Chapter 44

I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner; I could see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about, and still no soul appeared upon her decks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the men were lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and do what I chose with the ship. For some time she had been doing the worse thing possible for me--standing still. She headed nearly due south, yawing, of course, all the time. Each time she fell off, her sails partly filled, and these br…