But all that day they sighted no land, and when darkness came they were again unable to anchor owing to the depth of the water. Mr. Lakewood had told the captain about Jack's adventure, and he had advised taking Pat Barney into their confidence and telling him where they were going and their object.
"Pat's true blue and, what's more, he's sharp. He has a good chance to keep an eye on the snake, and he'll do it if he knows he's up to something crooked."
So, at the first opportunity he had told Pat all about the trip, and had confided to him their suspicions in regard to the second mate.
"Faith an' it's meself as niver did loike the face uv him," Pat had declared.
It was Pat's watch on deck that night from twelve until six and he assured them that he would see that there was no signaling done while he was on the job. Unlike the previous night, the wind was blowing fairly hard from the west, although the night was clear and the captain told them that they would have to keep the engine going to avoid being blown back.
"But we won't make more'n two or three miles an hour, so I reckon we won't pass anything," he assured them.
The night passed without incident, and when the boys went on deck shortly after six o'clock the captain told them that they had not made more than a dozen knots during the night. The wind still held strong from the west and there was enough of a sea to make the Valkyrie "kick up her heels," as Jack put it.
They were eating dinner when they heard the lookout shout "Land ho" and there was a scramble to see who would reach the deck first. Jack won and, as he burst out from the room, he heard the mate cry:
"Off the port bow, sir."
He could see nothing from the deck and hurried to the bridge closely followed by the others.