under close-reefed
sails. It was somewhat trying work, as the fire could not be lighted to
cook, and the party had therefore to subsist on raw salt pork and
biscuit, washed down with cold grog. Everyone, of course, was wet to
the skin; but when the sun again burst forth, their clothes were
speedily dried. The boat behaved admirably, rising over the seas like a
duck. Two days the gale lasted, and then the weather again cleared.

"If we get any more downpours, I don't intend to let my clothes get
wet," said Desmond.

"How are you going to prevent that?" asked Archie.

"Why, by stowing them away in the locker and jumping overboard,"
answered Desmond. "It's the wisest plan, depend on it. That's the way
the nigger boatmen manage in the West Indies, and it will answer here
just as well."

"Not if it is blowing hard, as it has just been doing," said Archie.

"No," replied Gerald; "but if it's tolerably calm, we can easily get on
board again when the rain is over."

Adair, who had heard of the plan being adopted by other boats' crews,
had no objection; and the next day, when the clouds again gathered and
sent down a deluge, such as only falls in the tropics, all hands, with
the exception of two, who remained to take care of the boat, stripped
off their clothes and jumped overboard, swimming about and amusing
themselves till the rain was over. They did the same half a dozen times
during the day, whenever a torrent descended from the clouds, and then
again clambering on board, after rubbing themselves over, put on their
dry garments. The only wonder was that no one was carried off by a
shark, but probably, as they were splashing about and making a loud
noise all the time they were in the water, the savage monsters were kept
at a distance.

The weather again permanently cleared up. Several dhows were chased and
overtaken. The first they boarded had, in addition to her brown-skinned
Arab crew, an equal number of black seamen, who were pulling and hauling
and making themselves very busy; while she also had a large party of
black passengers, who sat ranged round the deck mute as statues, dressed
up in Arab costume, each man having with him two or three wives and
several children.

The captain, or "negoda," as he was called by the Arabs, met Adair with
a smiling countenance as he stepped on board, and expressed himself in
choice Arabic as highly delighted to see the English officer.

"Well, my friend, who are all