"Yes," said the mate, starting. "I can't quite make out how we are situated till daylight, but unless Jarette has taken them out, we have the boat's spars and sails. You know how fast she is, and I propose, if we can do so, to--" He stopped short, for Walters moaned piteously till Mr Frewen bent down over him and altered the position in which he lay. "Yes, go on," said the captain feebly. "I propose hoisting sail in the morning." "And making for the Cape?" "No, sir; weather permitting, and if we have a sufficiency of provisions and water, I shall keep pretty close to the ship--our ship. I shall keep just out of range of a bullet, and that is all; merely hang about or follow her when she catches the wind, until some other vessel heaves in sight. Captain Jarette is a clever, cunning man, but he has, I think, given us our chance, and we shall hang on to him till a chance comes for seizing the ship again." "I thought our case was hopeless to-night," said the captain. "And so did I, for a time, sir," continued the mate; "but he has over-reached himself in trying to get rid of us--hoist himself with his own petard--if the weather will only favour us now." Mr Frewen drew a deep breath, which sounded to me as if full of relief, and the mate went on-- "It is not too much to expect that if at any time we make an attack now, some of the men will side with us." "Don't matter if they don't, sir," growled Bob Hampton, in the deepest of deep bass voices. "We're strong enough, if you'll only give us a chance." "All depends on chance, my lads," said Mr Brymer. "Let's get the daylight, and see what we have on board." CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. That daylight seemed as if it would never come, and a more painful and depressing time I never spent, in spite of the glory of the starry heavens, and the beauty of their reflections in the calm sea beneath. It was hard sometimes not to believe that many of the stars had fallen, and were sinking slowly down into the dark, inky black of the ocean, where I could see dots of light travelling here and there, now looking mere pinheads, now flashing out into soft effulgent globes, whose brightness reached a certain point, and then slowly died out. Every now and then too there was a disturbance some little distance down, as if something had suddenly passed along, and caused all the phosphorescent creatures to flash and sparkle, and mingle their lights into a pale lambent blaze, which soon passed away, leaving all still and calm as before, with the tiny stars gliding softly here and there.