er heels. The Avenger cast anchor in the harbor of
the Isle of Palms on the morning of her fifth day out; the Wasp sighted
the island on the evening of the same day.

It was not Gascoyne's purpose to run down at once and have a
hand-to-hand fight with his own men. He felt that his party was too weak
for such an attempt, and resolved to accomplish by stratagem what he
could not hope to compass by force. He therefore hove-to the instant the
tops of the palm trees appeared on the horizon, and waited till night
should set in and favor his designs.

"What do you intend to do?" inquired Henry Stuart, who stood on the deck
watching the sun as it sank into the ocean behind a mass of golden
clouds, in which, however, there were some symptoms of stormy weather.

"I mean to wait till it is dark," said Gascoyne, "and then run down and
take possession of the schooner."

Henry looked at the pirate captain in surprise, and not without
distrust. Ole Thorwald, who was smoking his big German pipe with great
energy, looked at him with undisguised uneasiness.

"You speak as if you had no doubt whatever of succeeding in this
enterprise, Mr. Gascoyne," said the latter.

"I _have_ no doubt," replied Gascoyne.

"I do believe you're right," returned Thorwald, smoking furiously as he
became more agitated "I make no question but your villains will receive
you with open arms. What guarantee have we, Mister Gascoyne, or Mister
Durward, that we shall not be seized and made to walk the plank, or
perform some similarly fantastic feat--in which, mayhap, our feet will
have less to do with the performance than our necks--when you get into
power?"

"You have no guarantee whatever," returned Gascoyne, "except the word of
a pirate!"

"You say truth," cried Ole, springing up and pacing the deck with
unwonted energy, while a troubled and somewhat fierce expression settled
on his usually good-humored countenance. "You say truth, and I think we
have been ill-advised when we took this step; for my part, I regard
myself as little better than a maniac for putting myself obstinately,
not to say deliberately, into the very jaws of a lion,--perhaps I should
say a tiger. But, mark my words, Gascoyne, _alias_ Durward" (here he
stopped suddenly before the pirate, who was leaning in a careless
attitude against the mast, and looked him full in the face), "if you
play us false, as I have no hesitation in saying I believe that you
fully intend to do, your life wi