hey answered that
they knew him well, and that he would take care that they got into no
mischief.

The wind heading us, we had to stand in-shore, so as to beat up towards
Kingston. There was a little sea on, but not enough to prevent our
observing objects some way below the surface. Peter and I were looking
over the side--one of the other men being at the helm--when we noticed a
dark pointed object floating alongside; another came up near it.
Looking down, we with a shudder discovered the long tapering bodies of
two sharks swimming just on our quarter. Nothing is so hateful to a
sailor, even when he has a sound plank under his feet, as a sight of
those tigers of the deep. Happening shortly after to go over to the
other side, and glancing my eye over the bulwarks, with almost a thrill
of horror I saw two others precisely in the same relative position. At
first I thought they must be the same, but going back to the other side,
there were those first seen just as they had been before.

"I don't like the look of those brutes," said Peter. "I am not
superstitious, but I never have seen sharks swimming along as those are
but what some mischief or other has happened--a man has fallen
overboard, or something of that sort!"

I, as may be supposed, shared fully in Peter's feelings, and set to work
wondering what the harm would be.

I had not long to wait. The schooner had tacked, and was laying pretty
well along-shore, with her head off it, and about a mile distant. One
of the pirates, with drunken gravity, had insisted that he was not going
to be idle, and that he would tend the fore-sheet. The state of things
on board had made the captain doubly anxious to get in before night, and
we were, therefore, carrying on perhaps even more sail than the little
craft could well bear. We were taking the water in well over our bows;
but that seemed in no way to inconvenience the hardy pirates, as they
sat on the deck at their levels. I will not attempt to paint the
picture presented by the pirates. The horrid oaths and blasphemy, the
obscene songs, the shouts of maniac laughter, may be better imagined
than described.

Peter and I and the other men had gone aft, where was also the captain,
while Mr Gale stood at the helm. The sun was perhaps an hour above the
horizon. Frequently the captain had turned his eyes in the direction of
Kingston Harbour. A sail was seen standing out of the harbour, steering
towards us, for the