e and finally let the subject drop, but somehow I
could not help thinking about it, and wondering which of my
fellow-passengers was referred to, and for the next day or two I watched
to see whether any one of them exhibited more than ordinary cordiality
to me; but it was quite unavailing; _all_ were alike exceedingly cordial
and friendly--except Miss Onslow, who still maintained her former
attitude of frigid reserve--so, as it was, after all, a matter that only
very slightly interested me, I soon forgot all about it.

From this time forward, for a full month and more, life was absolutely
uneventful on board the _City of Cawnpore_: the gale blew itself out
that same night, and we got a breeze that carried us right into the
north-east trades; then we lost five days on the Line parallels ere we
caught the south-east trades; and when they left us we were baffled for
two days more before getting a wind that would permit us to make any
easting.

We caught this fair wind early one morning in the second week of
December; and by noon it was blowing over the larboard quarter quite as
strong as we wanted it, with studding-sails abroad on both sides, from
the royals down, and every other inch of canvas that would draw. As the
afternoon waned the breeze freshened; but Murgatroyd had by this time
got preventer backstays rigged, fore and aft, with the avowed
determination of carrying on and making the very utmost of so splendid a
breeze. And making the most of it, he was, with a vengeance, for the
ship was sweeping along like a mist wreath, reeling off her seventeen
knots by the log, when the latter was hove at the end of the first
dog-watch.

When I went on deck after dinner that night the sky had banked up to
windward and astern of us, and heavy masses of cloud were sweeping
rapidly athwart the firmament, permitting an occasional brief and hasty
glimpse of the young moon and a few misty stars. It was then blowing
strong, with every promise of a windy night before us; and it seemed to
me that, with so dim and uncertain a light, it was scarcely prudent to
drive the ship at such headlong speed through the night. Indeed I
ventured to suggest as much to Dacre, but he only laughed at me.

"It is all very well for you navy men, when you are cruising, to shorten
sail at sunset, so that your people may be reasonably sure of an
undisturbed night," he said. "But with us of the red ensign it is
different; our owners expect us to pile u