'The brig will have to hurry up,' Mr. Statten said. 'The afternoon is slipping away, and she's a long way astern.'
'But the moon's at the full, sir,' Jack observed.
'Why, you're becoming a regular old shellback,' the mate laughed. 'I expect it's bred in the bone.'
'That is what my father said when I wished to go to sea,' Jack exclaimed. 'What does it mean?'
'That you are a sailor born and bred, and the son of one.'
They remained aloft throughout the afternoon, while the captain kept close watch on the steering, and just after sundown a small island appeared off the starboard bow.
'We are safe now,' the captain sang out. 'One hundred and ten miles since daylight. It's first-rate. Lay down from aloft.'
Jack and the mate enjoyed a good supper that night, and the barque was hove-to till daylight, so as to discover what had happened to the brig.
The night passed uneventfully. In the grey of coming dawn the brig was seen making desperate endeavour to overhaul her companion, and presently reported an almost miraculous escape from destruction while sailing through the last series of reefs.