It was a beautiful evening, though fleecy clouds were beginning to fringe
the horizon, and he was certain the whole sky would be obscured soon.

But his mind was more engrossed with thoughts of his parents and Jenny at
home than with the calm grandeur of a tropical sea, and he was wondering
how many months must pass before he should be able to meet her, when the
sound of a cat-like step behind him arrested his attention.

Thinking of no harm, he turned slowly to greet the one approaching, to
find himself confronted by the tall figure of Fret Offut.

A look of wild fierceness was on the other's features, and before Jack
could speak his arms were uplifted, swinging overhead a belaying pin.

Reading at a glance Offut's horrible purpose, Jack attempted to seize his
upraised hands, but he had barely made a move before the weapon descended
upon him!

With an indistinct recollection of a dull sense of pain in his head, Jack
knew no more until he was brought back to consciousness by the feeling of
water around him and it slowly dawned upon him that he had been sent
overboard from the ship into the sea by the blow from Fret Offut.

It was too dark for him to see any distance, so he listened for some sound
of the steamer.

Once he thought he caught the regular swish, swish of the big wheel; but
he must have been mistaken, for after a moment he realized that the
Standish was not within hearing.