them?" I asked in a whisper.

"Then it'll be a case of doin' some tall an' lively hustlin', lad, an'
no man can say what ought'er be done till we're in the scrape."

"Can you make out the shore on either side?" I asked.

"Yes, by stoopin' low so's to sight the sky over the tree-tops, you
can contrive to get an idee of whether we're in the middle of the
stream; but you can't do much more."

"I might stand on my head without being able to tell which was land
and which water."

"I reckon that's true," Bill said with a laugh; "but when you've
knocked around at sea as long as I have, you'll learn to see through
ink, bottle an' all."

"Stop that noise!" Darius whispered harshly. "You're not even to
breathe loud from this out, an' walkin' across the deck will make
trouble with me for the man or lad who does it."

Thus it was that each fellow felt obliged to remain wherever he stood
when the order had been given. We could well understand the reason for
such caution, and were not disposed to go contrary to the command.

I peered into the gloom intently, hoping I might distinguish the
shadows of the trees ashore; but it was impossible, and from that
moment I remained with my eyes shut, as one involuntarily does when
the blackness is intense.

How slowly the time passed! I tried to get some idea of the minutes by
counting up to sixty, allowing that number of seconds had gone by; but
failed in so doing because my anxiety was so great that I did not keep
the reckoning.

It seemed as if an hour had fled, although the current should have
carried us among the fleet in less than half that time, when I was
startled by hearing a voice close by my side, apparently.

"It's a bloomin' nasty night, matey."

"Right you are," was the reply. "It's jest my luck to be muckin'
'round here when the lads from the other ships are havin' high jinks
in one of the Yankee cities."

Then it was that I realized we were within a few yards of a ship, and
by some stroke of good fortune had missed fowling her.

It surely seemed as if they must see us, although I could not make out
even a shadow of her, strain my eyes as I might, and in case we were
discovered, the end would come very rapidly, as I then believed.

From that moment it was as if I did not breathe, so fearful was I of
giving some alarm which would betray our whereabouts.

The pattering of the rain on the water raised no slight noise, and
this was favorable to us. Our tiller had