etermined tone,
seizing the halliards and hauling down the signal. The men threatened,
but as they had no arms, and we were firm, they did not attempt to
prevent us from carrying off the spar.

The ship approached, and as she passed along the coast so that we had a
broadside view of her, I had no longer any doubt that she was the
_Mignonne_. I observed that even the seamen, notwithstanding their
bravado, kept so far among the rocks, that unless the privateer's men
had been especially examining the shore there was not much probability
of our being discovered. We watched the vessel from the highest point
of ground we could reach, and we conjectured that she must have touched
at the other side of the island, concealed by an intervening ridge of
elevated land. "If we are careful we shall escape all molestation from
the privateer's men," I remarked, addressing the emigrants. "They are
not likely to come to our part of the island."

It was curious to observe the change which had come over O'Carroll. He
was no longer the bold and sagacious seaman, but an anxious, nervous,
timid man. At night I frequently heard him crying out in his sleep,
thinking that the dreaded La Roche was on him, and was about to carry
him on board the privateer. As we could not do without a fire to obtain
fresh water, we were compelled to light one, though we thus ran the
risk, should any of the privateer's men wander into the country, of
being discovered. Still that was a risk which must be run. It was
curious, also, to observe the humble way in which, after a few hours,
the seamen came to beg for a draught of the pure liquid. I was very
glad of this, as I saw that it would enable us to exert an influence
over them and to keep them in order. The wretched captain held out for
some time, but at last came, with parched lips and bloodshot eyes,
entreating even for a few drops of the precious fluid to cool the tip of
his tongue. It raised our pity to see how the wretched man suffered,
physically and mentally, and all the time without hope. In vain I urged
him to seek for mercy as a penitent. "Impossible! impossible!" he
exclaimed, with a wild laugh. "You do not know what I have done, what I
am doomed to do." And tearing himself away from me, he rushed off, and
was hid from sight among the rocks and bushes. Day after day passed by,
and we kept anxiously hoping that the privateer would take her
departure. It was suggested that if she came t