guns round, and point them down into the cabin. I will train them
myself on the same spot just at the back of that seat. They might
come off and extinguish the fire, though I don't think they will;
but we will make sure by blowing a hole through her side under the
water line."

Five minutes were sufficient to make the preparations, and the
captain came up and reported that all was ready.

"I have heaped up all the bedding on the floor, sir, and poured
plenty of oil over it," he said.

"Very well, then, take two men aft, and begin there and work your
way forward, and finish with the fo'c'sle hammocks. You can begin
at once."

In a minute there was a glare of light through the stern cabin
skylight, while almost at the same moment a dense cloud of smoke
poured up the companion. Then the light shone up through the
bull's-eyes on deck of the other staterooms. Then the captain and
the two hands ran through the saloon forward. Frank went to the
fo'castle hatch, and stooping down saw the captain apply the fire
to a great heap of bedding.

"That will do, Hawkins," he said. "Come up at once with the men, or
you will be suffocated down there."

They ran up on deck, and a minute later a volume of flame burst out
through the hatch. Frank went to the guns, and lighting two matches
gave one to Hawkins.

"Now," he said, "both together."

The two reports were blended in one, and as the smoke cleared away
Frank could see, by the cabin lamp that was still burning, a spurt
of water shooting up from a ragged hole at the back of the sofa.
Fired at such a short distance, the bullets with which the guns
were crammed had struck like solid shot.

"Into the boats, men!" Frank shouted.

"Shall we take these chaps off with us, sir?" the captain said.
"They will be keepsakes."

"All right, Hawkins, in with them."

The tongue of fire leaping up from the forecastle, followed by the
discharge of the guns, had been the first intimation to those on
the Osprey of what had happened. Bertha and her maid ran up on deck
at the sound of the cannon.

"What is that?" the former asked, in alarm.

"It is all right, Miss Greendale," George Lechmere said, leaving
the side and coming up to her. "The Major has captured the
brigantine almost without fighting. There was only one pistol shot
fired. I did not hear a single clash of a sword, and the blacks on
board jumped straight into the water. I was just coming to call you
as you came up. The brigan