oat, and the ships passed fully eight miles away to windward of
them, and thus without seeing them. This caused the boys,
courageous as they were, almost to despair.

"If," argued Gerald, "they pass us in the daylight, our chance is
small, indeed, that they will find us at night. They will,
doubtless, sail back till dusk; and then judge that they have
missed us, or that we have in some way sunk; then, putting their
heads to the west, they will continue their voyage.

"If we had oars, or a sail, we might make a shift to pull the boat
into the track they are following, which would give us a chance of
being picked up when they again turn west; but as we have neither
one nor the other, we are helpless, indeed."

"I do not think," Ned said, "that Captain John or his brother are
the men to leave us, without a great effort; and methinks that,
when they have sailed over the ground to the point where, at the
utmost, we must have parted from them, they will lay by through the
night, and search back again, tomorrow."

And so it proved. On the morrow, about midday, the boys beheld one
of the ships coming up, nearly in a line behind them; while the
other, some six miles away to leeward, was keeping abreast of her.

"They are quartering the ground, like hounds," Gerald said; "and,
thanks to their care and thoughtfulness, we are saved, this time."

By the time that, three hours later, the ship, which was the Pacha,
came alongside, the boys were suffering terribly from the heat and
thirst; for thirty-six hours no drop of water had passed their
lips, and the sun had blazed down upon them with terrible force.
Therefore when the vessel hauled her course, and laid by for a boat
to be lowered to pick them up, their plight was so bad a one that
Captain Francis, although sorely vexed at having lost near two days
of his voyage, yet felt that they had been amply punished for their
escapade.

Chapter 3: On the Spanish Main.

The four boys, upon gaining the Pacha's deck, were taken below; and
after drink and food had been given them, were called to the
captain's cabin. He spoke to them gravely, and inquired how it was
that they had all got adrift, together. They told him the
circumstances, and said that they thought there was no chance of
any mishap occurring; the knot was well fastened, the night was
calm, and though they regretted much the pains and trouble which
they had given, and the delay to which they had put the fleet,