mighty sort, full
of overgrown notions of the company's authority."

Another jet of white smoke puffed out from the side of the ship,
followed in a few seconds by another dull _bang_.

"We'll stand by our colors in any case," remarked Capt. Mazard,
attaching our flag to the signal halliards.

Raed and Kit ran to hoist it. Up it went to the peak of the
bright-yellow mast,--the bonny bright stars and stripes.

"All hands weigh anchor!" ordered Capt. Mazard.

"Load the howitzer!" cried Kit. "Let's answer their gun in coin!"

While we were loading, the schooner was brought round.

Wade must have got in a pretty heavy charge; for the report was a
stunner.

"Load again," said Kit; "and put in a ball this time. Let's load the
rifle too."

The captain turned and regarded us doubtfully, then looked off toward
the ship. "The Curlew" was driving lazily forward, and, crossing the
channel between the island under which we had been lying and the
ice-field, passed slowly along the latter at a distance of a hundred
and fifty or two hundred yards. We thus had the ice-island between us
and the possibly hostile ship. With our glasses we now watched her
movements attentively. A number of officers were on the quarter-deck.

"You don't call that a ship-of-war?" Wade said at length.

"Oh, no!" replied the captain; "though it is probably an armed ship.
All the company's ships go armed, I've heard."

"There!" exclaimed Kit. "They're letting down a boat!"

"That's so!" cried Wade. "They're going to pay us a visit sure!"

"They probably don't want to trust their heavy-laden ship up here
among the islands," said the captain.

"It's their long-boat, I think," said Kit. "One, two, three, four,
five!--why, there are not less than fifteen or twenty men in it! And
_see there!_--weapons!"

As the boat pulled away from the side, the sun flashed brightly from a
dozen gleaming blades.

"Cutlasses!" exclaimed Raed, turning a little pale.

I am ready to confess, that, for a moment, I felt as weak as a rag.
The vengeful gleam of the light on hostile steel is apt, I think, to
give one such a feeling the first time he sees it. The captain stood
leaning on the rail, with the glass to his eye, evidently at his wits'
end, and in no little trepidation. Very likely at that moment he
wished our expedition had gone to Jericho before he had undertaken it.
Raed, I think, was the first to rally his courage. I presume he had
thought more on the sub