ss that shrouded the surface of the deep.

Little William, terrified by the speech of his protector, made no
rejoinder, but with like silence continued to look and listen.

There was nothing visible save sea and sky; and these, in the dim
obscurity, were not to be distinguished from each other. A raft or
boat,--even a large ship,--could not have been seen at two cables'
distance from that on which they were drifting along; and the only
sounds now heard were the sighing of the night breeze, and the "swish"
of the water as it swept along the sides of their slight embarkation.

For five minutes or more there was nothing to interrupt this duetto of
winds and waves, and Ben was beginning to believe he had been mistaken.
It might not have been the voice of a man, nor a voice at all. He was
but half awake when he fancied hearing it. Was it only a fancy,--an
illusion? It was at the best very indistinct,--as of some one speaking
in a muttered tone. It might be the "blowing" of a porpoise, or the
utterance of some unknown monster of the sea: for the sailor's
experience had taught him that there are many kinds of creatures
inhabiting the ocean that are only seen at rare intervals even by one
who is constantly traversing it, and many others one may never see at
all. Could the sounds have proceeded from the throat of some of these
human-like denizens of the deep, known as _dugongs, lamantins,
manatees_, and the like?

It was strangest of all that William had heard the voice of a girl: for
the lad still adhered to the belief that he had done so. That might
have been the cry of a bird, or a mermaid; and Ben would have been ready
enough to accept the latter explanation. But the voice of a young girl,
coupled with that of a man, rendered the circumstance more mysterious
and altogether inexplicable.

"Didn't you hear a man's voice, lad?" he asked at length, with a view
either of dissipating his doubts or confirming them.

"I did," replied the boy. "Yes, Ben; I'm sure I did, not loud, but
muttered like. But I don't know whether if was Le Gros. O, if it was!"

"Thee have good reason to know his ugly croak, the parleyvooin'
scoundrel! That thee have, Will'm! Let's hope we are both mistaken:
for if we're to come across them ruffins on the big raft, we needn't
expect mercy at their hands. By this time they'll be all as hungry as
the sharks and as ravenin' too."

"Oh!" exclaimed William, in accents of renewed fear, "I hop