sufficient for the _Janet_ to swing
clear of the rocks. They had been examining it narrowly, and Lord
Reginald proposed that they should row in the boat, to ascertain its
capabilities, when Dick turning round for an instant to the south-east,
exclaimed--

"A sail, a sail!"

Lord Reginald sprang to his feet, and looking in the same direction,
observed, "She's a large ship, too, and standing this way. What if she
should prove to be the _Wolf_?"

Dick made no answer. He almost hoped that she would not prove to be
their ship. The time he had enjoyed so much would come to an end, and
he must henceforth associate with those in whose society he could no
longer take pleasure.

Lord Reginald, not for a moment doubting that Dick was as pleased as he
was, altered the _Janet's_ course in the direction of the stranger.
They had brought a telescope, a remarkably good one for its size. He
turned it towards the approaching ship.

"From the cut of her sails, I doubt whether she's the _Wolf_, after
all," observed Lord Reginald, "even if she's English," he added. "No,
that she's not. She's hoisted her colours. If my eyes don't deceive
me, that's the French flag. Here, Hargrave, see what you can make out."

Dick took a steady look. "That's the French flag, no doubt about the
matter," he answered; "if you look again you will be certain of the
fact."

"I was nearly certain of it before," answered Lord Reginald, "and as I
have no fancy to be taken on board a Frenchman, we will haul our wind,
and get back to our bay. We should fetch it with one tack, and by
unstepping our masts very probably the boat will not be seen, or our hut
either, unless the Frenchmen narrowly examine the island."

"With all my heart," said Dick, greatly relieved, as he hoped to get
into the bay before the Frenchmen had discovered the _Janet_.

She, it will be remembered, was low down in the water, so that the
look-out aloft on board the stranger might not have seen her from the
distance they were off. The wind freshened, and the little craft made
good way.

"The sooner we are on shore the better. I don't like the look of the
weather to the westward," observed Lord Reginald.

The sky in that direction had a lurid appearance, betokening a strong
wind, produced possibly by the eruption. Dick was of the same opinion,
and felt more than ever anxious to get on shore.

"We shall fetch into the bay now," observed Lord Reginald.

The little craft b