nd.

There had been something said about keeping a look-out, in the hope of
espying a sail; but in the dense fog that surrounded them there would be
no chance of seeing the biggest ship,--even should one be passing at an
ordinary cable's length from the _Catamaran_.

Snowball, therefore, did not trouble himself to scan the sea on either
side of their course; but for all that he kept the look-out enjoined on
him by the sailor,--that is, he _kept it with his ears_!

Though a ship might not be seen, the voices of her crew or other sounds
occurring aboard might be heard; for in this way the presence of a
vessel is often proclaimed in a very dark night or when the sea is
obscured by a fog.

Oftener, however, at such times, two ships will approach and recede from
one another, without either having been conscious of the proximity of
the other,--meeting in mid-ocean and gliding silently past, like two
giant spectres,--each bent on its own noiseless errand.

Daybreak arrived without the black pilot having heard any sound, beyond
that of the breeze rustling against the sail of the _Catamaran_ or the
hollow "sough" of the water as it surged against the empty casks lashed
along their sides.

As the day broke, however, and the upper edge of the sun's disk became
visible above the horizon,--the fog under the influence of his rays
growing gradually but sensibly thinner,--a sight became disclosed to the
eyes of Snowball that caused the blood to course with lightning
quickness through his veins; while his heart, beating delightfully
within his capacious chest, bounded far above the region of his
diaphragm.

At the same instant he sprang to his feet, dropped the steering-oar, as
if it had been a bar of red-hot iron; and, striding forward to the
starboard bow of the _Catamaran_ stood gazing outward upon the ocean!

What could have caused this sudden commotion in both the mind and body
of the Coromantee? What spectacle could have thus startled him?

It was the sight of _land_!

CHAPTER FIFTY SIX.

IS IT LAND?

A sight so unexpected, and yet so welcome, should have elicited from him
a vociferous announcement of the fact.

It did not. On the contrary, he kept silent while stepping forward on
the deck, and for some time after, while he stood gazing over the bow.

It was the very unexpectedness of seeing land--combined with the
_desirability_ of such a sight--that hindered him from proclaiming it to
his companions; and