we should find the little craft
cramped and her sailing powers completely spoiled. There was one
comfort, however, the rigging was all new; and we trusted that a few
hours at sea would stretch it sufficiently to restore in some measure
the spring and play of her spars; but the heavy top-hamper with which
she was burdened was an evil which could only be cured in one way; and I
resolved that it _should_ be cured as soon as we got out of harbour, if
I could bring O'Flaherty to my way of thinking.

Our inspection completed, we pulled ashore to the dockyard, where
O'Flaherty made out and handed in his requisition for such further
stores as we considered would be necessary; and from thence we wended
our way to the gun wharf, where arrangements were made for the
substitution of six brass long sixes in place of the nine-pound
carronades with which it had been proposed to arm the little hooker.
These, with the long eighteen which was already mounted on a pivot on
the forecastle, would, we considered, make us as fit to cope with the
pirates as we could hope to be in so small a craft. The guns came
alongside and were hoisted in that same afternoon; and the following day
witnessed the completion of our preparations for sea, including the
shipping of our ammunition and the filling up of our water-tanks,
etcetera. O'Flaherty was able to report himself ready for sea late that
afternoon, upon which all three of us were invited on board the _Mars_
to dine with the admiral. The captain of the _Emerald_ frigate, which
had arrived the previous day, and his son, a midshipman belonging to the
same ship, were also among the guests; and, in the latter, I thought I
recognised the young gentleman who had amused himself by popping away at
me with a musket during the pursuit of the _Pinta_ through the Boca de
Guajaba. I was not quite certain about the matter at first; but the
conversation which ensued upon the admiral making mention of the
_Foam's_ destination and mission soon convinced me that I was correct in
my surmise. The _Emerald_, it then turned out, was the identical
frigate from which we had so narrowly escaped; and Captain Fanshawe at
once waxed eloquent upon the unparalleled audacity and effrontery of the
Cuban pirates, and the urgent necessity for their prompt suppression,
instancing the escape of the _Pinta_ as a case in point. His son, too,
as one of the actual participators in the pursuit, had a great deal to
say upon the su