as these things cannot
be concealed, the whisper was soon amongst them that the danger lay in
the black steamer, which had been five days ago the ship of gold. Yet
they went to the work with a right good will; and presently, when a
canopy of our own smoke lay over us, and the yacht bounded forward
under the generosity of the stoking, they set up a great cheer
spontaneously, and were ready for anything. Yet I, myself, could not
share their honest bravado. The black ship which had been but a mark on
the horizon now showed her lines fully; there could be no two opinions
of her speed, or of the way in which she gained upon us. Indeed, one
could not look upon her advance without envy of her form, or of the
terrifying manner in which she cut the seas. Churning the foam until it
mounted its banks on each side of her great ram, she rode the Atlantic
like a beautiful yacht, with no vapour of smoke to float above her; and
not so much as a sign that any engines forced her onward with a
velocity unknown, I believe, in the whole history of navigation. And so
she came straight in our wake, and I knew that we should have little
breathing time before we should hear the barking of her guns.

The skipper did not like to see my idleness or this display of inactive
indifference.

"Don't you think you might help?" he asked.

"Help--what help can I give? You don't suppose we can outsteam them, do
you?"

"That's a child's question; they'll run us to a stand in four
hours--any man with one eye should see that; but are you going down
like a sheep, or will you give them a touch of your claws? I will, so
help me Heaven, if there's not another hand breathing!"

"The skipper's right, by Jove!" said Roderick; "if it's coming to close
quarters, I'll mark one man anyway," and with that he tumbled down the
ladder, and into his cabin. I followed him, and got all the arms I
could lay hands on, a couple of revolvers and a long duck-gun amongst
the number. There were two rifles--the two we had used in the trouble
with the men--in the chart-room, and these we brought on deck, with all
the other pistols we had amongst us. We made a distribution of them
amongst the old hands, giving Dan the duck-gun, which pleased him
mightily.

"I generally shoots 'em sittin'," he said, "but I'll go for to make a
bag, and willin'. You're keepin' the Missie out of it, sir?"

"Of course; she's looking after the sick hands downstairs. You go
forward, Dan, and wait for