“I have heard it said, by older sea-faring men than any in this ship,” he continued, “that the devil has been known to send one of his mates aboard a lawful trader, to lead her astray among shoals and quicksands, in order that he might make a wreck, and get his share of the salvage, among the souls of the people.  What man can say who gets into the cabin, when an unknown name stands first in the shipping list of a vessel?”

“The stranger is shut in by a cloud!” exclaimed one of the mariners, who, while he listened to the philosophy of his officer, still kept an eye riveted on the mysterious object to leeward.

“Ay, ay; it would occasion no surprise to see that craft steering into the moon!  Luck is like a fly-block and its yard:  when one goes up, the other comes down.  They say the red-coats ashore have had their turn of fortune, and it is time we honest seamen look out for our squalls.  I have doubled the Horn, brothers, in a King’s ship, and I have seen the bright cloud that never sets, and have held a living corposant in my own hand:  But these are things which any man may look on, who will go upon a yard in a gale, or ship aboard a Southseaman:  Still, I pronounce it uncommon for a vessel to see her shadow in the haze, as we have ours at this moment for there it comes again!—­hereaway, between the after-shroud and the backstay—­or for a trader to carry sail in a fashion that would make every knee in a bomb-ketch work like a tooth-brush fiddling across a passenger’s mouth, after he had had a smart bout with the sea sickness.”

“And yet the lad holds the ship in hand,” said the oldest of all the seamen, who kept his gaze fastened on the proceedings of Wilder; “he is driving her through it in a mad manner, I will allow; but yet, so far, he has not parted a yarn.”

“Yarns!” repeated the mate, in a tone of strong contempt; “what signify yarns, when the whole cable is to snap, and in such a fashion as to leave no hope for the anchor, except in a buoy rope?  Hark ye, old Bill; the devil never finishes his jobs by halves:  What is to happen will happen bodily; and no easing-off, as if you were lowering the Captain’s lady into a boat, and he on deck to see fair play.”

“Mr Nighthead knows how to keep a ship’s reckoning in all weathers!” said another, whose manner sufficiently announced the dependance he himself placed on the capacity of the second mate.

“And no credit to me for the same.  I have seen all services, and handled every rig, from a lugger to a double-decker!  Few men can say more in their own favour than myself; for the little I know has been got by much hardship, and small schooling.  But what matters information, or even seamanship against witchcraft, or the workings of one whom I don’t choose to name, seeing that there is no use in offending any gentleman unnecessarily?  I say, brothers that this ship is packed upon in a fashion that no prudent seaman ought to, or would, allow.”