far weathered upon
our antagonist as to have brought her fairly into our wake, the
advantage which we possessed in light winds over the heavier craft began
to tell, and we soon drew away out of gunshot.

So far, so good; but I had been hoping that as soon as our superiority
in speed became manifest the brig would bear up and resume her voyage to
her destination--wherever that might be. But no; whether it was that he
was piqued at being beaten, or whether it was a strong vein of
pertinacity in his character that dominated him, I know not, but the
skipper of the strange brig hung tenaciously in our wake,
notwithstanding the fact that we were now steadily drawing away from
him. Perhaps he was reckoning on the possibility that the breeze might
freshen sufficiently to transfer the advantage from us to himself, and
believing that this might be the case, I gave instructions to take in
all our studding-sails, and to brace the schooner up sharp, hoping thus
to shake him off. But even this did not discourage him; for he promptly
imitated our manoeuvre, although we now increased our distance from him
still more rapidly than before.

Meanwhile the wind was steadily growing more scant, and when I went on
deck after breakfast I found that we were practically becalmed, although
the small breathing, which was all that remained of the breeze, sufficed
to keep the little hooker under command, and give her steerage way. The
brig, however, I was glad to see, was boxing the compass some three
miles astern of us, and about a point on our lee quarter.

It was now roasting hot, the sky was without a single shred of cloud to
break its crystalline purity, and the sun poured down his beams upon us
so ardently that the black-painted rail had become heated to a degree
almost sufficient to blister the hand when inadvertently laid upon it,
while the pitch was boiling and bubbling out of the deck seams. The
surface of the sea was like a sheet of melted glass, save where, here
and there, a transient cat's-paw flecked it for a moment with small
patches of delicate blue, that came and went as one looked at them.
Even the flying-fish seemed to consider the weather too hot for
indulgence in their usual gambols, for none of them were visible. I was
therefore much surprised, upon taking a look at the brig through my
glass, to see that she had lowered and was manning a couple of boats.

"Why, Pringle," said I to the gunner, whose watch it was, "what