It must surely be nearing two bells."

"Ay, ay, sir!" I dutifully answered; and, moving aft to the skylight,
raised the canvas cover which had been placed over it to mask the light
of the low-turned lamp which was kept burning all night in the fore
cabin, and glanced at the clock which, screwed to the coaming on one
side of the tell-tale compass, balanced the barometer which, hung in
gimbals, was suspended on the other side. The clock marked the time as
two minutes to five a.m., or within two minutes of two bells in the
morning watch.

Dropping the canvas screen back into place, I was about to announce the
time to my superior officer, when I thought I caught, through the faint
creak of the ship's timbers and the light rustling of the canvas aloft,
a slight, far off sound, like the squeak of a sheave on a rusty pin.
Therefore, instead of proclaiming the time aloud, I stepped quietly to
the side of the first luff, and asked, almost in a whisper--

"Did you hear anything just then, sir?"

"Hear anything?" reiterated Mr Perry, unconsciously lowering his
usually stentorian voice in response to the suggestion of secrecy
conveyed by my whisper; "no, I can't say that I did. What d'ye mean,
Mr Fortescue?"

"I mean, sir," I replied, "that I thought I caught, a moment ago, a
sound like that of--ah! did you hear _that_, then, sir?" as a voice,
uttering some words of command, apparently in the Spanish language, came
floating to us, faint but clear, across the invisible water upon which
the _Psyche_ lay rolling almost imperceptibly.

"Ay, I did," answered Mr Perry, modulating his voice still further.
"No mistake about that, eh? There's a craft of some sort out there,
less than a mile distant, I should say. Did you catch the words? They
sounded to me like some foreign lingo."

"No, sir," I replied, "I did not quite catch them, but, as you say, they
appeared to be foreign, and I believe they were Spanish. What about
striking two bells, sir? It only wanted two minutes--"

"On no account whatever, Mr Fortescue," hastily interrupted my
companion. "On the contrary, have the kindness to slip for'ard and
caution the watch not to sing out, or make the slightest noise, on any
account, but to come quietly aft if they happen to have anything to
report. And when you have done that, kindly go down and call Captain
Harrison."

"Ay, ay, sir!" I answered; and, kicking off my shoes, lest the sound of
them upon the deck should rea