he, `that one of them boats is
thereaway,' pointin' with his finger away down to leeward. `It's too
dark and thick down there to see werry distinctly,' he says, `but every
now and then I keeps fancyin' I can see a small dark spot like a boat's
sail showin' up in the middle of the haze,' says he. And I don't doubt,
sir," continued Chips, "but what he _did_ see one of them boats; Mr
Bowles has a eye, as we all knows, sir, what ain't very often deceived."

"In which case," remarks the skipper, thinking aloud rather than
addressing the carpenter, "there can be no doubt that the officer in
charge, finding it impossible to face the gale any longer in safety,
bore up like ourselves, only a little earlier. And if one of the boats
did so, why not the other? And why should they not both be safely
scudding before it at this moment, some ten miles or so ahead of us?"

"Very true, sir; I don't doubt but it's just as you say, sir," responded
the carpenter, who was in some uncertainty as to whether he was expected
to reply to the skipper's remark or not.

"We will hope so at all events, Chips," cheerily returned the skipper.
"And now tell me how you managed to get the pinnace stove?"

"Well, sir, the fact is, it were just the doin' of that miserable
creatur, Mister Dale. Our water were gettin' low; and yesterday Mr
Bowles ups and puts us on 'lowance--a pint a day for each man. Well, I
s'pose it weren't enough for this here Mister Dale; he got thirsty
durin' the night, and made his way to the water-breakers to get a drink
on the quiet. And he was that sly over it that nobody noticed him.
Hows'ever, like the lubber he is--axing your pardon humbly, sir, for
speakin' disrespectable of one of your passengers, sir--he lets the
dipper slip in between the breakers; and in tryin' to get it out again
he managed to cast off the lashin's; two of the breakers struck adrift;
and before we could do anything with 'em they had started three of the
planks, makin' the boat leak that bad that, as you saw yourself, sir, it
were all we could do to keep her above water until you reached us."

Captain Staunton made no comment upon this communication, though it is
probable that he thought all the more. The loss of the pinnace was,
particularly at this juncture, a most serious misfortune. For at the
very time when, in consequence of the bad weather with which she had to
contend, it was of the utmost importance that the launch should be in
the bes