lp it, but will run ahead of us even now, unless the
wind shifts a point or two more to the eastward, and then our best
chance of catching her will be to tack and stand in for the land."

The wind, however, held and the sun went down, when the stranger,
setting flying sails above her royals, stood almost across the
_Champion's_ bows.

"Try her with our foremost gun," cried the commander to the second
lieutenant, who had gone to his station forward.

McTrigger, the gunner, who was on the look-out expecting the order,
trained the gun himself, and in the dim light of evening the white
splinters were seen flying from the stranger's side. The next instant
nine flashes of flame issued forth from her, the shot ricocheting over
the calm ocean, three or four passing close to the corvette but failing
to strike her.

"The fellow wishes to show us that he can give as good as he can take,"
said the master. "I wonder, since he has got so many teeth, he ran from
us in the fashion he did before."

"Perhaps they were not as well sharpened as they are now," remarked the
doctor, chuckling at his own wit.

"If we get alongside we'll either draw them or knock them down his
throat," answered Mr Billhook.

"Thank you, kind sir, I owe you one," replied the doctor, who objected
to any one making jokes but himself.

All on board, now that her character was discovered, were more eager
than ever to come up with the pirate. She was, however, evidently
making better way through the water than the _Champion_. Again she
fired her starboard guns, though she did not alter her course to do so;
while the _Champion_ could not fire her larboard foremost guns without
keeping away a couple of points or more, and thereby losing ground. It
was very provoking to have got within shot of a buccaneer which was
reported to have committed so much damage to the trade of the islands,
for, though the Spanish colours were still flying at her peak, no one
doubted what she was. All the sail the _Champion_ could carry was
already set, and nothing that could be done would make her go faster.
Twice again she fired, but neither shot reached the enemy. The gloom
increasing, dimmer and dimmer grew the enemy's wide spread of canvas,
although the silvery light of the moon, playing on the starboard leaches
of her sails, for some time showed where she floated on the glittering
waters. The moon was, however, going down, and as the night advanced
the darkness increas