per rim above the horizon, flashing
a long, level beam along the surface of the water, striking the stranger
and causing the stern of her to blaze into a sudden flame of glittering
radiance--"do you see that, Henderson? Her quarter is a solid mass of
painted and gilded carving. The Dutchman is too economical, too fond of
the dollars to lavish so much gold-leaf as that on the adornment of his
ship; he prefers to put the money into extra bolts and fastenings. No;
that fellow is a Spaniard, or I'm greatly mistaken!"

"Spaniard, or Dutch, or French, it don't make much difference to us, Mr
Delamere," answered the gunner, as he replaced the telescope in the
beckets; "she'll give us a nice little bit o' prize-money as soon as the
breeze comes and enables us to run down alongside her."

"Ay, that she will--if she doesn't happen to be a man-o'-war--and I
don't believe she is," I answered, as I again levelled my glass at her.
"No," I continued, "she is no man-o'-war, although I see she shows a set
of teeth; but there are not many of them, they are all small pieces, and
half of them may be quakers, for what we can tell to the contrary. She
is a Spanish West Indiaman, I believe, bound, no doubt, to Cartagena, or
some other port on the Main; and she has probably come in through the
Handkerchief, or Turks Islands Passage. Well, there does not seem to be
much chance of the wind coming just yet, Henderson, so you had better
get your head-pump rigged and muster your scrubbers; meanwhile I will
have my bath, as usual, and then get dressed, so as to be all ready by
the time that the breeze comes."

When eight o'clock and breakfast-time arrived there was no perceptible
change in the aspect of the weather, which remained stark calm; while
the heavy pall of cloud that had shrouded the night sky had thinned away
to a kind of dense haze in the midst of which the sun throbbed--a great
shapeless splotch of misty light that, notwithstanding its partial
veiling, still contrived to impart a scorching quality to the breathless
atmosphere.

As I ascended to the deck after breakfast I found Pearce, the boatswain,
whose watch it now was, apparently waiting for my reappearance. He held
the schooner's glass in his hand, and had evidently spent practically
the whole time since eight bells in watching the stranger.

"I've been thinkin', Mr Delamere," he began, "how would it be to get
the boats out and go after that chap? We could do it quite
co