ink is the
_Venus_?" he asked.

"The centre one of those three vessels in the north-east, sir," answered
Needham promptly. "No doubt about that; I know her by the whiteness of
her canvas. She must have had a pretty tidy breeze to get out so far
while we lay becalmed."

"You are right," said Jack. "That is the one I take to be the _Venus_."

"So do I," observed Bevan. "Hurrah! here comes a breeze. We shall soon
have the pleasure of making her better acquaintance, I hope!"

The boats were hoisted up, and every stitch of sail the brig could carry
was packed on her. The breeze freshened, and away she flew over the
blue ocean, leaving the white walls of the Moro far astern.

The question was whether the slaver would run for the Gulf of Florida,
or attempt to make her way through the Bahama Channel.

"We must try, at all events, to get hold of her before nightfall,"
observed Jack, "or she will be playing us another trick, and give us the
go-bye in the dark."

"We'll try and do that same, sir," said Needham; "if the wind holds with
us as it does now, it won't be a difficult job. She doesn't seem to
have much of it out there, and we are getting up fast with her."

The _Supplejack_, indeed, was gaining rapidly on the schooner, but the
treacherous wind soon gave indications of not being inclined to favour
the British brig. Dark clouds gathering in the sky came sweeping
rapidly over it.

"All hands, shorten sail," shouted Jack, with startling energy; "be
smart about it, lads."

Every one saw that not a moment was to be lost. Royals and
topgallant-sails were handed, two reefs taken in the topsails, the
courses were clewed up, not an instant too soon, either--for over heeled
the brig till the sills of her lee ports dipped into the water. One of
those tornados, so frequent in the West Indies, had struck her, though
on coming up to the wind she faced it bravely. Down came the rain, a
real tropical torrent, the drops as they fell being of the size of
marbles, leaping up again with a loud rattle, like that of hail, and
literally deluging the deck.

In vain the sharpest eyes of those on the lookout endeavoured to pierce
the watery veil. The rain completely hid the slaver and all the
surrounding vessels. It was feared that she, taking advantage of the
chance offered her, would do her best to escape. The question was, in
what direction would she fly? She would have a clear passage through
the Gulf of Florida, b