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d it required the greatest care in taking in the vessel, as, on the present occasion, Hawkhurst could not be called upon for this service. The islands themselves--for there were several of them--were composed of coral rock; a few cocoa trees raised their lofty heads where there was sufficient earth for vegetation, and stunted brushwood rose up between the interstices of the rocks. But the chief peculiarity of the islands, and which rendered them suitable to those who frequented them, was the numerous caves with which the rocks were perforated, some above high-water mark, but the majority with the sea-water flowing in and out of them, in some cases merely rushing in, and at high water filling deep pools, which were detached from each other when the tide receded, in others with a sufficient depth of water at all times to allow you to pull in with a large boat. It is hardly necessary to observe how convenient the higher and dry caves were as receptacles for articles which were intended to be concealed until an opportunity occurred for disposing of them. In our last chapter we stated that, just as the _Avenger_ had entered the passage through the reefs, the _Comus_ and _Enterprise_ hove in sight and discovered her; but it will be necessary to explain the positions of the vessels. The _Avenger_ had entered the southern channel, with the wind from the southward, and had carefully sounded her way for about four miles, under little or no sail. The _Enterprise_ and _Comus_ had been examining Turk's Island, to the eastward of the Caicos, and had passed to the northward of it on the larboard tack, standing in for the northern point of the reef, which joined on to the great Caicos Island. They were, therefore, in a situation to intercept the _Avenger_ before she arrived at her anchorage, had it not been for the reefs which barred their passage. The only plan which the English vessels could act upon was to beat to the southward, so as to arrive at the entrance of the passage, when the _Enterprise_ would, of course, find sufficient water to follow the _Avenger_; for, as the passage was too narrow to beat through, and the wind was from the southward, the _Avenger_ could not possibly escape. She was caught in a trap; and all that she had to trust to was the defence which she might be able to make in her stronghold against the force which could be employed in the attack. The breeze was fresh from the southward, and appeared inclined
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