weather since she sailed had
been unusually fine, and she might, he hoped, have escaped the dangers
of the sea; but there were others to which she was too likely to be
exposed on board a vessel engaged, as he understood the brig was, in
landing arms and ammunition, and in running contraband goods. The
colonel himself, Murray fully believed, had nothing to do with such
proceedings; but he would, notwithstanding, be placed in a dangerous
position should the vessel be captured while so employed, and then to
what a fearful risk might not Stella be exposed. He shuddered at the
thought. Again and again it occurred to him. The two ships had got to
the southward of Saint Domingo.

In those piping times of peace there was very little excitement at sea--
no enemy to be encountered, no vessels to be chased, except perhaps a
slaver from the coast of Africa. There had, however, been a steady
breeze, all sail being carried, and the officers were congratulating
themselves on making a quick passage, when about noon it suddenly fell
calm. The sun struck down from the cloudless sky with intense heat,
making the pitch in the seams of the deck bubble up and run over the
white planks, while every particle of iron or brass felt as hot as if
just come out of a furnace. The chips from the carpenter's bench
floated alongside, and the slush from the cook's pots scarcely mingled
with the clear water, till a huge mouth rising to the surface swallowed
the mass down with a gulp, creating a ripple which extended far away
from the ship's side. The atmosphere was sultry and oppressive in the
extreme, for air there was none. It was a question whether it was
hotter on deck in the shade or below. In the sun there was not much
doubt about the matter. The sails hung motionless against the masts;
even the dog-vanes refused to move. The smoke ascending from the galley
fire rose in a thin column, till, gradually spreading out, it hung like
a canopy above the ship. The men moved sluggishly about their duties,
with no elasticity in their steps; and even Jack and Adair, the briskest
of the brisk, felt scarcely able to drag their feet after them. The
ocean was like a sheet of burnished silver, so dazzling that it pained
the eye to gaze at it. Ever and anon its polished surface would be
broken by a covey of flying-fish rising into the air in a vain effort to
escape some hungry foe. A nautilus, or Portuguese-man-of-war, would
glide by, proving that