ght have been worse off, faith! but it's somewhat trying to find
one's self on board one's own ship in the character of a prisoner,"
observed Captain Tracy. "However, our captor appears inclined to behave
with as much courtesy as can be expected, and as I hope we shall not
again be interrupted, I wish, Norah, you would try to obtain some sleep.
O'Brien and I will watch by you, and you will be the better able to
endure what you may have to go through."

"I cannot sleep; I don't wish to sleep," murmured poor Norah. "I should
only dream of the dreadful events which have occurred."

After some persuasion, however, she consented to try and obtain the rest
she so much needed, and in spite of her assertions, her father saw that
she had dropped off into a calm slumber. He and Captain O'Brien could
now speak more freely than they had hitherto done. Their firm
resolution was not, on any account, to be parted from her. They had
each retained their pistols, which they had concealed in their pockets,
and Captain O'Brien vowed that, should any violence be threatened, he
would shoot O'Harrall, and trust to win over the piratical crew by
promising them the most ample rewards.

"If we kill their chief, the fellows will be awed, and we shall have
time to throw the bait in their mouths; for the chances are that many of
them will be glad enough to escape from the perilous course they are now
compelled to follow, and if we can gain over some, the rest will not
long hold out," he observed.

Captain Tracy thought his friend's plan too desperate, but he was at
length won over to consent to it should O'Harrall's behaviour render
some such proceeding necessary.

By a compass fixed in the forepart of the cabin, they saw that the
vessel was standing to the westward, and that the wind must have
shifted, as she appeared to be directly before it. After running on
this course for some distance, they found that she was then hauled up to
the northward. From this she appeared to deviate but slightly,
sometimes a point or two to the eastward, and sometimes to the westward.
They thus surmised that she was threading her way between reefs with
which the pirates must have been well acquainted. Daylight at length
streamed through the cabin windows, and as the sun rose above the
horizon, they saw his rays glancing across the tiny wavelets which
rippled the surface of the water, showing that a moderate breeze was
blowing, and that the ship was under