capful," said I, "and by the Lord above me
not a man among them will see to-morrow's sun! Does that put heart into
you, Peter, or does it not? There are folks to save over there, Peter
Bligh," says I, "and we'll save them yet!" His reply was an earnest
"God grant it!" and from that moment the sleep left his eyes, and
standing by my side, as he had stood many a day on the bridge of the
Southern Cross, he began to read the signals and to interpret them
aloud as the old-time duty prompted him.

"Eight men and a woman, and one long-boat," says he; "sickness among
them and no arms. 'Tis to know if they shall put off now or wait for
the dark. You'll be answering that, captain."

"Let them come, let them come," said I; "how's the dark to help them?
Will they live a day in the fogs we know of? And what sort of a port is
Ken's Island in the sleep-time for any Christian man? If Czerny murders
them on the high seas, so much the more against him when his day comes.
Let them come, Peter, and the Lord help them, poor wretches!"

I was using my arms with every word, and trying to make my meaning
clear to the poor folks on the beach. So far they had been content to
answer me with questions; but now, all at once, they ceased to signal,
and a black object riding above the surf told me that they had risked
all and were afloat, be the danger what it might. At the same moment a
sharp cry from Dolly Venn turned my eyes to Czerny's yacht; and I saw
his devils rowing their boats for the open water of the bay, and I knew
that murder was in their minds, and that the hour had come when every
veil was to be cast aside and their purpose declared against all
humanity.

"Clear the gun and stand by," was my order to the others; "we'll give
them something to take home with them, and it sha'n't be pippins! Can
you range them, Dolly, or must you wait? There's no time to lose, my
lad, if honest lives are to be saved this day."

He went to work without a word, charging his magazine and training the
gun eastwards towards the advancing boats. If he did not fire at once,
it was because he doubted his range; and here was his difficulty, that
by sweeping round to the east and coming at the refugees upon a new
course, Czerny's lot might yet cheat us and do the infernal work they
intended. Indeed, the poor people in the longboat were just racing for
their lives; and whether we could help them or whether they must perish
time alone would show. Yard by yard,