"Hoist the foresail!" he shouted; but none of the terrified men obeyed the order. "Cowardly idiots!" he cried, and scrambling forward as well as he could to the mast, he seized the fore-halyards and set the sail. Then he returned to the tiller, after having been nearly washed overboard by a sea on the way, and steered the vessel dead before the wind. In ten minutes he had sailed, not without danger, outside the circle of raging water; and looking back he saw that the disturbance had already commenced to subside, and the loud roaring had lessened to a distant moaning. "_Locos!_" he cried; "madmen, cowards, hoist the mainsail! Are you women to be so scared by a slight _terremoto_?" "I didn't know that there were earthquakes in mid-ocean," said El Toro, who was the first to recover somewhat from his fright. "But, captain, you are a curious one. I knew you feared no man; but, _caramba!_ it seems you don't fear the devil himself." "Up mainsail," cried Carew again, "and don't jabber, thou great coward! Hurry up. We have a fair wind." The mate was now himself again. "Aha! the _terremoto_ has brought us luck," he cried. "Look yonder, captain," and he pointed to the east, where the sky had become suddenly covered with small fleecy clouds. "I know that sign--that is the trade wind." They put all sail on the vessel, and were soon bowling along before the ever-freshening wind. They had left behind them the dreary region of the Doldrums, with its stifling heat, and the air above the dancing waves was cool and bracing. The mate, who was steering, began to chaff his companions. "Say, El Toro, you thought the authorities below had sent for you when you felt that trembling of the sea." "Trembling?" replied the Basque gruffly. "There was more trembling of thee than of the sea itself, thou white-gilled Frenchman." "So there was," drawled the sarcastic El Chico. "But let us remember that our mate is a man of education--of soul. His nerves are in harmony with Nature. When Nature is merry he is merry; when Nature trembles; he trembles. But that is poetical sympathy, not fear, my friend El Toro." And so these three reviled each other's cowardice, until Carew, fearing bloodshed, called out, "Now, then, stop that discussion, or all of you bring me your knives here." Then this amiable crew smoked and sulked in silence for a while. Shortly afterwards, Carew was below studying a chart of the South Atlantic. To him came down the mate, who looked over his shoulder and asked, "How far are we now from Rio, sir?" "About sixteen hundred miles," was the reply. "That means a run of nine or ten days at the outside with this wind." "You are a man of great nerve," said the mate, filled with a genuine admiration. "I thought the bravest man would have lost his head in that horrid earthquake." Carew laughed. "Mine was only the courage of science at the best, Baptiste. You see, the phenomenon did not take me by surprise. I half expected something of the sort."