e. "Do you suppose
Captain Scott knows about that twelve-pounder?"

"He appears to be very busy; and I doubt if he has looked at the enemy
since he went into the pilot-house," replied Louis. "I think I had
better tell him that Mazagan spoke the truth about his guns."

The young men might well have been excused if they had been intimidated
at the situation as it was now presented to them. That the Maud was to
be the mark for the cannon of the enemy looked like a settled fact; but
no one seemed to be at all excited or nervous. It is true that all of
them had been in several fights. They had fought the fishermen in the
Canaries, the smugglers at Gibraltar, the Greek pirates in the
Archipelago, and the brigands at Zante. They had had some experience of
danger, but they had never come into the presence of great guns before.
They were to face these on the present occasion; at least, they were
prepared to do so.

Before Louis could reach the pilot-house, he saw the captain standing at
the wheel, and heard one bell in the engine-room on the gong. It was
evident that he was ready to carry out his plan, whatever it was; for he
was not expected to announce it. Felix observed the Fatime and her
twelve-pounder, whistling, "Just before the Battle, Mother."

CHAPTER XI

AN EXPEDIENT TO ESCAPE THE ENEMY

Captain Scott had directed Morris to heave up the anchor before he
buried himself in his study of the chart in the pilot-house, and to do
it in such a manner as not to attract the attention of the Fatime's
people. It was not a very heavy anchor that was required for a craft of
the size of the Maud, and it had been done very easily and quietly.

Louis went into the pilot-house, where the captain was behind the wheel
by this time. He was gazing intently at the conic rock which rose from
the water a cable's length ahead of him, off a point on the main shore.
When he brought the little steamer in to her anchorage in the morning,
the lead had been kept going all the time, and he had noted the
soundings on the log-slate at his side. It was now dead low tide, and
the last sounding had given fifteen feet.

"I suppose you have noticed a change in the appearance of the Fatime,
Captain Scott," said Louis, as he took his place opposite him.

"What change? I haven't glanced at her. I don't like the looks of her,
for she stirs up bad blood in me. I have been trying to be a saint like
you, Louis, and it is the most difficult enterpr