levelling his
rifle at an imaginary bird.

"You will only waste gunpowder," said Becker; "I see nothing."

"You asked me just now what course I should steer for Europe, did you
not?"

"Yes."

"Well, the most direct course would be to make the Straits of
Macassar, and then steer for Java."

"And when there?"

"You would then be fifteen or sixteen hundred leagues from the Cape."

"So much?"

"Yes, that is about the distance in a straight line across the Indian
Ocean. When at the Cape, another fifteen days' sail will bring you to
the line; five or six weeks after that St. Helena will heave in sight;
then you fall in with the Island of Ascension; leaving which a week or
two will bring you to the Straits of Gibraltar, where you get the
first glimpse of Europe. But if you are bound for England, your
daughter may commence working a pair of slippers for you; they will be
ready by the time you get there."

They had now arrived at the point of the Jackal River where the
pinnace was moored.

"What do you think of this boat?" inquired Becker.

"The pinnace is well enough for fair weather; but it is not the sort
of craft I should like to command in a storm at sea."

"So that to venture to sea in it would be to incur imminent danger?"

"There is no denying that, Mr. Becker; if she shipped a moderately
heavy sea, down she must go to the bottom, like a four and twenty
pound shot; and if she should spring a leak, you cannot land to put
her to rights; the waves are by no means solid."

"Just as I thought!" exclaimed Becker; "I was right in judging that it
would be a sacrifice. It is almost certain death; but they must go."

"Where?" inquired Willis.

"To Europe if need be, if God in his mercy spares the pinnace."

"What for?"

"I have the means of purchasing surgical skill, and I must use all the
sacrifices at my command to obtain it."

"Avast heaving, Mr. Becker," cried Willis; "now I understand; the
thing is as clear as the tackle of the best bower, and when a
resolution is once formed, nothing like paying it out at the word of
command. When shall we start?"

"I am not talking of either you or myself, Willis."

"Of whom then, may I ask?"

"Fritz and Jack. Fritz knows something of navigation; and if they
succeed, they will have saved their mother; if they perish, they will
have died to save her."

"Fritz, as you say, does know something of navigation, particularly as
regards coasting; but here you have a