ceased. It was too probable that Needham
had been cut off, and he and his boat's crew destroyed.

Still Jack and Terence, though they might be exposed to a similar
danger, felt it was their duty to go on and ascertain the fact. Jack
was standing up in the sternsheets, so that he might obtain as far a
view as possible up the river, when he caught sight of a boat in the
distance.

On she came towards them.

"Hurrah! that must be Needham," he said.

"No doubt about it," answered Terence.

In a short time Needham's boat reached them. The splintered oars, and
the white marks along the gunwales and sides, showed the danger to which
they had been exposed; though of all her crew, only two had been
wounded. Needham said that he had pulled on, not meeting with a human
being, and had begun to doubt that the schooner had gone up the channel,
when he suddenly saw her, her sails furled, and close in with the shore,
apparently being towed, either by men or horses, along the bank. He had
gone on some little way further to ascertain this, when several shots
were fired at him, and as there was no object to gain by going farther,
he had pulled round and began to make the best of his way down the
river. Immediately he did so, a whole volley was fired at him from one
side, and directly after a second came peppering him from the other. He
now discovered that he had been caught in an ambush, but as yet, no one
having been killed, he hoped to get out of it. The men at the oars
pulled away lustily, while the others returned the fire, and, as they
believed, knocked over several fellows who incautiously showed
themselves. After running the gauntlet for five or six minutes, they
got out of range of the enemy's muskets, and had since been unmolested,
neither had they seen any one on the banks. Jack and Terence were
unwilling to lose the chase, now that she appeared almost within their
grasp, and yet they felt that it would be imprudent to expose their men
and themselves to the fire of the numerous enemies posted under cover.

"It will not do to give her up, though!" exclaimed Terence; "let us ask
Needham what he thinks." Jack put the question.

"Well, sir, to my mind, we may have her, and yet run no risk," was the
answer. "I know the way up the river, and it's not likely that she has
got very far from where I saw her. Now, if we wait till dark, we may
pull up with muffled oars, and as I do not think the enemy will expect
us, we