nd had gone on board the _Dunkery
Beacon_ and had heard everything, his Satanic delight blazed high and
wild. He cared nothing for the yacht which hung upon the heels of the
captured steamer,--it would not be difficult to dispose of that
vessel,--but his turbulent ecstasies were a little dampened by the
discovery of a large steamer bearing down from the north. This he
instantly suspected to be the _Monterey_, which must have taken a more
westerly course than that which he had followed, and which he had
therefore passed without sighting.

The ex-Rackbird did not hesitate a moment as to what ought to be done.
That everlastingly condemned meddler, Horn, must never be allowed to put
his oar into this business. If he were not content with the gold which
he had for himself, he should curse the day that he had tried to keep
other people from getting the gold that they wanted for themselves. No
matter what had to be done, he must never reach the _Dunkery Beacon_--he
must never know what had happened to her. Here was a piece of work for
the _Vittorio_ to attend to without the loss of a minute.

When Banker gave orders to head for the approaching steamer he
immediately began to make ready for an attack upon her, and, as this was
to be a battle between merchant ships, neither of them provided with any
of the ordinary engines of naval warfare, his plan was of a
straightforward, old-fashioned kind. He would run his ship alongside the
other; he would make fast, and then his men, each one with a cutlass and
a pistol, should swarm over the side of the larger vessel and cut down
and fire until the beastly hounds were all dead or on their knees. If he
caught sight of Captain Horn,--and he was sure he would recognize him,
for such a fellow would be sure to push himself forward no matter what
was going on,--he would take his business into his own hands. He would
give no signal, no warning. If they wanted to know what he came for,
they would soon find out.

Before he left Genoa he had thought that it was possible that he might
make this sort of an attack upon the _Dunkery Beacon_, and he had
therefore provided for it. He had shipped a number of grappling-irons
with long chains attached which were run through ring-bolts on his deck.
With these and other appliances for making fast to a vessel alongside,
Banker was sure he could stick to an enemy or a prize as long as he
wanted to lie by her.

Everything was now made ready for the proposed