e. "Nor will she,"
he added; "steamers or boats are the only craft suited for this sort of
work." He was very thankful to have his boat hoisted on board; and the
next day the _Opal_ was fallen in with. The news that there was a
prospect of her returning to England was received on board the _Opal_
with immense satisfaction, by no one more than by her commander.

Jack paid Murray a short visit, but, having a cargo of liberated slaves
on board, he had to continue his voyage to Zanzibar. The _Opal_,
meantime, sailed in search of her missing boats. Two days afterwards,
as Jack was running down the coast, a bright look-out being kept for the
_Romp_, the weather, which had been threatening for some days, became
rapidly worse; the wind shifted to the south-east, then to the eastward,
blowing furiously on the coast. A headland had just been doubled,
forming the northern side of a deep bay, and Jack was about to put the
ship's head to the eastward to gain a safe offing, when a sail was
sighted on the quarter, some way up the bay. He turned his glass
towards her; "What do you make of her?" he asked of Higson.

"I have little doubt that she is the _Romp_, and, if so, I wish that she
were well out of her present position," he answered. "See, she has just
gone about, she's carrying on in the hopes of beating out of the bay,
but it's as much, I fear, as she will do; and, as far as I know, there
isn't a place in which she can anchor--while the shore all round the bay
is as wild and rocky as can be."

"We must stand in and help her!" exclaimed Jack.

"We should only run the risk of losing the ship if we attempt it," said
Higson, "for it will be as much as we can do to hold our own in the
teeth of this gale; and as to towing her off, that will be impossible."

Jack took a turn on deck. "I cannot bear the thoughts of leaving you,
Terence, to your fate," he said to himself. He knew, as well as Higson,
the danger that would be run, for even a steamer embayed in such a
place, with the full force of the gale blowing into it, would have hard
work to get out. He took another turn on deck. "We must try it,
notwithstanding!" he exclaimed; "should the wind moderate ever so
little, we may carry her out; and if we are compelled to cast her off,
she may still have a chance of escaping by bringing up and riding out
the gale."

Higson was not convinced, though almost as anxious as his commander to
assist the brig, which was heeling ov