pass, before she could get the _Ouzel Galley_ within
range of her guns. Should darkness come on, the latter would still have
a chance of escaping without fighting. The eagerness of the pirate to
avoid a contest showed clearly enough that they were only ready to fight
when they had the hope of booty before them.

Jumbo appeared as the prisoners returned to the cabin, and placed a
repast on the table. It was in every respect equal to the breaks fast.
Even the old captains, however, could not do justice to it, as they were
too anxious about their prospect of a speedy deliverance from captivity.
They knew very well, also, that considerable danger must be run should
the pirate engage the man-of-war. Shot might enter the cabin, or the
ship might catch fire, or blow up, or be sent to the bottom; or the
pirates, when they had lost all hope of escaping, might, in their rage,
revengefully put them to death.

Jumbo had removed the dinner things, and Captain O'Brien managed to
project his head far enough from the stern windows to get a sight of the
stranger.

"She may overtake us before dark, but I very much doubt it," he
observed. "If she does not, these fellows will manage to make their
escape by running in among reefs and islands, with which they, depend on
it, are well acquainted, and where the man-of-war will not venture to
follow them."

As the time went by there appeared every probability that Captain
O'Brien's surmise would prove correct. A ruddy glow cast across the
ocean showed that the sun was sinking low, and presently the glow faded
away and a grey tint alone remained. By this time the hull of the
stranger appeared above the water, and Captain O'Brien declared that he
was more than ever convinced she was a British frigate. The compass in
the cabin showed, however, that the _Ouzel Galley_ was following a
devious course--now hauling up round a reef, now running for a short
distance before the wind.

A shot came flying over the water from the frigate. Several others
followed, but they all fell short. She was then seen to keep away
before the wind to the south-west.

"She has given up the chase," exclaimed Captain O'Brien, "and our chance
of liberty for the present is gone. I was afraid it would be so, but it
cannot be helped."

Norah, perhaps, felt the disappointment less keenly than her companions.
The thought that she was about to meet Owen was uppermost in her mind.
She fancied that, once having fou