d, having made a good offing, caught the
trade-wind, blowing fresh, to which we in the _Dolphin_ showed every rag
of canvas we could set, while the _Eros_ kept us company by furling her
royals and letting run the topgallant halliards from time to time when
she manifested a disposition to creep away from us. We did the run
across in the quickest time on record, up to that date, making the
Sombrero in a fortnight, almost to the hour, from the moment of leaving
Sierra Leone, without starting tack, sheet, or halliard--so far as the
_Dolphin_ was concerned--during the entire passage.

But now, with the Sombrero in sight and Anegada only about one hundred
miles ahead, we felt that we were practically on our cruising ground;
the _Eros_ therefore shortened sail to her three topsails and jib and
signalling to the _Dolphin_ to do the like in proportion and to close,
requested me to proceed on board for fresh orders. I was glad enough to
obey these instructions, particularly the one relative to shortening
sail, for the past fortnight of "carrying on" had been a distinctly
anxious time for me; moreover it was a pleasant change to find myself on
the comparatively spacious deck of the _Eros_, and once more surrounded
by the familiar faces of my former shipmates. There was scant time,
however, for the interchange of greetings, for Captain Perry was in a
perfect fever of anxiety to complete his arrangements, and I was no
sooner through the gangway than he hustled me off to his handsome and
delightfully cool cabin under the poop, where, over a large-scale chart
of the West Indies, he explained to me in much detail the course of
action that he had planned for the two craft. This, in brief, consisted
in the adoption of measures which enabled us, while remaining within
signalling distance of each other all day, to keep an effective watch
upon a stretch of sea some forty miles wide--over which we felt certain
the vessel of which we were in search must sooner or later pass--while
at sunset we were to close and remain in touch all night. This, of
course, was an excellent plan so far as it went, but it was open to the
objection that the craft for which we were on the look-out might slip
past us unobserved during the night. That, however, was something that
could not be helped; moreover, there was a moon coming which would help
us, and according to Captain Perry's calculations one or the other of
the two craft was almost certain to turn up