l the danger come? Shall it come leaping
and brandishing knives, a veiled army springing up from the shadows, or
shall it come by stealth, boat by boat, now upon this quarter, now upon
that, outposts seeking to flank us, deadly shots fired we know not
where? I cannot tell you. The comrades at my side ask again and again,
"Do you see anything, captain?" I answer, "Nothing!" It is the truth.

_Monday. At midnight._

We are still upon the rock and the shadows engulf us. The lad at my
side, sick with waiting, has curled himself up upon a bed of stone and
is half asleep; Seth Barker leans against a crag like some figure hewn
out of granite; old Clair-de-Lune is all hunched up as a bundle.
Nevertheless, masterly eyes scan the lapping waters. Will the night
never speak to us? Will the day bring waiting? Ah, no! not that! A shot
rings out clear on the still night air; a flash of fire leaps across
the sea. We spring to our feet; we cry, "Ready!" The sixty hours are
over and the end is near!

CHAPTER XXIV

THE SECOND ATTACK ON CZERNY'S HOUSE

The shot was fired and answered at the lower gate. We had looked for
that; for that we had been waiting during the watching hours. They
would attack the lesser reef, we said, and our own good men, standing
sentinels, would flash the news of it to us, and the gun would do the
rest. Dark as it was, the blackest hour the island had given us,
nevertheless by daylight we had trained our barrels upon the reef, and
now took aim in all confidence. Twice we whistled shrilly to warn our
men; twice we heard their answering voices. Then the gun belched forth
its hail of shot and the challenge was thrown down.

"Give it to them, Dolly!" I cried, my brain afire at the call of
action; "for every honest seaman's sake, give it to them, lad! We'll
tell of this to-morrow--aye, Dolly, we'll tell a great story yet!"

He answered me with a boy's glad cry; I do believe it was like a game
to him.

"Pass here, pass here!" he kept crying; "we have them every time! In
with the shot, Seth--in with it! Don't keep them waiting! Oh, captain,
what a night!"

The others said nothing; even Peter Bligh's tongue was still in that
surpassing moment. The doubt of it defied words. We knew nothing, nor
could we do aught but leave our fortune to the darkness of the night.
The rogues who fell, the rogues who stood, the boats that came on, the
boats that withdrew, of these we were ignorant. All was hidden from our
eyes;