“Thus passed an entire week and the only man or board whose nerves were not on edge was Captain Munson. He appeared not to worry or chafe over our situation in the least. This was the more curious, inasmuch as Sterling had informed me that the seas in which we lay were the very identical ones in which the fatal battle with the pirates who had looted Captain Munson’s last command had taken place.
“One morning just after breakfast I was standing against the taffrail, with Sterling by my side, idly gazing horizonward for a sign of coming wind. All at once I saw Sterling clap his telescope to his eye and gaze intently off into the southeast.
“‘Wind?’ says I.
“‘No,’ says he.
“‘Well, what then?’ says I.
“‘A sail,’ says he.
“‘Then they must be getting more wind than we are,’ says I. ‘What do you make her out to be?’
“‘Can’t tell yet; but somehow I don’t much like the look of her.’
“He handed me the glass.
“‘Take a look yourself,’ he said.