ll
contemplated; and he was earnestly debating within himself the question
whether his wisest course would not, after all, be to abandon the chase
and make the best of his way back to the island, when the breeze once
more freshened up so strongly, and that too dead aft, that it made
everything on board the raft surge again as she gathered way and skimmed
off before it. And Blyth, calculating that even if the chase were
sailing away from instead of toward him it would shorten his distance
from her at least a couple of miles before she caught it, grimly held on
his course, determined to risk everything rather than lose so good a
chance; his chief fear now being that the sheet would part under the
tremendous strain brought to bear upon it by the immense sail. The
raft, as has been elsewhere stated, was of very peculiar construction,
her shape and build being such as to peculiarly favour speed, especially
when running dead before the wind; and, light as she now was, she
skimmed away before the fierce squall at a rate which made Blyth's heart
bound with exultation as he looked first to one side and then the other
and noted the furious speed with which the phosphorescent foam from
under her bows was left behind. There was now no longer any thought of
turning back, for, be it said, Captain Blyth--good honest soul--was a
devout believer in Providence; and he had by this time arrived at a firm
conviction, first, that it was by the special intervention of Providence
that he had been led to undertake his fishing excursion that night, and
next, that the freshening up of a dead fair wind just when it did was a
second special intervention of Providence to prevent his giving up the
chase. And so he held on everything, and the raft rushed away dead
before the wind through the pitchy darkness, the mast creaking ominously
in its step every now and then, and the tautly-strained gear aloft
surging from time to time in an equally ominous manner; whilst the sea
rose rapidly--showing that the solitary voyager was fast drawing out
from under the sheltering lee of the island astern--and the foaming
wavecrests, vividly phosphorescent, momentarily towered higher and more
threateningly, and hissed louder and more angrily in the luminous wake
of the flying craft.

The squall lasted a full hour, when the wind died away even more
suddenly than it had arisen, and the raft was left tumbling about with
little more than steerage-way upon her. The sk