Nothing, however, was to be seen beyond but water, and the still more distant island, with its little fort.  In a few minutes, the crew of the jolly boat were observed pulling back in their path, returning slowly, like men who were disappointed.  All crowded to the side of the ship, in order to hear the termination of the adventure; the noisy assemblage even drawing the two passengers from the cabin to the deck.  Instead, however, of meeting the questions of their shipmates with the usual wordy narrative of men of their condition, the crew of the boat wore startled and bewildered looks.  Their officer sprang to the deck without speaking, and immediately sought his Commander.

“The skiff was too light for you, Mr Nighthead,” Wilder calmly observed, as the other approached, having never moved, himself, from the place where he had been standing during the whole proceeding.

“Too light, sir!  Are you acquainted with the man who pulled it?”

“Not particularly well:  I only know him for a knave.”

“He should be one, since he is of the family of the devil!”

“I will not take on myself to say he is as bad as you appear to think, though I have little reason to believe he has any honesty to cast into the sea.  What has become of him?”

“A question easily asked, but hard to answer.  In the first place, though an old and a gray-headed fellow, he twitched his skiff along as if it floated in air.  We were not a minute, or two at the most, behind him; but, when we got on the other side of the slaver, boat and man had vanished!”

“He doubled her bows while you were crossing the stern.”

“Did you see him, then?”

“I confess we did not.”

“It could not be, sir; since we pulled far enough ahead to examine on both sides at once; besides, the people of the slaver knew nothing of him.”

“You saw the slaver’s people?”

“I should have said her man; for there is seemingly but one hand on board her.”

“And how was he employed?”

“He was seated in the chains, and seem’d to have been asleep.  It is a lazy ship, sir; and one that takes more money from her owners, I fancy, than it ever returns!”

“It may be so.  Well, let the rogue escape.  There is the prospect of a breeze coming in from the sea, Mr Earing; we will get our topsails to the mast-heads again, and be in readiness for it.  I could like yet to see the sun set in the water.”

The mates and the crew went cheerfully to their task, though many a curious question was asked, by the wondering seamen, of their shipmates who had been in the boat, and many a solemn answer was given, while they were again spreading the canvas, to invite the breeze.  Wilder turned, in the mean time, to Mrs Wyllys, who had been an auditor of his short conversation with the mate.

“You perceive, Madam,” he said, “that our voyage does not commence without its omens.”