he unwrinkled smoothness of polished
glass, faithfully reflecting every detail, even to the most minute, of
form and colour exhibited by the writhing cloud-shapes that overhung it;
and also faithfully reflecting the shapes of four large proas that, in a
somewhat scattered fleet, were revealed at a distance of some three
miles to the northward and eastward of the spot occupied by ourselves.
The barque happened at the moment to be lying with her head pointing
about south-east; these proas were therefore broad upon our larboard
beam, and they were the first objects that met my sight. Some, if not
all, of these craft were working their sweeps; for, with the momentary
quiver of the lightning, I had caught the glint of reflected light from
wet oar-blades projecting from the dark, shadowy mass of the hull; and
they were all heading up or down the straits--I could not tell which in
the unexpected glimpse I had caught of them--for they all showed end-on,
or nearly so, to us.

Meanwhile, Roberts had completed his task, and was in the act of
mounting to the poop--for I caught sight of his figure out of the corner
of my eye--when the flash came. As the opaque darkness once more
enveloped us I heard his voice exclaiming sharply, and, as it seemed to
me, with a note of exultation in it, as though proud at the prospect of
at least one half of his presentiment being verified--

"Did you see that, sir?"

I rose from my chair and joined him, so that our voices might not
disturb the sleepers below in the saloon, near the open skylight of
which I had been seated.

"You mean the proas, I suppose," said I. "Yes, I saw them. But there
are only four of them, thank goodness. And we are not sure that they
are not heading _up_ the straits, instead of toward us. If so, it was
no doubt from one of them that the sound emanated that startled you a
little while ago, as they must have passed us at no great distance."

"_Four_ of them?" exclaimed Roberts; "I only saw _three_; and two of
them were heading the same way as ourselves. They were all close
together; not more than--"

At this moment the tremulous greenish glare of the sheet lightning once
more lit up the scene, this time much more strongly than on the first
occasion, and in the midst of the quivering radiance there was a single
sudden, vivid gleam, like the instantaneous flash of a gigantic lantern
behind the dense masses of cloud lying piled along the western horizon,
the light