The weather could not have been more propitious than when what was hoped would prove to be the homeward cruise began. It is true the night was dark, even the stars being obscured by fleecy clouds; but not a breath of wind ruffled the waters, and the waves had sunk to rest.
The Sea Bird towed the heavily laden brig at the rate of six or seven knots an hour, and it seemed to Harry that nothing could prevent their sighting the mainland before the tug's coal was exhausted. He walked fore and aft on the brig's deck in order to keep awake; but during the entire watch his services were not required, and at three o'clock in the morning Bob shouted:
"Call Jim and Walt. We won't take too long stretches on this voyage, an' my eyes feel as if they were glued together."
The sleepers were awakened after some difficulty, and, when Jim went into the Sea Bird's pilot-house Bob gave him his orders as follows:
"Keep her as she heads, due west, an' have your eyes open for signs of land. I don't reckon there is any very near; but for all that we may be to the east'ard of the Bahamas, an' it would be pretty tough to bring up on them just now. The brig drags a bit an' that must be allowed for; but you'll soon get the hang of it."
Then the old sailor went into the Bonita's cabin, and Jim was left alone at the wheel, trying to drive away the slumber which still hung heavily on his eyelids.
Walter adopted Harry's plan for keeping awake; but the exertion was great and his body weary; therefore, in five minutes after the other watch had gone below he went into the pilot-house, stretching himself out on the cushioned locker as he said:
"I'm only going to rest myself a little, and won't go to sleep. It don't seem as if we were below ten--min--minutes--before----"
The sentence was finished with what sounded suspiciously like a snore, and Jim made no effort to arouse him. He knew by his own condition how difficult it was to remain awake, and griping the spokes of the wheel more tightly to quicken the circulation of blood, he muttered:
"Let him take comfort if he can; there's really no need of both standing watch."
During the next ten minutes he alternately tried to peer through the dense gloom, and looked at the compass-card, which was faintly illumined by a tiny lamp. The throbbing of the engine, the long, waving lines which marked the faint swell, and the whispering of the night air lulled the senses, despite every effort to perform his duties faithfully, until, without being conscious of the fact, his eyes closed in slumber even while standing at the wheel.
In the engine-room Joe Taylor was battling against the same desire to which Jim had yielded. He shoveled coal, raked the fires, polished portions of the machinery which already shone like silver, and performed other needless tasks in order to prevent sleep from overcoming him, but ignorant of the fact that both brig and tug were running wild.
The first hour of the watch passed, and yet the occupants of the pilot-house remained unconscious. Leaning over the wheel, with his head resting between the spokes, Jim heeded not the gray light in the sky which heralded the approach of day.
Had his eyes been open he would have seen through the rapidly-vanishing gloom a long, low, black line which half encircled the two crafts and told that they were running into a harbor or bay.
But he slept on, and each turn of the screw carried them nearer and nearer the dark mass until suddenly the brig staggered, rolled to starboard for an instant, when the tug came to a full stop with a crash and a quiver which sent the helmsman reeling backward against his companion as a rush and roar of steam from the engine-room told of a second disaster.
