During the ensuing week nothing particular occurred on board. The breeze still freshened, and the "Pilgrim" made on the average 160 miles every twenty-four hours. The speed was as great as could be expected from a craft of her size.
Dick grew more and more sanguine1 in his anticipations2 that it could not be long before the schooner4 would cross the track of the mail-packets plying5 between the eastern and western hemispheres. He had made up his mind to hail the first passing vessel6, and either to transfer his passengers, or what perhaps would be better still, to borrow a few sailors, and, it might be, an officer to work the "Pilgrim" to shore. He could not help, however, a growing sense of astonishment7, when day after day passed, and yet there was no ship to be signalled. He kept the most vigourous look-out, but all to no purpose. Three voyages before had he made to the whale-fisheries, and his experience made him sure that he ought now to be sighting some English or American vessel on its way between the Equator and Cape8 Horn.
Very different, however, was the true position of the "Pilgrim" from what Dick supposed; not only had the ship been carried far out of her direct course by currents, the force of which there were no means of estimating, but from the moment when the compass had been tampered9 with by Negoro, the steering10 itself had put the vessel all astray.
Unconscious of both these elements of disturbance11, Dick Sands was convinced that they were proceeding12 steadily13 eastwards14, and was perpetually encouraging Mrs. Weldon and himself by the assurance that they must very soon arrive within view of the American coast; again and again asserting that his sole concern was for his passengers, and that for his own safety he had no anxiety.
"But think, Dick," said the lady, "what a position you would have been in, if you had not had your passengers. You would have been alone with that terrible Negoro; you would have been rather alarmed then."
"I should have taken good care to put it out of Negoro's power to do me any mischief15, and then I should have worked the ship by myself," answered the lad stoutly16.
His very pluck gave Mrs. Weldon renewed confidence. She was a woman with wonderful powers of endurance, and it was only when she thought of her little son that she had any feeling of despair; yet even this she endeavoured to conceal17, and Dick's undaunted courage helped her.
Although the youth of the apprentice18 did not allow him to pretend to any advanced scientific knowledge, he had the proverbial "weather-eye" of the sailor. He was not only very keen in noticing any change in the aspect of the sky, but he had learnt from Captain Hull19, who was a clever meteorologist, to draw correct conclusions from the indications of the barometer20; the captain, indeed, having taken the trouble to make him learn by heart the general rules which are laid down in Vorepierre's Dictionnaire Illustré.
There are seven of these rules:-
1. If after a long period of fine weather the barometer falls suddenly and continuously, although the mercury may be descending22 for two or three days before there is an apparent change in the atmosphere, there will ultimately be rain; and the longer has been the time between the first depression and the commencement of the rain, the longer the rain may be expected to last.
2. Vice23 versâ, if after a long period of wet weather the barometer begins to rise slowly and steadily, fine weather will ensue; and the longer the time between the first rising of the mercury and the commencement of the fine weather, the longer the fine weather may be expected to last.
3. If immediately after the fall or rise of the mercury a change of weather ensues, the change will be of no long continuance.[1]
4. A gradual rise for two or three days during rain forecasts fine weather; but if there be a fall immediately on the arrival of the fine weather, it will not be for long. This rule holds also conversely.
5. In spring and autumn a sudden fall indicates rain; in the summer, if very hot, it foretells24 a storm. In the winter, after a period of steady frost, a fall prognosticates a change of wind with rain and hail; whilst a rise announces the approach of snow.
6. Rapid oscillations of the mercury either way are not to be interpreted as indicating either wet or dry weather of any duration; continuance of either fair or foul25 weather is forecast only by a prolonged and steady rise or fall beforehand.
7. At the end of autumn, after a period of wind and rain, a rise may be expected to be followed by north wind and frost.
Not merely had Dick got these rules by rote26, but he had tested them by his own observations, and had become singularly trustworthy in his forecasts of the weather. He made a point of consulting the barometer several times every day, and although to all appearances the sky indicated that the fine weather was settled, it did not escape his observation that on the 20th the mercury showed a tendency to fall. Dick knew that rain, if it came, would be accompanied by wind; an opinion in which he was very soon confirmed by the breeze freshening, till the air was displaced at the rate of nearly sixty feet a second, or more
[Footnote 1: This and several of the other rules are concisely27 concentrated in the couplet-
Long foretold28, long last; Short notice, soon past. ]
than forty miles an hour; and he recognized the necessity of at once shortening sail. He had already used the precaution to take in the royal, the main-top-sail, and the flying jib, but he now at once resolved likewise to take in the top-gallant, and to have a couple of reefs in the foretop-sail.
To an inexperienced crew, the last operation was far from easy; but there was no symptom of shrinking from it. Followed by Bat and Austin, Dick mounted the rigging of the foremast, and with little trouble got to the top-gallant. Had the weather been less unpromising he would have been inclined to leave the two yards as they were, but anticipating the ultimate necessity of being obliged to lower the mast, he unrigged them, and let them down to the deck; he knew well enough that in the event of the gale29 rising as he expected, the lowering of the mast as well as the shortening of sail would contribute to diminish the strain and stress upon the vessel.
It was the work of two hours to get this preliminary operation over. There still remained the task of taking in the reefs in the top-sail.
The "Pilgrim" in one respect differed from most modern vessels30. She did not carry a double foretop, which would very much have diminished the difficulty attending the reefing. It was consequently necessary to proceed as before; to mount the rigging, by main force to haul in the flapping canvas, and to make the fastening secure. But critical and dangerous as the task was, it was successfully accomplished31, and the three young men, having descended32 safely to the deck, had the satisfaction of seeing the schooner run easily before the wind, which had further increased till it was blowing a stiff gale.
For three days the gale continued brisk and hard, yet without any variation in its direction. But all along the barometer was falling; the mercury sank to 28° without symptom of recovery. The sky was becoming overcast33; clouds, thick and lowering, obscured the sun, and it was difficult to make out where it rose or where it set. Dick did his best to keep up his courage, but he could not disguise
[Illustration: For half an hour Negoro stood motionless.]
from himself that there was cause for uneasiness. He took no more rest than was absolutely necessary, and what repose34 he allowed himself he always took on deck; he maintained a calm exterior35, but he was really tortured with anxiety.
Although the violence of the wind seemed to lull36 awhile, Dick did not suffer himself to be betrayed into any false security; he knew only too well what to expect, and after a brief interval37 of comparative quiet, the gale returned and the waves began to run very high.
About four o'clock one afternoon, Negoro (a most unusual thing for him) emerged from his kitchen, and skulked38 to the fore3. Dingo was fast asleep, and did not make his ordinary growl39 by way of greeting to his enemy. For half an hour Negoro stood motionless, apparently40 surveying the horizon. The heavy waves rolled past; they were higher than the condition of the wind warranted; their magnitude witnessed to a storm passing in the west, and there was every reason to suspect that the "Pilgrim" might be caught by its violence.
Negoro looked long at the water; he then raised his eyes and scanned the sky. Above and below he might have read threatening signs. The upper stratum41 of cloud was travelling far more rapidl............