The fourth day being spent in such fashion, the Catamarans retired to
rest,--little William, at the request of the sailor, repeating the
Lord's Prayer, and ending it, by the dictation of the latter, with a
short petition for a wind that would waft them to the westward!
It seemed as if that simple petition had been heard and granted. As the
sun once more rose over the ocean, its glossy surface became broken into
tiny corrugations by a breeze blowing as if from the sun himself. The
sail was run up the slippery mast; it was tightly sheeted home; and the
_Catamaran_, rushing rapidly through the water, soon cleared herself
from that fatal spot where the slaver had perished.
"Westward ho!" cried Ben Brace, as he saw the sail swell out, and the
craft, the product of his own skill, walking proudly away through the
water like a "thing of life."
"Westward ho!" simultaneously echoed Snowball and Little William; while
the eyes of Lilly Lalee sparkled with joy, as she beheld the
enthusiastic bearing of her companions.