captain. "She will not get that hole stopped up for an
hour or longer, and I hope this affair will be over before this can be
done. Shall we give them another shot? What do you think, Christy? She
holds still now, and I believe I can hit her every time."

"Decidedly not: she is disabled for the present, and that is all I care
for. We are not in war trim," replied Christy, as he turned his
attention in the direction of the other vessels.

"As I told you, the Dauphine is fast; and she will be down upon us in
less than five minutes more," said Captain Pecklar.

"I wonder that she don't fire upon us," added Christy.

"I doubt if she has any guns on board, though she may have a field-piece
or two."

"The Bellevite is waking up, I think," said Christy.

"She is getting into deeper water."

"But the Dauphine is coming right between the Leopard and the
Bellevite," continued Christy, as he brought the glass to bear upon her,
though she was near enough to be distinctly seen with the naked eye.
"Whether she had any guns or not, she has plenty of men on board; and it
is easy enough to see what she intends to do."

"What do you think she intends to do?" asked the captain.

"Of course she came out here after the Bellevite, as the Belle did also;
but her people have seen what the Leopard has been about for the last
hour, and they intend to dispose of us before they hunt for the bigger
game."

"She may capture the Bellevite after she has finished her business with
us," said the captain, looking very anxious.

"She may, but I don't believe she will. You have proved that you are
all right, Captain Pecklar, and I don't mind telling you now that the
Bellevite is heavily armed. Captain Breaker was a lieutenant in the
navy, and he knows how to handle a ship," replied Christy.

"Then, if we escape the Dauphine, we shall be all right."

"The Dauphine will come down, and throw a few men on board of us;
boarding us, in fact, as we have no force with which to help ourselves,"
added Christy, as he took a small American flag from his pocket.

It had been made by his mother on the late cruise of the steamer, and it
was a sort of talisman with him, which he had often displayed in foreign
lands. He found a pole on the deck, to which he attached the emblem of
his whole country, and displayed it at the bow of the tug. He hoped that
his father or the captain might see it, and recognize it as the one he
had so often seen on board and asho