set up the topgallant and royal rigging fore and aft; it is shockingly slack—hanging fairly in bights, in fact—and is affording practically no support to the spars."

"Ay, ay, sir!" answered the carpenter, who was acting also as boatswain. "I've had my eye on that riggin' for the last day or two; it wants settin' up badly, and I'll attend to it at once."

The men had got the canvas clewed up, and were aloft furling it when Miss Trevor emerged through the companion-way; and Leslie, with a word of greeting, hastened to arrange a deck-chair for her accommodation on the lee side of the deck, within the shadow of the main trysail; for although there was a slight veil of thin, streaky cloud overspreading the sky, the sun shone through it with an ardour that made shelter of some sort from it very acceptable, especially to a girl who might be supposed to set some value upon her complexion. She accepted Leslie's attentions with a brief word or two of thanks, uttered in tones that suggested an inclination to revert to her former unapproachable attitude; and the ex-lieutenant at once left her to herself, passing over to the weather side of the deck and devoting himself strictly to his duties as officer of the watch.

At seven bells he called Purchas, who presently made his appearance on deck, with an old-fashioned quadrant in his hand. He looked aloft, and then to windward, noted the changes that Leslie had affected, and graciously expressed his approval of them. Then he said—

"I s'pose, Mr Leslie, you're a first-class navigator and know all about shootin' the sun?"

"Naturally, I do," answered Leslie; "navigation is, of course, an essential part of the education and training of a naval officer; and I learned all in that line that they thought it necessary to teach me a good many years ago."

"Ay, so I supposed," returned Purchas. "As for me, I've learned what was required to enable me to get my certificate; but, after all, I don't really understand it properly. I can take the sun at noon, of course, and work out the ship's latitood; but, even at that, I've got no very great faith in myself; and as to the longitood—well, there; I always feels that I may be right or I may be wrong. I never was much of a hand at figures. So, if you've no objections, I'd take it very kind of you if you'd lend me a hand at this job while the skipper's on his beam-ends. He's got a real dandy sextant in his cabin that I'll take it upon me to let you have the use of; and the chronometer's in there too. We might as well have them things out of there too, then we shan't have to disturb the young lady every time we wants 'em."

Leslie quite agreed as to the desirability of this, and he also cheerfully undertook to check and assist Purchas in his navigation. The latter therefore went below to make the necessary transfer, and presently returned to the deck, carrying Potter's sextant—a very handsome and valuable instrument—in his hand. This he handed to Leslie; and as the time was now drawing well on towards noon, the two men betook themselves to the forecastle—the sun being over the jib-boom end—and proceeded to take the meridian altitude of the luminary. This done, "eight bells" was struck, the watch called, and Leslie and the mate returned aft to work out their calculations. As a result, there proved to be a difference of two miles between them; nothing very serious, but enough to prove that Purchas's doubts of himself were fully justified.

Upon being called by Leslie, the mate had looked in upon Potter for a moment on his way up on deck, but had failed to discover any improvement in his condition. He now suggested that they should both go below and subject their patient to a closer examination—which they did.

As Purchas had already remarked, there was no apparent improvement in Potter's condition; on the contrary, when Leslie felt his pulse it seemed to him that it was weaker. This, however, might be accounted for by the fact that the man had taken no nourishment from the moment that he had sustained his injury, and owing to his absolute helplessness, it seemed impossible to administer any to him. A further study of the book of directions accompanying the medicine-chest, however, instructed them how to overcome this difficulty; and, summoning the steward, the mate forthwith gave him instructions to kill a chicken and have some broth prepared as quickly as possible. Meanwhile the blister was snipped and dressed, another dose of medicine administered, with considerable difficulty, and the man was once more left to himself, the self-constituted physicians having then done all, for the moment, that was possible.

"I wish something big would come along—a man-o'-war, for instance," observed Leslie, as he and the mate left the cabin together; "we could then signal for medical assistance. A properly qualified doctor could soon say precisely what is wrong, and what would be the proper treatment to adopt. And if the case is really serious—as, to be frank with you, Purchas, I am beginning to fear it is—we might even trans-ship him, and thus give him the best chance possible for his life. You, of course, in such an event, would fully report all the circumstances of the case, and I should accompany the man to the other ship, to take the responsibility for whatever might happen. And Miss Trevor would go with me, since she, of course, now wishes to return home—failing an opportunity to continue her voyage to Australia or India—as soon as possible. What do you think of my plan?"

"Why," answered Purchas, "it seems a good enough plan, so far as it goes. And if that there ship that you're talkin' about could spare me a navigator to help me take the brig to Valparaiso, why, I'd be perfectly satisfied. But there don't seem to be much chance of our fallin' in with nothin'; we haven't spoke a single craft of any sort this side of Finisterre."

"The greater the likelihood of our doing so soon," remarked Leslie. "It may be quite worth while to keep an especially bright look-out, with a view to the intercepting of anything that may happen to heave in sight."

On board small craft of the Mermaid type it is usual to have dinner served in the cabin at midday; and accordingly, the steward having already announced that the meal was on the table, and summoned Miss Trevor, Leslie and Purchas entered the cabin and proceeded to dine. It was Leslie's afternoon watch below and his eight hours out that night, so he decided to lie down on the cabin lockers and get an hour or two's sleep after he had smoked his pipe on deck. Before doing so, however, he went forward to the galley to inquire how the chicken broth was progressing, and finding that it was ready, he took it aft, and, on his way below, requested Purchas to accompany him, and assist him to administer it.

