Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/80

62 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. of the way. I suppose he belongs to some unclassed specîes of mastiff. Perhaps one day or other he may corne to be identified as the * canis alphabeticus ' of New Zealand." The vvorthy entomologîst delivered thîs and various similar harangues ; but Dingo, nevertheless, retaîned hîs high place in the gênerai estimation, and by the occupants of the forecastle was regarded as little short of a phenome- non. The feeling, otherwise universal, was not in any degree shared by Negoro, and it is not improbable that the man would hâve been tempted to some foui play with the dog if the open sympathies of the crew had not kept hîm in check. More than ever he studiously avoîded coming in contact in any way with the animal, and Dick Sands in his own mind was quite convinced that since the incident of the letters, the cook's hatred of the dog had become still more intense. After continuai alternatîons with long and wearisome calms thenorth-east wind perceptibly moderated, and on the loth, Captain Hull really began to hope that such a change would ensue as to allow the schooner to run straight before the wind. Nineteen days had elapsed since the "Pilgrim" had left Auckland, a period not so long but that with a favourable breeze it might be made ûp at last. Some days however were yet to elapse before the wind veered round to the anticipated quarter. . It has been already stated that this portion of the Pacific is almost always deserted. It is out of the Une of the American and Australian steam-packets, and except a whaler had been brought into it by some such exceptional circumstances as the *' Pilgrim," it was quite unusual to see one in this latitude. But, however void of traffic was the surface of the sea, to none but an unintelligent mind could it appear monotonous or barren of interest. The poetry of the océan breathes forth in its minute and almost imperceptible changes. A marine plant, a tuft of seaweed lightly furrowing the watcr, a drifting spar with its unknown history, may afford unlimited scope for the imagination ; every little drop passing, in its process of evaporation, backwards and