I heard Mr Pottle ask
you to call me."

"Yes, sir," said the lad. "He says he has seen something like the flash
of firearms down in the southern quarter, and the lookout also has
reported it."

"All right," said I. "I will be up in a moment."

And turning up the cabin lamp for an instant to take a look at the
barometer, which I found to be steady, I stumbled up the companion-
ladder, and, blinking like an owl in daylight, made my way out on deck.

"Whew!" I exclaimed, "this _is_ darkness, indeed. Where are you, Mr
Pottle?"

"Here I am, sir," answered the quarter-master; and turning in the
direction of his voice I saw a tiny glowing spark which proved to be the
ignited end of a cigar which he had between his teeth.

"Now," said I, as I groped my way to his side, "whereaway was this
flashing appearance which you say you saw?"

"Just about in that direction, sir," was the reply; "or stay--we may
have swung a bit since I saw it," and he walked aft and carefully raised
a jacket which he had thrown over the lighted binnacle. "No," he
continued, "that's where it was, just sou'-sou'-west, for I took the
bearing of it when I saw it the third time; and I thought that, in case
of anything being wrong, it wouldn't be amiss to mask the binnacle
light."

"Quite right," said I, peering first at the compass card and then away
into the opaque darkness which prevented our seeing even the surface of
the water alongside. It was manifestly hopeless to think of seeing
anything through such impenetrable obscurity as that which surrounded
us; and I was just wondering what steps to take, under the
circumstances, peering meanwhile in the direction indicated by Pottle,
when I caught a momentary glimpse of a tiny spark-like flash--which the
ejaculations of my comrades told me they also had observed--and in
another instant a glare of ghastly blue-white radiance streamed out over
the sea and revealed to us two vessels alongside each other, the canvas
of the one--a large lumbering full-rigged ship, gleaming spectrally in
the light of the port-fire, whilst the sails of the other--a brigantine,
which happened to be on the side next us--stood out black as ebony
against the light. They were about two miles off; and even at that
distance we could see with the naked eye that a struggle of some sort
was going forward on the decks of the larger of the two craft. The
nature of the affair was apparent in a moment to every one of us. The
bi