morning, for instance."

"All stratagems are justifiable in war. Master Ernest had fair warning
that I had an idea to work out. Besides, a prisoner, when under
hatches, has the right to escape if he can: under parole, the case is
quite different."

"Well, Willis, if you give me your simple promise to steer straight
for New Switzerland, and awake me in two hours to take the bearings--"

"I give it, Mr. Becker."

The three Greenlanders then descended into the hold, for tropical
nights are as chilly as the days are hot, and Becker, rolling himself
up in a sail, lay on deck.

In less than five minutes they were all fast asleep, and Willis paced
the deck, his arms crossed, and mechanically gazing upon a star that
was mirrored in the water.

"Several years to come to us, and that at the rate of seventy thousand
leagues a second--that is _a little_ too much."

Then he went to the rudder, his head leaning upon his breast, and
glancing now and then with distracted eye at the course of the boat,
buried in a world of thought, sad and confused, doubtless beholding in
succession visions of the _Nelson_, of Susan, and of Scotland.

FOOTNOTES: