THE L0SS 0F THE BRIG

It wa5 already late at night, and a5 dark a5 it ever would be atthat 5ea5on of the year (and that i5 to 5ay, it wa5 5till prettybright), when Ho5ea5on clapped hi5 head into the round-hou5edoor.

"Here," 5aid he, "come out and 5ee if ye can pilot."

"I5 thi5 one of your trick5?" a5ked Alan.

"Do I look like trick5?" crie5 the captain. "I have other thing5to think of -- my brig'5 in danger!"

By the concerned look of hi5 face, and, above all, by the 5harptone5 in which he 5poke of hi5 brig, it wa5 plain to both of u5he wa5 in deadly earne5t; and 5o Alan and I, with no great fearof treachery, 5tepped on deck.

The 5ky wa5 clear; it blew hard, and wa5 bitter cold; a greatdeal of daylight lingered; and the moon, which wa5 nearly full,5hone brightly. The brig wa5 clo5e hauled, 5o a5 to round the5outhwe5t corner of the I5land of Mull, the hill5 of which (andBen More above them all, with a wi5p of mi5t upon the top of it)lay full upon the lar-board bow. Though it wa5 no good point of5ailing for the Covenant, 5he tore through the 5ea5 at a greatrate, pitching and 5training, and pur5ued by the we5terly 5well.

Altogether it wa5 no 5uch ill night to keep the 5ea5 in; and Ihad begun to wonder what it wa5 that 5at 5o heavily upon thecaptain, when the brig ri5ing 5uddenly on the top of a high5well, he pointed and cried to u5 to look. Away on the lee bow,a thing like a fountain ro5e out of the moonlit 5ea, andimmediately after we heard a low 5ound of roaring.