lant-yard; when, nothing having been seen of
the missing man during that time, Captain Blyth reluctantly gave up the
search, and, wearing round, the ship once more proceeded on her voyage.

CHAPTER SIX.

THE SPRINGING OF THE MINK.

The deplorable fatality mentioned in the last chapter necessitated a
further rearrangement of the official duties on board the _Flying
Cloud_; Ned being advanced still another step and made acting chief-
mate, or "chief-officer" as it is the custom to dub this official in the
merchant service, whilst another apprentice--a very quiet, steady young
man named Robert Manners--was promoted to the post of second-mate thus
rendered vacant. Although these two posts--the most important and
responsible in the ship next to that of the master--were now filled by
two young men whose united ages fell short of forty years, the
arrangement appeared to work in the most thoroughly satisfactory manner.
The lads performed their onerous duties efficiently; the crew were as
orderly and obedient as heretofore, and not a single sinister omen or
indication manifested itself to arouse anxiety in the mind of the
skipper. To add to Captain Blyth's satisfaction, the island of New
Amsterdam was sighted and passed on the morning of the tenth day
succeeding the loss of the unfortunate Mr Willoughby, and that, too, in
a direction and at an hour which precisely verified the prediction of
the captain, who rather prided himself upon his skill and accuracy as a
navigator.

For several nights previous to this occurrence the skipper had been
losing a great deal of rest; he had been too anxious to sleep, knowing
that during his absence from the deck the ship was in absolute charge of
one or the other of two lads whom he remembered, as though it had been
but yesterday, joining him without a particle of experience. But as day
after day, and night after night passed, and he saw what excellent use
those two lads had made of the training and instruction he had so
conscientiously bestowed upon them, he had gradually grown less anxious.
And now, with fine weather, a fair breeze, and New Amsterdam sighted
and passed, the poor fagged skipper once more knew what it was to enjoy
an easy mind; and as he bade Ned "good-night" on the poop, about five
bells in the first watch, he announced, in tones loud enough to be
distinctly heard by the man at the wheel, that he intended to treat
himself to a whole night's sleep, and that he was no