of the deck at that
time. But before the word reached us I myself, and I suspect most of
the others, had sighted the craft away to the southward, coming up under
full sail, and with a breeze of which we could see nothing.

She was at that time some six or seven miles distant, and just emerging
from behind a raised thicket of scrub bushes that lay betwixt her and
the _Cassandra_, and which had hidden her until now.

The strange craft was a large sloop, of such an appearance that even had
not the pirate fired that which was no doubt a signal-gun, methinks I
should have entertained the most sinister and gloomy forebodings
concerning her nature and her character.

"What do you think of her, Mr. Langely?" said I, after watching her for
some time in silence.

"It is the pirate's consort, sir," said he, very seriously.

"I do believe you are right," said I, "and that is why she has been
waiting for all these days, keeping us bottled up so that we could not
have got away even if we had had a breeze."

I did not tell Mr. Langely all that was upon my mind; nevertheless, I
could not but regard our present position as one of the most extreme
peril. For if one pirate craft, with its crew of blood-thirsty wretches,
was a match for us sufficient to hold us where we now were, what harm
might not two of them accomplish should they attack us peaceful
merchantmen, unused as we were to the arts of war, in this narrow
harbor, where we might hope neither to manoeuvre nor to escape.

We were already cleared for action, having had full time to prepare
ourselves since danger had first threatened us; accordingly, leaving Mr.
Langely to supervise such few details as might still remain to demand
attention, I had my gig lowered, and went aboard of the _Greenwich_ to
consult with Captain Kirby as to means of defending ourselves against
this new and additional danger that threatened our existence.

The Ostend captain was there when I came aboard, and I fancied, though I
then knew not why, that he and Captain Kirby looked at one another in a
very strange and peculiar manner when I entered the cabin. Besides that,
I noticed little or no preparation for action had been made.

"We'll stand by you," says Captain Kirby; "in course we'll stand by you,
though you must know it is each one for himself, and devil take the
hindmost, at such times as these."

I was mightily amazed and taken aback at this speech. "And why do you
talk so about standing