O'Hara, who was by this time at the steering paddle, stood up, and shading his eyes looked ahead in the hope of seeing the friendly rising ground of Zanzibar Island peeping above the horizon.
"Nothing," was the reply, "except that there's a breeze coming."
As the freshening wind swept down the men thankfully laid aside their paddles and set up the mast and sail. For a few minutes the breeze held true, then swiftly veering it blew dead ahead.
Once more the sail was lowered and the paddles resumed. With the wind dead in their teeth the work was trebly increased.
Within half an hour it blew with considerable violence.
"Force six, at least," declared Denbigh, referring to the Beaufort Notation method of indicating the wind-pressure. "We're in for a dusting."
It was as much as they could do to keep the lightly made craft head to wind. Armstrong was busily engaged in throwing overboard the sand ballast. Drifting before the wind the canoe was in danger either of being swamped or else carried out into the broad Indian Ocean.
The men were already exhausted. The canoe was drifting rapidly in spite of their strenuous efforts. Yet she climbed the crest wave with an ease that gave them confidence. The loss of "ground", made good only by hours of sheer hard work, was the circumstance that troubled them most.
"We'll rig a sea-anchor," said the mate. "Unfortunately we haven't any weights to keep the sail up and down, but that can't be helped."
Quickly the foot of the sail was bent to the mast, the sheets were bent to the extremities of the spar by a span, and the halyard led from the centre of the span to the bows of the canoe.
Watching their opportunity the men heaved their clumsy sea-anchor overboard and anxiously waited the result.
To their intense satisfaction they found that directly the rope took the strain the canoe floated head to wind without any assistance on the part of the paddles. The crew were, therefore, able to rest, but with the disquieting knowledge that every moment they were drifting farther and farther away from their desired haven.
The three officers were in good spirits notwithstanding the privations they had undergone and were still experiencing. They realized that this was part of the game. They had taken chances, and fate, in the shape of a strong head wind, had been unkind to them. The idea of mutual recriminations never occurred to them. Their adventure was of the nature of a joint-stock concern. They had done their best, and were ready to stand by each other till the end in whatever form it came.