whom he had brought up from South America and who were
now his devoted personal attendants, and a good-sized crew. Captain Horn
had little hope of overhauling the two steamers, for even the yacht,
which he had heard was a fast-sailing vessel, had had twenty-four hours'
start of him; but he had reason to hope that he might meet one or both
of them on their return; for if the yacht should fail to overhaul the
_Dunkery Beacon_, she would certainly turn back to Kingston.

Edna was as enthusiastic and interested in this voyage as her husband.
She sympathized in all his anxiety in regard to the safety of the
treasure, but even stronger than this was her desire to see once more
her dear friend, whom she had come to look upon almost as an elder
sister.

During each day the Captain and his wife were almost constantly on deck,
their glasses sweeping the south-eastern horizon, hoping for the sight
of two steamers coming back to Kingston. They saw vessels coming and
going, but they were not the craft they looked for, and after they left
the Caribbean Sea the sail became fewer and fewer. On the second day
after they left Tobago Island they fell in with a small steamer
apparently in distress, for she was working her way under sail and
against head-winds towards the coast.

When the Captain spoke this steamer, he received a request to lower a
boat and go on board of her. There he found an astonishing state of
affairs. The steamer was from a French port, she carried no cargo, and
she was commanded and manned by Captain Hagar and the crew of the
English ship _Dunkery Beacon_. Captain Hagar's story was not a long one,
and he told it as readily to Captain Horn as he would to any other
friendly mariner who might have boarded him.

He had left Kingston with his vessel as he left it many times before,
and the Caribbees were not half a day behind him when he was hailed by a
steamer,--the one he was now on, which had been following him for some
time. He was told that this steamer carried a message from his owners,
and without suspecting anything, he lay to, and a boat came to him from
the other ship. This boat had in it a good many more men than was
necessary, but he suspected no evil until half-a-dozen men were on his
deck and half-a-dozen pistols were pointed at the heads of himself and
those around him. Then two more boats came over, more men boarded him,
and without a struggle, or hardly a cross word,--as he expressed
it,--the _Dunker