of wreck we had
lately passed. Our little craft would of course be but a poor prize to
these rascals; but since they seemed so to luxuriate in cruelty, it
behoved us to give them as wide a berth as possible.

The presence of this craft, and that, too, in our immediate vicinity,
was a source of the greatest anxiety to us; so much so, that we took in
our gaff-topsail, and housed our topmast, to show but a low spread of
canvas; and one or other of us remained posted at the mast-head all day,
on the look-out, so as, if possible, to sight her before being seen
ourselves, should it happen that we were both proceeding in the same
direction, or on such courses as would bring us together.

We maintained this ceaseless watch for the pirate-brig for four days,
when, judging from the experience we had already obtained of our sailing
powers in fine weather as compared with those of other vessels that we
had fallen in with, we came to the conclusion that all immediate danger
of a _rencontre_ with her was past; and we accordingly relaxed our
vigilance, and allowed ourselves some rest, which, by this time, we
greatly needed.

About noon on the seventh day after boarding the ship scuttled by the
pirates (the name of which I forgot to mention was _the Massachusetts_,
of New York), land appeared ahead. It was the Falkland group of barren
and desolate islands in the vicinity of Cape Horn. As we had been
expecting, the wind now drew round from the westward, fresh, though not
so much so as to prevent our showing a jib-headed gaff-topsail to it.
Under this sail the little _Water Lily_ made most excellent way; going a
good eight knots through the water, close-hauled, and against a very
respectable head-sea. As the day drew on, the wind freshened; and,
though we carried on as long as we dared, wishing to get round the
dreaded Cape as quickly as possible, we were obliged at sunset to take
our topsail in, in order to save our topmast.

By breakfast-time next morning it became necessary to further reduce our
canvas, and we accordingly took down a reef in our mainsail. The
question now arose whether it would be better to go round outside of
everything, or to attempt the Straits of Magellan. We hove the little
craft to, and went below and carefully examined the chart; discussing,
as we did so, the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the two
routes.

Bob had experience of both; and he seemed to feel that in the present
state of th