d, the sure indication that the breeze we now had would be a
lasting one.

And so it proved; for the fleecy masses soared upward until they
overspread the whole of the visible sky; and as they soared so the
breeze hardened, until at length, by the time that the middle watch drew
toward its close, the saucy _Esmeralda_, with the wind well over her
starboard quarter, and everything packed upon her, from the royal
studding-sails down, was storming through it at a pace nearer to sixteen
than to fifteen knots in the hour, while the wild weird melody of a
hundred harps singing through the taut mazes of her rigging aloft
mingled with the roar of the wind out of the great spaces of her
straining canvas, and the deep, continuous thunder of the bow wave,
raising a concert of such mad, soul-stirring harmony as causes the
sailor's heart to leap and bound within him in ecstatic exultation to
the swift, buoyant leaps and plunges of the good ship beneath him.

This truly royal breeze continued to blow with scarcely diminished
strength, enabling us to reel off our fifteen knots per hour for hours
at a time, while our speed seldom sank below twelve; the result of which
was that a little before midnight of the fifth day from its first
reaching us we glided into the roadstead of Honolulu, and came to an
anchor.

On the following morning, immediately after breakfast, I went ashore,
taking with me my passengers and Cooper, the mate of the _Golden Gate_;
and while Sir Edgar with his party made their way to the best hotel in
the place, preparatory to the planning of an expedition which would
permit of their seeing as much as possible of the beauties of the island
during our stay there, Cooper and I sought out our respective consuls.
Neither of them were difficult to find; and while I partook of a second
breakfast with our hospitable British representative, I learnt from
him--after telling him as much of my story as I deemed needful--that an
Aberdeen ship had unfortunately driven ashore and gone to pieces there
only a fortnight previously, and that her crew were then awaiting an
opportunity to work their way home, the master and chief mate having
already left for England _via_ San Francisco, in a steamer. Upon
further inquiry I found that there were thirteen of the crew in all,
namely, the second mate, steward, cook, and ten seamen. This suited me
exactly; for, although there were more men than I really needed, we had
accommodation for an