scene of action had not the height and form of the cliffs prevented
the wind from filling her sails on two or three occasions.

Meanwhile, in obedience to Manton's orders, a great and very peculiar
change was effected in the outward aspect of the Foam. To one
unacquainted with the character of the schooner, the proceedings of her
crew must have seemed unaccountable as well as surprising. The carpenter
and his assistants were slung over the sides of the vessel upon which
they plied their screwdrivers for a considerable time with great energy,
but, apparently, with very little result. In the course of a quarter of
an hour, however, a long narrow plank was loosened, which, when stripped
off, discovered a narrow line of bright scarlet running quite round the
vessel, a little more than a foot above the water-line. This having been
accomplished, they next proceeded to the figurehead, and, unscrewing the
white lady who smiled there, fixed in her place a hideous griffin's
head, which, like the ribbon, was also bright scarlet. While these
changes were being effected, others of the crew removed the boat that
lay on the deck, bottom up between the masts, and uncovered a long brass
pivot-gun, of the largest caliber, which shone in the saffron light of
morning like a mass of burnished gold. This gun was kept scrupulously
clean and neat in all its arrangements; the rammers, sponges, screws,
and other apparatus belonging to it were neatly arranged beside it, and
four or five of its enormous iron shot were piled under its muzzle. The
traversing gear connected with it was well greased, and, in short,
everything about the gun gave proof of the care that was bestowed on it.

But these were not the only alterations made in the mysterious schooner.
Round both masts were piled a number of muskets, boarding-pikes,
cutlasses, and pistols, all of which were perfectly clean and bright,
and the men--fierce enough and warlike in their aspect at all times--had
now rendered themselves doubly so by putting on broad belts with pistols
therein, and tucking up their sleeves to the shoulders, thereby
displaying their brawny arms as if they had dirty work before them. This
strange metamorphosis was finally completed, when Manton, with his own
hands, ran up to the peak of the mainsail a bright scarlet flag with the
single word "AVENGER" on it in large black letters.

During one of those lulls in the breeze to which we have referred, and
while the smooth o