The two men entered the cabin together, and stepped to the side of the bunk. The figure of Potter still lay exactly as they had left him; but as Leslie stood for a moment gazing, he gradually became aware that a subtle change in the man's appearance had taken place; through the swarthy tints of the sunburnt complexion an ashen grey hue seemed to have spread. He bent closer, and laid his hand upon the wrist, feeling for the pulse. There was no beat perceptible. He moistened the back of his hand and laid it close to the lips, waiting anxiously to feel the breath playing upon the moistened skin. He could detect nothing. Then he laid his hand upon the man's chest, over his heart. The chest had ceased to heave; and there was not the faintest throb of the heart, so far as he could feel. Finally, he snatched a small mirror from the nail on which it was hanging, and laid it gently, face downward, on Potter's mouth. He left it there for fully two minutes; and when at length he lifted it again its surface was still bright and undimmed as before. He carefully hung the mirror upon its nail again, and, turning to the mate, said—

"Mr Purchas, I regret to inform you that Captain Potter is dead!"

"Dead!" ejaculated Purchas. "No, no; he can't be! there must be some mistake."

"I very greatly fear that there is no mistake about it," returned Leslie. "I have seen death, in my time, too often not to recognise it. You will observe that breathing has ceased; neither can I find any trace of a pulse, or the slightest flutter of the heart-beat. All these symptoms are, I believe, quite consistent with a state of trance; and, remembering that, we must of course be careful to do nothing precipitately. But I am convinced that the man is really dead—a very short time will suffice, in this climate, to demonstrate whether or not that is the case—and I would advise you to give immediate instructions to have the necessary preparations made for his burial. Should my surmise prove correct, you are now the master of this brig; and as such you will of course adopt such measures with regard to me, as the immediate cause of this misfortune, as you may deem fit. But there is no necessity to put me in irons; I cannot very well escape."

"Put you in irons!" ejaculated Purchas; "I should think not. No, Mr Leslie, you had no intention of killin' the skipper; I'll swear to that. It was an accident; neither more nor less. How was you to know that a great strong man, like he was, was goin' to stagger back and hit his head again' the rail, same as he did? And he provoked you; all hands 'll bear witness to that; he shot at ye, and you was quite justified in takin' his revolver away from him. Oh no, there'll be no puttin' of you in irons so long as I'm skipper o' this brig. But of course I shall have to make a hentry of the whole affair in the official log-book; and now you'll have to go on with the brig to Valparaiso, whether or no, to hear what the British Consul there have got to say about it."

"Certainly," assented Leslie, "I shall make no difficulty about that. And I have not very much fear as to the result. But, as to Miss Trevor, I hope you will seize the first suitable opportunity that occurs to trans-ship her. She, poor girl, will now be more anxious than ever to get away from this vessel."

"Yes, yes; of course she will," agreed Purchas. "And I suppose, Mr Leslie," he continued, "you won't have any objections to continue lending me a hand to work and navigate this brig? Now that the skipper's gone I shall need help more'n ever."

"You may rely upon me, Mr Purchas, to do everything in my power to help you," answered Leslie. "And now," he continued, "while you are making the arrangements of which I just now spoke, I will go on deck and make Miss Trevor acquainted with the news of our misfortune."

Miss Trevor received the news of Potter's demise with a few expressions of well-bred regret, but she did not appear to be very greatly concerned at the event. It could scarcely be otherwise. In the first place, she had only been in the man's company a very few hours; and although he had certainly picked her and Leslie up—thus saving them in all probability from a lingering and painful death—he could scarcely have acted otherwise, seeing that he had nothing to do but give orders for a few rope's ends to be dropped over the side to them. Then, although she had given no sign of it, his manner toward her had been such as to fill her with vague fear; while his behaviour toward Leslie, when that individual had unavailingly attempted to convince him of the presence of another survivor upon the floating wreckage, was scarcely of a kind to inspire a woman with confidence or respect.

By eight bells in the afternoon watch there was no longer room for doubt that Potter was really dead; and this being the case, Purchas very wisely decided to bury the body at once, and get rid of it. At his summons, therefore, the carpenter and another man came aft with a square of canvas, palm, needle, and twine to sew up the body, and a short length of rusty chain—routed out from the fore-peak—wherewith to sink it. Meanwhile the brig's ensign was hoisted half-mast high, and the men were ordered to "clean" themselves in readiness for the funeral—all work being knocked off for the remainder of the day. Upon being apprised of what was about to take place, Miss Trevor retired to her cabin.

The process of sewing up the body and preparing it for burial occupied about half an hour, by which time the men were all ready. Meanwhile Leslie had been coaching Purchas—who frankly confessed his ignorance— as to the part he was to perform; it being of course his duty, as master of the ship, to read the burial service.

