njecture too fatally confirmed.

While in chase of the barque, and her national colours were first made
out, they had no thought of connecting her with the vessel which Don
Gregorio Montijo had chartered to take him to Panama. True, they had
heard that this was a Chilian vessel, and her skipper of that nation.
But they had also been told she was a _ship_, not a _barque_. And as
among the many craft in San Francisco Bay, neither had noticed her, how
would they think of identifying her with the chased polacca.

Gradually, however, as the frigate drew upon her, certain suspicions of
a painful nature began to shape themselves in Crozier's mind; still so
vague he did not deem it worth while communicating them to Cadwallader.
He remembered having seen a _polacca-masted_ vessel in the harbour of
San Francisco; besides, that she was a _ship_. And so far as his
recollection served, she was of the same size as that running before the
frigate. Besides, he could distinctly recall the fact of her flying
Chilian colours. The peculiar style of her masting had drawn his
attention to her.

And while they were still pursuing the barque, and commenting on the
coincident statement of the brig and whaler about men having been aboard
of her _covered with red hair_, Crozier also recalled a statement
strangely significant, which Harry Blew had made to one of the men who
had rowed Cadwallader ashore, on the day the _Crusader_ sailed. Blew
had been aboard the Chilian vessel, and being asked by his old shipmate
what sort of crew she had, laughingly replied: "Only a _black_ man, and
two _red_ ones." Pressed for an explanation about the red ones, he said
they were a couple of _orang-outangs_.

Putting these odd _data_ together, and comparing them, the _Crusader's_
third lieutenant began to have an uneasy feeling, as they followed the
retreating vessel. That she was a barque, and not a ship, meant
nothing. As a seaman, he knew how easy the conversion--how often made.

When at length both vessels lay becalmed, and an order for boarding was
given, he had solicited the command--by a private word to the frigate's
captain, as had Cadwallader the leave to accompany him; the latter
actuated by impulses not very dissimilar.

When both at length climbed the barque's sides, saw the red monkeys on
deck, and the black man in the galley, their apprehension became
sharpened to the keenest foreboding--far more than a presentiment of
misfortune.

A