navigation were in their infancy, and sailors relied chiefly on the
compass, and dead reckoning, to bring them safe to port, however
long their voyage might be. Reuben Hawkshaw knew of no other plan,
but as far as these went he was an excellent navigator, and was
seldom many miles out in making a landfall.

As soon as the gale abated, sail was again made on the ship, and
she proceeded on her course. In another three weeks, the mates were
seen frequently to ascend into the tops, and the news spread among
the crew that the Spanish islands lay not far ahead. The justness
of the captain's reckoning was soon proved; for at daybreak, one
morning, land was perceived directly ahead; though still lying,
like a patch of low cloud, on the horizon.

A cheer broke from those on deck, as soon as the mate proclaimed
that to a certainty it was land they saw, and the watch below came
pouring up. Another cheer saluted the captain as he came out from
his cabin--a tribute to his seamanship, in thus bringing them
straight across the ocean, on a path that no Englishman had ever
before sailed.

He, with the two mates, at once ascended to the fore top From here,
as the morning brightened, two other points of land could be seen,
far away on either hand.

"We are evidently approaching small islands. This is just what we
hoped. My fear was that we might strike Hispaniola, or Porto Rico.
When we get nearer land we will lower our topsails, so as not to be
so easily made out from the land. Now we will go below, and try and
mark off our place on the chart."

Chapter 4: Among The Islands.

"Now, let us go through our calculations again," the captain said
when they entered his cabin.

"How long will you be, Captain?" the first mate asked.

"Half an hour, Standing."

"Then I will come again or, if you want me before that, send for
me," and the first mate went out on deck again, for though well
skilled to handle a ship in all weathers, and as brave and hardy a
seaman as sailed out of Plymouth, James Standing could neither read
nor write; and though in a rough sort of way he could reckon the
course a ship should lie, and make allowance for leeway and
currents and baffling winds, and could bring a ship into any port
in England or the Low Countries, he was of no use in a matter of
this kind.

Pengarvan was a good scholar, and Reuben had taught him what he
knew of navigation, and always made him keep a log from the time
when he first b