isappoint him.

"We are going to board yonder barque," said Mudge aloud; "there is an
opening through the reef just abreast of us, and we shall have no
difficulty in reaching her."

"Orders are orders," said Tillard; "I never knew any good come of
disobeying them."

Mudge, however, did not hear him; and I, looking forward to the pleasure
of seeing Harry restored to his parents,--and it may be that I just
thought of the pretty young lady I had seen on board,--did not repeat
what he had said.

As there was a light breeze off the land, we hoisted our sail, that we
might benefit by it as long as it lasted. Our only fear was that the
barque might get the breeze also, and stand away from us. We kept
rowing, therefore, to increase our speed. On we pulled, but in my
eagerness it appeared that we were no nearer the barque than at first.
I saw by Harry's countenance that he was as eager as we were, and I
could not help thinking that he suspected the object of our trying to
board the barque. At last he asked, looking at me intently, "Do you
think that my father's ship?"

"We have some hopes that she is; but, you know, we may be mistaken,
Harry," said Mudge; "so you must not raise your expectations too high.
Even if she is, we may not reach her; but, at all events, we'll do our
best to get on board."

Soon after this, on looking through the glass I observed the barque's
sails fill out, though the wind came from a different quarter to that
from which we got it.

"We may still cut her off, though we must steer rather more to the
westward than we are doing," remarked Mudge, altering the boat's course.

We immediately afterwards got a much stronger breeze; and the boat ran
merrily over the waves, which, as we got from under the lee of the land,
were somewhat higher than they had before been. Still Mudge, in his
eagerness, did not seem to notice this, nor, I confess, did I; having
our eyes fixed on the vessel, we did not look astern. We had been
standing on for some distance, when an exclamation from Tillard made me
look towards the land, over which hung a dense black cloud. Directly
afterwards, a loud rushing noise reached our ears, resembling the
continuous roar of thunder, mingled with the sound of a downpour of
rain. It was the voice of the hurricane. Tillard sprang to the
halyards, and, without waiting for Mudge's orders, lowered the sail half
down.

"Keep her before the wind, Mr Mudge; it's our only chance now