"We are out of sight of land, and there isn't a thing to be seen."
"But where is the light we are running for?"
"Alboran; that is ninety miles ahead of us, and we shall not see it before eleven o'clock in the forenoon," replied the captain. "I will take the wheel now, Flix, for I need something to keep me awake."
"Then I suppose I may go to sleep," added Felix.
"No, you may not!" protested Scott with energy. "It is still your watch, and will be till eight bells. You will keep a sharp lookout, for that is your duty for the next two hours, as it has been mine for the last two;" and he struck four bells.
"All right, Captain Scott; and I am wide awake," replied Felix; and he left the pilot-house, and began to plank the deck on the forecastle.
The duty of the lookout was not of a very exciting character; and though the Milesian had not been dubbed a knight-errant, he would have preferred something a little more stirring. It would have suited him better to remain at the wheel; but the captain would not permit any one to take the trick of another. Occasionally he halted at the windows of the pilot-house and had a chat with the captain.
"I wonder if the Grand Mogul will try to arrest you and Felipe to-morrow?" he asked at one of these halts.
"I think he has a bigger bone than that to pick with Captain Ringgold," replied Scott. "I should not wonder, from what the Pacha said, if they had a row. He wanted to fight a duel with the commander, who would not do anything of the sort, though he would defend himself if he were assaulted."
"The captain is able to take care of himself, and he will do so," added Felix.