dy's stories amused the party, though Croxton very properly
remarked that duelling was a wicked heathen custom, and that he wondered
people who called themselves Christians could ever indulge in it. Other
stories were told, but their interest flagged, for people are not
generally in a talkative mood with the thermometer above a hundred, and
with a small supply of water. Alphonse, however, from time to time kept
his fiddlestick going, both to his own satisfaction, and that of his
hearers. Still he, on account of the heat, was often compelled to put
it down, and to declare that he could play no longer.

Great and unusual, however, as was the heat, it did not appear to cause
any apprehension of danger in the mind of Devereux. The night came on,
and though the air even then was hot, the weary crew were refreshed by
sleep. The sun rose, and the air was hotter than ever, notwithstanding
a dense mist, which gradually filled the atmosphere, while soon a lurid
glare spread over it. Croxton, as he watched the change, looked even
graver than before. "You've not been in these seas before, Mr
Devereux, sir?" he observed.

"No; and if the weather is always as broiling as it is at present, I
don't wish to come to them again in a hurry," answered Devereux. "But
one thing is fortunate--they are calm enough to please any old ladies
who might venture on them."

"Don't count too much on that, sir, if an old man who has cruised for
many a long year out here in every part may venture to give you advice,"
said Croxton, in an earnest tone. "The weather here is often like a
passionate man--calm one moment, and raging furiously the next. I tell
you, sir, I don't like its look at present, and I fear, before long,
that we shall have a job to keep the boat afloat."

"What do you mean, Croxton?" said Devereux. "The boat is the strongest
and best-built belonging to the frigate."

"I mean, sir, that a hurricane is about to burst over us, and that the
strongest and best-built boat can scarcely live through it," was the
answer.

"I fear that you are right," replied Devereux. "We'll prepare the boat
as best we can for what is coming."

No time was to be lost. The staves of a cask knocked to pieces were
nailed round the sides of the boat, and to these a sail, cut into broad
strips, was nailed, so that the water might the better be kept out. The
men were also ordered to rest and to take some food, and then calmly
they waited the expec