e
turned into their bunks but, upon the other hand, there is no
saying how long the captains will remain on shore.

"There is a heavy dew falling, and that will help to send the
sailors below. I should think an hour would be about the right
time. The Dons are not likely to be off again, before that. It is
some distance up the harbour to the landing place, and they would
hardly have taken the trouble to go ashore, unless they meant to
stay a couple of hours.

"What time is it now, Bob?"

Bob opened his watch case, and felt the hands.

"It is just a quarter past nine."

"Well, we will move at ten," Joe said.

The three-quarters of an hour passed very slowly, and Bob consulted
his watch several times, before the minute hand got to twelve.

"Ten o'clock," he said, at last.

The oars had not been got in, so the boat glided off again,
noiselessly, out through the entrance. There were lights burning at
the sterns of the two Spanish ships, as a guide to the boat coming
off and, when the boat had traversed half the distance, Joe ordered
the oars to be unmuffled, and they rowed straight for the barque.
There was no hail at their approach, but a man appeared at the top
of the ladder.

As the boat came alongside, ten of the men rose noiselessly from
the bottom of the boat, and followed the first mate up the ladder.
As he reached the top, Joe sprang on the Spanish sailor, and seized
him by the throat. The two sailors following thrust a gag into the
man's mouth, bound his arms, and laid him down.

This was effected without the slightest noise. The other sailors
had, by this time, clambered up from the boat and scattered over
the deck. A group of seven or eight Spaniards were seated on the
deck, forward; smoking by the light of a lantern, which hung above
the fo'castle. They did not notice the approach of the sailors,
with their naked feet; and the latter sprang upon them, threw them
down, bound, and gagged them, without a sound--save a few short
exclamations of surprise being uttered.

Illustration: They found the two Spanish mates playing at cards.

Three or four of the sailors now coiled a rope against the
fo'castle door, to prevent its being opened. In the meantime Joe,
with two men, entered the cabin aft, where they found the two
Spanish mates playing at cards. The sudden apparition of three men,
with drawn cutlasses, took them so completely by surprise that they
were captured without any attempt at resistance; a