Three or four days passed away, and the pirates became pretty confident that the man-of-war was not likely again to fall in with them.  As Jerry and I passed the compass, we carelessly cast a glance at it, and found that we were still steering a course to the southward.  The pirates were now constantly on the alert.  It was evident that they were on the watch for some vessel or some island.  We considered that they were looking for a vessel, from the various directions in which they were looking out--north, south, east, and west; and sometimes we lay hove-to for hours together.