h whether the man understood what
I had said to him; for the wind rendered it almost impossible for the
most powerful voice to make itself heard, unless at a very short
distance and dead to windward, as was the barque when her skipper hailed
us. We made several attempts to find the brigantine that night, but
somehow failed to stumble across either her or the disabled ship upon
which we suspected her of entertaining designs.

CHAPTER NINE.

A NARROW ESCAPE, AND A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY.

About midnight there were signs that the gale had pretty well blown
itself out. There was a distinct, if not very strongly-marked decrease
in the strength of the wind, and about an hour before dawn the veil of
impenetrable vapour overhead broke away, showing, first of all, a small
patch of clear sky, with half a dozen stars or so blinking out of it,
and then other and larger patches, with more stars; until, by the time
of sunrise, the sky was clear, save for the thin detached tatters of
fleecy vapour that still swept scurrying away to the northward and
eastward.

It was my morning watch on deck; and with the first grey light of early
dawn I indulged in a thoroughly searching scrutiny of the fleet--or as
much of it as still remained in sight,--on the look-out for the
brigantine; but I failed to discover any traces either of her or of the
disabled ship. This I considered not only surprising but exceedingly
suspicious; as the crew of the ship had contrived, during the previous
day, to clear away the wreck of their top-hamper, and to get their craft
once more under command by setting their fore and main-topsails and a
make-shift fore-staysail, under which the vessel appeared to be doing
exceedingly well when the darkness of the preceding night had closed
down upon the convoy. Indeed, so well had she been doing that it
occurred to me as possible that she might, during the night, have
managed to work herself into a tolerably weatherly position, relatively
to the rest of the fleet; and I therefore took the ship's telescope and
went up as far as the cross-trees, to see whether, from that elevation,
I could discover anything of her to windward. But although I spent a
long half-hour aloft, carefully scrutinising every craft in sight, I was
quite unable to pick up either the ship or the brigantine. I was still
aloft when the skipper made his appearance on deck; and, as I had by
that time about concluded my search, upon seeing him looking