thinking, Cap'n; and there may be fine pickings aboard
of her--if her don't turn and run so soon's she sees us."

"She'll not do that, Master Bascomb; she be a bigger ship nor we.
Besides, how's she to know we baint a Spaniard like herself, if we don't
tell her. We'll clear the decks and make all ready before we show our
flag, gentles; and see what comes of it. Let the mariners get to work
at once, Mr Bascomb."

The excitement aroused by the appearance of land on the horizon, after
so many weary weeks of gazing upon sea and sky only, was intensified
tenfold when the strange sail--the first they had seen since leaving the
Azores--was discovered; and when it was further understood that the
chances were in favour of her proving to be a Spaniard, the preparations
for a possible fight were entered upon with the utmost eagerness and
alacrity. Fortunately, there was not very much that needed to be done;
for Marshall, rendered wise by past experience, had consistently made a
point of always having the decks kept clear of unnecessary lumber of
every kind; but the bulwarks were strengthened and raised, for the
purpose of affording the crew as much protection as possible from the
enemy's musketry fire; the lower yards were fitted with chain slings, so
that the risk of their being shot away, and the ship thus disabled at a
critical moment, might be minimised as much as possible; parties of
musketrymen were sent aloft into the round tops, with instructions to
hamper the enemy as much as possible by their fire, especially by
picking off the helmsman and the officers; the powder room was opened,
and ammunition sent on deck for the culverins, sakers, and swivels, all
of which were loaded; and the men, having armed themselves with cutlass,
pistol, bow, and pike, stripped to their waists, bound handkerchiefs
round their heads, and took up their several stations by the guns, or at
the halliards and sheets. Marshall took command of the ship as a whole;
while Lumley and Winter, his lieutenants, assumed charge of the poop and
forecastle respectively, Bascomb, the master, taking charge of the main
deck. Stukely, with his knives, saws, and bandages, established himself
in the cockpit; and Dick Chichester, who had contrived to gain the
reputation of being the best helmsman in the ship, was ordered to the
tiller.

Meanwhile, the strange ship, having cleared the land, revealed herself
as a craft of probably quite a hundred tons bigger than