and as we drew nearer to the
river's mouth I noticed that he rose in the stern-sheets of the boat and
glanced somewhat anxiously to seaward. For a full minute or more he
stood gazing under the sharp of his hand out across the sandbank as it
seemed to glide rapidly past us, its summit momentarily growing lower as
the gig swept along toward the point where the dwindling spit plunged
beneath the surface of the water, and, as he gazed, the expression of
puzzlement and anxiety on his face rapidly intensified. By this time,
too, his action and attitude had attracted the attention of those in the
boats astern, and, glancing back at them, I saw that Nugent, in the
launch, and Hoskins, the third lieutenant, in the pinnace, had followed
his example. Naturally, I did the same, wondering meanwhile what it was
at which they were all looking so intently, when Mr Perry suddenly
turned upon me and demanded, almost angrily--

"I say, Mr Fortescue, what has become of the ship? D'ye see anything
of her?"

"The ship, sir?" I echoed dazedly--for, with the question, it had come
to me in a flash that we ought by this time to be able to see at least
the spars of the _Psyche_ swaying rhythmically athwart the sky out over
the low sandbank, if she still lay at anchor where we had left
her;--"the ship? No, sir, I confess that I can't see her anywhere.
Surely Mr Purchase cannot have shifted his berth, for any reason?
But--no," I continued, as the absurdity of the suggestion came home to
me--"of course he hasn't; he hasn't enough hands left with him to make
sail upon the ship, even if he were obliged to slip his cables."

At that moment a hail of "Gig ahoy!" came from Nugent aboard the launch;
and, glancing back at him, we saw him pointing at some object that had
suddenly appeared on the ridge of the spit, away on our port quarter.
It was a man, a white man, a seaman, if one might judge from his
costume, and he was waving a large coloured handkerchief, or something
of the kind, with the evident object of attracting our attention. While
we still stood at gaze, wondering what this apparition could possibly
mean, another man appeared beside him.

"Down helm, and run the boat in on the bank," ordered our new skipper.
"I must see what this means."

"Flatten in, fore and aft, and stand by to let run your halyards!"
ordered the coxswain, easing his helm down; and as he spoke I stepped
upon the stern thwart with the object of getting a somewhat