y, confident that he
would sail right into the Cove, unsuspectingly, and never get so much as
a hint of our presence until we should open fire upon him.

As we had planned so matters turned out; the two vessels entered the
Cove together and simultaneously came to an anchor, the big craft--upon
the stern of which we descried the words Berwick Castle: Bristol--
anchoring about a cable's length east of the schooner and, very
fortunately for those chiefly concerned, well out of our line of fire.

We waited until we saw the anchors of both vessels splash into the
placid waters of the Cove, and heard the rumble of their cables as they
smoked out through the hawse-pipes; then, while the gunners brought the
four 68-pounders, loaded with round shot and grape, to bear upon the
crowded deck of the pirate schooner, another party raised a rough
flagstaff, to which a British ensign had been nailed, and dropped its
heel into a socket already prepared for it. Even then it was nearly a
minute before our presence was discovered by the pirates, who were at
that moment busily clewing-up and hauling down their canvas preparatory
to stowing it. But the boatswain, the gunner, and I all had our
telescopes focussed upon the schooner, keenly watching every movement on
board her, and it was not long before I recognised upon her
quarter-deck, issuing orders and generally carrying himself with an air
of authority, the handsome rascal who, during the fight between the
_Tiburon_ and the _Wasp_, had hailed us asking whether we had struck.
Almost on the instant of recognising him I saw a man run up to him,
excitedly say something to him, and point toward the islet. The
handsome rascal--who was without doubt the pirate captain, Manuel Garcia
himself--stood, stared amazed for a few seconds at the islet, and then
made a dash for the companion, from which he withdrew a telescope, which
he levelled in our direction. For perhaps a quarter of a minute he kept
the tube steadily pointed toward us; then with a gesture of mad ferocity
he dashed the instrument to the deck, and, seizing his speaking-trumpet,
placed it to his lips. The effect was an instant stoppage of the
operation of clewing-up and hauling down aboard the _Tiburon_, while
every eye in her was, as by one impulse, directed toward the islet. But
the pause endured only for a space of a few seconds, just long enough to
enable the gazers to identify the flag flying on the islet as the
British ens