dn't turn in till ten, anyhow;
so that, really, you are only kept two hours out of your bunk, at
that watch. It is getting light when you come up, at four; and at
five we begin to wash decks, and there is plenty to occupy you, so
that it doesn't seem long till eight bells. The others have to turn
out at twelve o'clock, just when they are most sleepy; and to be on
watch for the four dark hours, and then go down just as it is
getting light.

"On a cold night in winter, in the channel, I think perhaps the
advantage is the other way. But, in fact, men get so accustomed to
the four hours in, and the four hours out, that it makes very
little difference to them how it goes."

All day the brig kept on the same course, moving very slowly
through the water, and passing the coast as much by aid of the
current as by that of her sails.

"We are pretty well off Malaga," Captain Lockett said, in the
afternoon. "If there had been any wind, we should have had a chance
of picking up something making from there to the Straits; but there
is no chance of that, today. People like making quick voyages, when
there is a risk of falling in with an enemy; and they won't be
putting out from port until there is some change in the weather.
However, it looks to me as if there is a chance of a little breeze,
from the south, when the sun goes down. I have seen a flaw or two
on the water, that way."

"Yes, it seems to me darker over there," the mate said. "I will go
up and have a look round.

"Yes, sir, there is certainly a breeze stirring, down to the
south," he shouted, from aloft.

"That will just suit us," the captain said. "We must be twenty
miles off the coast at least and, even if they had noticed us from
above the town, we are too far off for them to make us out, at all;
so it will be safe for us to run in to the land.

"We shall rely upon you, Bob, if we are hailed."

"I will do my best to throw dust in their eyes, captain. You must
tell me, beforehand, all particulars; so that I can have the story
pat."

"We will wait till we see what sort of craft is likely to hail us.
A tale may be good enough, for the skipper of a coaster, that might
not pass muster with the captain of a gunboat."

"What are the coasters likely to be laden with?"

"There is never any saying. Mostly fruit and wine, grain and
olives. Then some of them would be taking goods, from the large
ports, to the small towns and villages along the coast. Some of the
coa