freshened into "a gale;" the top-gallants have been lowered,
and, as I write, the wind is blowing with a velocity of fifty or sixty
miles an hour. Although the "Chancellor" has many good points, her drift
is considerable, and we have been carried far to the south we can
only guess at our precise position, as the cloudy atmosphere entirely
precludes us from taking the sun's altitude.

All along throughout this period, my fellow-passengers are totally
ignorant of the extraordinary course that we are taking England lies
to the NORTH-EAST, yet we are sailing directly SOUTH-EAST, and Robert
Curtis owns that he is quite bewildered; he cannot comprehend why the
captain, ever since this north-easterly gale has been blowing, should
persist in allowing the ship to drive to the south, instead of tacking
to the north-west until she gets into better quarters.

I was alone with Curtis to-day upon the poop, and could not help saying
to him "Curtis, is your captain mad?"

"Perhaps, sir, I might be allowed to ask what YOU think upon that
matter," was his cautious reply.

"Well to say the truth," I answered, "I can hardly tell; but I confess
there is every now and then a wandering in his eye, and an odd look on
his face that I do not like. Have you ever sailed with him before?"

"No; this is our first voyage together. Again last night I spoke to him
about the route we were taking, but he only said he knew all about it,
and that it was all right."

"What do Lieutenant Walter and your boatswain think of it all?" I
inquired.

"Think; why they think just the same as I do," replied the mate; "but
if the captain chooses to take the ship to China we should obey his
orders."

"But surely," I exclaimed, "there must be some limit to your obedience!
Suppose the man is actually mad, what then?"

"If he should be mad enough, Mr. Kazallon, to bring the vessel into any
real danger, I shall know what to do."

With this assurance I am forced to be content. Matters, however, have
taken a different turn to what I bargained for when I took my passage
on board the "Chancellor." The weather has become worse and worse. As I
have already said, the ship under her large low-reefed top-sail and fore
stay-sail has been brought ahull, that is to say, she copes directly
with the wind, by presenting her broad bows to the sea; and so we go on
still drift, drift, continually to the south.

How southerly our course has been is very apparent; for upon the ni