The carpenter having reported that the body was ready, two more men came aft, bearing with them a grating which they laid down on the deck alongside the companion. They then descended to the berth wherein the dead man lay and, assisted by the carpenter and the man who had helped to sew up the body in its canvas shroud, carried the corpse, with some difficulty—owing to its weight, and the cramped dimensions of the berth and the companion-way—up on deck, where it was laid upon the grating, and a spare ensign spread over it as a pall. Then the four men raised the grating and its burden to their shoulders, and with Purchas in front reading the burial service, and Leslie following behind, all, of course, uncovered, the little procession moved slowly along the deck to the lee gangway, where the rest of the crew, also uncovered, awaited it. Arrived at the gangway, the grating was laid upon the rail, with the feet of the body pointing outboard; the carpenter and his assistant supporting the inner end of the grating.

Shorn though the ceremony necessarily was of most of the solemn formalism that characterises an interment ashore, and further marred in its effectiveness by the droning tones in which Purchas deemed it proper to read the beautiful and solemn words of the prescribed ritual, it was, nevertheless, profoundly impressive, the peculiar circumstances of the case, and the setting of the picture, so to speak—the small brig out there alone upon the boundless world of waters, the little group of weather-beaten bare-headed men surrounding the stark and silent figure upon the grating, who a few brief hours before had been the head and chief of their small community; the man to whose knowledge and skill they had willingly committed their fortunes and themselves, who had ruled them as with a rod of iron, whose will was their law, who had held their very lives in his hands, at whose caprice they were either happy or miserable, and who now lay there without the power to move so much as a finger either to help or hurt them, and whose lifeless clay they were about to launch to its last resting-place, there to repose "till the sea gives up her dead,"—this, with the wailing moan of the wind aloft, the sobbing of the water alongside, and the solemn glory of the dying day all uniting to imbue the scene and the occasion with a profundity of sadness and a sublimity that would have been impossible under other circumstances. And so deeply was Leslie moved by it that, for the first time since the words of his cruel and unjust sentence had fallen upon his ears, he once more felt, to conviction, that God the Creator, God the Ordainer, God the Father was and must be an ever-living and omnipotent entity. And for the first time, also, since then he followed the prayers that Purchas droned out with an earnest and heartfelt sincerity at which he felt himself vaguely astonished.

At length the mate reached the words in the service, "we therefore commit his body to the deep," whereupon the two men who supported the inner end of the grating tilted it high, and the heavily weighted body, sliding out from beneath the outspread ensign, plunged with a sullen splash into its lonely grave. The remainder of the service was quickly gone through; and as the little party of mourners rose from their knees with the pronouncement of the last "Amen," the sun's disc vanished in a blaze of indescribable glory beneath the horizon, while at the same moment "four bells" pealed out along the brig's deck.

"Go for'ard, men," ordered Purchas, replacing his cap upon his head; "and see that that gratin' is stowed away again in its proper place. Haul down that ensign, one of you. And whose trick at the wheel is it?"

For the next three or four days nothing worthy of mention occurred on board the brig, save that the breeze which had sprung up on the morning of the day of Potter's death held good, and ran them fairly into the Trades. Our next vision of the Mermaid, therefore, shows her bruising along under all plain sail, including fore and main royals, together with port topgallant and topmast studding-sails on the main, and topmast and lower studding-sails on the foremast; the rigging having in the interim been properly set up, so that the brig could carry that amount of canvas without jeopardy to her spars.

The death and burial of the late skipper had permitted of a certain modification of arrangements aft. Thus, while Miss Trevor was, by Purchas's natural courtesy, allowed to retain possession of the late Potter's cabin, as the best and most commodious berth in the brig, Purchas had transferred the chronometer, charts and other paraphernalia appertaining to the navigation of the brig, to his own cabin, which he once more occupied; Leslie moving from the longboat into the steward's cabin, now vacated by Purchas. With the permission of the latter, also, Leslie had appropriated to his own use Potter's somewhat extensive kit— the two men being much of a size, although Potter had been of considerably stouter build. This, of course, conduced greatly to Leslie's comfort, as it afforded him, among other advantages, a much-needed change of linen; although the ex-lieutenant did not assume possession of these articles without certain inward qualms that, under the circumstances, were not to be wondered at.

Then it presently transpired that Potter—who had possessed a shrewd eye for a money-making speculation—had, before leaving London, invested a considerable sum in articles of various kinds that he knew, from experience, he would be able to dispose of at a huge profit, upon his arrival at Valparaiso; and among these there happened to be a capacious case of ladies' clothing. This case Leslie also commandeered, giving to Purchas, in exchange, a signed agreement to pay to Potter's heirs, executors, or assigns—if such could be found upon their return to England—the full value of the goods, as well as of the clothing that Leslie had appropriated to his own use. This case of clothing, together with the other goods included in the speculation, were, as Purchas happened to know, stowed in the after hold, on top of the cargo; Leslie therefore lost no time in having the hatches lifted and the case hoisted on deck, and opened. Then he summoned Miss Trevor upon the scene, and invited her to overhaul the case and help herself freely to the whole or such part of the contents as she might find of service to her; with the result that the lady soon found herself in possession of an ample if somewhat showy wardrobe, to her infinite comfort and contentment.

During the whole of this time, it may be remarked, not a single sail of any description had been sighted; although Leslie, keenly anxious to meet the wishes of Miss Trevor in the matter of trans-shipment, had caused a bright look-out for ships to be maintained throughout both day and night.

