Chapter Forty Seven.
How they sought Mother Carey’s Chicken, and she was gone.
Singapore was reached in due time, and after communicating with the owners of his vessel, Captain Strong chartered a large schooner, engaged some additional hands, and sailed once more, this time for the purpose of reaching the Petrel—“Mother Carey’s Chicken,” as the men would call her—and getting out the portion of her cargo that remained uninjured.
There was some talk of Mrs Strong and Mark going back to England, but Mark was so pressing to be allowed to accompany the expedition that the captain gave way, and they sailed together.
“I may find the cargo so damaged as to be worthless,” the captain said; “but if it is, I shall make expeditions to the best of the deposits, and come back laden with sulphur.”
It was a pleasant voyage, one not troubled by calms, so that they had but little fear of being overhauled by the Malay praus. The captain had worked out his course very carefully, calculating with minuteness exactly where the island must lie, and in due time a look-out was kept for the conical point of the mountain, which Mark was sailor enough to know would be the first to catch the eye.
“No, my lad,” said the mate, in answer to a question from Mark, “and I don’t suppose we shall see it to-night. You come and keep the morning watch with me, and look out for the point when the sun touches it first. That’s the time to see an island.”
Mark kept the watch with the mate, but they did not see the island, and the captain changed their course.