se? No one could tell. The squall soon subsided; when it did
so, we hauled our wind, but the thick mist continued, and although we
might have been close to the stranger, we could not have seen her.

Dick Harper shook his head most sagaciously, and with no little inward
satisfaction. "I knowed it would be so," he said. "For how, do ye see,
messmates, could it be otherwise?"

At length next morning, as the sun rose high in the sky, the mist
cleared off; and with eagerness I hurried aloft to learn if the chase
was anywhere to be seen. But as I looked round the horizon, the line
where the sea and sky met was unbroken; not a sail was in sight, and,
disappointed and dispirited, I returned on deck.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

I find that I am getting on so slowly with my narrative, and have so
many adventures to tell, that omitting a number of events of less
interest to my readers, I must sketch rapidly the history of several
months which passed after the last escape of the _Emu_.

In vain we searched for her for several days, but not a trace of her
could we find; not a spar nor a plank to show that she had gone down
when she disappeared from our sight in the squall. We were then, it
must be remembered, in the neighbourhood of the Arru Islands. We
cruised along the coast of New Guinea, off which we thought the _Emu_
might be prowling. It was curious, that though we were out of sight of
land, on several occasions a number of birds, towards the evening, came
on board to roost. They appeared to be land birds. The colours of some
were very beautiful, and in many we could trace a resemblance to our
small ducks, magpies, and larks. We also encountered daily a vast
number of a species of whale, which collected round the schooner, and
watching her as if they thought her some strange fish. One day they had
collected in more than usual numbers, and while I watched them swimming
round and round the vessel, their huge backs now and then appearing
above the water, I could not help thinking that they were holding a
consultation together in contemplation of an attack on us. Sometimes
they would swim directly at the vessel, and then diving under her,
appear at the other side. I got my rifle, intending to have a shot at
one of them; though I must own that I think it very wrong to kill
animals without an object, when they can be of no use to any one, merely
for the sake of trying one's dexterity as a marksman on them.

"You