ch Jack instantly recognised as that of Paddy Adair, whose skull he
had been endeavouring so hard to split.

"Oh! Paddy, is that you?" cried Jack. "Well, I'm so glad that I didn't
hurt you. But I say, old fellow, if you are not a pirate, where are the
rascals? Let's go and find them out."

"Hillo! what's all this about?" sang out Mr Thorn. "Why, Hemming, is
that you? I thought you were pirates."

"I paid you the same compliment, sir," answered the old mate, with a
slight touch of irony in his tone, for Mr Thorn had just shot off the
rim of his cap. "You very nearly spoilt my beauty by mistake."

"I am very sorry for that, Hemming," answered the lieutenant coolly;
"but I wonder where the fellows have got to. We must rout them out."

Fortunately, the most serious injury inflicted was to Hemming's cap,
and, as Paddy afterwards declared (not very correctly, as they had found
no one to conquer), the victorious party hurried off in search of fresh
enemies. They soon came to the door of a large building; it was bolted
and barred. "The pirates are inside here, my lads, there can be no
doubt of it," shouted Mr Thorn. They soon found a spar, a brig's
topmast. The heel made a capital battering-ram, and with a cheery "Yeo,
ho, ho!" the seamen gave many a heavy blow against the oaken door. It
cracked and cracked and groaned, and at length, with a loud bang, burst
open. "Stand by, my lads, to cut down the fellows as they rush out,"
cried Lieutenant Thorn; but as the pirates did not come out, the
sailors, following their officers, cutlass in hand, rushed in. They
found themselves in a large hall; they looked about for the ferocious
pirates armed to the teeth, and resolved with the last drop of their
blood to defend their hearths and homes. Loud shrieks and cries,
however, assailed the ears of the seamen, and by the glare of a brazier
of burning coals in the middle of the apartment they beheld three old
women. Their appearance was not attractive; they were very thin and
parchment-like, and dark; but they might have been very good old bodies
for all that. They had, distaff in hand, been sitting, spinning, and
talking over affairs in general, if not those of their neighbours, when
they had been aroused by the unwelcome sounds of the battering-ram.
While the door resisted its efforts they had prudently kept quiet, but
when it gave way, they expressed their very natural fears by the sounds
which had reached the seamen