"And likely enough it will moderate by to-morrow, so I can put you on board some in-bound fisherman," said Captain Bob, who, despite his gruff voice, was one of the kindest-hearted men in the world. But the mercury kept falling in the barometer, and the wind, suddenly veering round into the northeast, blew harder than ever before morning, and by daybreak there was nothing left but to "scud" before the heaviest gale that had visited our coast for years. Under a fore storm-stay-sail, close-reefed foretopsail and main stay-sail, the _Calypso_ sped over and through the storm-tossed sea at a rate which made Ben hold his breath.
"You'll, have to make the voyage with us, youngster, whether or no," said the Captain, grimly, and Ben only nodded.
If his mother could have known of his safety, he would rather have enjoyed the novelty of the situation, for Ben was a born sailor. But there was no help for it, and he accepted the situation with the best possible grace. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and the equinoctial gale blew them clear by stormy Cape Hatteras before it was fairly exhausted. Then came the strong but steady breathings of the trade-wind to fill the _Calypso_'s every sail. And ten days later, as Mrs. Buttles was dropping hot tears on some rusty bits of crape with which she was trimming her Sunday bonnet, she was nearly thrown into convulsions of joy by the receipt of a telegram reading thus:
"Picked up by brig CALYPSO. Will write soon.
"For this an' all other mercies, thank the Lord!" reverently exclaimed the good woman, wiping her glasses. "But I _do_ hope," she added, a moment later, "that Ben won't go to gettin' into no scrapes down to Savannah, for he's sech a _dretful_ ventur'some creeter." Whether he did, and if so, how he did it, remains to be told in the next number.
Fully a million American boys have read one or more of Paul Du Chaillu's stories of African travel, and then, like Oliver Twist, demanded more; for the first civilized discoverer of the gorilla seemed to have a peculiar faculty for writing about just those things that boys enjoy. The wishes of these youthful readers are about to be gratified, and in very generous measure, for the author is soon to publish a book of nearly a thousand pages about a country almost as distant and little known by Americans as Equatorial Africa. The title of the work is _The Land of the Midnight Sun_, and from the numerous pictures it contains we have selected the two illustrations given on the next page.