“Running after fortune eh? your brig sails too slowly for him.”
Instead of responding, the captain went forward straight to the brooder, to whom he spoke a few words, whereupon he disappeared down a companion-way.
“You disturbed his dreams,” said Taverney; “he was not in my way.”
“No, captain, I just told him that it was freshening and the breeze was killing. The forward-deck passengers are not so warmly clad as you and I.”
“How are we getting along, captain?”
“To-morrow we shall be off the Azores, at one of which we shall stop to take fresh water, for it is pretty warm.”
After twenty days out, they were glad to see any land.
“Gentleman,” said the captain to the passengers, “you have five hours to have a run ashore. On this little island completely uninhabited, you will find some frozen springs to amuse the naturalists and good shooting if you are sportsmen.”
Philip took a gun and ammunition and went ashore in one of the two boats carrying the merry visitors, delighted to tread the earth.
But the noise was not to his taste, no more than the pursuit of game so tame as to run against his legs, and he stopped to lounge in a cool grotto which was not the natural icehouse indicated.