m to mark our place upon the chart. He had
this fixed upon the cabin wall, and every day he put our course upon it
so that we could see at a glance how far we were from our destination.
It was wonderful how well he could calculate it, for one morning he said
that we should see the Cape Verd light that very night, and there it
was, sure enough, upon our left front the moment that darkness came.
Next day, however, the land was out of sight, and Burns, the mate,
explained to me that we should see no more until we came to our port in
the Gulf of Biafra. Every day we flew south with a favouring wind, and
always at noon the pin upon the chart was moved nearer and nearer to the
African coast. I may explain that palm oil was the cargo which we were
in search of, and that our own lading consisted of coloured cloths, old
muskets, and such other trifles as the English sell to the savages.

At last the wind which had followed us so long died away, and for
several days we drifted about on a calm and oily sea, under a sun which
brought the pitch bubbling out between the planks upon the deck. We
turned and turned our sails to catch every wandering puff, until at
last we came out of this belt of calm and ran south again with a brisk
breeze, the sea all round us being alive with flying fishes. For some
days Burns appeared to be uneasy, and I observed him continually shading
his eyes with his hand and staring at the horizon as if he were looking
for land. Twice I caught him with his red head against the chart in the
cabin, gazing at that pin, which was always approaching and yet never
reaching the African coast. At last one evening, as Captain Fourneau and
I were playing ecarte in the cabin, the mate entered with an angry look
upon his sunburned face.

"I beg your pardon, Captain Fourneau," said he.

"But do you know what course the man at the wheel is steering?"

"Due south," the captain answered, with his eyes fixed upon his cards.

"And he should be steering due east."

"How do you make that out?"

The mate gave an angry growl.

"I may not have much education," said he, "but let me tell you this,
Captain Fourneau, I've sailed these waters since I was a little nipper
of ten, and I know the line when I'm on it, and I know the doldrums, and
I know how to find my way to the oil rivers. We are south of the line
now, and we should be steering due east instead of due south if your
port is the port that the owners sent you to."

"Ex