Brandon of the Engineers

Then he talked of something else and soon afterwards the coast receded as

they crossed a wide bay. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when

they reached the farthest point from land. There was no wind, and in the

foreground the sea ran in long undulations whose backs blazed with light.

Farther off, the gentle swell was smoothed out and became an oily expanse

that faded into the glitter on the horizon, but at one point the latter

was faintly blurred. A passing vessel, Dick thought, and occupied himself

with the engine, for he had not brought the fireman. Looking round some

time afterwards, he saw that the ship had got more distinct and picked up

his glasses.

She was a two-masted steamer and, cut off by the play of reflected light,

floated like a mirage between sky and sea. After studying her for a

minute, Dick gave Jake the glasses.

"It's a curious effect, but not uncommon on a day like this," he said.

"She's like the big Spanish boats and has their tall black funnel."

"She's very like them," Jake agreed. "There's no smoke, and no wash about

her. It looks as if they'd had some trouble in the engine-room and she'd

stopped."

Dick nodded and glanced across the dazzling water towards the high, blue

coast. He did not think the steamer could be seen from the land, and the

launch would, no doubt, be invisible from her deck, but this was not

important and he began to calculate how long it would take them to reach

a point ahead. Some time later, he looked round again. The steamer was

fading in the distance, but no smoke trailed behind her and he did not

think she had started yet. His attention, however, was occupied by the

headland he was steering for, because he thought it marked the

neighborhood of their port.

He spent an hour in the place before he finished his business and started

home, and when they were about half-way across the bay the light began to

fade. The sun had sunk and the high land cut, harshly blue, against a

saffron glow; the sea was shadowy and colorless in the east. Presently

Jake, who sat facing aft, called out: "There's a steamer's masthead light coming up astern of us. Now I see her

side lights, and by the distance between them she's a big boat."

Dick changed his course, because the steamer's three lights would not

have been visible unless she was directly following him and the launch's

small yellow funnel and dingy white topsides would be hard to

distinguish. When he had shut out one of the colored side lights and knew

he was safe, he stopped the engine to wait until the vessel passed. There

was no reason why he should do so, but somehow he felt interested in the

ship. Lighting his pipe, he studied her through the glasses, which he

gave to Jake.