So long as the boiling witch-fire turned their wake to golden vapor, he could not be sure; but whenever the heat-lightning ran, and through the sere, phantasmal sail, the lookout in the bow flashed like a sharp silhouette through wire gauze,--then it seemed to Rudolph that another small black shape leapt out astern, and vanished.

He stood by the lowdah, watching anxiously.
Time and again the ocean flickered into view, like the floor of a measureless cavern; and still he could not tell.

But at last the lowdah also turned his head, and murmured.

Their boat creaked monotonously, drifting to leeward in a riot of golden mist; yet now another creaking disturbed the night, in a different cadence.

Another boat followed them, rowing fast and gaining.