A week, or maybe rather more than that, had elapsed since Potter's death when Leslie discovered what appeared to him a fresh cause for the apprehension of future trouble. It was Purchas who this time gave rise to the apprehension. The fellow had, from the moment when Leslie and Miss Trevor first came aboard the brig, been exceedingly civil and obliging to them both, cheerfully doing everything that lay in his power to make them comfortable. It is true that, perhaps in return for this, he had not hesitated to invoke Leslie's assistance in the matter of navigating the brig, and standing a watch—in fact, performing the duties of a mate; but this, under the circumstances, was perfectly natural, and quite in accord with Leslie's own inclination.

But later, within a few days of Potter's death, indeed, Leslie thought he detected in Purchas an inclination to shirk some of the more important duties of the ship, such as the navigation of her, for instance, and relegate them entirely to him. Even this, however, did not greatly worry Leslie. In any case, he always took the necessary observations for the determination of the brig's latitude and longitude, independently of Purchas; and whether the latter checked his observations or not was a matter of indifference to him, since he had the fullest confidence in the accuracy of his own work—a confidence, indeed, that Purchas appeared to fully share, since, in the event of any discrepancy between them, the new skipper always accepted Leslie's results in preference to his own. This, however, was not the chief cause of Leslie's disquietude, which arose from the fact that on more than one occasion, when it had been his "eight hours out," he had noticed, when calling Purchas at midnight, that the latter's breath had smelt strongly of rum, and that the man, upon taking the deck, had appeared to be strongly under the influence of drink. So markedly, indeed, was this the case upon a recent occasion that Leslie had taxed him with it.

"Look here, Mr Purchas," he had remarked, "you have been mixing your 'nightcap' too strong to-night, and are scarcely in a fit condition to have charge of the brig. Go below and sleep it off. I will take your watch for you, with pleasure."

"Oh, will you?" Purchas had retorted disagreeably. "Le' me tell you, shir, tha' you'll do nothin' o' short; I'm qui' cap'le lookin' after thi' ship or any other ship that ever was built; and I won' have you or any other man tryin' take my charac'er away. You go b'low an' leave me 'lone. D'ye hear?"

Seeing at once that the man was in much too quarrelsome a condition to be satisfactorily reasoned with, Leslie had at once left him and gone below; only to return, however, within the next ten minutes to find Purchas stretched at full length upon a hencoop, fast asleep and snoring stertorously.

On the morning following this incident Leslie, finding the skipper once more sober and, as usual under those circumstances, quite genial and friendly, tackled him again upon the subject.

"I want to talk to you very seriously, Purchas," he said, as the two walked the weather side of the deck together, smoking, after breakfast. "You are now the skipper of this brig, you know; and, as such, are accountable to nobody but your owners for your conduct. But this, as I have understood you to say, is your first command; and whether you retain it or not after the termination of this voyage must necessarily depend to a very great extent upon your behaviour now. Insobriety is, as I need hardly tell you, the one unpardonable sin in the eyes of a shipowner. No man will knowingly entrust his property to the care of another who, even only occasionally, permits himself to take too much liquor, because he can never know just when that overdose may be taken. He is always ready to believe that it may be imbibed at the most inopportune moment, and that the master of his ship may be under its influence at the precise instant when the safety of the ship, crew, and cargo demand his utmost vigilance and most intelligent resource. And although you may imagine that what you do out here in mid-ocean cannot possibly reach the ears of your owner, you must not forget that sailors have a keen eye for what goes on aft; a skipper cannot get drunk without the fact reaching the sharp ears of those in the forecastle. It is one of the easiest things in the world for an officer to acquire, among his crew, a reputation for insobriety; and, once they get ashore, you may trust them to talk about it freely, very often adding embellishments of their own. The reputation of a ship-master is in the hands of his crew; and if he is foolish enough to afford them the opportunity, they may be depended upon to ruin it for him. Besides, I want you to remember your responsibilities as master of this brig. I will undertake to look after her and see that nothing goes wrong during the time that I have charge of the deck; but I cannot always be on deck, you know; and if you should happen to be intoxicated and incapable—as you were last night— while I am below, what would be the result of a sudden squall, for instance? Or how is the craft to be kept clear of possible collision on a dark and dirty night? There are a thousand sudden emergencies constantly threatening the seaman, any one of which may arise at a moment's notice."

"Yes, yes," answered Purchas, somewhat impatiently; "I know all about that. I've heard it all a thousand times before; heard it until I'm sick of it. But there's no call to make a fuss about it; I own up that I was just a little bit 'sprung' last night; but what of it? The night was fine and clear, the 'glass' was steady, and there wasn't nothin' anywheres within sight of us; so where was the danger?"

"There was none, as it fortunately happened," admitted Leslie. "But who is to know what will occur within the limits of a four-hours' watch? Suppose, for instance, that I had not chanced to notice your condition, and had turned in; and that while you were lying unconscious upon that hencoop a sudden squall had struck the brig, what would have happened? Why, the craft might have been dismasted, or even, perhaps, capsized! And where should we all have been, in that case?"

"Well, ye see, we warn't dismasted, let alone capsized, so there's no harm done," answered Purchas, testily. "All the same," he added, in more moderate tones, "I'm willin' to admit that there's a good deal of reason in your argufication, so I'll go slow in future; I don't say that I won't take a glass or so of grog of an evenin' if I feels to want it; but I'll take care not to swaller enough of it to capsize me again."

