he might seem to be in our power, there could be no
dependence whatever upon appearances, and that until we had absolutely
succeeded in placing a prize crew upon her decks, and her own crew in
irons, we could not feel by any means certain that she was ours. Hence
the extraordinary feeling of excitement and impatience which prevailed
on board the _Daphne_ on that memorable afternoon.

About two o'clock the wind changed, and we were obliged to take in the
studding-sail on the port side and get a pull upon the port braces.
Meanwhile a heavy bank of clouds had gathered in the south-western
quarter, and was gradually working up against the wind, until by three
o'clock p.m. the sun was obscured and the entire heavens blotted out by
the huge murky mass of seething vapour. It was my watch below, but,
like everybody else, I was much too excited to remain anywhere but on
deck, and, to confess the truth, I did not half like the appearance of
things in general. According to my notions we were about to experience
one of those sudden and violent atmospheric changes which are so
frequently met with in the tropics; yet there was the ship with a whole
cloud of studding-sails set on the starboard side, as well as every
other rag of canvas that could be coaxed to do an ounce of work. "If,"
thought I, "my knowledge of weather is worth anything, all hands of us
will be pretty busy before long, and we shall be lucky indeed if we do
not lose some of our spars, as well as an acre or two of those flying-
kites up aloft there." I even forgot myself so far as to gently
insinuate such a possibility to Mr Armitage, but I was so sharply
snubbed for my pains that I determined to interfere no further whilst
off duty, but to keep my eyes open and be ready to lend a hand whenever
and wherever required.

Captain Vernon was of course on deck, and from the anxious way in which
he from time to time glanced, first at the portentous sky overhead, next
at the chase, and finally at our immense spread of canvas, I felt sure
that he, to some extent, shared my apprehensions.

At length, after a more than usually anxious glance round, he went to
the skylight and took a peep apparently at the barometer. I was
watching him, and I saw him start and take another keen look at it.
Then he suddenly dived down the companion-way into the cabin to make a
closer inspection of it, as I conjectured. My curiosity was aroused,
and I was walking aft to take a look at the