matter.

Two miles had thus to be travelled, every instant expecting discovery;
for it was scarcely to be supposed that the pirates, after their late
deeds, would not be on their guard against an attack. Now Fleetwood
halted and listened, now he had literally to feel his way with the point
of his sword, lest he should have inadvertently gone too close to the
edge of the cliff, and in this manner upwards of an hour had passed
away, slowly, indeed, to those eager to know the result. At length,
with a beating heart, he stood on the causeway, while a tower, the one
in which he believed Ada was to be found, was faintly perceptible,
rising, like some tall spectre, in the gloom before him. A light for an
instant glimmered through a casement of the story in which she resided--
it was to him the beacon of his hopes, and served to confirm him in the
belief that he had reached the approach to the castle, of which,
otherwise, he was somewhat uncertain.

"Shall I let off the rocket, sir?" whispered Tommy Small, who had kept
close to him all the time, ready to support him had he stumbled. They
were the first words which had been spoken since the heights had been
gained.

"Not till the enemy discovers us," answered his captain--"then fire."

He had been careful not to halt his men; for he had often observed, that
while the actual tread, from breaking gradually on the ear, might not be
noticed, the stop and the fresh start were nearly always heard. On a
sudden, however, he met with an impediment he had not expected--a high
embankment ran directly across the causeway, with a ditch before it. To
slip down the side of the ditch, and to climb the opposite bank, was, to
seamen, the work of a moment, and, without being discovered, the first
few stood on the summit. Some noise, however, scarcely to be heard, was
made, and as Captain Fleetwood, with Small on one side, closely followed
by the gallant old colonel, was on the point of leaping down into the
ramparts, they found themselves confronted by a number of the islanders,
who started up from between the guns, where they had been sleeping.

To fire the pistols was the first impulse of the pirates, and the flash
aroused their comrades, as well as showed them to their assailants, who
dashed down among them before they had time to unsheath their swords,
and cut them down without mercy.

"Now, Small, off with the rocket," exclaimed Captain Fleetwood, as their
first opponents were di