"Hold off!" I exclaimed, keeping him away with my outstretched hand. "Get your wits about you and remain here for the present. Don't let them hear you, and don't show yourself until I call you."
I could have said nothing better to repress his violent manifestations of delight; for he at once went cowering again into the gloom of the corner.
I struck a wax match, and after a short search found the chart of the North Atlantic upon which the ship's course, so far as she had gone up to noon on the preceding day, was pricked off. I took this on deck, spread it on the skylight and showed our whereabouts to the men.
"Our course," said I, "is south-west and by west."
They bent their faces over the chart, studying it curiously.
"Are you satisfied, Mr. Stevens?" I asked him.
"Oh, I suppose it's all right," answered he.
"Slacken away the lee-braces," I said. "Put your helm up" (to the man at the wheel).
The men went tumbling off the poop to man the braces, and in a few minutes we were making a fair wind.
Both the carpenter and the boatswain remained on the poop.