se,
even, than that on the Coast, I think! And what has become of all the
wind? I say, I suppose we haven't made a mistake in our reckoning, and
run down on to the Line unbeknownst, have we?"

"If we have," said I severely, "the mistake is yours Master Jack; for,
as you are very well aware, I have been entrusting the navigation of
this ship to you."

Which, by the way, was only true in a certain sense; for while I had
given the young man to understand that, for his own benefit and
advantage, I intended to make him perform the duty of master, and hold
him responsible for the navigation, I had taken care to maintain a
strict check upon his calculations and assure myself that he was making
no mistakes. Of which fact he was of course quite aware. Wherefore his
reply to my retort was simply to change the subject with some celerity.

"I say, old chap," he remarked, "you look awfully cool and comfy. Been
under the head pump, as usual, I suppose. Upon my word, if it were not
for the possibility--not to say the extreme probability--of being
snapped up by a shark, I should like to go overboard in a bowline and be
towed for half an hour. And--talking of sharks--have you noticed how
often we have seen the beggars following us since we have been in this
ship? I suppose her timbers have become saturated, as it were, with the
odour of the slaves she has carried, and so--but, hillo! what has
happened to the barometer?"

I glanced at the instrument, which, together with a tell-tale compass,
swung from the skylight transoms, and saw that the mercury had sunk in
the tube to the extent of nearly an inch since the last setting of the
vernier; and, as it was our custom in the Slave Squadron at that time to
set the instrument at 8 o'clock a.m. and 8 o'clock p.m., it meant that
the mercury had fallen to that extent during the night! What was about
to happen? I had observed nothing portentous in the aspect of the
weather, while on deck, unless, indeed, the softening away of the trade-
wind and the hazy condition of the atmosphere might be regarded as
portents. Yet that could hardly be, for I had observed the same
phenomena before, yet nothing particular had come of it. I decided to
have a talk with Tasker, the gunner's mate, and get his views on the
matter; he was a man of very considerable experience, having been a
sailor before I was born; I therefore at once entered my cabin, and
proceeded to dress; after which I returned to