reeze was light,
and as the current had then lost much of its force, Bob Harvey had
absolute command over his vessel.

The route previously followed by the boats had allowed her to
reconnoitre the channel, and she boldly entered it.

The pirate's design was now only too evident: he wished to bring her
broadside to bear on the Chimneys and from there to reply with shell and
ball to the shot which had till then decimated her crew.

Soon the _Speedy_ reached the point of the islet; she rounded it with
ease; the mainsail was braced up, and the brig hugging the wind, stood
across the mouth of the Mercy.

"The scoundrels! they are coming!" said Pencroft.

At that moment, Cyrus Harding, Ayrton, the sailor, and Herbert, were
rejoined by Neb and Gideon Spilett.

The reporter and his companion had judged it best to abandon the post at
the Mercy, from which they could do nothing against the ship, and they
had acted wisely. It was better that the colonists should be together
at the moment when they were about to engage in a decisive action.
Gideon Spilett and Neb had arrived by dodging behind the rocks, though
not without attracting a shower of bullets, which had not, however,
reached them.

"Spilett! Neb!" cried the engineer, "you are not wounded?"

"No," answered the reporter; "a few bruises only from the ricochet! But
that cursed brig has entered the channel!"

"Yes," replied Pencroft, "and in ten minutes she will have anchored
before Granite House!"

"Have you formed any plan, Cyrus?" asked the reporter.

"We must take refuge in Granite House whilst there is still time, and
the convicts cannot see us."

"That is my opinion, too," replied Gideon Spilett; "but once shut up--"

"We must be guided by circumstances," said the engineer.

"Let us be off, then, and make haste!" said the reporter.

"Would you not wish, captain, that Ayrton and I should remain here?"
asked the sailor.

"What would be the use of that, Pencroft?" replied Harding. "No. We
will not separate!"

There was not a moment to be lost. The colonists left the Chimneys. A
bend of the cliff prevented them from being seen by those in the brig;
but two or three reports, and the crash of bullets on the rock, told
them that the _Speedy_ was at no great distance.

To spring into the lift, hoist themselves up to the door of Granite
House, where Top and Jup had been shut up since the evening before, to
rush into the large room, was the work of a