s a
strong following wind; and Captain Miles, for one, I could see, intended
to let the vessel drive on as long as the gale lasted, unless it should
try to head us, when of course he would have no alternative left but
that of laying-to.

He did not seem a bit uneasy as yet, though; for he greeted me quite
cheerily when I at last managed to clamber up on the poop and make my
way aft to where he was standing, holding on to everything I could
clutch to maintain my footing. The ship was rolling from side to side
like a porpoise, and the wind nearly blew the hair off my head, my cap
having gone away to leeward the first step I took up the ladderway on
emerging from the cabin after breakfast.

"Well, Master Tom!" the captain shouted in my ear, the noise being so
great that it almost required a speaking trumpet to make anyone hear at
a great distance--"how do you like this weather, eh?"

"A jolly sight better than the calm," I said joyously. The wind seemed
to get in my head and make me excited in a similar way as it is supposed
to affect cats; for I felt inclined to sing with glee as I braced myself
up against the blast and clung to the binnacle rail, surveying the wild
scene around in a perfect frenzy of delight. Sea and sky were mingled
together; and the ship presented a grand spectacle as she nobly
struggled against and overcame the combined strength of the elements
trying to vanquish her efforts at escape!

"A good breeze is certainly better than a calm, Tom," observed Mr
Marline in response to my jubilant remark; "but, it all depends what
sort of a wind it is, for, if it blows your vessel the wrong way, the
question arises whether the former state of things be not preferable."

"Belay that sea-lawyering, Marline," interposed Captain Miles. "I never
saw such a fellow for taking a gloomy view of everything! Here we were
rolling about in a calm for days upon days as if they would never end,
while now we are bowling away before a brisk south-easter; and yet you
are not happy!"

"But in what direction are we going, eh, captain?" slyly inquired Mr
Marline.

"A point or two off our course, I admit," replied the other; "but still
we are going, and that is the great thing. We are not lying still like
a log on the ocean."

"How far have we run, sir, do you think, since last night?" I asked
Captain Miles when Mr Marline made no further attempt at conversation.

"I shall take a sight of the sun presently, my boy,"