Such talk as this was not calculated to make me feel any stouter in mind, and I hastened to change the subject by proposing that the “admiral” fry some salt pork, while I boiled potatoes. Then we squabbled over what should be cooked, finding it difficult amid our plenty to make a selection, until it was almost as if we had forgotten Sam, who was toiling through the underbrush on his way across the island. It was a veritable feast we had that evening, and we ate like lads who have nothing to fear, trifling with the food after the edge had been taken from our appetites, to the end that we might remain longer over the meal; but it could not be prolonged beyond a certain time, and then came the question of turning in for the night. Abel Grant insisted on going ashore to have a look seaward before going to sleep, and while he was doing so Abe and I sat in the cabain silent and motionless, each intent on his own thoughts, which were none of the cheeriest. “There’s nothin’ to be seen more’n when we dropped anchor,” Master Grant reported when he came aboard after an absence of ten minutes or less, “an’ I didn’t expect that there would be; but we can’t afford to shut our eyes altogether. You lads had better turn in, and I’ll call you in time to stand your share of the watch.” “What is the need of all that?” I asked irritably, for it seemed much like an excess of precaution while we were so near the shore. “If I could tell you to a certainty, lad, there wouldn’t be a call for any one to stay awake. It’s to guard against what we know nothin’ about, that the trick’s to be done, so turn in while you may.” It seemed to me that I should never be able to close my eyes in slumber while danger was so near at hand, and yet I dare venture to say that within ten minutes I was sleeping as peacefully and as noisily as Abraham. CHAPTER V. UNWELCOME VISITORS. It was as if I had hardly more than lost myself in slumber when I was awakened by Abraham, who announced that the new day would dawn in less than two hours. I insisted that he had made a mistake, still believing I had but just turned in, yet was forced to admit he was right after learning that Abel Grant had remained on watch until nearly midnight, before arousing my comrade. “It seems like a useless loss of sleep, while everythin’ is so quiet, but I’m willin’ to admit that Abel Grant knows best,” Abraham said as he rolled into his bunk with a little squeak of content. “Have you seen or heard anythin’?” I asked, rubbing my eyes sleepily as I looked out through the hatch. “Not so much as the flappin’ of a bird’s wing. It seems as if, with the wind drawin’ down from the fleet, we might hear the cries of the sentries; but nothing has come to my ears. We appear to be snug enough here, an’ I only wish we knew Sam was as free from trouble.”