to their boats,
and away they went in hot pursuit of the pirates. The wind was light,
but as they could both pull as well as sail, they made tolerable way
after the chase. Meantime the party in charge of the fort became very
hungry, and as they had left their provisions in the boats, it was
necessary to send for them. Adair accordingly, with a couple of men,
was despatched on this duty. He had no great difficulty in finding his
way, as he could see from one end of the island to the other, and he
soon reached the top of the cliff, below which the boats had been left;
he looked over the edge of the cliff, but he could discover no boats.
He hallooed to the boat-keepers, but there was no answer.

"They must be asleep, Mr Adair," observed one of the men.

"So I might think if I saw any boats," answered Terence. "But the boats
are not there, I am sure."

To ascertain the fact, however, more certainly, they descended to the
beach. No boats were to be seen. They looked behind the points of rock
on either side, but no boats were visible. They shouted at the top of
their voices, but the only sound in reply was the shriek of some
sea-fowl, startled from their resting-places in the cliffs.

"Have we got to the right spot, do you think?" suggested Terence, hope
springing up in his breast that they had made a mistake.

"No doubt about it, sir," was the answer; "I remember climbing up
through this very gap; there are the marks of our feet plain enough."

"And the marks of a good many other feet too," observed Terence,
examining the ground. "I am very much afraid that the boats have been
run away with by the pirates; but what can have become of our poor
shipmates, I cannot think."

His men agreed with him in the opinion that the pirates must have made
off with the boats; and, after searching about in every direction for
the poor fellows who had been left in charge of them, they returned to
the fort with the unsatisfactory news. All hands had, in the meantime,
grown ravenously hungry. The old women could not, or would not, give
them any food. At all events, they turned a deaf ear to all their hints
and signs that it would be acceptable. Some very black dry bread was
discovered, and also some fowls, but no eggs were to be seen; and fowls,
Mr Hemming was afraid, would be looked upon as private property. What
was to be done? The provisions from the boats would soon arrive, and
then they might lawfully satisfy their ap