pon the jib-boom, which had been rigged in, passed aft, and set on end,
properly stayed, with its heel stepped down through the hole in the poop
from which the mizen-mast had erstwhile sprung.

The gale had blown itself out; the sea was rapidly going down; the wind
had hauled round from the westward once more; and the ship was slipping
along at the rate of some five knots an hour. The minor damages had all
been made good, excepting that done to the saloon skylight by the fall
of the mizen-mast, and upon this job the carpenter, who was an ambitious
man in his own way and not altogether devoid of taste, was taxing his
skill to the utmost in an effort to make the new skylight both a
stronger and a more handsome piece of work than its predecessor. The
barometer was slowly but steadily rising; and everything seemed to point
in the direction of fine weather. Lucky was it for our voyagers that
such was the case.

The passengers had by this time got over their recent alarm, and were
settling back into their old ways. Even the impatient and discontented
Dale seemed to have got over to a great extent his annoyance at the
delay which the loss of the masts involved; and, catching the contagion
of the good spirits which animated the rest of the party, was actually
betrayed into an effort or two to make himself agreeable that evening at
the dinner-table. So amiable was this generally irritable individual
that he positively listened with equanimity to the plans which Fortescue
and Evelin--the latter with a broad patch of plaster across his brow--
were discussing relative to a properly organised sporting excursion into
the Cordilleras--or Andes, as they indifferently termed them, much to
the perplexity of Brook--nor did he allow himself to show any signs of
annoyance when the last-named individual sought to ruffle his (Dale's)
feathers, as he elegantly termed it, by urging him to join the
expedition; on the contrary, to the secret but carefully concealed
consternation of Rex and Lance, the prime movers in the matter, Mr Dale
seemed more than half disposed to yield to Brook's jesting entreaties
that he would make one of the party. It almost seemed as though this
intensely selfish and egotistical individual were at last becoming
ashamed of his own behaviour and had resolved upon an attempt to improve
it.

Dinner over, the ladies retired to the poop to witness the sunset, Rex
and Lance accompanying them; while Dale and Brook remai