It was night, and intensely dark, while the wind moaned mournfully above the dashing waters. Breeze had no idea of the time, nor how long it would be before daylight. While he was wondering about this he became conscious, to his great surprise, that in his hand he held the golden chain and locket that had been about his neck. His surprise was, moreover, quickly changed to amazement when he felt that the ball was open.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN BALL.
It seemed to Breeze as though daylight never would come, as he lay there holding the open locket in his hand and wondering about it. How had it come open? and what did it contain? He was adrift in a fog, far out at sea, in a frail open boat. He was wet, cold, and hungry. His situation was about as uncomfortable as can well be imagined; but all this was lost sight of and forgotten in the thoughts aroused by that golden ball, which during his sleep he must have taken from his neck, and which had so unaccountably been opened. It was the visible evidence of the great mystery of his life, that he so longed to solve, and in his curiosity he wished for the daylight only that he might see what it contained. He hoped Wolfe would wake up, that he might talk of all this with him; but he would not disturb him, and after a while he, too, fell asleep again.
When Breeze next awoke it was early morning, and daylight was sifting faintly through the fog. Wolfe had been aroused some time before by the pain of his leg. He had just finished attending to the wound as well as he was able, and was replacing the bandage.
The moment he noticed that Breeze had opened his eyes, he exclaimed, “Good-morning, dorymate! We seem to be in luck, as usual.”
“How?” asked Breeze, wonderingly.
“How! Why, don’t you notice that the wind has gone down and the sea is getting smooth? We have had a pretty comfortable night, and I shouldn’t wonder if the sun drove away this beastly fog before long, and shone out warm and pleasant. Then we must surely sight something, out of all the vessels that are cruising on the Banks.”
“That’s so!” said Breeze, quite cheered by this hopeful view of the situation. Then, bethinking himself of the wonderful event of the preceding night, and anxious to add his bit of pleasant intelligence, he continued, “And best of all, Wolfe, the ball is open.”
“The what?” asked Wolfe, greatly puzzled for the moment to know what his companion meant.
“The ball! The golden ball that I wear around my neck, and that we were looking at yesterday.”