the boat; where, taking up their quarters as comfortably as they
could, they, after a short chat, curled themselves up and were soon
sound asleep, intending to be on board again, with the earliest
gleam of morn.

When they awoke, however, it was with a start and a cry. The sun
was already high, but there were no signs whatever of the ship;
they floated, alone, in the mid-ocean. With blank amazement they
looked at each other.

"This is a stroke of misfortune, indeed," Gerald said. "We have
lost the ship, and I fear our lives, as well.

"What do you say, Otter?"

For the lad's nickname had come on board ship with him, and he was
generally known by it.

"It seems to me," said Ned, "that our friend the armorer has done
us this bad turn. I am sure that the rope was well tied, for I was
the first who slipped down it, and I looked at the knot well,
before I went over the side and trusted my weight to it. He must
have seen us, and as soon as he thought we were fairly asleep must
have loosened the knot and cast us adrift. What on earth is to be
done, now?"

"I should think," Gerald said, "that it will not be long before the
ship comes back for us. The boat is sure to be missed, in the
morning, for the carpenter will be wanting it to go over the side.
We, too, will be missed, for the captain will be wanting his flagon
of wine, soon after the day has dawned."

"But think you," Tom Tressilis said, "that the captain will turn
back on his voyage, for us?"

"Of that I think there is no doubt," Gerald said; "the only
question is as to the finding us, but I should say that of that
there is little fear; the wind is light, the ship was not making
fast through the water, and will not be more than fifty miles, at
most, away, when she turns on her heel and comes to look for us. I
expect that Master Taunton knew, well enough, that we should be
picked up again; but he guessed that the admiral would not be
pleased at losing a day, by our freak, and that the matter is not
likely to improve the favor in which we may stand with him and his
brother."

"It is going to be a terrible hot day," Ned said, "and with the sun
above our heads and no shade, and not so much as a drop of water,
the sooner we are picked up the more pleasant it will be, even if
we all get a touch of the rope's end for our exploit."

All day the boys watched anxiously. Once they saw the two vessels
sailing backward on their track, but the current had drifted the
b