UND ON BOARD AS LEADER
OF THE PIRATES--HE OFFERS TO PILOT THE RESEARCH INTO TIGER HARBOUR--
COMMANDER OLDING AND HIS WHOLE CREW EMBARK WITH GUNS, AMMUNITION, AND
STORES--THE RESEARCH SAILS FOR THE NORTHWARD--A CANOE, WITH FIVE PEOPLE
IN HER, SEEN.

One morning Gerald and his constant companion, Nat Kiddle, had gone down
just at daybreak to bathe in a pool on the beach, into which no hungry
sharks were likely to enter. It was the only place where the commander
would allow the men to go into the water, and they naturally preferred
getting their swim before the rest of the ship's company. They were
somewhat earlier than usual, and after swimming about for some time had
landed and were dressing, when Gerald, looking to the north-east, caught
sight of a sail just rising above the horizon.

"Hurrah! I do believe she is standing towards the island," he
exclaimed, pointing her out to Nat. "She will see our signal and
probably heave to, to know what we want. The chances are that she is a
friend. No Spanish vessel would be coming from that direction, at all
events, with the intention of attacking us. She is probably a
man-of-war, or, if a merchantman, she is bound to one of the islands to
the southward."

"But she is as likely to be a foreigner as an English vessel," observed
Nat; "at all events, she must be greatly out of her course. If bound to
Jamaica, she would have kept through the Windward Passage, or if bound
to one of the Leeward Islands, she would not have come near this."

The sun, now just rising above the horizon, cast a bright light on the
topsails of the stranger, which must have discovered her to the look-out
at the signal station, who immediately ran up the colours.

Gerald and Nat were soon after this joined by several other officers who
had come down to bathe. Mr Foley, being among the last, had brought
his telescope. The north-east trade-wind, which began blowing during
the night, was now carrying the stranger steadily along before it. Mr
Foley had lent Gerald his glass.

"Why, sir," he exclaimed, as he was looking through it--"`It never rains
but it pours'--there is another craft of the same rig as the first,
under all sail. It appears to me that she is chasing the headmost one."

Crowhurst took the glass, and having glanced through it, agreed that
Gerald was right. He then handed it to the master, who observed, "There
is no doubt about it. The headmost vessel is a merchantman; by the cut