y this time well in sight all along our larboard beam,
being certainly not more than forty miles distant; and the circumstance
that Carera was afraid of the shoal and determined to keep off it was
greatly in our favour, since in order to clear Portland Rock, at its
north-eastern extremity, we should have to draw even closer still in
with the island. I was at first terribly afraid that some suspicion
would attach to my comrade and myself as the authors of the error in the
course we had been steering, but I was agreeably disappointed; so far,
indeed, was Carera from suspecting anything that he confided to us at
breakfast--to which we had invited him--that, though he could not in the
least account for our being so far to windward, he was most heartily
glad of it, since we appeared to have the sea all to ourselves. He was
still a trifle uneasy, however, at being so near the very stronghold and
head-quarters of the dreaded British in those waters; and when we all
went on deck after breakfast, his first act was to order a hand aloft to
the mast-head to keep a bright lookout. It was just ten o'clock in the
forenoon, and the man at the mast-head was in the very act of descending
the rigging--another man getting ready meanwhile to relieve him--when he
uttered an excited exclamation which at once attracted all eyes toward
him.

"Look over there, captain, broad on our weather bow. Do you see that
turtle lying there asleep on the water?"

Carera sprang on to the weather rail, and, steadying himself with one
hand by the shroud whilst he shielded his eyes with the other, peered
eagerly to windward. The rest of the watch also dropped whatever they
happened to be busied with, and, exclaiming "A turtle! a turtle!"
unceremoniously ranged themselves alongside their skipper.

"No," said Carera, after a long look in the direction indicated, "I
don't see anything of him; where is--"

"There he is; I see him!" exclaimed one of the men. "Ah! now he is gone
again, settled into the trough. Look a bit further out in that
direction, captain--there he is again; Madre de Dios, what a monster!
don't you see him?"

"Yes, yes; I see him now," answered Carera excitedly; "down with your
helm, my man, and let her shoot into the wind. We will have that
fellow. Get the boat into the water, smartly now, men. Give the watch
below a call."

"To what purpose?" I interposed: "No, no, let the poor fellows finish
their sleep in peace; my friend a