ue, as the men pulled lustily at
their oars, making the water flash and the distance grow shorter. Then
all at once my companion said shortly--

"Pirates."

"Where, where?" I said eagerly, and my hand went to my dirk.

Mr Brooke laughed, and I saw all the men showing their teeth.

"No, no, my lad," he said. "I meant this was the work of pirates."

"How do you know, sir?"

"Look at those ropes and sheets hanging loose. They have been cut. The
barque has not been in a storm either. She has just gone on to the
rocks and the fore-topmast evidently snapped with the shock."

"And the smoke? Is that from the forecastle?"

He shook his head, and stood up in the boat, after handing me the lines,
while he remained scanning the vessel attentively.

"Hail her, Jones," he said to the bowman; and the man jumped up, put his
hands to his mouth, and roared out, "_Ship ahoy_!"

This again and again, but all was silent; and a curious feeling of awe
crept over me as I gazed at the barque lying there on the reef as if it
were dead, while the column of smoke, which now looked much bigger,
twisted and writhed as it rolled over and over up from just abaft the
broken foremast.

"Steady," cried the lieutenant; "the water's getting shoal. Keep a good
look-out forward, Jones."

For all at once the water in front of us, from being smooth and oily,
suddenly became agitated, and I saw that we had startled and were
driving before us a shoal of good-sized fish, some of which, in their
eagerness to escape, sprang out of the water and fell back with a
splash.

"Plenty yet, sir," said the man in the bows, standing up now with the
boat-hook. "Good fathom under us."

"Right. Steady, my lads."

We were only about a hundred yards from the barque now, and the water
deepened again, showing that we had been crossing a reef; but the bottom
was still visible, as I glanced once over the side, but only for a
moment, for there was a peculiar saddening attraction about the silent
ship, and I don't know how it was, but I felt as if I was going to see
something dreadful.

Under the lieutenant's directions, I steered the boat so that we glided
round to the other side, passing under the stern, and then ran
alongside, with the bulwarks hanging over towards us, and made out that
the vessel had evidently been in fairly deep water close by, and had
been run on to the rocks where two reefs met and closed-in a deep
channel.

How are we going to