t a bit longer. Though he be
a convict, he warn't nigh so bad as the rest.

"He consented to my proposal, an' we returned on deck 'ithout tapping
the barque's bottom-timbers.

"Soon's I had my head over the hatch coamin', I seed them all below in
the boat, the girls along wi' them. I didn't know what they'd done to
the Don an' skipper I had my fears about 'em, thinkin' they might ha'e
been murdered, as Padilla had proposed. But I darn't go back to the
cabin then, lest they might shove off, an' leave us in the lurch: as
some war threatenin' to do, more than one wantin' it, I know. If they'd
done that--well, it's no use sayin' what might ha' been the upshot.
Tharfore, I had to hurry down into the boat. Then, we rowed away;
leavin' the barque just as she'd been the whole o' that day.

"As we pulled shoreward, we could see her standing off, all sails set--
same as tho' the crew wor abroad o' her workin' 'em."

"But her ensign reversed?" asks Cadwallader. "She was carrying it so,
when we came across her. How came that, Harry?"

"Ah! the bit o' buntin' upside-down! I did that myself in the dark;
thinkin' it might get them a better chance o' bein' picked up. I'd just
time to do it afore droppin' into the boat."

"And you did the very thing!" exclaims Crozier. "I see God's hand in
that surely! But for the distress signal, the _Crusader_ would have
kept on without giving chase; and--. But, proceed! Tell us what
happened afterwards."

"Well; we landed in the island, not knowin' it to be a island. An'
theer's another o' the chances, showin' we've been took care o' by the
little cherub as sits up aloft. If it hed been the mainland--well, I
needn't tell ye, things would now be different. After landin', we
stayed all night on the shore; the men sleeping in the biggest o' the
caves, while the ladies occupied a smaller one. I took care 'bout that
separation myself, detarmined they shouldn't come to no harm.

"That night theer war a thing happened which I dar say they've told you;
an' twar from them I afterwards larned that Gomez an' Hernandez war no
other than the two chaps you'd trouble wi' at San Francisco. They went
into the cave, an' said some insultin' things to the saynoreetas; I
warn't 'far off, an' would 'a made short work wi' them, hed it goed
farther than talk.

"Well; up at a early hour next mornin', we found the boat had drifted
off seaward, an' got bilged on the breakers. But supposin' we shoul