ble quite
free from all anxiety of every kind.

"But can nothing be done to make this fellow mend his behaviour?"
inquired Bob of the skipper as they separated from the rest of the
working party and walked toward the cottage on landing from the boats
that night.

"I fear not," was the reply. "While the schooner and the battery were
still to be built we had the man to some extent in our power; but now
that the battery is so near completion, and the hull of the schooner
fully modelled, he is independent of us, and he has sense enough to know
it. His own people are quite capable of finishing off the schooner now
that her framework is complete, so that threats on our part would be
useless--nay, worse than useless--since they would only irritate him and
lead to increasing severity toward us."

Bob lay awake a long time that night, quite satisfied that the time had
arrived when something ought to be done, but what that something should
be he puzzled his brain in vain to discover.

About a fortnight after this a serious accident occurred at the
shipyard, or rather at the battery. This structure was now so far
advanced that it was ready to receive the guns which were intended to be
mounted in it. The armament was to consist of six 24-pounder iron
muzzle-loaders of the ordinary old-fashioned type, to which Johnson had
helped himself in some raid on the Spanish-American coast; and on the
morning in question a gang of men was told off to hoist these guns up
the cliff into the battery.

Lance had, as a matter of course, undertaken the supervision of this
operation; but the work had hardly commenced when Ralli made his
appearance on the scene, announcing his intention to himself direct
operations at the battery, and roughly ordering Lance to return at once
to his work on the schooner, "and to be quick about it too, or he
(Ralli) would freshen his way."

Evelin of course returned at once to the shipyard without condescending
to bandy words with the Greek, and the work went forward as usual.

Ralli soon had a pair of sheers rigged, and in due time one of the guns
was slung ready for hoisting.

Lance had been watching Ralli's operations, first with curiosity and
afterwards with anxiety, for he soon saw that the man knew nothing
whatever about handling heavy guns. He now saw that the gun which was
about to be hoisted was wrongly slung, and that an accident was likely
enough to result. So, forgetting his former rebuff, he