"Denial, threats, and entreaty were alike vain. I was roughly hustled overboard into the enchanted boat. Two biscuits, a bottle of water, and an oar were given me, and I was peremptorily ordered to shove off and scull to a distance from the ship, which I was supposed to pollute by my vicinity, and was mockingly desired to keep company with Mother Gary and her chickens, Mr. David Jones, and the Flying Dutchman. "With a heart bursting with mortification, rage, and many real and imaginary fears, I sculled the heavy boat away from the ship, and, strange to say, in ten minutes after I felt a coolness in the air and saw a catspaw on the water. Gradually it freshened. A breeze came--a breeze at last! "The sails of the whaler filled; topsails and courses were sheeted home; up went jib and spanker; the ocean began to ripple under her bluff, iron-plated bows, and the crew gave me a cheer of derision, while my poor heart died within me, as she stood away upon her course to the whaling-ground, and ere the sun set, had disappeared, leaving me alone upon the gloomy North Sea. "I shall never forget, Mr. Ashton, the horror of feeling myself marooned in such a craft, and under such an accusation; and such is the power of imagination, that, as the boat rolled and lurched on the waves of the dark and midnight sea, I almost fancied that I could see, between me and the stars, while crouching in the bow-thwarts, a huge shadowy figure, like the Spirit of Destruction, which haunted the boat of Ronald of the Perfect Hand. "But when day dawned I saw the rocks of Balta, the most eastern of the Shetland Isles, shining redly at the horizon, and soon after I was picked up by the _Thorson_, a Danish galliot, bound for Leith, where I was safely landed a few days after." "And the whaler?" "She and her crew were never heard of again. So whether she had really a breaker of the commandments on board, or whether the boat of old Magnus Sigurdson, of Scrabster, wrought the mischief, I cannot say. I only spin the yarn as it occurred to me. Strike the bell there, Gawthrop." "Aye, aye, sir," growled old Noah, who had been dozing astride the spanker-boom. "Call the next watch; it is Captain Bartelot's, and now, Mr. Ashton, 'tis time for you and I to leave the deck, and turn in." CHAPTER XVIII. RIO DE JANEIRO. On a gorgeous tropical morning, when the _Princess_ was nearing her destined port, and when Morrison declared that already he could see the "land-blink" in the sky, Morley watched with some interest the result of what is termed in nautical astronomy, "taking a sight," or "making an observation," by noting the altitude of any heavenly body, in order to estimate the latitude and longitude. "What is the time?" asked Bartelot. "Twelve, sir, by the sun," replied Morrison. "And by the chronometer?" "Twelve." "Then bring me the correct latitude, while I calculate the longitude. I have had a capital sight to-day."