es to you
about rewarding you liberally for your services. My friend was a
little wild in what he said, but he was right when he declared we had
the means, and I wish simply to say that his wishes and intentions in
that respect, which accorded with my own from the start, shall be
carried out to the letter."

Mr. Storms immediately joined Inez, while the captain made no reply,
much to the discomfiture of the mate, who said to Inez:

"What's the matter with Sanders?"

"He is watching an object over the sea yonder. He has been expecting
to discover something, and he has caught sight of it at last."

The mate instantly produced his glasses, and leveled them in the
direction the young captain was looking.

There was something, indeed.

As revealed by the instrument, it was what might be termed a double
canoe, or proa--that is, two narrow canoes were joined together, side
by side, and connected by a sort of framework, while an enormous
lateen sail towered above them, and carried it forward with remarkable
speed.

The surprised mate carefully scrutinized the strange craft, and saw
that it contained a large crew, there being, as he estimated, fully
twenty men on board. It was to the westward of the smaller proa, and
like that was pursuing almost a northerly course, though the
experienced eyes of the sailor told him that the paths of the two were
converging, and that, unless changed, they undoubtedly would meet
before nightfall.

The double canoe was about two miles distant, and as it rose on the
crest of a swell the glass revealed the white foam which curled away
from the bows, and there could be no doubt of its remarkable
swiftness.

After watching this strange craft for a few minutes, Mr. Storms
devoted some time to a furtive but careful study of the face of Fred
Sanders, who was on the most elevated portion of the proa, and was
carefully noting the course of the two vessels.

The alarming conclusion reached by Abram Storms was that the other
craft contained a gang of pirates; that Fred Sanders knew them, and he
was guiding his own proa by an understanding previously had with
them.

And Abram Storms was right.

CHAPTER XXXII

A FRIEND AMONG ENEMIES

The double canoe, with its cumbersome lateen sail and its crew of
twenty-odd pirates, had stolen down from somewhere among the Paumotu
Islands, and was now gradually approaching the proa which contained
Abram Storms and Inez Hawthorne.

The experienc