as--was piled upon the sandy beach,
close to the water's edge; and a second journey to the buildings then
followed. Three of these journeys in all were made, and at the
conclusion of the third the launch was hailed to run in and commence
taking in cargo. That the articles shipped were tolerably weighty was
evident from the fact that the boat repeatedly needed to be pushed
further and still further astern to keep her afloat, and from the
rapidity with which she settled down in the water. It was no very long
job to transfer the goods from beach to boat; after which the men who
had been doing the work scrambled on board and took their places, the
water reaching above their waists as they waded off to her. A shrill
signal whistle was then given from the boat; a lookout on the summit of
the hill answered it with a wave of the hand and then disappeared
through the door of the principal building. A pause of a minute or two
followed, when a little party of four, Courtenay being one of them,
emerged from the various buildings and set off down the hill. By the
time that they reached the launch thin wreaths of light bluish smoke
were seen issuing from the buildings they had just left; and by the time
the launch had arrived once more alongside the felucca the smoke had
assumed a darker hue, had increased in volume and density, and was seen
to be streaked here and there with flickering tongues of flame.

"Well," said I, as Courtenay clambered in over the low bulwarks of the
felucca, "you met with no resistance, I was glad to see, and you appear
to have taken pretty effectual measures for the destruction of the
hornets' nest yonder. Did you see no sign of anybody about there?"

"No sign whatever," was the reply. "We could see all over the place
from the top of the hill, and I do not believe there is a living
creature of any description on the island. If there is, it will be so
much the worse for them half an hour hence, about which time something
very like an earthquake will take place, for I have lighted a slow match
communicating with a magazine containing about three tons of powder in
bulk, to say nothing of perhaps a couple of thousand cartridges. The
buildings are all effectually fired, as you may see; and we have brought
off a boat-load of plunder which, from its weight, I judge must consist
largely of specie, the doubloons, doubtless, of which our friend Carera
discoursed so eloquently. Now what is the next thing to