and zeal now that they had taken the decisive
step of throwing up their old life of crime and had fairly enrolled
themselves once more on the side of law and order.

In a very short time the boats had made the passage across the bay and
were brought with an easy graceful sweep alongside the landing at the
shipyard. The occupants quickly disembarked; and while the ladies
proceeded at once under the care and guidance of Rex and Bob to safe and
comfortable quarters in the schooner's spacious cabin, Captain Staunton
gave orders that two large fires should be immediately lighted, one on
each side of the landing, for the double purpose of affording them a
light to work by and of enabling them to perceive the approach of their
enemies.

"For," he remarked to Lance, "you may depend upon it that their
suspicions are thoroughly aroused by this time, and it will not be long
before they are after us to see what it all means."

A couple of huge heaps of shavings, chips, and ends of timber were
speedily collected and ignited, the blaze soaring high in the motionless
air and throwing a strong ruddy light for a considerable distance round.

Then Lance, with Bowles, Dickinson, Poole, and three or four other
reliable hands armed with torches, went carefully round the schooner,
inspecting the cradle. It was unfinished; but Lance thought that a
couple of hours more of energetic labour expended upon it would make it
sufficiently secure to enable them to effect the launch. Time was now
of immense value to them; they could not afford to be very particular,
and so long as the cradle would serve its purpose that was all they
cared about.

They accordingly set to with a will, and very soon the yard resounded
with the harsh rasping of saws and the heavy blows of mauls wedging the
timbers into their places.

In the meantime Captain Staunton with the rest of the party went on
board the schooner, and, after fully arming themselves with cutlass and
revolver, opened the magazine, passed a good supply of ammunition on
deck, cast loose the guns, and carefully loaded them, cramming them
almost to the muzzle with bullets, spike-nails, and anything else they
could lay hold of. This done, the skipper, unwilling to leave the ship
himself, called for a volunteer to go to the battery, spike the guns
there, and lay a fuse in the magazine. Bob at once stepped forward,
and, being accepted, provided himself forthwith with a hammer and a
sufficient len