m about the middle of the month and the weather being all that
could be desired; when, one morning, that of our fifteenth day out from
Grenada, I recollect, I noticed that Captain Miles looked rather anxious
after coming on deck, shortly before our breakfast hour, "eight bells,"
according to his usual custom when everything was going on all right.

He first glanced aloft, sailor-like, to see that everything was correct
with the rigging and the sails all drawing, and then he cast an eye
forward, noting the orderly arrangements there; finally, walking across
to the binnacle in order to observe what course the ship was steering,
and asking Mr Marline, who had charge of the morning watch, how she was
going.

"Eight knots good, sir, last heave of the log," promptly said the mate.

"That's all right," observed the captain; "but, I don't like the look
ahead. It seems to me as if there's going to be a change."

"Indeed?" replied Mr Marline; "I haven't noticed anything at all
unusual. The wind has kept steady from the westwards ever since I came
on the poop at four bells, the same as we left it overnight."

"But, the glass is going down, Marline," rejoined Captain Miles; "and
don't you notice the sea is getting a bit cross off our port bow? It
strikes me we'll have a shift of wind presently from the eastwards, if
nothing more. However, we oughtn't to grumble, for ten days of such
fine weather is rather unusual in these latitudes, you know, at this
time of year."

"Yes, certainly," replied the mate; "we've made good use of the time,
too."

"Aye, that we have," replied the captain. "I fixed our position last
night by a couple of lunars."

"And I suppose it corroborates your observation of yesterday, eh?"

"Pretty nearly," said Captain Miles; "calculating for the distance we've
run since, I should think we're somewhere about 30 degrees North and 52
degrees West."

"Well, that's strange!" exclaimed Mr Marline. "We've got to the limit
of the north-east trade without having once the benefit of it from the
day we started, the winds having been south-east and southerly till they
shifted round to the westwards!"

"So they have," said the captain; "still, that has been all the more
lively for us. But I don't like this change brewing up. Look at the
clouds now!"

"Ha, they're getting up at last!" replied the other. "I see you were
right, the change will come from the eastwards."

Up to now it had been a beautifully