as lowered in
order to slew the ship more rapidly so as to bring her broadside to bear
on the schooner.

To say that Gascoyne beheld all this unmoved would be to give a false
impression of the man. He knew the ring of his great gun too well to
require the schooner to come in sight in order to convince him that his
vessel was near at hand. When, therefore, she appeared, and Montague
turned to him with a hasty glance of suspicion and pointed to her, he
had completely banished every trace of feeling from his countenance, and
sat on the taffrail puffing his cigar with an air of calm satisfaction.
Nodding to Montague's glance of inquiry, he said:

"Aye, that's the pirate. I told you he was a bold fellow; but I did not
think he was quite so bold as to attempt _this_!"

To do Gascoyne justice, he told the plain truth here; for, having sent a
peremptory order to his mate, by John Bumpus, not to move from his
anchorage on any account whatever, he was not a little surprised as well
as enraged at what he supposed was Manton's mutinous conduct. But, as we
have said, his feelings were confined to his breast; they found no index
in his grave face.

Montague suspected, nevertheless, that his pilot was assuming a
composure which he did not feel; for from the manner of the meeting of
the two vessels, he was persuaded that it was as little expected on the
part of the pirates as of himself. It was with a feeling of curiosity,
therefore, as to what reply he should receive, that he put the question,
"What would Mr. Gascoyne advise me to do _now_?"

"Blow the villains out of the water," was the quick answer. "I would
have done so before now, had I been you."

"Perhaps you might, but not _much_ sooner," retorted the other, pointing
to the guns which were ready loaded, while the men stood at their
stations, matches in hand, only waiting for the broadside to be brought
to bear on the little vessel, when an iron shower would be sent against
her which must, at such short range, have infallibly sent her to the
bottom.

The mate of the pirate schooner was quite alive to his danger, and had
taken the only means in his power to prevent it. Close to where his
vessel lay, a large rock rose between the shore of the large island and
the islet in the bay which has been described as separating the two
vessels from each other. Owing to the formation of the coast at this
place, a powerful stream ran between the rock and this islet at low
tide. It ha