And Ruth! He ground his teeth in rage at the thought of her name being dragged into the terrible story, as it certainly would be.
Even supposing that he should be given the benefit of the doubt and discharged, his life would be utterly wrecked. He could not ask her to share the life of a man who the world would believe owed his escape from the penitentiary to luck rather than to his innocence. Even if she were willing, he could not ask her to link her life with his.
All through that day and part of the next, he lived in an inferno. By tacit consent, the members of the party refrained from talking of the one thing about which all were thinking. When they met, they spoke of indifferent matters, but there was a hideous feeling of restraint that could not be dispelled, and gloom hung over them like a pall.
The morning of the second day, as they were cruising about in the longitude and latitude indicated by the map, the voice of the lookout resounded from the masthead.
"Land ho!"
"Where away?" shouted Rogers, who chanced to be officer of the deck.
"Three points on the weather bow," was the answer.
Rogers reported instantly to the captain, who came rushing on deck, followed by the other members of the party.
The captain adjusted his binoculars and looked hard and long at a black speck rising from the waves. Finally he dropped the glass.
"The hump of the whale!" he announced.