"So far from it, that, should this course continue we must cross the whole
Atlantic before your eyes could again see land."

Gertrude made no reply, but retired, in sorrow, to the side of her
governess. In the mean time, Wilder again left to himself, began to
consult his compass and the direction of the wind. Perceiving that he
might approach nearer to the continent of America by changing the position
of the boat, he wore round, and brought its head as nigh up to the
south-west as the wind would permit.

But there was little hope in this trifling change. At each minute, the
power of the breeze was increasing until it soon freshened to a degree
that compelled him to furl his after-sail. The slumbering ocean was not
long in awakening; and, by the time the launch was snug under a
close-reefed fore-sail, the boat was rising on dark and ever-growing
waves, or sinking into the momentary calm of deep furrows, whence it rose
again, to feel the rapidly increasing power of the blasts. The dashing of
the waters, and the rushing of the wind, which now began to sweep heavily
across the blue waste, quickly drew the females to the side of our
adventurer. To their hurried and anxious questions he made considerate but
brief replies, like a man who felt that the time was far better suited to
action than to words.

In this manner the last lingering minutes of the night went by, loaded
with a care that each moment rendered heavier, and which each successive
freshening of the breeze had a tendency to render doubly anxious. The day
came, only to bestow more distinctness on the cheerless prospect. The
waves were looking green and angrily, while, here and there, large crests
of foam were beginning to break on their summits--the certain evidence
that a conflict betwixt the elements was at hand. Then came the sun over
the ragged margin of the eastern horizon, climbing slowly into the blue
arch above, which lay clear, chilling, distinct, and entirely without a
cloud.

Wilder noted all these changes of the hour with a closeness that proved
how critical he deemed their case. He seemed rather to consult the signs
of the heavens than to regard the tossings and rushings of the water,
which dashed against the side of his little vessel in a mariner that, to
the eyes of his companions, often appeared to threaten their total
destruction. To the latter he was too much accustomed, to anticipate the
true moment of alarm, though to less instructed senses