n of the brig; and I thought that they must
have emanated from a spot at about her distance from the _Daphne_. The
slight feeling of drowsiness which had possessed me took flight at once;
all my senses became instantly upon the alert; and I awaited in keen
expectancy to hear if anything further followed. In vain; the minutes
sped past, and neither sight nor sound occurred to elucidate the
mystery. I began to feel anxious and alarmed; my old suspicions rose up
again like a strong man aroused from sleep; and I walked aft to Mr
Armitage, who was leaning against a gun with his arms folded, and his
chin sunk upon his breast evidently in deep meditation. He started up
as he heard my footstep approaching; and on my asking if he had heard
anything peculiar ahead of us, somewhat shortly acknowledged that he had
not. I thereupon told him what I had heard; but he evidently attached
no importance to my statement, suggesting that _if anything_ it was
doubtless some of the Frenchmen amusing themselves. I was by no means
satisfied with this, and, my uneasiness increasing every moment, I went
forward to ascertain whether any of the hands on the forecastle had
heard the mysterious sounds. I found them all listening open-mouthed to
some weird and marvellous yarn which one of the topmen was spinning for
their edification; and from them also I failed to elicit anything
satisfactory. Finally, it suddenly occurred to me that, in my
wanderings ashore, I had often noticed how low the night-mists lay upon
the surface of the river; and it now struck me that by going aloft I
might get sight of something which would tend to explain the disquieting
occurrence. To act upon the idea was the work of a moment; I sprang
into the main rigging and made my way aloft as rapidly as if my life
depended upon it, utterly heedless of the fact that the rigging had been
freshly tarred down that day; and in less than a minute had reached the
maintopmast crosstrees. As I had anticipated I was here almost clear of
the mist; and I eagerly looked ahead to see if all was right in that
quarter. The first objects which caught my eye were the mastheads of
the brig, broad on our starboard bow instead of directly ahead, as I had
expected to find them. This of itself struck me as being somewhat
strange; but, what was stranger still, _they seemed to be unaccountably
near to us_. I rubbed my eyes and looked at them again. They were just
in a line with the tops of a