ign as large as her mainroyal. Captain Swarth
lazily hoisted the English flag to the bark's gaff, and, as the brig
rounded to on his weather beam, he pointed to it; but his dark eyes
sparkled enviously as he viewed the craft whose government's protection
he appealed to.

"Bark ahoy!" came a voice through a trumpet. "What bark is that?"

Captain Swarth swung himself into the mizzen-rigging and answered
through his hands with an excellent cockney accent: "_Tryde Wind_
o' Lunnon, Cappen Quirk, fifty-one dyes out fro' Liverpool, bound to
Callao, gen'ral cargo."

"You were not heading for the Horn."

"Hi'm a-leakin' badly. Hi'm a-goin' to myke the coast to careen. D'ye
happen to know a good place?"

An officer left the group and returned with what Captain Swarth knew
was a chart, which a few of them studied, while their captain hailed
again:

"See anything more of that pirate brig the other day?"

"What! a pirate? Be 'e a pirate?" answered Captain Swarth, in agitated
tones. "Be that you a-chasin' of 'im? Nao, hi seed nothink of 'im arter
the fog shut 'im out."

The captain conferred with his officers a moment, then called:

"We are going in to careen ourselves. That fellow struck us on the
water-line. We are homeward bound, and Rio's too far to run back.
Follow us in; but if you lose sight of us, it's a small bay, latitude
nine fifty-one forty south, rocks to the north, lowland to the south,
good water at the entrance, and a fine beach. Look out for the brig.
It's Swarth and his gang. Good morning."

"Aye, that hi will. Thank ye. Good marnin'."

In three hours the brig was a speck under the rising land ahead; in
another, she was out of sight; but before this Captain Swarth and his
crew had held a long conference, which resulted in sail being
shortened, though the man at the wheel was given a straight course to
the bay described by the English captain.

Late on the following afternoon the old bark blundered into this bay--a
rippling sheet of water, bag-shaped, and bordered on all sides by a
sandy beach. Stretching up to the mountainous country was a luxurious
forest of palm, laurel, and cactus, bound and intertwined by almost
impassable undergrowth, and about half-way from the entrance to the end
of the bay was the English brig, moored and slightly careened on the
inshore beach. Captain Swarth's seamanly eye noted certain appearances
of the tackles that held her down, which told him that the work was
done and