said Fitz sarcastically, "I can bear a good deal, but your
father goes too far."

"What do you mean?" asked Poole.

"He makes such a dreadful fuss over one, just for doing a trifling thing
like that. Almost too much to bear."

"Well, he didn't make much fuss over me," said Poole, in rather an
ill-used tone. "I felt as if we had done nothing, instead of disabling
a man-of-war.--Hullo! what does this mean?"

For just then the boat came swiftly round the bend, with the mate
sitting in the stern-sheets, the dinghy towed by its painter behind.

A shout from the man on the watch astern brought up the skipper and the
rest of the crew, including those who had been making up for their last
night's labours in their bunks, all expectant of some fresh news; and
they were not disappointed, nearly every one hearing it as the boat came
alongside and the mate spoke out to the captain on the deck.

"Found a way right up to the top of the cliff," he said, "and from there
I could regularly look down on the gunboat's deck."

"Well?" said the skipper sharply.

"No, ill--for them; she's completely fast ashore in the midst of a
regular wilderness of rocks that hardly peep above the surface; and as
far as I could make out with my spyglass, they are not likely to get off
again. They seem to know it too, for when I began to come down they had
got three boats manned on the other side, and I left them putting off as
if they were coming up here."

"Again?" said the skipper thoughtfully.

"Yes; to take it out of us, I suppose, for what we've done. How would
it be to turn the tables on them and make a counter attack?"

"Granting that we should win," said the skipper, "it would mean half our
men wounded; perhaps three or four dead. I can't afford that, Burgess."

"No," said the mate abruptly. "Better stop here and give them what they
seem to want. I think we can do that."

"Yes," said the skipper. "All aboard; and look sharp, Burgess. Let's
be as ready for them as we can. The fight will be more desperate this
time, I'm afraid."

"Not you," said the mate, with a chuckle, as he sprang on deck. "Well,
my lads, you did wonders last night. How did you like your job?"

"Not at all," cried Fitz, laughing. "It was too wet."

The mate smiled, and the next minute he was hard at work helping the
skipper to prepare to give the Spaniards a warm reception, taking it for
granted that it would not be long before they arrived, burning f