“Yes, after having put you on shore, Mrs. Weldon.  If we can procure an officer and a crew, we are going to discharge our cargo at Valparaiso, as Captain Hull would have done.  Then we shall return to our own port.  But that would delay you too much, and, though very sorry to be separated from you——­”

“Well, Dick,” replied Mrs. Weldon, “we shall see later what must be done.  Tell me, you seem to fear the dangers which the land presents.”

“In fact, they are to be feared,” replied the novice, “but I am always hoping to meet some ship in these parts, and I am even very much surprised at not seeing any.  If only one should pass, we would enter into communication with her; she would give us our exact situation, which would greatly facilitate our arrival in sight of land.”

“Are there not pilots who do service along this coast?” asked Mrs. Weldon.

“There ought to be,” replied Dick Sand, “but much nearer land.  We must then continue to approach it.”

“And if we do not meet a pilot?” asked Mrs. Weldon, who kept on questioning him in order to know how the young novice would prepare for all contingencies.

“In that case, Mrs. Weldon, either the weather will be clear, the wind moderate, and I shall endeavor to sail up the coast sufficiently near to find a refuge, or the wind will be stronger, and then——­”

“Then what will you do, Dick?”

“Then, in the present condition of the ‘Pilgrim,’” replied Dick Sand, “once near the land, it will be very difficult to set off again.”

“What will you do?” repeated Mrs. Weldon.

“I shall be forced to run my ship aground,” replied the novice, whose brow darkened for a moment.  “Ah! it is a hard extremity.  God grant that we may not be reduced to that.  But, I repeat it, Mrs. Weldon, the appearance of the sky is reassuring, and it is impossible for a vessel or a pilot-boat not to meet us.  Then, good hope.  We are headed for the land, we shall see it before long.”

Yes, to run a ship aground is a last extremity, to which the most energetic sailor does not resort without fear!  Thus, Dick Sand did not wish to foresee it, while he had some chances of escaping it.

For several days there were, in the state of the atmosphere, alternatives which, anew, made the novice very uneasy.  The wind kept in the condition of a stiff breeze all the time, and certain oscillations of the barometrical column indicated that it tended to freshen.  Dick Sand then asked himself, not without apprehension, if he would be again forced to scud without sails.  He had so much interest in keeping at least his top-sail, that he resolved to do so so long as it was not likely to be carried away.  But, to secure the solidity of the masts, he had the shrouds and backstays hauled taut.  Above all, all unnecessary risk must be avoided, as the situation would become one of the gravest, if the “Pilgrim” should be disabled by losing her masts.