heavy squall was rising to westward.

They hurried on deck, which no sooner had they reached, than the
stranger, looking hastily in the quarter indicated, shook Captain Lane
warmly by the hand saying:

"I must go aboard, captain; that will be a heavy squall. Keep me in
sight if you can; but, if we part company, meet me off Cape Frio--this
side of it--to-morrow; wait for me till night, if you do not see me
before. Good-by!" and springing into his boat, he pulled away for
his vessel.

Captain Lane never saw him again alive.

No sooner was he over the side, than the captain gave orders to shorten
sail. He took in royals and topgallant sails, furled the courses,
trysail and jib, and double-reefed the topsails. They braced the yards a
little to starboard, hauled the foretopmast staysail sheet well aft, and
the captain, thinking he had everything snug, stood looking over the
weather rails, watching the approaching squall. The wind had almost died
away, and the atmosphere seemed strangely oppressive. Captain Lane was
an old sea-dog and had witnessed many strange phenomena on the ocean;
but never had he seen a squall approach so singularly. It seemed to move
very slowly--a great black cloud, which looked intensely luminous
withal, and yet so dense and heavy, that an ordinary observer might have
mistaken it for one of the ordinary rain squalls encountered in the
tropics. Captain Lane consulted his barometer, and found it
falling rapidly.

"Clew the topsails up!" shouted the captain to the mate. "All hands lay