What other means of extrication from this miserable dilemma remained?
None that I could think of.

I thanked the captain for his attention to our interests, told him I would take time to consider what course I should pursue, and begged that he would say nothing to my friend about the discovery he had made.

He promised to be silent, sulkily enough, and walked away from me.
We had expected the breeze to spring up with the morning, but no breeze came.

As it wore on toward noon the atmosphere became insufferably sultry, and the sea looked as smooth as glass.

I saw the captain's eye turn often and anxiously to windward.