"
Bill's brows lowered savagely as he muttered, "Ay, he said truth when
he told you he was a sandal-wood trader, but he lied when--"
"Sail ho!" shouted the look-out at the masthead.
"Where away?" cried Bill, springing to the tiller; while the men,
startled by the sudden cry, jumped up and gazed round the horizon.
"On the starboard quarter, hull down, sir," answered the look-out.
At this moment the captain came on deck, and mounting into the rigging,
surveyed the sail through the glass. Then sweeping his eye round the
horizon, he gazed steadily at a particular point.
"Take in top-sails," shouted the captain, swinging himself down on the
deck by the main-back stay.
"Take in top-sails," roared the first mate.
"Ay, ay, sir--r--r," answered the men, as they sprang into the rigging
and went aloft like cats.
Instantly all was bustle on board the hitherto quiet schooner. The
top-sails were taken in and stowed, the men stood by the sheets and
halyards, and the captain gazed anxiously at the breeze which was now
rushing towards us like a sheet of dark blue. In a few seconds it
struck us. The schooner trembled as if in surprise at the sudden onset,
while she fell away, then bending gracefully to the wind, as though in
acknowledgment of her subjection, she cut through the waves with her
sharp prow like a dolphin, while Bill directed her course towards the
strange sail.
In half-an-hour we neared her sufficiently to make out that she was a
schooner, and from the clumsy appearance of her masts and sails we
judged her to be a trader.
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