“Ay, ay, sir—­it’s that which puzzles me; I think I see one light-house, and I’m not certain but I see two.”

“If there is anything like a second, it must be a sail.  Montauk has but one light.”

Mulford sprang into the fore-rigging, and in a minute was on the yard.  He soon came down, and reported the lighthouse in sight, with the afternoon’s sun shining on it, but no sail near.

“My poor, dear Mr. Budd used to tell a story of his being cast away on a light-house, in the East Indies,” put in the relict, as soon as the mate had ended his report, “which always affected me.  It seems there were three ships of them together, in an awful tempest directly off the land—­”

“That was comfortable, any how,” cried Spike;—­“if it must blow hard, let it come off the land, say I.”

“Yes, sir, it was directly off the land, as my poor husband always said, which made it so much the worse you must know, Rosy; though Captain Spike’s gallant spirit would rather encounter danger than not.  It blew what they call a Hyson, in the Chinese seas—­”

“A what, aunty?—­Hyson is the name of a tea, you know.”

“A Hyson, I’m pretty sure it was; and I suppose the wind is named after the tea, or the tea after the wind.”

“The ladies do get in a gale, sometimes, over their tea,” said Spike gallantly.  “But I rather think Madam Budd must mean a Typhoon.”

“That’s it—­a Typhoon, or a Hyson—­there is not much difference between them, you see.  Well, it blew a Typhoon, and they are always mortal to somebody.  This my poor Mr. Budd well knew, and he had set his chronometer for that Typhoon—­”

“Excuse me, aunty, it was the barometer that he was watching—­the chronometer was his watch.”

“So it was—­his watch on deck was his chronometer, I declare.  I am forgetting a part of my education.  Do you know the use of a chronometer, now, Rose?  You have seen your uncle’s often, but do you know how he used it?”

“Not in the least, aunty.  My uncle often tried to explain it, but I never could understand him.”

“It must have been, then, because Captain Budd did not try to make himself comprehended,” said Mulford, “for I feel certain nothing would be easier than to make you understand the uses of the chronometer.”

“I should like to learn it from you, Mr. Mulford,” answered the charming girl, with an emphasis so slight on the `you,’ that no one observed it but the mate, but which was clear enough to him, and caused every nerve to thrill.

“I can attempt it,” answered the young man, “if it be agreeable to Mrs. Budd, who would probably like to hear it herself.”

“Certainly, Mr. Mulford; though I fancy you can say little on such a subject that I have not often heard already, from my poor, dear Mr. Budd.”

“This was not very encouraging, truly; but Rose continuing to look interested, the mate proceeded.