g over into my ship
all the powder you have aboard. As soon as we are fast alongside I shall
be pleased to entertain you in the cabin."

The sails were run down on both sloops and their hulls were quickly
lashed together with ropes. Herriot superintended the operation of
transferring a half-dozen kegs of powder, some casks of wine and the
best food in the coaster's larder to the hold of the black schooner. The
cargo of the _Francis_ was a varied one, but not by any means a poor
prize. She carried some grain in bags forward, a great number of bolts
of cloth, chiefly woollens, and other things of divers sorts, including
some fine mahogany chairs and tables newly brought from England. The
wine was merely incidental, but proved very acceptable to the
ever-thirsty buccaneers.

That night, with the nine men of the _Francis's_ crew lying in irons on
the ballast, they drank deep to their victory, and once more Jeremy and
Bob fell asleep to the rough half-harmony of their bellowings.

CHAPTER XVII

A stiff easterly breeze whitened the gray seas next morning. It was
cloudy and seemed to be getting ready for a blow. The pirate and her
prize had drifted all night, bound together, and as day broke a tipsy
lookout spied land to the westward. Herriot came on deck hastily at the
call and himself went to the rail to heave the lead. The soundings
showed a bare four fathoms of water. Bonnet was summoned and the crew,
hardly recovered from their orgy, staggered about the deck preparing to
get under way again. Seven men, under Dunkin, were told off to man the
_Francis._ A dozen others were needed to plug her shot-holes before she
was really seaworthy. This task being finally accomplished, the ropes
were taken off, the sails run up and the two sloops, closehauled to
starboard, set about beating off shore.

It was a terrible day for Jeremy and Bob. In the crew there was the
regular fighting, swearing and vomiting that always followed a night of
carousal. The fact that they were short-handed made the work harder and
the grumbling louder than ever. The bow of the _Royal James_ was partly
shot away above the bits, and there was a full day's work for every hand
that could be spared rigging canvas over the gap to prevent its taking
in water in case of a storm. Meanwhile the fo'c's'le was in as filthy a
state as could well be imagined. Herriot thrust his head down the hatch
once during the morning and as he caught the sickening stench