De Catinat also had noticed that the gaunt old Huguenot had grown gaunter, that the lines upon his stern face were deeper, and that his head fell forward upon his breast as he walked.  He was about, however, to suggest that the voyage might restore the merchant’s health, when Adele gave a cry of surprise and pointed out over the port quarter.  So beautiful was she at the instant with her raven hair blown back by the wind, a glow of colour struck into her pale cheeks by the driving spray, her lips parted in her excitement, and one white hand shading her eyes, that he stood beside her with all his thoughts bent upon her grace and her sweetness.

“Look!” she cried.  “There is something floating upon the sea.  I saw it upon the crest of a wave.”

He looked in the direction in which she pointed, but at first he saw nothing.  The wind was still behind them, and a brisk sea was running of a deep rich green colour, with long creamy curling caps to the larger waves.  The breeze would catch these foam-crests from time to time, and then there would be a sharp spatter upon the decks, with a salt smack upon the lips, and a pringling in the eyes.  Suddenly as he gazed, however, something black was tilted up upon the sharp summit of one of the seas, and swooped out of view again upon the further side.  It was so far from him that he could make nothing of it, but sharper eyes than his had caught a glance of it.  Amos Green had seen the girl point and observed what it was which had attracted her attention.

“Captain Ephraim,” cried he, “there’s a boat on the starboard quarter.”

The New England seaman whipped up his glass and steadied it upon the bulwark.

“Ay, it’s a boat,” said he, “but an empty one.  Maybe it’s been washed off from some ship, or gone adrift from shore.  Put her hard down, Mr. Tomlinson, for it just so happens that I am in need of a boat at present.”

Half a minute later the Golden Rod had swung round and was running swiftly down towards the black spot which still bobbed and danced upon the waves.  As they neared her they could see that something was projecting over her side.

“It’s a man’s head!” cried Amos Green.

But Ephraim Savage’s grim face grew grimmer.  “It’s a man’s foot,” said he.  “I think that you had best take the gal below to the cabin.”

Amid a solemn hush they ran alongside this lonely craft which hung out so sinister a signal.  Within ten yards of her the foreyard was hauled aback and they gazed down upon her terrible crew.

She was a little thirteen-foot cockle-shell, very broad for her length and so flat in the bottom that she had been meant evidently for river or lake work.  Huddled together beneath the seats were three folk, a man in the dress of a respectable artisan, a woman of the same class, and a little child about a year old.  The boat was half full of water and the woman and child were stretched with their faces downwards,