yacht glided almost noiselessly over the phosphorescent lighted
waters down the eastern side of the shoals. "If a good head of steam is
kept on we should be in a colder latitude very soon."

"We can't get there any too soon to please me," Teddy replied, as he
waved the palm-leaf fan languidly. "I believe it would be a positive
comfort to have my nose frost-bitten."

"It isn't possible you will have such comfort as that for some time to
come; but we may be able to make your teeth chatter in a few days," Neal
replied laughingly, and then as the breeze caused by the movement of
the yacht over the water fanned his face, he added sleepily, "Good
night; I don't believe I shall open my eyes until after sunrise
to-morrow."

As a matter of fact this prediction was not verified; before evening a
wind had come out of the sea which caused the yacht to bow before it
like a reed in a storm, and the hammocks that, a few hours previous, had
seemed so rest-inviting, were swinging at a rate that threatened to
throw their occupants to the deck.

"I fancy it is time we went below," Neal said, as he awakened his friend
by a series of vigorous shakes. "If we stay here half an hour longer it
will be doubtful whether we're on board or in the water."

The Sea Dream's lee rail was already so near the surface that the green
waves curled over it now and then, and before the boys could reach the
cabin they were thoroughly drenched.

It was the greatest possible relief to crawl into the bunk and pull up
the bed-clothes to defend themselves against the cold wind which came
through the port-hole, and so delicious was this sense of being chilly
that they failed to realize the cause of the sudden change in the
weather, until they heard the sailing master in the cabin reply to Mr.
Emery's question:

"You are getting your first taste of what is known as a norther; but
there isn't the slightest danger if we can crawl away from the land, and
we shall have no trouble in doing that so long as there is a full head
of steam on."

"What does he mean by a norther?" Teddy asked of Neal, who had shown, by
rising on his elbow, that he was awake.

"A wind coming from the north, more frequently met in the Gulf of
Mexico, when the temperature falls very suddenly, as was the case this
evening, and a furious gale is often the result."

"So long as it holds cold I don't see that we have any cause to
complain," was the sleepy rejoinder; but before the night ca