ng into a school of porpoises. A couple of shots were
fired into them from the felucca in order to frighten them away, as it
is generally supposed that sharks are following them up. A few moments
afterward another school appeared astern, when the operation was
repeated with the desired effect. Paul finding that the current was
setting too rapidly westward, turned his course due south and as the
wind was beginning to rise, a small square sail was handed to him; but
as that did not seem to increase his progress to any perceptible degree,
he put it back in the boat after about ten minutes' trial. As he was
passing over Cabezes Shoals the breeze freshened; but he was still
being carried westward. At that stage of the journey, about 9:30, he
hauled up for a moment and partook of a little bread and cheese, and
before resuming work with the paddle he attached a white pocket
handkerchief to a cord about eighteen feet long and fastened one end
to the belt of his waist, allowing the handkerchief to drift astern.
This was another precaution against sharks, as it is well known that
their malevolent impulses are more likely to be excited and their
attacks directed against white objects than any other. His idea was
that a shark attacking the white handkerchief would jerk the cord and
thus give warning of its presence in the rear, in time for him to be
ready with his sword blades.

The wind increasing from the east, Paul again tried the sail, still
steering south, toward Malabata Point; but again found it ineffectual.
He was then about nine miles from Tarifa and though having paddled
constantly, he did not show the slightest signs of fatigue. The
westward current continuing, it looked for a time as though he would be
carried into the Atlantic. He turned his course southeast and fought
against it. At two o'clock, he was passed by the British steamer,
Glenarn, eastward bound, and was loudly cheered by the people on her
deck. At two-thirty o'clock, a very strong breeze with a rapid current
setting eastward, caused a high sea and Boyton had great difficulty in
keeping near the boat, his distance from her increasing every moment
until he disappeared from view altogether. But by dint of hard pulling
on the part of the sailors, for about twenty minutes, he was sighted
more than half a mile to the leeward and sail was hoisted on the felucca
in order to get up to him, which was done after much trouble and
a