"You would do far better to swear off it altogether," asserted Leslie. "You would be glad, afterwards, that you had done so. You are an excellent seaman; and I shall be more than glad to help you to perfect yourself in navigation, if you will allow me, so that there should be nothing to stand in the way of your getting your master's certificate upon your return to England. And with that, and a reputation for reliability such as you can acquire during this voyage, there should be nothing to prevent your continuing in the command of this brig, or even of your getting something very much better. And now, I think, it is about time for us to get our sights for the longitude."



CHAPTER FIVE.

A TRAGEDY; AND A NARROW ESCAPE.

For the next two or three days Purchas faithfully adhered to his promise to refrain from taking enough liquor to "capsize" him; when, again at midnight, on going below to call him, Leslie found the fellow so completely intoxicated that it was impossible to arouse him; and he had perforce to remain on deck the whole night through. And when at length, at the expiration of the morning watch, he again went below, hoping to find that the man had at all events so far slept off the effects of his over-night debauch as to be capable of coming on deck and sobering himself by taking a douche under the head pump, he discovered, to his intense disgust, that this glib maker of promises had somehow obtained a further supply of rum during the night, and was at that moment in a more helpless state than ever! The brig was, however, by this time within a day's sail of the equator, where Leslie felt tolerably certain that they would fall in with one or more homeward-bound ships, and so be able to transfer Miss Trevor to safer and more eligible quarters; so he did not allow the incident to worry him greatly. He remained on deck long enough to secure sights for his longitude; and then, turning over the care of the brig to the carpenter—a very steady and trustworthy man—he went below and turned in, giving orders that he was to be called at seven bells; adding, in explanation of Purchas's non-appearance, that he was not very well.

It seemed that he had been asleep but a few minutes when the carpenter, in pursuance of his instructions, knocked at his cabin door, with the information that seven bells had gone. He accordingly rose, plunged his head into a basin of cold water, and within ten minutes was once more on deck, with Potter's sextant in his hand, ready to take the sun's meridian altitude, from which to deduce the latitude.

This done, his calculations completed, and the brig's position at noon pricked off on the chart, he once more hied him to Purchas's cabin, only to find the door locked from within. For the moment he felt very strongly inclined to burst his way into the cabin, and haul the man up on deck, drunk or sober; but upon further reflection he realised that by the adoption of such a course he would be irretrievably "giving the man away" to his crew—which it was eminently undesirable to do—so, muttering to himself, "Let the brute drink himself out; he will perhaps be better afterwards!" he entered the main cabin and seated himself at the table, upon which the noonday meal was already spread.

Miss Trevor and he were of course the only persons present, with the exception of the steward, who was waiting upon them; and presently the girl, noticing the absence of Purchas, inquired whether he was ill.

"He is not very well, I am sorry to say," answered Leslie, briefly; and then he turned the conversation into another channel.

But later on, when the steward had left the cabin, he said to Miss Trevor—

"You were just now inquiring about Purchas; and I told you that he was not very well. That reply, I must now explain to you, was not strictly accurate, but I gave it because the steward was present, and I did not wish to state the actual facts in his presence; for, had I done so, it is certain that he would have carried the news forward to the men, which would have been eminently undesirable. The truth, however, is that Purchas has lately given way to drink, and is at this moment locked in his cabin, helplessly intoxicated. It is a thousand pities; for the man has now an excellent opportunity of confirming himself in the command of this brig, and so establishing himself in the position of ship-master, if he will but make use of it. That, however, is his affair; not ours. My reason for telling you this is, that if the present breeze holds we shall reach the equator by this time to-morrow, at a point where we may hope to fall in with homeward-bound ships; indeed we may meet with them at any moment now; I would therefore advise you to pack up your belongings forthwith, in order that you may be ready to be transferred to the first suitable craft that comes along."

"Thank you very much for telling me this," answered the girl. "I shall be more than glad, for many reasons, to once more find myself 'homeward-bound,' as I believe you sailors term it. And although, thanks to your never-ceasing kindness and consideration, I have been quite comfortable and happy on board this vessel, it will be a relief to me to leave her, for the memory of that terrible man, Potter, oppresses me. I should think that you, too, will be very glad to get away from a ship that must be fraught, for you, with such unpleasant memories."

"I shall, indeed," assented Leslie. "But my deliverance, as I suppose you know, must come later. The misfortune by which I became, most unwillingly, the primary cause of Potter's death, renders it imperative that I should go on to Valparaiso with this brig, there to surrender myself to the authorities and answer for my action. I do not suppose," he continued, in answer to the expression of consternation that suddenly leapt into her eyes, "that they will be very hard upon me; Purchas and the whole of the crew can of course testify that I acted under extreme provocation and in self-defence; so that probably, if I have to stand a trial at all, the verdict will be one of 'misadventure.'"

"Oh, but this is dreadful!" ejaculated the girl.

She pulled herself up suddenly, and appeared to consider the situation for some moments; then she said very quietly—

"So, if I am to go home, it appears that I shall have to go alone?"

