the
_Sovereign_ being left for the safety of those on board. Miss Sackett
took a tearful farewell of her father, and was placed aft. Then we shoved
off, and were soon leaving the half-sunken ship astern.

"Cap'n," said Jenks, who sat aft near me, "what d'ye make o' that?"

He pointed to a white bank of vapor which had rolled up from the
southward, and suddenly enveloped the _Sovereign_ while we were still two
cable lengths distant. I looked and saw the white mist, which we had not
noticed before to be so dense, rolling in long white clouds upon the calm
surface of the ocean. In a moment it had enveloped us, and all around us
was a white wall, the _Pirate_ disappearing ahead. The swell also
appeared to be getting a cross roll to it, and a light air now blew in
our faces.

I made no answer to the leather-faced sailor, but tried to keep the
boat's head before a heavier roll of the sea, and the wake as much like a
straight line as possible. There was no compass in the craft, and it
would take some nice guesswork to find a ship three miles away.

XI

We went along in silence for some time, the fog seeming to fall like a
pall upon the spirits of the men. The wash of the oars and the gurgle of
the bow-wave were the only sounds that were audible. After half an hour
of this I arose and sent a hail through the bank of mist, which I thought
would reach a vessel within half a mile. There was no sound of an answer,
the dank vapor appearing to deaden my hail and swallow up all noise a
short distance beyond the boat. It was uncanny to feel how weak that yell
appeared. I saw Jim looking at me with a strange light in his eyes as
though he felt danger in the air.

After an hour more of it, the faces of the men plainly showed their
anxiety. Phillippi, the Dago, was chewing the corner of his dank
mustache, and his eyes wandered aft and then forward. Jenks, with his
large wrinkled face gray with the vapor, sat staring ahead, straining his
ears for the slightest sound that would locate the vessel. I put both
hands to my mouth again, and strained away my hardest. There was no
response, the sound falling flat and dull in the wall of mist. Then I
knew we were in danger, and gave the order to stop rowing.

The silence around us was now oppressive. We were all waiting to hear
some sound that would locate either one or the other of the vessels. The
breeze carried the masses of vapor in cool spurts into our faces, and I
felt sure th