All at once something happened that sent him crouching down in the bottom of the dingy. Morello and Dayton suddenly appeared on the stern. The former addressed the helmsman.
"We're in for some bad weather, Larsen. You'll have to stand an extra trick at the wheel, for all hands will be needed on the sails."
As he listened, Nat noticed what in his excitement he had hitherto overlooked. A remarkable change had come over the night. The stars were blotted out and the wind had fallen till it was almost a dead calm. In the lull the schooner rolled heavily, her sails flapping and her blocks cracking complainingly.
Suddenly off to the west a vivid red streak split the sky. It was followed after an interval by the heavy booming of thunder.
"I'll go below and call Swensen," Nat heard Dayton say.
The boy's pulses bounded. If Dayton carried out this resolve, it meant that he would discover that the cabin door was locked on the inside and suspicion would instantly be aroused. In the search which would certainly follow he would be discovered, and also Captain Nelsen. What their fate would be in such a case Nat dared not think.
But fortunately Colonel Morello vetoed this proposal.
"Let him have his sleep out," he said; "the storm won't be on us for some time yet, and Hicks can take care of the work of shortening sail."
"Well, how about that old sea horse, Captain Nelsen?" were the next words of Dayton. Nat's heart fairly stood still for an instant and then gave a terrified bound as Colonel Morello exclaimed:
"By Beelzebub, I had forgotten him. Go below and rout him out."