ee that long streak of light shootin' up into the sky from behind
that bank of cloud, sir?" responded the man. "Well, it's about half a
p'int, or maybe nearer a p'int, to the south'ard of that."

"Ah, I see it!" ejaculated I, as I caught sight for a moment of a small,
scarcely distinguishable speck that appeared for an instant and then
vanished again, apparently in the hollow between two waves. A few
seconds later I caught it again, and presently I had it dancing
unsteadily athwart the field of the instrument. But even then I was
unable to definitely settle whether it was or was not a boat; as the man
at my side had remarked, it looked like a boat, it was about the size of
a boat, as seen nearly end-on, but there was no indication of life or
movement about it; it seemed to be floating idly to the run of the seas.
Just at this moment the sun's upper limb flashed into view over the
edge of the cloud-bank, darting a long gleam of golden radiance athwart
the heaving welter to the schooner, and I looked again, half expecting
to catch the answering flash of wet oar-blades; but there was nothing of
the kind to be seen. Undoubtedly, however, there was _something_ out
there,--something that might prove to be a boat,--and I determined to
give it an overhaul without loss of time. So, carefully noting its
bearing and distance, and cautioning the lookout not to lose sight of it
for an instant, I descended to the deck and straightway gave the
necessary orders for making sail and beating up to it.

The object being nearly dead to windward, it was a full hour before we
reached it, but little more than half that time sufficed to satisfy us
that it really was a boat, and a further quarter of an hour established
the fact that it was none other than the _Althea's_ launch; but my heart
was full of foreboding as I observed that, although we fired gun after
gun to attract attention, there was no answering sign of life to be
discovered on board her, although from the moment when she became
visible from the deck, either Lindsay or I kept the telescope constantly
bearing upon her. Yet the depth at which she floated in the water
showed that she was not empty. Lindsay suggested that her crew might
have been taken out of her by some craft that had fallen in with her,
and that the reason why she floated so deep was that she was half-full
of water. But I could not agree with this view; there was a buoyancy of
movement about her as she rose an