that south or south-south-west would be a safer
course."

"I have a great mind to tell the captain," I said. "I suspect that he
does not believe we are so close in with the coast as is really the
case. He seems a sensible man, and will, at all events, be obliged to
me."

I entered the cabin, but found that the captain had gone to bed. I then
went up to the raised poop, on which the officer of the watch was
standing, and, in as polite a way as I could, reminded him of the
dangerous reef on our larboard beam. "Or rather, I may say, on our
larboard bow," I added; "and if we stand on much longer on the course we
are now keeping, we shall strike on it to a certainty."

"If there is a reef where you say, we must have passed it long ago,"
answered the lieutenant carelessly. "My directions are to steer the
course we are now on; and I am surprised that a stranger should venture
to interfere with the navigation of the ship."

"I beg your pardon, Don Lopez," I answered. "I have given you what my
brother officers and I consider sound advice; and we, sir, should be as
sorry as you would be to see the ship cast away."

"Really, Mr Englishman, we Spaniards understand navigation as well as
you do!" exclaimed the lieutenant in an angry tone. "You seem to forget
that we discovered the New World, and had explored a large portion of
the globe before your countrymen even pretended to be a maritime people,
as you now call yourselves."

I saw that it was useless saying more, and so rejoined my companions.
Boxall was becoming more and more anxious. "We shall, to a certainty,
be on the reef before many hours are over, if the ship's course is not
altered," he said. "I suspect that the lieutenant has mistaken east for
west, and that the captain really directed him to steer
south-south-west."

I again went up to the lieutenant, and, as politely as I could, inquired
if he did not think it possible that some mistake might have been made
as to the course to be steered, and suggesting that he should alter it
to south-west. This made him very indignant, and he hinted that if I
again interfered with him he should order me under arrest. Making him a
polite bow, I returned to Boxall, and we continued our walk. The air,
after the heat of the day, was comparatively cool and pleasant, and
neither of us felt any inclination to turn in. No one interfered with
us; and we were talking eagerly about the probability of falling in with
an Engl