d after, and their hurts
attended to as thoroughly as circumstances would allow, with the result
that at nightfall each man reported himself as feeling distinctly
better, notwithstanding the night of terrible hardship and exposure
through which all had so recently passed.

The sunset that evening was clear, promising a fine night, while the
wind held steady and fair. We were consequently all in high spirits at
the prospect of a quick and pleasant passage to Sierra Leone. But as
the night advanced a bank of heavy cloud gradually gathered on the
horizon to the northward, and the wind began to back round and freshen
somewhat, so that about midnight it again became necessary to double-
reef our canvas, while the sea once more rose to such an extent that the
boats were soon shipping an unpleasant quantity of water over the
weather bow. Moreover the wind continued to back until we were broken
off a couple of points from our course; so that, altogether, it finally
began to look very much as though we were in for another unpleasant
night, though perhaps not quite so bad as the one that had preceded it.
It is true that we were not just then in any actual danger, for, after
all, the strength of the wind was no more than that to which the _Shark_
would show single-reefed topsails. But it was more than enough for us,
under the canvas which we were carrying, and I had just given the order
to haul down a third reef when one of the men who was engaged upon the
task of shortening sail suddenly paused in his work and gazed out
intently to windward under the sharp of his hand. The next moment he
shouted excitedly:

"Sail ho! two points on the weather bow. D'ye see her, sir? There she
is. Ah, now I've lost her again; but you'll see her, sir, when we lifts
on the top of the next sea. There--now do you see her, sir, just under
that patch of black cloud?"

"Ay, ay, I see her," I answered; for as the man spoke I caught sight of
a small dark blur, which I knew must be a ship of some sort, showing
indistinctly against the somewhat lighter background of cloud behind
her. She was about two miles away, and was steering a course that would
carry her across our bows at a distance of about a quarter of a mile if
we all held on as we were going; and for a moment I wondered whether it
was our enemy the pirate brig again putting in an appearance. But an
instant's reflection sufficed to dissipate this idea, for, according to
all the probabi