: towards midnight the clouds gathered up fast, and as they
gathered up in thick piles, heaped one over the other, the lightning
darted through them in every direction; and as the clouds rose up, so
did the wind, but at first only in heavy gusts, and then lulling again
to a calm.

"Ready," said Captain Osborn, "how do you think we shall have the wind?"

"Why, Captain Osborn, to tell you the truth, I don't think it will be
steady to one point long. It may at first blow hard from the north, but
it's my idea it will shift soon to some other quarter, and blow still
harder."

"What think you, Mackintosh?"

"We'll have plenty of it, and a long steady gale, that's my notion; and
the sooner we ship the dead lights the better."

Mr Seagrave, with William, happened to be standing by at the time of
this conversation, and at the term _dead_ lights Willy's face expressed
some anxiety. Ready perceived it, and said--

"That's a foolish name they give to the shutters which go over the cabin
windows to prevent the water from breaking into the cabin when a vessel
sails before the wind; you know we had them on the last time that we had
a gale."

"But, Ready," said Captain Osborn, "why do you think that we shall have
a shift of wind?"

"Well, I don't know; perhaps I was wrong," replied the old man, "and Mr
Mackintosh is right: the wind does seem to come steady from the
north-east, that's certain;" and Ready walked away to the binnacle, and
looked at the compass. Mr Seagrave and William then went below, and
Mr Mackintosh went forward to give his orders. As soon as they were
all gone, Ready went up again to Captain Osborn and said:

"Captain Osborn, it's not for me to contradict Mr Mackintosh, but
that's of little consequence in a time like this: I should have held to
my opinion, had it not been that the gentleman passenger and his son
were standing by, but now, as the coast is clear, I tell you that we
shall have something worse than a gale of wind. I have been in these
latitudes before, and I am an old seaman, as you know. There's
something in the air, and there has been something during the last three
days of calm, which reminds me too well of what I have seen here before;
and I am sure that we shall have little better than a hurricane, as far
as wind goes--and worse in one point, that it will last much longer than
hurricanes generally do. I have been watching, and even the birds tell
me so, and they are told by their na