"I fear so," answered Leslie. "But," he continued reassuringly, "you must not run away with the idea that I intend to pack you off aboard the first ship that happens to come along, suitable or otherwise; I reckon upon falling in with several ships within the next thirty-six hours, we shall therefore be able to pick and choose; and you may rest assured that I will not put you aboard a vessel until I have thoroughly satisfied myself that you will be quite comfortable and happy in her. And although we have been speaking only of homeward-bound ships, thus far, we must not forget that, if we should happen to run into a calm on the Line, it is quite on the cards that we may encounter something outward-bound, either to the Cape, India, or Australia, into which to trans-ship you; in which case you will be able to continue your original journey with practically no loss of time."

"Yes," answered Miss Trevor, slowly. "That would be an advantage, certainly. On the whole, Mr Leslie, I think I should greatly prefer an outward-bound to a homeward-bound ship, if you please."

"All right," laughed Leslie; "we will see what can be done. And now I must go on deck to keep a lookout for a suitable craft."

He paused at Purchas's cabin, on his way on deck, and tried the door, but it was still locked from the inside; so he ascended the companion ladder and went out on deck. It was a most gloriously brilliant and sparkling afternoon; the sky an intense blue, save where it was flecked here and there with woolly-looking patches of trade cloud sailing solemnly up out of the east; the sea, too, was as brilliantly blue as the sky, but of a deeper tint; there was not very much swell on, although the breeze was blowing fresh from the eastward; and the brig, with her weather-braces well checked, was staggering along under every rag of canvas that would draw. Leslie glanced keenly ahead and then all round the crystalline clear horizon in search of a sail; but there was nothing in sight save a school of porpoises that were gambolling alongside, racing the brig and chasing each other athwart her fore-foot, each fish apparently rivalling all the rest in an endeavour to see which could shave the brig's stem most closely without being touched by it.

Thinking that the sight might amuse Miss Trevor, he ran quickly down the companion ladder and entered the main cabin, with the object of inviting her to come on deck and witness it. He entered the cabin just in time to catch sight of her effecting a distinctly hasty retreat into her own private berth; and although it was only, a momentary glimpse that he caught of her ere she slammed the door behind her, he could almost have sworn that she had her pocket-handkerchief to her eyes, as though she were, or had been, crying. Vaguely wondering what was the trouble, he paused uncertainly for a few seconds; then, in pursuance of his original intention, he knocked at her door, and shouted—

"Miss Trevor, there is a school of porpoises at play alongside, if you would care to come on deck and watch them. It is a pretty sight, and, I think, would amuse you."

There was no reply for a moment or two. Then, in a strangely muffled tone of voice, the girl answered—

"Thank you, Mr Leslie. I will be up in a few minutes."

It was fully ten minutes after this that the girl, clad entirely in white, made her appearance on deck; and as Leslie stole a covert glance at her face, and noted its absolute composure, he told himself that he had been mistaken; she had certainly not been crying; and he wondered what in the world it was that could have put so ridiculous an idea into his head. She appeared to be frankly and unfeignedly interested in the gambols of the porpoises, laughing heartily from time to time; and altogether seemed so absolutely happy and free from care that Leslie, while he could have kicked himself for being such a fool, felt quite reassured.

At sunset, that night, the breeze still held as fresh as ever; but no sail had yet been sighted, either meeting or overtaking the brig; a circumstance that somewhat disconcerted Leslie, for he was aiming to cross the equator in the longitude of 30 degrees West, at which point it is quite usual for a number of outward and homeward-bound ships to meet; and the Mermaid was now so near that point that, with the wind holding so fresh and steady as it did, he would not have been in the least surprised to fall in with quite a procession of craft proceeding in either direction. It was disappointing, this bareness of the horizon in every direction; for he felt that his companion and charge must be intensely anxious to exchange into something that would be taking her either back to her home, or out to her friends; and he was keenly desirous to relieve her anxiety at the earliest possible moment. And yet, at the back of his mind, behind his earnestness of desire, he was ashamed to discover that there existed a certain feeling of satisfaction that the moment for parting with the girl was still deferred. He had found his connection with her very pleasant—the strong and virile man always does find it pleasant to have something or somebody to protect and be dependent upon him—she was the only intellectual companion now left to him; and with her would go the only individual with whom he could exchange an idea worth uttering. Yes, he admitted to himself, he would miss her when she was gone, miss her badly; ay, and more than badly. Well, it couldn't be helped; she must go, of course; and this curious feeling of depression that was worrying him at the thought was but an additional imperative reason for her departure with the least possible delay. If by any chance her departure were to be delayed much longer it might be that by then he would feel that he did not want to part with her at all! He stamped his foot on the deck in impatient anger at the novel and unpleasant turn that his thoughts were taking; and sprang into the fore-rigging on his way to the royal-yard, to take a last look round ere darkness fell. He soon reached his destination, and swept the whole circle of the horizon with an eager intensity of gaze. And so clear and transparent was the air that had there been anything in the nature of a sail within thirty miles he could have seen it. The horizon, however, was as bare as it had been from the deck; and he presently descended from his post of observation with an obstinate feeling of relief that made him intensely angry with himself.

Three times, that evening, during the dog-watches, did Leslie try the door of Purchas's cabin, in an endeavour to gain access to the man and ascertain his condition. On the first two occasions he failed, the door remaining locked against him; but when for the third time he found the door still fastened, he lost patience and, setting his shoulder to the obstruction, burst it open; having arrived at the conclusion that the fellow ought not to be left to himself any longer.

