ibility of escaping landward, the only
alternative was to escape by going out to sea. But a boat voyage was an
undertaking not to be rashly entered upon, especially where a woman was
in the case; the inconvenience and discomfort, to say nothing of the
danger, of such an attempt were such as to make me pause long and
consider the matter very seriously in all its bearings before
determining to engage in such a venture. Yet something must be done; we
could not continue to inhabit the cavern indefinitely; a way of escape
must be found; for after what had fallen from Dominique's lips while
addressing his men, I felt that there was no such thing as safety for
any of us while we remained within arm's reach of that miscreant. The
most serious feature of the case, so far as a boat voyage was concerned,
was that even the biggest of the available boats, which was one of the
_Barracouta's_ gigs, was much too small to justify me in the attempt to
make the passage to Jamaica in her; for should the breeze happen to pipe
strong, the boat could not possibly live in the boisterous sea that
would at once be knocked up. If, on the other hand, the brig's longboat
had happened to be in the water, or some other craft big enough to
accomplish the voyage in safety--I pulled myself up suddenly, for a
distinctly audacious idea had at that moment occurred to me as well
worthy of consideration. Why not take the brig herself? True, she was
a big craft for two men to handle, but if she could but be got safely
out to sea, and beyond the reach of pursuit by boats, she could be
sailed under such short canvas that one man could take care of her for a
whole watch without very much difficulty. The trouble would be to get
aboard her, get her under way, and take her out to sea without being
detected and pursued, unless--and here I pulled myself up again, for
another audacious idea had occurred to me.

I looked at Jose--he appeared to be in a distinctly drowsy condition, if
indeed not already asleep, overpowered by the heat, and lulled to
slumber by the unwonted quiet of his surroundings. Then I looked
carefully around me to see whether I could detect any traces of the man-
hunters, but saw none; they were all undoubtedly well out of the way by
this time. I pulled myself together and braced myself up for immediate
action, for it suddenly dawned upon me that I was never likely to have a
more favourable opportunity to carry my bold scheme into effect th