here you go I
will accompany you,' said Miss O'Regan.

"`But I hope that the colonel will not have to go anywhere,' exclaimed
Mr Rogers. `We must drive the fellows off if they attempt to board the
brig.'

"`I thank you for your zeal and courage, young gentlemen,' said the
colonel. `You see, Stella, that you have brave defenders. I wish you
to go below, and rest assured that we will do all that possibly can be
done to secure your safety.'

"`But I am thinking about your safety, father,' said Miss O'Regan.

"`I have been too often in danger to be anxious about that,' he
answered. `Go below, and we'll let you know as soon as possible what is
likely to happen.'

"Without saying another word the young lady did as the colonel told her.
I had been watching the men forward, and I soon saw by their looks that
there was no fighting in them; presently three or four of them slipped
below, the others, after saying a few more words to the skipper,
followed, and I then knew that they had made up their minds not to
fight; they had gone to put on their best clothes, and to stow their
money away in their pockets, guessing that if the Spaniards boarded us
they would to a certainty plunder the vessel.

"The skipper came aft, looking very downcast. `The men won't fight, and
we must make the best of a bad bargain,' he said to the colonel.
`There's no chance of a breeze, and see, the corvette and brig are
lowering their boats, and we shall have the fellows aboard us in a few
minutes.'

"The sloop lay becalmed close to us; her skipper, Captain Judson, came
aboard, and walked about the deck like a madman.

"`Those fellows will hang every mother's son of us!' he cried out,
pulling off his hat, and tearing away at his hair. `What a fool I was
to engage in this sort of work! Colonel O'Regan, can't you advise us
what we are to do?'

"`You knew the risk, and you and I must take the consequences,' answered
the colonel quite coolly. `I can only advise you to act like brave men,
whatever our enemies chance to do with us; don't let them have cause to
treat us with contempt.'

"As neither the young gentlemen nor I had more clothes than those on our
backs, we weren't troubled at what we should lose; but for the colonel
and the skipper and mates, it was a very different matter. They might
not only lose their property and the cargo, but their lives were in no
little danger, I guessed, from what I heard them say.

"The boats came towa