ing
that can astonish or disconcert me." The effect of this unspoken
tradition was apparent in the studied carelessness of the one or two
inquiries that were addressed to the man Joe, when at length he
descended from aloft and rejoined his mates on the forecastle-head. But
the indifference was only assumed; and as Joe--who, in his character of
first discoverer, was entitled to the privilege of unrestrained
loquacity--stated not only what he had seen, but also what he _now
fancied_ he had seen--his imagination rapidly supplying him with fresh
details even as he talked--his group of listeners gradually closed in
round him; questions were asked, conjecture was indulged in, and every
now and then the little conclave temporarily lost control of itself,
and, yielding to the sympathy and excitement that was quickening its
pulses, began to discuss eagerly the chances for and against some
possibility that had been advanced by one of its number. As for my
passengers, they were the slaves of no such code as that which
influenced the lads forward; they yielded at once and without restraint
to the feeling of solicitude and sympathy that was awakened within them
at the news of the waif ahead, with its possible freight of physical
suffering or still worse torment of mental anxiety, apprehension, and
hope deferred "that maketh the heart sick" and breaks down all but the
most stubborn courage, and fairly swamped me with eager questions and
suggestions that, while they exhibited very effectively the goodness of
heart of the speakers, were not of much practical value.

I succeeded at length in effecting my escape from these good people,
and, arming myself with the ship's glass, set out for Forbes' coign of
vantage--the fore-topmast cross-trees--to see what news the lapse of an
hour might enable me to discover. I found, however, that there was no
need for me to travel so far, for before I had mounted halfway up the
lower rigging I caught sight of the object of my quest quivering in the
hot air, upon the verge of the horizon straight ahead. I therefore
settled myself comfortably in the top, from which convenient platform I
made a minute and prolonged inspection of her.

It needed not a second glance through the powerful instrument I wielded
to assure me that the object ahead was indeed a boat, and that she
carried a spar of some sort on end with something fluttering from it--
whether sail or signal I could not tell, for the rarefied a