That daylight seemed as if it would never come, and a more painful and depressing time I never spent, in spite of the glory of the starry heavens, and the beauty of their reflections in the calm sea beneath. It was hard sometimes not to believe that many of the stars had fallen, and were sinking slowly down into the dark, inky black of the ocean, where I could see dots of light travelling here and there, now looking mere pinheads, now flashing out into soft effulgent globes, whose brightness reached a certain point, and then slowly died out.
Every now and then too there was a disturbance some little distance down, as if something had suddenly passed along, and caused all the phosphorescent creatures to flash and sparkle, and mingle their lights into a pale lambent blaze, which soon passed away, leaving all still and calm as before, with the tiny stars gliding softly here and there.
But the greater part of my attention was taken up by the lights dimly visible on board the ship, where I tried to picture what was going on in the cabin where Mr Denning and his sister were prisoned. Jarette would, I know, have taken possession of the guns, but without doubt Mr Denning would have kept the little revolver which I knew he wore hidden about his person. And, what was more, I knew that he had the stern courage to use it if put to the test, in spite of his weakness.
“And if he does use it,” I thought, “it could only be against Jarette.”
“If he does,” I said half-aloud, “what a change in the state of affairs it would produce!”
“What yer talking about, Mr Dale?” said Dumlow, who was nearest to me of those forward; “not asleep, are you?”
“Asleep!—who could go to sleep at a time like this?”
“Ah, it’s hard lines, sir,” said Barney Blane, joining. “Such a pity, too, just as we’d found a way of getting along over the cargo! Next thing would have been as we should have took the ship.”
“And we’ll do that yet somehow, Barney,” I whispered, for I felt in my heart that Mr Frewen would not rest till some desperate effort had been made to save Mr and Miss Denning.
Barney said he hoped we should, if it was only to give him one chance at Jarette.