pidly took a turn with the painter round
the foremost channel-iron, and in another moment stood alongside my
superior officer in the schooner's main-chains.

Placing our heads close to the dead-eyes of the rigging, so as to expose
ourselves as little as possible, we waited patiently for another flash
of lightning--Smellie looking aft and I looking forward, by hastily-
whispered agreement. Presently the flash came.

"Did you catch sight of the look-out?" whispered Smellie to me.

"No, sir," I whispered back; "did you?"

"No; but I noticed that the skylight and companion are both closed and
the slide drawn over--probably to exclude the rain. I fancy most of the
people must have turned in."

"Very probably," I acquiesced; "there is not much to tempt them to
remain out of their bunks on such a night as this."

"True," remarked Smellie, still in the most cautious of whispers. "I
feel more than half-inclined to climb inboard and make a tour of the
decks."

"All right, sir!" I agreed. "Let us slip off our shoes and get on
board at once. You take the starboard side of the deck; I'll take the
port side. We can meet again on the forecastle."

"Agreed," was the reply; and slipping off our shoes forthwith we waited
for another flash of lightning, and then, in the succeeding darkness,
scrambled noiselessly in on deck and proceeded on our tour of
investigation.

On reaching the schooner's deck we separated, and I made it my first
business to carefully examine the skylight and companion. In the
profound darkness it was quite impossible to _see_ anything; but by
careful manipulation I soon ascertained that the former was shut down,
and that the doors of the latter were closed and the slide drawn over
within about six inches, as Smellie had said. It must have been
frightfully hot down in the cabin, but the officers apparently preferred
that to having a deluge of rain beating down below. The cabin was dimly
lighted by a swinging lamp turned down very low; but I could see no one,
nor was there any sound of movement down there--at which I was
considerably surprised, because if the schooner really belonged to Senor
Madera, as I had supposed, one would have expected to find one or two
persons at least on the alert in attendance upon the wounded man.

Having learned all that it was possible to learn in this quarter, I next
proceeded aft as far as the taffrail, where I found the deck encumbered
on both sides by two big co