d by the
sight of another craft, a small barque, that had drifted above the
southern horizon during the night, and now lay some five miles away from
them.

As the morning wore on towards noon the aspect of the sky steadily,
though by insensible degrees, assumed a more threatening character, the
huge masses of cloud that overspread the entire dome of the visible sky
darkening in tint to such an extent that the scene became enwrapped in a
murky kind of twilight. That wind, and plenty of it, was brewing,
seemed evident from the fact that the clouds, although not drifting
across the sky, were working visibly, writhing and twisting into the
most extraordinary and fantastic shapes, as though influenced by some
powerful impulse within themselves. One of the most frequent of these
manifestations was the sudden darting forth of long sharp quivering
tongues from the bodies of the blackest and most lowering of the clouds.
With the appearance of the first of these Leslie knew what to expect,
for he had beheld the same phenomenon more than once before, and quite
understood what it portended. So he turned to Miss Trevor, who was on
deck interestedly watching the subtle changes in the aspect of the sky,
and said to her--

"Have you ever seen a waterspout, Miss Trevor? No? Then the chances
are that you will see several before you are many hours older. Have you
noticed those long, black, quivering tongues that dart out and in from
the bodies of the darkest clouds? Well, those are the forerunners of
waterspouts. See, there is one now. Do you mark how it seems to be
striving to reach down to the surface of the sea? Ah! it has shrunk
back again. But sooner or later, unless I am greatly mistaken, one of
those tongues will reach down, and down, until it begins to suck up a
column of water from the ocean; and there you will have a full-grown
waterspout."

He gazed round the sky intently; then went to the skylight and as
intently studied the barometer--or "glass" as sailors very commonly call
the instrument. The mercury in it had fallen somewhat since he had last
looked at it, though not sufficiently to cause alarm. Nevertheless,
short-handed as the brig was--such small craft are usually sent to sea
with at least two hands too few in the forecastle--he deemed it best to
err on the right side, if err he must; so as it was by this time noon he
ordered eight bells to be struck; and when the watch had come on deck he
set them to w