the schooner was concerned, went on deck.
It was quite dark and the wind was blowing strong, but the ship was
steady, and her swift keel cut the waters. All around him curved the
darkness, and the loneliness of the sea was immense at that moment. It
was in very truth a long swim to the land, and just then the thought of
escape was far from him. He shivered, and going down to the little cabin
that had been a prison, he soon fell asleep.

CHAPTER V

MUSIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Several days passed and from the standpoint of the schooner the voyage
was successful. The wind continued fresh and strong, and it came out of
the right quarter. The days were clear, the sea was a dazzling color,
shifting as the sky over it shifted. The slaver was in high good humor.
His crew seemed to be under perfect control and went about their work
mostly in silence. They rarely sang, as sailors sing, but Robert,
watching them on spar or mast, although he knew little about ships, knew
that they were good sailors. He realized, too, that the crew was very
large for a vessel of its size, and he believed that he understood the
reason.

As for himself, he felt a vast loneliness. It was incredible, but he was
there on the schooner far from all he had known. The forest, in which he
had lived and the war that had concerned the whole world had sunk out of
sight beyond the horizon. And on the schooner he had made no
acquaintance save the slaver. He knew that the mate was called Carlos,
but he had not yet spoken to him. He tried his best to be cheerful, but
there were times when despair assailed him in spite of all his courage
and natural buoyancy.

"Better reconsider," said the slaver one day, catching the look upon his
face. "As I've told you, Peter, the life on the plantations is hard and
they don't last long, no matter how strong they are. There's peril in
the life I lead, I'll admit, but at least there's freedom also. Sport's
to be found among the islands, and along the Spanish Main."

"I couldn't think of it," said Robert.

"Well, it's the second time I've made you the offer, and the last. I
perceive you're bent on a life in the sugar cane, and you'll have your
wish."

Robert, seeing no chance of escape from the ship now, began to hope for
rescue from without. It was a time of war and all vessels were more than
commonly wary, but one might come at last, and, in some way he would
give a signal for help. How he did not know, but the char