ave none, and we had better give up the business."

"You're saying that to save us, sir, but we don't want to be saved the
trouble. We want to get that schooner back, and serve out the rough
'uns who half killed all on us. And what's more, me and my mates liked
the taste o' the prize-money we had got to our mouths afore it were
snatched away, so we want to get it back again. That's so, ain't it,
lads?"

"Ay, ay," was whispered so deeply that it hardly reached Mark's ears;
but there was a fierce earnestness in it that told how strong was the
determination on the part of the men to try and wipe out the past
night's disgrace, while, just as he thought this, by a strange
coincidence, Tom Fillot whispered,--

"We must take her, sir. You can't go back and meet the skipper without
the schooner."

The most cunningly contrived advice could not have affected Mark more
powerfully. His heart beat rapidly, and, carried away now by the
contagious enthusiasm of the men, he said,--

"Right; then we will take her."

A low humming buzz went up at this, and Mark went on,--

"We shall wait till everything is quite still on board, and then let the
boat drift alongside. Dance will hold on with the hook; we shall board
her and take them by surprise as they did us, unless their watch is
sharper than ours."

"You trust us, sir. We'll have her," whispered Tom Fillot. "We must."

"Then, now--silence. We must wait for a time, the later the better.
When I give the word, Tom Fillot will let the boat drift, two men will
give a few dips with oars, and I shall steer her alongside; then Dance
will hook on. You will all follow me--"

"And the schooner's ours once more."

"If it is the schooner," said Mark, dubiously.

"If she ain't, she's a slaver, sir," replied Tom Fillot, "and that's
enough for we."

They waited in the silence and darkness, listening intently for every
sound, but very little was heard from the vessel. Once there were
footsteps, and later on they made out a glow of light upon the water,
which they judged rightly to be the reflection from the cabin windows,
which of course was farthest from them, the vessel being moored from the
stem.

Then they sat listening to the rippling of the swiftly-running water,
and the peculiarly weird cries and other sounds which came from the
shore, terribly suggestive of prowling beasts seeking their nightly
food.

It must have been getting toward two bells when Mark, who had b