ff Sandy Hook. The breeze, while brisk, was light enough to
warrant carrying all sails, and a cloud of canvas soon billowed from
aloft. One after another the sails were broken out on all three masts
until they creaked with the strain. The _Bertha Hamilton_ heeled over
to port, and with every stitch drawing before a following wind gathered
way until she boomed along at a gait that swiftly carried her out of
sight of land. Before long the Sandy Hook Lightship sank from view
astern, and nothing could be seen on any side but the foam-streaked
billows of the Atlantic.

When the schooner was fairly under way and the watches had been chosen,
the captain gave her into charge of the mate and rejoined Tyke.

That grizzled veteran was enjoying himself more than he had done at any
time for the last twenty years. As the old warhorse "sniffs the battle
from afar," so he already anticipated with delight the coming battle
with wind and waves.

"Well, Tyke, what do you think of her?" the captain asked.

"She's a jim dandy!" ejaculated Tyke enthusiastically. "She rides the
waves like a feather. Jest slips along like she was greased."

"She's a sweet sailer," declared the captain proudly. "Just wait till
you see how she manages against head winds. Even when she's jammed up
right into the wind, she's good for six knots, and with any kind of a
fair gale, she's good for ten or twelve."

"With ordinary luck, then, we ought to git to the Caribbean in ten or
twelve days," said Tyke.

"Unless we meet up with something that strips our spars," returned the
captain confidently. "Of course, a hurricane might knock us out in our
calculations. Taking it by and large though, and allowing for the time
we may have to cruise around before we find the island we're looking
for, I'm figuring that we'll make Sandy Hook again in two months all
right."

"Better count on three and be sure," cautioned Grimshaw. "You know it
isn't a matter of simply finding the island, staying there mebbe a day
or two an' coming away again. This is more'n jest sending a boat's
crew ashore for water. We may be a month hunting around and trying to
find the pesky thing."

"And even then we may not find it," laughed the captain.

"Well, it'll be some satisfaction if we even find the hole it used to
be in," said Tyke. "That'll show that we weren't altogether fools in
taking the paper an' map for gospel truth."

"I don't know that there'd be much comfort in t