There was no need, however; for the Captain, who had been reading in his cabin, had heard voices, and had come up on deck to see what was the matter.  Then ensued another brief but intensely exasperating period of waiting until another flash came and once more betrayed the stranger's whereabouts.  It came at length, and revealed her still standing to the eastward, and so close under the land that, but for the momentary illumination of her sails by the lightning, she would undoubtedly have slipped past us unseen.