ere 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, o