ing from time to time down the
skylight at the barometer which hung in the cabin, and at the vane which
drooped motionless from the masthead. He acted with the air of a man who
was deeply dissatisfied with the existing state of things, and who felt
inclined to take the laws of nature into his own hands. Fortunately for
nature and himself, he was unable to do this.

Ole Thorwald exhibited a striking contrast to the active, impatient
commander of the vessel. That portly individual, having just finished a
cigar which the first lieutenant had presented to him on his arrival on
board, threw the fag end of it into the sea, and proceeded leisurely to
fill a large-headed German pipe, which was the constant companion of
his waking hours, and the bowl of which seldom enjoyed a cool moment.

Ole having filled the pipe, lighted it; then leaning over the taffrail,
he gazed placidly into the dark waters, which were so perfectly calm
that every star in the vault above could be compared with its reflection
in the abyss below.

Ole Thorwald, excepting when engaged in actual battle, was phlegmatic,
and constitutionally lazy and happy. When enjoying his German pipe he
felt impressibly serene, and did not care to be disturbed. He therefore
paid no attention to the angry manner of Montague, who brushed past him
repeatedly in his hasty perambulations, but continued to gaze downwards
and smoke calmly in a state of placid felicity.

"You appear to take things coolly, Mister Thorwald," said Montague, half
in jest, yet with a touch of asperity in his manner.

"I always do" (puff) "when the weather's not warm." (Puff, puff.)

"Humph!" ejaculated Montague; "but the weather _is_ warm just now; at
least it seems so to me,--so warm that I should not be surprised if a
thunder-squall were to burst upon us ere long."

"Not a pleasant place to be caught in a squall," returned the other,
gazing through the voluminous clouds of smoke which he emitted at
several coral reefs, whose ragged edges just rose to the level of the
calm sea without breaking its mirror-like surface; "I've seen one or two
fine vessels caught that way, just here abouts, and go right down in the
middle of the breakers."

Montague smiled, and the commander-in-chief of the Sandy Cove army fired
innumerable broadsides from his mouth with redoubled energy.

"That is not a cheering piece of information," said he, "especially when
one has reason to believe that a false man stands at