“It’s all right by a wharf,” said the captain, “or in a dock; but it won’t do here.”
And in future they always anchored in midstream just before darkness fell.
And now, hour by hour, they had warning that their further progress with the brig would soon come to an end.
“And it’s my belief, gentlemen, that it will be before night,” said the captain one morning when they were all seated together beneath the awning chatting. “If you keep quite still, you can hear the stopper.”
“Stopper? What do you mean?” asked Sir Humphrey, in a surprised tone. He was once more pretty well his old self.
“Well, bar, then. There, you can hear it quite plain now.”
“Do you mean that low murmur?” said Brace, who was listening intently. “I thought it was the wind.”
“No, sir, it’s the water,” said the captain. “That’s either a fall or else some rapids. I’ve been noticing lots of little signs of a change lately, and if it wasn’t for this steady wind we shouldn’t be moving at all. See how clear the water is?”
“Yes, I’ve noticed that it has been gradually becoming clearer,” said Brace. “But do you notice that the wind is dropping?”
“Yes, we are leaving it behind, and it strikes me that if you like to try about here or a little higher up you’ll get some sport.”