of the horizon.

All around lay only the sea and the dazzling sky. Not even a porpoise
or flying fish broke the surface of the water which was placid save
for the long swells over which the _Mirabelle_ dipped her white sails.
The color ebbed from the sky as if drained from some celestial bowl,
and in the place of the scarlets and turquoise, the clear yellows and
the plums, came a deep blue that was the forerunner of a fine clear
night.

Chris turned slowly, his glass to his eyes, searching the edge of what
was now their world, and especially the line where the sea and sky
meet.

All at once, as if a white dagger had stabbed the rim of the ocean,
white sails grew upward against the encroaching night, and Chris found
what he had been looking for.

"There sir!" he cried, pointing to the distance, and the Captain and
Mr. Finney swung their glasses to where his finger led, far astern of
the _Mirabelle_.

Captain Blizzard's round cheerful face hardened as he looked, and Mr.
Finney's lugubrious countenance seemed positively despairing, while
Amos hopped on one foot crying: "Leave me look through your glass,
Chris! What do you see? What is it you-all see?"

It was Captain Blizzard who answered him.

"We see the _Venture_, Amos, Claggett Chew's ship, coming up fast
astern. Let us all pray that the wind holds."

CHAPTER 22

The captain, turning quickly, bellowed for all hands to come on deck.
When they were assembled below him he spoke. "Men, you have followed
me for many a voyage and I have always brought you safely home. Is it
not so?"

A good-humored and enthusiastic roar of assent came from the sailors.
Captain Blizzard began again.

"What lies ahead of us in the next few hours will not make good sense
to many of you. Nevertheless I ask for your instant help, and you
shall see what lies at the end of my orders when we reach that time.
Are you with me?"

"AYE!" cried the sailors, their faces close together below their
captain, and upturned to see him and catch every word. All but Zachary
Heigh, Chris noticed. Zachary remained sullen and apart, his arms
folded on his chest, taking no part in the enthusiasm of his
companions.

"Well and good," roared Captain Blizzard. "I thank you. Now crowd on
all the sail she will take, boys, for the _Venture_ follows hard upon
us!"

[Illustration]

Without a word the men sprang to work, darting up the masts and out
over the rigging like monkeys. Every bit of sai