Looking about in the gloom, he observed a ship under full sail on the right, and a little farther off one on the left.  In the former direction he thought he discerned a faint dark line close to the water, which he supposed showed where the shore lay.

“Then we are putting out to sea,” was his conclusion, while he shivered in the keen wind which swept over the deck.

The schooner had her mainsail and foresail up, both bellying far outward under the impulse of the wind, while the hull keeled far over to the right in response, and the foaming water at the bow told that she was making her way at high speed toward her destination, wherever that might be.

As well as Jim could make out in the gloom, neither of the two men who were managing the vessel was Hornblower.

“Where are we bound?” asked the prisoner, turning upon the one who invited him to come out of the cabin.

“To the moon,” was the unsatisfactory response.

Jim said no more, for he was afraid he might offend the fellow by pressing his inquiries.

“I guess you’d better go below and sleep, for the likes of you ain’t of any use here.”

The boy did as advised.

He saw no preparations for eating, but he was so wearied and anxious that he felt little appetite; and, throwing himself in one of the hammocks, he committed himself to the care of Heaven, and was soon asleep.

He never opened his eyes till roused by the smell of burning meat, and looking up, saw one of the men cooking in the cabin, instead of on deck, as it seemed to the lad ought to have been the case.

He now took a good survey of the countenances of the men.  They did not look particularly wicked, though both were hard and forbidding.

They paid scarcely any attention to the boy, but gave him to understand that he was at liberty to eat if he wished.

Jim did so, and as soon as the meal was finished strolled on deck.

From the direction of the morning sun he saw they were sailing southward, and the long stretch of land on the right he concluded must be the Jersey coast.

Chapter XIV.

Such a bleak and piercing wind swept across the deck of the Simoon that Jim Travers was glad to spend most of his time in the cabin, where a warm fire was always going.

The first day out the boy succeeded in picking up a few scraps of knowledge, which served rather to deepen than to clear up the mystery of his abduction.

The schooner was a good sailer, and was well furnished with coal, wood, water, and provisions, as if she were intended for a long voyage.  There was no real cargo, as he could see; and the two men who managed the craft did not drop a word which could give any clew as to their destination.

It can scarcely be said that they treated the boy well or ill.  Their conduct was more of the character of indifference, since they paid not the least attention to him, further than to notify him to keep out of their way.