ved a gold-laced
cap above the rail in the waist of the yacht. Lingard raised his arm in
return. Further aft, under the white awnings, he could see two men and
a woman. One of the men and the lady were in blue. The other man,
who seemed very tall and stood with his arm entwined round an awning
stanchion above his head, was clad in white. Lingard saw them plainly.
They looked at the brig through binoculars, turned their faces to
one another, moved their lips, seemed surprised. A large dog put his
forepaws on the rail, and, lifting up his big, black head, sent out
three loud and plaintive barks, then dropped down out of sight. A sudden
stir and an appearance of excitement amongst all hands on board the
yacht was caused by their perceiving that the boat towing astern of the
stranger was their own second gig.

Arms were outstretched with pointing fingers. Someone shouted out a
long sentence of which not a word could be made out; and then the brig,
having reached the western limit of the bank, began to move diagonally
away, increasing her distance from the yacht but bringing her stern
gradually into view. The people aft, Lingard noticed, left their places
and walked over to the taffrail so as to keep him longer in sight.

When about a mile off the bank and nearly in line with the stern of the
yacht the brig's topsails fluttered and the yards came down slowly
on the caps; the fore and aft canvas ran down; and for some time she
floated quietly with folded wings upon the transparent sheet of water,
under the radiant silence of the sky. Then her anchor went to the bottom
with a rumbling noise resembling the roll of distant thunder. In a
moment her head tended to the last puffs of the northerly airs and the
ensign at the peak stirred, unfurled itself slowly, collapsed, flew out
again, and finally hung down straight and still, as if weighted with
lead.

"Dead calm, sir," said Shaw to Lingard. "Dead calm again. We got into
this funny place in the nick of time, sir."

They stood for a while side by side, looking round upon the coast and
the sea. The brig had been brought up in the middle of a broad belt of
clear water. To the north rocky ledges showed in black and white lines
upon the slight swell setting in from there. A small island stood out
from the broken water like the square tower of some submerged building.
It was about two miles distant from the brig. To the eastward the coast
was low; a coast of green forests fringed w