"Them hands missin' makes a difference," said Watchett, gloomily. "Less than enough is starvation." As they fought through the night for the flaws of wind which came out of all quarters, the short watches of the _Battle-Axe_ found that out and grumbled accordingly. But it was a very curious thing that the _Star of the South_ was never so easy to handle. "That foreyard goes round now," said old Semple, "as if it was hung like a balance. This is very surprisin'. So it is." He mentioned the remarkable fact to McGill when he came on deck at four in the morning, and so long as it was dark, as it was till nearly six, McGill found it so too. And both watches were in a surprisingly good temper. For nothing tries men so much as "brace up" and "square away" every five minutes as they work their ship through a belt of calm. But as soon as the sun was up the _Star_ worked just as badly as she did before. "It's maist amazin'," said McGill. During the day the calm renewed itself and gave everyone a rest. But once more the breeze came at night, and the amazing easiness of the _Star_ showed itself when the darkness fell across the sea. Ryder and Semple and McGill were full of wonder and delight. "The character of a ship will change sometimes," said Semple. "It's just like a collision that will alter her deviation. This calm has worked a revolution." Because of this revolution the _Star_ got ahead of the _Battle-Axe_ every change and chance of the wind. She got ahead with such effect that on the third day the _Battle-Axe_ was hull down to the south'ard, and when the fourth dawn broke she was out of sight. This meant much more than may appear, for the _Star_ picked up the north-east trade nearly four days earlier than her rival, and a better trade at that. When the _Battle-Axe_ crawled into its area it was half-sister to a calm, while the _Star_ was doing eight knots an hour. And as there was now no need to touch tack or sheet, there was no solution of the mysterious ease with which she worked in the dark. How long the mystery might have remained such no one can say, but it was owing to Mrs. Ryder's curious behaviour that it came out. She laughed in the strangest manner till Ryder got quite nervous. "These chaps that jumped over from the _Battle-Axe_ laughed like that," he told her, in great anxiety. And she giggled more and more. "Shall I try marmalade?" she asked. Then she sat down by him and went off into something so like hysterics that a mere man might be excused for thinking she was crazy. "They're not dead!" she cried; "they're not dead!" [Illustration: "'THEY'RE NOT DEAD!' SHE CRIED; 'THEY'RE NOT DEAD!'"] "Who aren't dead?" asked her husband, desperately. And, remembering something which had been told him years before, he took her hands and slapped with such severity that she screamed and then cried, and finally put her head upon his shoulder and confessed. "Was it mutiny of me to do it?" she asked, penitently.