he direction of the coast. We should have been wise
had we laid on our oars, and gone to sleep. As I could not see ahead, I
steered by the wake astern, and was under the impression that I was
keeping a wonderfully straight line. How long we had gone on I can
scarcely tell, when we heard the sound of a gun booming along the water;
but, instead of coming from the direction in which we were steering, it
seemed to be astern of us. Still we thought it must be the cutter
firing. The men even declared that they knew the sound of the gun. The
probability was, certainly, that it was her gun, as she would be sure to
fire to show her whereabouts to us; and it was not likely that any other
vessel near us would be firing for a similar purpose. Although I was
very confident, from the straight wake I fancied I had kept, that Jack
was mistaken, and that the sound of the gun had come from some other
vessel, yet I yielded to his opinion, and pulled in the direction whence
we thought it proceeded. We had not made good a quarter of a mile when
we again heard the sound; but still, to our surprise and vexation, it
was indubitably right astern.

"That gun's from the cutter, sir," said Jack; "but I can't make it out
how it comes from away there."

No more could I; but determined this time, at all events, not to miss
our vessel, we pulled away directly towards the spot whence we were
certain the sound proceeded.

"Give way, my lads, we shall soon be up with her," I shouted; and the
crew sent the boat flying through the smooth water. I kept looking out
on either bow for the cutter, expecting every instant to see her looming
through the fog; when, for the third time, a gun was heard, but in spite
of all our hopes and expectations, and almost against our belief, it
also sounded right astern, and further away than any of the others. I
was ready to cry with vexation. It seemed like the work of magic, and
as if a set of mischievous imps or spirits, like those on Prospero's
island, were employed in trying our tempers and patience. There seemed
no use in going on thus, to be constantly baulked; so I ordered the men
to lay on their oars, resolved to wait either till the mist cleared off,
or till we could devise some better means of finding our way to the
shore than we now possessed. Thus for an hour or more we floated
listlessly on the water.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

FALL IN WITH A WRECK--DREADFUL SCENE ON BOARD--MR. MARLOW AND HIS
DAUGHT