"No, we will let it stand," said Boxall; "we shall only run a greater
risk than we do now of being pooped, should we shorten sail, and if the
wind does not increase we shall easily carry it; indeed, by the look of
the sky, I have hopes that the weather will not grow worse,--and perhaps
by the morning we shall have it calm again."
"We may then congratulate ourselves on having had the strong breeze
which is sending us along so famously," observed Halliday.
"We shall have reason to be thankful to Him who has caused the westerly
wind to blow," answered Boxall. "It might have come from the eastward,
and we should have been driven still further off the coast--when, if not
swamped, we would in all probability die of starvation, did we fail to
fall in with a passing vessel."
Fully two hours passed by, and still Ben's sharp eyes could not detect
the land. We had been steering by the stars, and though they had for
some time been obscured, we had reason to believe that the wind had not
changed, and therefore, being directly before it, that we had kept the
same course.