ahead of us that only
the heads of her courses were visible above the horizon; and with
nightfall we saw the last of her that we were destined to see during
that voyage.

I suppose it was only natural that I, a lad of barely seventeen years of
age, should be full of business, and importance, and anxiety, for a few
hours at least, upon finding myself thus unexpectedly placed in a
position of such tremendous responsibility as was involved in the
navigation, and therefore, to a large extent, the safety of this fine,
wholesome old ship with her two hundred passengers, her crew of thirty,
and her valuable cargo. At all events, that was the condition of mind
in which I found myself as I paced the spacious poop, hour after hour,
sometimes accompanied by Polson, sometimes conversing with Tudsbery, and
occasionally alone. As I walked, my glances travelled, with the
regularity of clockwork, first to windward, then ahead, then aloft, and
finally--as I reached the binnacle--into the compass bowl; then away out
to windward again, and so on, _ad infinitum_, until I was fairly bone-
weary, and had completely walked off all my anxiety--to say nothing of
my importance--and had convinced myself that I really might venture to
leave the ship for a few hours to the care of the boatswain and the
carpenter.

I have mentioned that, when bidding me farewell prior to my change over
from the _Salamis_ to the _Mercury_, Captain Martin was kind enough to
give me a word or two of caution and advice; and one of the bits of
advice which he most forcibly impressed upon me was that I should make a
point of sighting either Saint Paul or Amsterdam island on my way to the
eastward, and thus verify my reckoning. I recognised this as being a
counsel of wisdom, and determined to shape a course that would enable me
to sight both, they being only about fifty miles apart, and both
standing high. I therefore very carefully laid off the compass course
upon the chart, and found it to be south-east by east three-quarters
east, the distance being eight hundred and forty miles; and this course
I gave to the helmsman as soon as I had pricked it off and very
carefully verified it, while he passed it on to his relief, and so on.

But when I turned out at six bells the next morning I found, to my
disgust, that the wind had drawn round from the eastward and broken us
some four points off our course; while, to add to my vexation, the
boatswain and the carpenter--both