n exertions. He had no notion, however, of giving in.

The schooner rapidly drifted away from the place where she upset, and
none of the canoes were following her. Jack grasped firm hold of the
keel of the vessel while he held his weapons in his hands ready for
action. Fortunately the blacks could only move on by following each
other. They shouted to him in fierce, rough tones, but what they said
he could not understand. He was not alarmed, but he held his pistol
very tight. The ruffian got close to him; Jack cocked and presented his
pistol: if it missed he had his cutlass ready. The negro smiled or
rather grinned. He thought the pistol would not go off. Jack pulled
the trigger; the negro fell over and over down the side of the vessel
into the water. He tried to swim and to regain his lost hold, but his
strength failed him, and, with a cry of disappointed rage, he sank under
the tide, a small circle of ruddy hue marking the spot where he had gone
down.

Jack had not, however, a moment to think about this; he had just time to
grasp his cutlass in his right-hand, before his enemy made a spring on
him. Jack was still only a boy, though a good stout one, but his nerves
were well strung and his muscles were strong. He swung his cutlass
round with all his might till the blade met the neck and shoulders of
the black, and over he went into the water, where he at once sank,
without even attempting to strike out for his life, indeed Jack's blow
had almost severed his head from his body. A very short time had been
occupied in this encounter; still the schooner had drifted down some
way, and neither the pirates nor their allies seemed inclined to follow
her. Notwithstanding this, Jack's position was far from a pleasant one.
If the vessel drifted on to either bank of the river, he would probably
be murdered, and if she continued in the stream, she would soon be among
the heavy breakers on the bar, where he would, in all probability, be
washed off and devoured by the sharks. With straining eyes he looked
out for Hemming's boat, but she was nowhere to be seen. He soon drifted
past the channel up which she had gone: not a sign of her could he
perceive.

On drifted the schooner. The channel must be very deep, he knew, or the
masts must have stuck in the bottom. Should this latter happen, he was
afraid that the current gathering round her would speedily wash him off
his hold. He felt very grave and sad, and though he