He found the cabin, as he had quite expected, reeking with the fumes of rum, and Purchas still insensible in his bunk. It had been a matter of astonishment to him how the man had contrived to keep himself supplied with drink; for although Leslie, Miss Trevor, and the steward were constantly in and out of the main cabin—from which alone access was to be gained to the lazarette, wherein the ship's stores and the spirits were stowed—no one had seen him moving about. Stifling therefore the feeling of loathing and nausea that possessed him, he proceeded to institute a search of the cabin with the object of ascertaining whether the drunkard had secreted a supply therein. The search resulted in the speedy discovery of twelve bottles, seven of them empty, an eighth about a quarter full, and four still unbroached. The whole of these he at once got rid of by opening the port in the side of the cabin, and launching them through it into the sea. Then, leaving the port wide-open to sweeten the air somewhat, and assist in the revivification of the man in the bunk, he retired from the cabin, closing the door behind him, and went on deck.

The prolonged incapacity of the new skipper rendered it necessary for Leslie to make some arrangement whereby he could secure a proper amount of rest; and therefore, the carpenter being a steady and fairly reliable man, he arranged with him that the latter should take charge of the starboard watch during Purchas's "indisposition." It was Leslie's eight hours in, that night, and consequently he was free to retire to his cabin between the end of the second dog-watch and midnight; but the weather was now so hot that the comparative coolness of the night air on deck proved irresistibly attractive to Miss Trevor, who, "sleeping in" all night, was naturally indisposed to go to bed at so early an hour as eight o'clock in the evening; and as she evinced a disposition to keep the deck for an hour or two, Leslie also remained on deck to bear her company.

For some time the two walked the weather side of the brig's flush deck, between the stern grating and the mainmast, conversing more or less intermittently upon various topics, until at length Leslie's attention was attracted to the man at the wheel, who, he noticed, was continually glancing over his shoulder with a perturbed air at the water astern, instead of keeping his eyes upon the compass card. It seemed also to Leslie that the man was trying to attract his attention, although he was too bashful, in Miss Trevor's presence, to speak.

So when the pair next reached the stern grating in the course of their promenade, Leslie paused, and said—

"What is the matter, Tom? You seem to be bestowing quite an unusual amount of attention on the wake of the ship; is there anything remarkable to be seen there?"

The man straightened himself up with the satisfied air of one who, after much striving, has at length achieved success.

"Well, I don't exactly know, sir, as you would call it remarkable" he answered; "but there's something visible over the starn as perhaps the lady might like to see."

"Oh!" answered Leslie. "Then let us have a look at it."

And offering his hand to Miss Trevor, he assisted her to mount the grating and led her to the taffrail, over which they both leaned, gazing down into the black profundity beneath them.

The brig was travelling at the rate of about six knots; at which speed she was wont to create a considerable amount of disturbance in the element through which she ploughed her passage; the water was brilliantly phosphorescent, and as a result of this the wake of the brig was on this occasion a mass of sea-fire, the foam that she churned up on either side of her glowing and sparkling with luminous clouds interspersed with thousands of tiny stars that waxed and waned with every plunge of the vessel. The water was almost as transparent as air itself, and by leaning out over the taffrail it was possible to see the rudder, the brig's "heel," and a considerable amount of her "run," all aglow with bluish white light that streamed away far astern like a miniature Milky Way. It was a beautiful spectacle, and one at which an imaginative person might have gazed for a full hour or more without tiring. But Tom, the helmsman, was not an imaginative man, and the spectacle of a ship's wake glowing and scintillating with sea-stars was one that he had beheld so often that it had long ceased to appeal to him as anything at all uncommon. It was something else that had attracted his attention, and that he had thought might interest "the lady." For there, in the very thickest of the swirling mass of clouds and discs and circles and stars of sea-fire, at a depth of perhaps six feet below the surface, was to be seen, brilliantly illuminated by its own movement through the water, the glowing shape of an enormous shark, fully twenty feet in length, keeping pace with the brig as steadily as if he were being towed by her. The whole bulk of the monster was clearly, startlingly, distinct, much more so than would have been the case at daytime, for his body showed against the black water like a shape of white fire, while with every sweep of his powerful tail he scattered a trail of glowing sparks behind him that constituted of itself quite a respectable wake.

"Oh, what a dreadful creature!" exclaimed Miss Trevor, shrinking back in dismay at the sight. "It is like a nightmare! That must surely be a shark; is it not? It is the first shark I have ever seen, Mr Leslie; and I am certain that I never wish to see another. I had no idea that sharks were such monstrous creatures; I always thought that they were about the same size as the porpoises that we were looking at this afternoon."

"Yes," laughed Leslie, "very possibly. This, however, is rather an exceptionally fine fellow, although I have seen even bigger specimens than he. Do not look at him too long," he continued, "or possibly you may dream of him, in which case he would be likely to prove a nightmare to you indeed."

"He've been followin' of us for the last hour, sir," remarked the helmsman. "And they do say that when a shark hangs on to a ship like that, somebody's goin' to die aboard of her."

