Better any kind of action than none at all, and he drew long breaths of relief when the schooner once more left her trailing wake in the blue sea.

The wind blew straight and strong for a day and night, then shifted and a long period of tacking followed.

It was very wearisome, but Robert, clinging to his resolution, made the best of it.

He even joined in some of the labor, helping to polish the metal work, especially the eighteen-pounder in the stern, a fine bronze gun.

The men tolerated him, but when he tried to talk with them he found that most of them had little or no English, and he made scant progress with them in that particular.