e. They were weary of condoling with one
another, and telling themselves that sooner or later their chance for
escape would come. They bore their position good-temperedly enough,
chatted with the sailors, took a turn or two at steering under the
guidance of the man at the helm, and received a nod of approbation from
the captain when he saw what they were doing.

"Aha, yais," he said, showing his teeth. "You vill be my first and
second officer before long, and zen ve sall all be ze grand
contrabandiste."

"Oh, shall we?" said Vince, as soon as they were alone. "We shall see
about that."

The captain had been amiable enough to them, and had the boys only felt
that those they loved were well and possessing the knowledge that they
were safe, the life would have been pleasant enough; but the trouble at
home hung like a black cloud over them, and whenever they met each
other's eyes they could read the care they expressed, and the feeling of
misery deepened for awhile.

They went to bed as usual that fourth night, but towards morning Vince
somehow felt uneasy; and at last, being troubled by thirst, he
determined to go up on deck and get a pannikin of water from the cask
lashed by the mainmast.

He half expected to find the door fastened, but it yielded to a touch;
and, after listening at the cabin for a few moments to try and find
whether the captain was asleep, he crept up on deck in the cool grey of
the coming morning, and, looking back, saw the man at the helm, and
forward two more at the look-out.

He had not many steps to go, and there was the pannikin standing ready,
and the cover of the cask had only to be moved for him to dip out a
tinful of the cool, fresh water, which tasted delicious; and, being
refreshed by the draught, he was about to descend, when the beauty of
the sea took his attention. The moon was sinking in the west and the
dawn was brightening in the east, so that the waves were lit up in a
peculiar way. On the side of the moon they glistened as though formed
of liquid copper, while on the side facing the east they were of a
lovely, pearly, silvery, ever-changing grey. So beautiful were the
tints and lights and shades that Vince remained watching the surface of
the sea for some minutes, and then the chill wind suggested that he
should go down; when, making a sweep round, he felt as if his breath had
been taken away, for there, away to the south, and looming up of huge
height and size in the m