"Yes," answered Leslie, carelessly, "I have heard that story myself; but I don't believe it, for I have been in ships that have been followed for days on end by sharks, without anything coming of it—except that we have generally managed to catch the sharks themselves at last. No; this fellow is following us because he happens to be hungry, and hopes that the cook will heave overboard enough scraps to take the sharp edge off his appetite. But the dew is falling very heavily, Miss Trevor; had not you better fetch up a wrap?"

"No, thanks," answered the girl, as she moved away and extended her hand for him to help her down off the grating on to the deck; "it is growing late, so I will bid you good night and go to my cabin."

"Sorry to hear that Mr Purchas is bad, sir," observed Tom, tentatively, when Miss Trevor had vanished down the companion ladder. "Hope it ain't nothin' serious?"

"Oh dear, no," answered Leslie, perceiving with annoyance that the man was connecting the presence of the shark under the counter with Purchas's invisibility; "merely a rather sharp bilious attack, which is now over, I am glad to say. He will probably be on deck again to-morrow."

Then, as the carpenter—who had been keeping out of the way during Miss Trevor's presence on deck—came aft, Leslie gave over the charge of the brig to him, and turned in.

The remainder of the first watch, and the whole of the middle watch, passed without incident save that, when Leslie went on deck at midnight, he found that the wind had softened down somewhat—as was indeed to be expected, with the brig drawing so near to the equator—the vessel's speed having dropped to about four knots. But the weather held superbly fine, and the barometer remained absolutely steady; Leslie therefore retired to his bunk at the end of the middle watch with a perfectly easy mind, and the fixed determination to have Purchas on deck and under the head pump at seven bells, when he himself would be called.

It was still quite dark when he was startled out of a profound sleep by a sudden loud outcry on deck, followed by a rushing and scuffling of feet overhead accompanied by the flapping of canvas, as though the brig had been suddenly luffed into the wind.

Leslie was well acquainted with the vagaries of equatorial weather, and therefore, under the apprehension that a squall was threatening, he sprang from his berth and dashed up on deck without waiting to exchange his pyjamas for other clothing. As he emerged from the companion he came into violent contact with some one who was evidently about to make a hasty descent of the ladder; and when the pair had recovered from the shock, he discovered that he had collided with the carpenter, who betrayed every symptom of the most violent agitation; while the entire crew, apparently, shouting to each other excitedly, were grouped upon the stern grating. The brig had been luffed into the wind, and everything, including studding-sails, was flat aback. It was well for the craft, and all concerned, that the wind had fallen light, or there would have been mischief up aloft, and plenty of wreckage among the lighter spars.

"What in the world is the matter, Chips?" demanded Leslie testily, as with a single glance he took in the full condition of affairs.

"Oh, Mr Leslie, sir, something awful has just happened!" exclaimed the man addressed, stammering with agitation and excitement. "I were standin' as it might be just there," pointing to a spot on the deck about midway between the skylight and the mainmast, "fillin' my pipe, when out of the corner of my heye I seen somebody step out of the companion on deck; and fust of all I thought 'twas you; but, lookin' again, I see as it was the skipper—not Cap'n Potter, you'll understand, sir, he bein' dead and buried; but Cap'n Purchas. I were just goin' up to him to say how glad I were to see 'im about again, when he steps over to the binnacle, takes a peep into the compass-bowl, and then, afore a man could say 'Jack Robinson,' up he jumps on to the starn gratin', from there to the taffrail—an' overboard! Scotty, there, who was at the wheel, owns that he more'n half guessed, from the queer look in the skipper's heyes, that somethin' was wrong, and made a grab at 'im as 'e passed; but Mr Purchas were miles too quick for 'im, and Scotty on'y reached the taffrail in time to see the pore man strike the water. And the next second that devil of a shark that have been followin' of us had 'im!"

Leslie reeled as though he had been struck a heavy blow. Here was another tragedy; the second that had happened within the short space of time that had elapsed since he had joined this unlucky brig. And even as he had blamed himself for being in some sort responsible for the first, so now he reproached himself as being in a measure responsible for this. He felt that he had been remiss. In his anxiety to shield the unhappy man from the observation and unfavourable comment of the crew, he had carefully concealed from everybody the true cause of Purchas's retirement, leaving the man alone to recover from his drunken bout instead of telling off somebody to watch him. Had he done this, he reflected in self-reproach, this dreadful thing would not have happened. The need for concealment was now past, however; so, rallying his faculties, he called all hands to group themselves round him, as he had something to say to them.

"My lads," he began, "I believe that you all profoundly regret the awful thing that has just happened; for Mr Purchas was a most kind and considerate officer to every one of you. But none of you can regret his terrible end so much as I do; for I feel that I am to some extent to blame for it. A certain wise man has said, 'Of the dead speak nothing but good;' and it is well to carry out this precept, so far as is possible. There are occasions, however, when the truth—the whole truth—must be told, even though it reflect discredit upon those who are gone; and this is one of them. I am sorry to be obliged to tell you that what really ailed Mr Purchas was—drunkenness! Very little more than a week had elapsed after Captain Potter's death when I discovered in Mr Purchas a tendency to take rather too much rum. I spoke to him about it, with the result that he promised to be more moderate in his potations. But he did not keep his promise, and upon one occasion, at least, he was so thoroughly intoxicated that he slept through his entire watch, stretched out upon a hencoop."