In vain was the low and peculiar whistle
of the seamen heard, ever and anon, in invocation of the
departing breeze. Another day, calm and breathless as
the preceding, had been chartered from the world of light;
and their hearts failed them, as they foresaw the difficulty
of their position, and the almost certainty of their
retreat being cut off. It was while labouring under the
disheartening consciousness of danger, peculiar to all,
that the anxious boatswain summoned Captain de Haldimar
and Sir Everard Valletort, by a significant beck of the
finger, to the side of the deck opposite to that on which
still lay the suffering and nearly broken-hearted girls.
"Well, Mullins, what now?" enquired the former, as he
narrowly scanned the expression of the old man's features:
"that clouded brow of yours, I fear me, bodes no agreeable
information."
"Why, your honour, I scarcely knows what to say about
it; but seeing as I'm the only officer in the ship, now
our poor captain is killed, God bless him! I thought I
might take the liberty to consult with your honours as
to the best way of getting out of the jaws of them sharks
of Ingians; and two heads, as the saying is, is always
better than one.
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