fairly set and trimmed; indeed, there were times
when it seemed impossible to resist the conviction that she was, if
anything, gaining the merest trifle upon us. If so, however, it was
only when the breeze came down with a little extra strength; for so
surely as it softened at all we immediately appeared to recover the
trifle that we seemed to have previously lost.

But though we were unable to forereach upon our big neighbour, it became
evident, as the morning now wore on, that the two craft were very
gradually nearing each other, the extraordinary weatherly qualities of
the _Esmeralda_ coming conspicuously into notice in this thrash to
windward on a taut bowline, now that we had the opportunity of comparing
them with those of another vessel. At noon the stranger showed her
colours, British, and, upon our responding, exhibited her number; from
which and other signals we learned that she was the _Northern Queen_, of
Glasgow, bound to Cape Town. Then followed an exchange of latitude and
longitude, ours and hers agreeing within a mile or two; and before the
signal flags were finally hauled down and stowed away we had
accomplished quite a long conversation, to the intense delight of my
passengers, especially the fairer members, to whom this sort of thing
was still quite a novelty.

Thus the day wore on, the bright and pleasant hours being whiled away in
a friendly trial of speed that, though we guessed it not, was hurrying
our companion onward to a strange, sudden, and awful doom.

At length the sun went down in a bewildering blaze of gold and crimson
and purple splendour; and almost simultaneously the full-orbed moon rose
majestically above the eastern horizon, flooding the sea that way with
liquid silver, and showing our friend, the _Northern Queen_, hull up in
the very heart of the dazzle, the entire fabric, hull, spars, and
canvas, standing out black as an ebony silhouette against the soft
blue-grey and ivory of the cloud-dappled sky. She was at this time
square upon our weather-beam; but with the rising of the moon the breeze
acquired new life, as it often does, and came down upon us with a weight
sufficient to render it advisable to clew up and furl our royals--which
we did; the _Northern Queen_ continuing to carry hers, as of course she
could, being a much bigger craft than ourselves, and fitted with much
stouter spars. She was thus enabled to draw gradually ahead of us, much
to the chagrin of our worthy chie