tage of the deck to fight from. See, they know well what they are
about; they are not attempting to follow us, but are pulling straight
for the entrance, keeping close under the lee of the land."

"Yes, I see," answered Fonseca as he took the telescope from me and
applied it to his eye. "But I see also, senor, that one man is kept
busy baling with a bucket, so it is evident that the boat leaks badly;
and it may be that before they can overtake us they will be obliged to
give up and go back to save the boat from swamping under them."

"Possibly," I agreed. "Nevertheless I think it would be only wise of us
to take every reasonable precaution. Therefore I shall feel obliged if
you will be good enough to go below and look out a dozen muskets--you
will doubtless know where to find them--and, having found them, load
them with ball and bring them up on deck to me."

"Certainly, senor; there will be no difficulty about that," assented
Fonseca. "I will go at once." And he forthwith vanished down the
companion way. A quarter of an hour later he returned with six loaded
muskets in his arms, which he deposited upon the stern-grating, and then
went below for the remaining half-dozen.

Meanwhile we had been slipping quite nimbly across the bay, and by the
time that Fonseca had returned with the second lot of muskets we had
neared the land sufficiently to render it necessary for us to heave
about again. By the time that we had tacked and were full again the
boat had neared us to within about a mile, and it became a practical
certainty that, unless something quite unforeseen occurred, we should be
obliged to fight our passage out to sea. But we were now making a "long
leg" again, leaving the boat almost astern of us, and going at least as
fast through the water as she was, if not somewhat faster. Then, as I
stood at the wheel steering, with my thoughts wandering away into the
past, an idea suddenly entered my head, and I said to Fonseca:

"By the way, Fonseca, can you tell me whether this is the brig that,
some six months ago, attacked a little schooner called the _Dolores_
over on the Guinea coast, and, after taking a cargo of slaves out of
her, scuttled her in cold blood, leaving the survivors of her crew to go
down with her?"

The man looked at me in consternation. "Why, how on earth did you come
to know of that rascally transaction, senor?" he demanded.

"Because," said I, "I happened to be in command of the _Dolor