housand
reefs around us on what might prove a lee-shore; but, nevertheless, the
captain decided to hold on till sunset, and then make an offing. The
breeze still held in the upper sails, and so we slipped on in smooth
water till about five o'clock, when I heard a fellow sing out from the
main royal yard,

"'On deck there! I can see a tall cocoa-nut-tree on an island here on
the port bow!'

"Before the words were well out of his mouth I too caught the object,
and I knew at the first glance that it was the spot we were looking for.
At the same time the haze lighted up a bit, and we saw the ridge of
rocks and every thing as the haunt of that pirate Brand had been
described to us. So, my friends, we were all alive once more on board
the 'Scourge,' and the captain resolved to dash in upon the scoundrel's
nest before he could have time to leave it.

"The engine was rigged and water spirted over the sails from the trucks
down, to make the canvas hold the wind, and in an hour after we were
within two leagues of the island, and just as the sun fell below the
horizon we caught sight of the mast-heads of a large vessel sticking up
over some bluff rocks near the bold shore. Not five minutes later the
hull of the craft came slowly out from the gap, under all sail, and we
discovered her to be a long and rather lumbering-looking brigantine,
painted lead-color, and bearing no resemblance to the schooner we had
twice chased before. Simultaneously, however, with her coming out into
full view, as she rounded in her head-yards and got a pull of the
main-sheet, with the breeze abeam and heading to the eastward, we beheld
a great volume of white smoke spout up over the rock near the
cocoa-nut-tree, with a vivid sheet of flame at the base, and before the
vast column turned, like the crown of a palm-tree, in its descent, we
were greeted by a dull, heavy roar, the concussion of which fairly made
the 'Scourge' tremble. Then, as the white smoke partially broke away, an
avalanche of rocks and timbers was scattered far and near, and nothing
visible but a veil of dust and masses of heavy smoke. Nearly at the same
moment of this explosion wreaths of heavy black smoke arose from another
spot nearer to the gap, lit up in the fading, hazy twilight with forked
red fires, and soon after a great conflagration burst forth, swirling
flakes of burning cinders all over the island, and casting a lurid glare
upon the water around us."

CHAPTER XXXV.