“Very little, sir,” answered the chief mate, replying to the last question first; “just a cat’s-paw from the west’ard bow and then, but nothing worth speaking about; and it’s been the same all through the watch. I want you to take a squint through the glass before I turn-in, sir, and to tell me whether I’ve been dreaming with my eyes open or no.”
“Why, what is it, Bowles? Do you think you’ve seen anything?”
“Well, yes, I do, sir,” answered the mate, “but it’s so very indistinct in this starlight that I don’t care to trust to my own eyes alone.”
Without another word the pair moved aft, and when they were fairly settled in the cockpit Mr Bowles took the glass from Bob and put it into the skipper’s hand. He then looked intently astern for perhaps half a minute, when he laid his hand on the skipper’s arm and said—
“D’ye see them two stars, sir, about a couple of hand’s breadths to the south’ard of the moon? They’re about six degrees above the horizon, and the lower one is the southernmost of the two; it has a reddish gleam almost like a ship’s port light.”
“Yes,” replied the skipper, “I see them. You mean those, do you not?” pointing to them.
“Ay, ay, sir; them’s the two. Now look at the horizon, just half-way between ’em, and tell me if you can see anything.”
The skipper looked long and steadfastly in the desired direction, and at length raised the telescope to his eye.
“By Jove, Bowles, I believe you are right,” he at length exclaimed eagerly. “There certainly is a something away there on the horizon, but it is so small and indistinct that I cannot clearly make it out. Do you think it is either of the other boats?”
“No, sir, I don’t,” answered Bowles. “If it’s anything it’s a ship’s royals. If ’twas one of the boats, she’d be within some five miles of us for us to be able to see her at all, and at that distance her sail would show out sharp and distinct through the glass. This shows, as you say, so indistinctly that it must be much more than that distance away, and therefore I say that if it’s anything it’s a ship’s royals.”