eck, conscious
as they were that two of the crew had been sleeping within touch, while
for aught they knew others might be all around.

All notion now of the task being ridiculously easy was swept away, and
the two adventurous lads lay hardly daring to breathe for what seemed a
quarter of an hour, before a deep stertorous breathing told that the
danger was for the moment passed and the time for action come.

It was Fitz who this time set the example of beginning, and he did it by
thrusting softly with one foot till he could feel where Poole lay ready
to seize him by the ankle and give it a warm pressure which the lad took
to mean--Go on.

Raising himself a little, he began to creep aft once more, bearing to
his left towards where he believed the carriage and turn-table of the
great gun to be, and reaching them without further interruption, and so
easily that his task seemed to become once more simple in the extreme.

Reaching carefully out, he satisfied himself as to his position, took a
step upward, and found directly after that he was about the middle of
the gun, whose breech lay a little to the right and was reached with
ease.

"Oh, if I could only whisper to Poole," he thought. "Come on, quick,
old fellow, and then together we can get it to the side, drop it
overboard, and follow so quickly that we need only make one splash, for
it would be impossible to go back as we came."

"Yes, that will be the way," thought Fitz; "and our fellows will row
towards the splash at once, and pick us up. Why didn't I think to tell
them? Never mind. That's what they are sure to do."

Directly after he was running his hand along the pleasantly cool surface
of the gun; but he paused for a moment to listen, and begin to wonder in
the darkness why it was that Poole had not made some sign of being near.

He reached back, giving a sweep with his hand; but Poole was not there,
and he took a step forward to repeat the movement--still in vain.

"Oh, I am wasting time," thought Fitz, as he stepped back to his former
position. "He's waiting for me to reconnoitre and fetch him if I want
him."

In this spirit he felt the gun again, guiding himself by his hands to
its huge butt, his fingers coming in contact first with the sight and
then with the two massive ball-ended levers which turned the great
screw.

He could barely see at all, but his finger-tips told him that it was
just such a piece as they had on board the _Tonans_, but