where Captain Hull had just been swallowed up--Captain Hull, his
protector, for whom he felt a filial affection. Then his eyes searched
the horizon, seeking to discover some ship, from which he would demand
aid and assistance, to which he might be able at least to confide Mrs.
Weldon. He would not abandon the "Pilgrim," no, indeed, without having
tried his best to bring her into port. But Mrs. Weldon and her little
boy would be in safety. He would have had nothing more to fear for
those two beings, to whom he was devoted body and soul.

The ocean was deserted. Since the disappearance of the jubarte, not a
speck came to alter the surface. All was sky and water around the
"Pilgrim." The young novice knew only too well that he was beyond the
routes followed by the ships of commerce, and that the other whalers
were cruising still farther away at the fishing-grounds.

However, the question was, to look the situation in the face, to see
things as they were. That is what Dick Sand did, asking God, from the
depths of his heart, for aid and succor. What resolution was he going
to take?

At that moment Negoro appeared on the deck, which he had left after the
catastrophe. What had been felt in the presence of this irreparable
misfortune by a being so enigmatical, no one could tell. He had
contemplated the disaster without making a gesture, without departing
from his speechlessness. His eye had evidently seized all the details
of it. But if at such a moment one could think of observing him, he
would be astonished at least, because not a muscle of his impassible
face had moved. At any rate, and as if he had not heard it, he had not
responded to the pious appeal of Mrs. Weldon, praying for the engulfed
crew. Negoro walked aft, there even where Dick Sand was standing