They expect no trouble, Lieutenant, and only have the regular watch on deck.

They are getting too close for me to talk any more." It was indeed a beautiful picture had we only been in a mind to enable us to enjoy the scene.

The deserted ocean, rolling gray and dismal under the cloudy sky, white caps showing in every direction as our boat was flung helplessly aloft on the steady roll of the sea.

The coast line was not visible from our elevation, and nothing broke the gray round of horizon but clouds of floating vapor, slowly drifting away before the sun, which was already yielding a faint crimson glow to the east.

Behind us, probably two miles distant, arose the rough ridge of Cosmos Island, while bearing down upon us from the north, with a westward sheer sufficient to expose her beautiful lines, came the _Sea Gull_.