"
"I can understand that," Geoffrey agreed. "However, I see there are
some thirty soldiers forward on their way to join one of the regiments
in Naples, so we ought to be able to beat off any corsair that might
come near us.
"Yes; but if we got down on their coast we might be attacked by half a
dozen of them," Gerald said. "However, one need not begin to worry
one's self at present; the gale may abate within a few hours."
At the end of the second day the wind went down suddenly; and through
the night the vessel rolled heavily, for the sea was still high, and
there was not a breath of wind to fill her sails and steady her. By the
morning the sea had gone down, but there was still an absence of wind.
"We have had a horrible night," Gerald remarked, "but we may think
ourselves fortunate indeed," and he pointed to the south, where the
land was plainly visible at a distance of nine or ten miles. "If the
gale had continued to blow until now we should have been on shore long
before this."
"We are too near to be pleasant," Geoffrey said, "for they can see us
as plainly as we can see the land.
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