on of the brigantine we should have gained nothing by it."

"We might burn her, sir."

"Yes, we might, and run the risk of being hung for it. We might
take her into Port au Prince, but we have no absolute evidence
against her. We could not swear that we had positive knowledge that
Miss Greendale was on board, and certain as I am that the female
figures I made out on the deck were she and her maid, they were
very much too far away to recognise them, and the skipper might
swear that they were two negresses to whom he was giving a passage.

"Moreover, if I took the brigantine I should only cut off Carthew's
escape in that direction. His power over Miss Greendale would be
just as great, if he had her up among those mountains among the
blacks, as it was when he had her on board. I can see that I have
made a horrible mess of the whole business, and that is the only
thing that I can see. Yesterday I thought it was the best thing to
start on a direct chase, as it seemed absolutely certain to me that
we should overhaul and capture her. Now I see that it was the worst
thing I could have done, and that I ought to have waited until I
could take her in the bay."

"But you see, Major," said George Lechmere, who was standing by,
"if we had gone on searching with the boat, before we had made an
examination of the whole bay, there would be no knowing where she
had gone, and it might have been months before we could have got
fairly on her track again."

"No, we acted for the best; but things have turned out badly, and I
feel more hopelessly at sea, as to what we had better do next, than
I have done since the day I got to Ostend. At any rate, there is
nothing to be done until we have got a fair sight of the
brigantine."

It seemed, to all on board, that the Osprey had never sailed so
sluggishly as she did for the next hour and a half. As they
expected, no craft was to be seen on the waters of the bay as they
rounded the point, but Dominique and the other pilot had been
closely questioned, and both asserted that at the upper end of the
bay there was a branch that curved round "like dat, sar," the
latter said, half closing his little finger.

Progress up the bay was so slow that the boats were lowered, and
the yacht was towed to the mouth of the curved branch. Here they
were completely landlocked, and the breeze died away altogether.

"How long is this bend, Jake?" Frank asked the second pilot in
French.

"Two miles, sir; perha