Flag?"

"Why, no; it's the Caribbee. How on earth came you here?"

"I supposed it was the yacht--my father's yacht," gasped the poor girl,
overwhelmed when she realized that she had fallen into a snare set by
her former enemy.

"That's too bad; but I didn't know nothing at all about it. Waldock"--she
called her husband by his full given name--"Waldock is up to some awful
trick."

It was a consolation to know that the woman was not a party to her
husband's wicked scheme. Bessie explained how she had been entrapped;
but Mrs. Vincent declared that she did not even know the vessel was to
sail that night. She had retired with her two children at nine o'clock,
and got up when she felt the motion of the vessel under way.

"Where is she going?" asked Bessie, wiping away the tears that dimmed
her eyes.

"We are all going to Australia."

"Where is your husband?" demanded Bessie, with a shudder.

"I'm sure I don't know. He went off to New York; but of course we are
not going to Australia without him."

While they were talking, Mat Mogmore came into the cabin, and lighted a
lamp.

"Mat, what does all this mean?" said Mrs. Vincent, sharply.

"We have carried the thing out just as Captain Vincent told us to do,"
replied Mat.

"What did he tell you to do?"

"He left us to get Miss Watson on board. We haven't had a chance to do
so before, though we have been watching three or four days for one."

"Why did you wish to get me on board?" inquired Bessie, trembling in
every fibre of her frame.

"O, you needn't be frightened, Miss Watson. You are not to be hurt, and
you are to be treated as well as if you were on board of the yacht.
Three years ago your father and Levi sent Captain Vincent to the state
prison. He didn't forget it, and he is going to carry out the plan he
began upon then."

"Am I to be carried to Australia?" asked Bessie.

"That depends on your father. If he pays the money Captain Vincent
asks, we shall send you back. Your father and Levi served the captain a
mean trick, and he always said he would get even with them; and I think
he will now."

"But how came you in this vessel, Mat?" asked Bessie.

"I went into the yacht for the sole purpose of doing the little job I
finished up to-night," answered Mat, with a sneaking smile.

"O, what a wretch!" exclaimed Bessie.

"A wretch? Well, perhaps I am; but it pays better than going before the
mast in the yacht. Captain Vincent has your father this time