“It’s two o’clock,” Phil said looking at his watch by the light of a lantern. “There will be little wind before morning, and then it will probably be offshore. I think we’d better have the launch tow us well clear of the reefs before we attempt to haul aft the sheets.”
O’Neil nodded in agreement.
“We’ll have to arrange watches,” Phil said. “I’m overpowered with sleep myself, and I suppose we all are in about the same condition. We’ve four of us to stand watch. I insist on standing the first hour, then I’ll call you, Syd.”
O’Neil protested: “Excuse me, sir. You and Mr. Monroe are young and need lots of sleep. I couldn’t sleep if I tried. Stump here sometimes stays awake for days at a time. It’s all a matter of habit, this sleeping is. Now, please, you gentlemen go and turn in, and I’ll call you if anything happens that you ought to know of.”
Phil was really too sleepy to protest vigorously, so he and Sydney curled down on mattresses, brought up from Scott’s cabin, and were soon sound asleep.
When Phil woke the sun was high up and the “Talofa” was under sail. The steam launch raced along several hundred yards away. The breeze was light and the water smooth.
“There’s smoke out there on the horizon,” O’Neil said as he came aft, looking as fresh as if he had slept the whole night through. “There ain’t any steamer expected, is there, sir?”
Phil shook his head. “Not for another week, anyway,” he replied excitedly. Then he gazed toward the land. “We’re twenty miles from shore, at least,” he added.
“The wind’s offshore, but the trade wind will be stronger out here when it starts up, and we can then make Ukula in one leg,” O’Neil replied.
Phil considered for several minutes. Was the smoke a Herzovinian war-ship or was it the “Sacramento”? If it was the latter it would be of great service to the admiral on board to know the conditions in Kapua before he was sighted by the watchful sailors on Mission Hill. If it turned out to be the other war-ship no harm could be done by taking a look at it.