all with dismay, and every eye was strained
towards her with intense and painful interest.

Meantime, the breeze had freshened somewhat and we now had rather more
of it than we desired, as our little boat was but poorly fitted to
navigate the open ocean in rough weather. Johnny began to manifest some
alarm, as we were tossed like a chip from wave to wave, and occasionally
deluged with spray, by a sea bursting with a rude shock over our bow. I
had not even in the violent storm of the preceding week, experienced
such a sense of insecurity, such a feeling of helplessness, as now, when
the actual danger was comparatively slight. The waves seemed tenfold
larger and more threatening than when viewed from the deck of a large
vessel. As we sunk into the trough of the sea, our horizon was
contracted to the breadth of half-a-dozen yards, and we entirely lost
sight of the land, and of both ships.

But it was evident that we were moving through the water with
considerable velocity, and there was encouragement in that, for we felt
confident that if the stranger should hold on her present course but a
little longer, we should be on board of her before our safety would be
seriously endangered by the increasing breeze.

If, however, she were really tacking, our situation would indeed be
critical. A very few moments put a period to our suspense by confirming
Arthur's opinion, and our worst fears; the stranger had altered her
course, her yards were braced round, and she was standing further out to
sea. Still, however, there would have been a possibility of reaching
her, but for the failure of light, for she had not so far changed her
course, but that she would have to pass a point, which we could probably
gain before her. But now, it was with difficulty, and only by means of
the cloud of canvass she carried, that we could distinguish her through
the momently deepening gloom; and with sinking hearts we relinquished
the last hopes connected with her. Soon she entirely vanished from our
sight, and when we gazed anxiously around the narrow horizon that now
bounded our vision, sky and water alone met our view.

CHAPTER FOUR.

AT SEA.

A NIGHT OF GLOOM--MORTON'S NARRATIVE--VISIONARY TERRORS--AN ALARMING
DISCOVERY.

"O'er the deep! o'er the deep!
Where the whale, and the shark, and the sword-fish sleep."

Even in open day, the distance of a few miles would be sufficient to
sink the low shores of the island; and now th