oman just then regarded the question
with a considerable amount of indifference; her one consuming anxiety,
for the moment, was to again find herself on the deck of a craft of some
sort; all other considerations she was clearly quite willing to relegate
to a more or less distant future.

Meanwhile, the brig was slowly drawing down toward them, and as slowly
lifting her canvas above the horizon. And by the time that she had
raised herself to the foot of her courses, Leslie had succeeded in
bringing her two masts into line, so that the pair were now dead ahead
of her. Having accomplished this much, the swimmer concluded that he
might safely take a rest, for the brig, being close-hauled, would be
certain to be making more or less leeway; and it was quite possible that
she would drive to leeward at least as fast as they did, if not faster,
he therefore threw himself over on his back, requesting his companion to
keep an eye on the approaching brig, and report to him her progress from
time to time.

The breeze, having begun to drop, continued to fall still lighter, until
Leslie, raising himself for a moment to take a look at the brig, saw
with some dismay that her lower canvas was wrinkling and collapsing
occasionally for lack of wind. She was by this time, however, hull-up,
and not more than half a mile distant; moreover the rest in which he had
been indulging had refreshed him so considerably that he felt quite
capable of further exertion. He therefore determined to shorten the
period of suspense as much as possible by swimming directly for the
craft--a resolution that was immensely strengthened by the sudden
recollection that they were afloat in a part of the ocean where a shark
or sharks might put in an unwelcome appearance at any moment.
Accordingly, without mentioning this last unpleasant reflection of his
to his companion, he recommenced swimming, this time shaping a course
directly for the brig.

Although his own individual progress, and that of the brig, was slow,
their combined progress toward each other rapidly shortened the distance
between them, and within about a quarter of an hour of the time that
Leslie had recommenced swimming he had arrived near enough, in his
judgment, to commence hailing, with a view to attracting the attention
of the brig's crew. Ceasing his exertions, therefore, he took a good
long breath and shouted, at the top of his voice--

"Brig ahoy! _Brig ahoy_! Brig Ahoy!"

The hail,