e fall of the fourfold tackle that formed the
working end of the halliard, and at each pull the great, heavy, swaying
yard slid a few inches up the short, thick mast, as though reluctantly,
while away on our weather quarter we heard the fierce shouts of the men
in the approaching boat as they encouraged each other, punctuated by the
quick jerk of the oars in the rowlocks, and the swish of the water as
the oar-blades clipped into it. With the passage of every second those
menacing sounds drew appreciably nearer, dominating even the thunderous
rustle and slatting of the sail that slowly climbed into the air over
our heads, while the felucca, now fast gathering stern-way, and at the
same time paying off, was driving steadily down toward the boat at a
rate that seemed to render our capture inevitable.

At length, with a final jerk that made the little craft tremble to her
keel, the big single sail filled, and the felucca careened to her
bearings, as her canvas caught the full pressure of the wind. At the
same instant I heard an oar-blade clatter as it was hastily laid in, and
an exultant cheer arise from immediately under our counter.

"Catch a turn with the halliards, quick, and then lay aft," I gasped.
"The villains are alongside, and will be in over our quarter before we
can do anything to prevent them if we are not smart."

As I spoke I passed the rope under, then over, a belaying-pin before
surrendering it to Cutler to complete the operation of belaying, and
then bounded aft, followed by Tom Brown, who had snatched a handspike
from the rack as he passed it. My first act was to drag the tiller over
to windward and pass a turn of the tiller rope round the head of it, to
help the felucca to pay off; for she was now gathering headway. Then I
sprang to the taffrail and looked over it. The pursuing boat had
actually overtaken us, and the man who pulled "bow," having laid in his
oar, had grabbed the gunwale of the small boat in which I had come off
from the shore--and which I had dropped astern upon boarding the
felucca--and was now hauling his own boat up alongside her, while some
half-dozen of his companions had risen to their feet and were scrambling
into the smaller boat, apparently with some idea of climbing aboard us
by shinning up her painter. But the felucca had by this time gathered
way, and was moving so fast through the water that it was as much as the
man could do to hold on, and quite beyond his power to h