ast
possible delay. It was the governor's apprehension that his sails might
be seen from the canoes of Waally, long before the canoes could be seen
from his boat, and he was glad to get within the cover of his little
haven. Once there, the different crafts were quite concealed from the
view of persons outside, and it now remained to be proved whether their
cover was not so complete as effectually to baffle a hostile attempt to
find it.

The quick and unexpected return of the Neshamony produced a great deal
of surprise on the Plain. She had not been seen to enter the cove, and
the first intimation any one in the settlement had of such an
occurrence, was the appearance of Mark before the door of the dwelling.
Bigelow was immediately sent to the Peak with a glass, to look out for
canoes, while Heaton was called in from the woods by means of a conch.
In twenty minutes the council was regularly in session, while the men
began to collect and to look to their arms. Peters and Jones were
ordered to go down to the magazine, procure cartridges, and then proceed
to the batteries and load the carronades. In a word, orders were given
to make all the arrangements necessary for the occasion.

It was not long ere a report came down from Bigelow. It was brought by
his Spanish wife, who had accompanied her husband to the Peak, and who
came running in, half breathless, to say that the ocean was covered with
canoes and catamarans; a fleet of which was paddling directly for the
island, being already within three leagues of it. Although this
intelligence was expected, it certainly caused long faces and a deep
gloom to pervade that little community. Mark's fears were always for the
Reef, where there happened to be no one just at that moment but the
black women, who-were altogether insufficient to defend it, under the
most favourable circumstances, but who were now without a head. There
was the hope, however, of the Indians not seeing those low islands,
which they certainly could not do as long as they remained in their
canoes. On the other hand, there was the danger that some one might
cross from the Reef in one of the boats, a thing that was done as often
as once a week, in which case a chase might ensue, and the canoes be led
directly towards the spot that it was so desirable to conceal. Juno
could sail a boat as well as any man among them, and, as is usually the
case, that which she knew she could do so well, she was fond of doing;
and s