itt, my hearty, and make yourself useful for once in a way; grab
the corners of this chart and hold them down to the table until I give
you a spell. That's it. Now then, Delamere, what is it that you want
to know?"

"First of all," I said, "prick off the ship's position as it was a
quarter of an hour ago. There is Point du Raz. Very well: when I came
below it bore exactly North 3 quarters East by compass, distant, say,
seven miles. Mark off that bearing and distance, to start with."

Maxwell did so, making a little dot with his pencil on the chart.

"There you are," he said. "Now, what next?"

"The ship was heading North-North-West," I said. "What I want to know
is, Are we going to weather that point; and, if so, what lies beyond
it?"

"Ah!" exclaimed Maxwell, as the critical nature of our situation began
to dawn upon him, "I see--or, rather, we shall see in a minute or two.
Gascoigne, were you on deck when the log was last hove? If you were
not, you ought to have been, you know, and--"

"I was," interrupted Gascoigne. "She was doing a bare seven, and making
two and a half points leeway."

"Whew!" whistled Maxwell; "two and a half points! That's bad. The old
girl ought to be ashamed of herself. No self-respecting frigate ought
ever to make more than two points leeway."

"Oh, oughtn't she!" jeered Gascoigne. "You just go up on deck and see
how every sea that hits her knocks her bodily to leeward, and you'll
tell a different story, my friend."

"Well, well, I'll take your word for it this time, young man, just to
encourage you a bit, you know. Now, let's see how that works out. How
did you say she was heading, Delamere?"

"Nor'-nor'-west," I repeated.

"Nor'-nor'-west," echoed Maxwell, seizing his parallel ruler and
applying it to the chart. "And two and a half points of leeway, applied
to the right, makes it north, half east; while Point du Raz bears--or
bore--north, three-quarters east. Um! It's going to be `touch and go'
with us, I am afraid, at that rate; for while she will doubtless weather
the point itself all right, there is that out-jutting reef, which is as
likely as not to bring us up with a round turn."

"And supposing we should be lucky enough to scrape past," I inquired,
"is there anything beyond that we need worry about? I am almost certain
that I heard the master say something about `Les Stevenets,' or some
such name."

"Les Stevenets," repeated Maxwell--"yes, of course; t