ells, though
they be of but four-inches diameter, are capable of inflicting serious
damage when they hit and explode.

The breeze, which at first came away as a mere breathing, gained
steadily in strength, until the yacht was sliding along at a six-knot
pace, and it would have been easy for us to have overtaken our audacious
attackers and sunk them out of hand. But I had my doubts as to whether
any of them would remain afloat long enough to get back to the small
hidden harbour from which they had emerged; while in any case it seemed
to me that the rascals had received so severe a punishment that it would
be long before they again attempted to attack a seemingly helpless ship.
I therefore allowed them to go their way without further molestation,
and, boarding the fore and main tacks, brought the ship to her course.
This done, I gave orders for the guns to be secured, the charges to be
drawn, the unused ammunition to be returned to the magazine, and the
small arms to the armourer, and the decks to be cleared up generally.

Meanwhile poor Kennedy's body had been carried forward and laid upon the
fore-hatch, covered over with a tarpaulin. Poor chap! I was sincerely
grieved at his loss, for he was both a first-rate seaman and a
thoroughly stanch messmate. And as, passing round the deck to satisfy
myself that all my orders had been satisfactorily executed, I paused for
a moment to gaze regretfully at the shrouded form under the tarpaulin, I
could not help wondering a little at the memory that he, the only
victim, should have been the one to have experienced a premonition,
practically amounting to certainty, not only of the encounter, but also,
as I now felt convinced, that it would prove fatal to him.

Having completed my inspection of the decks, and satisfied myself that
everything was all right, I called the boatswain aft to take temporary
charge, and then entered the drawing-room, intending to pass through it
to the door of Mrs Vansittart's cabin, to make my report. But on
entering the apartment I was surprised to find the lady seated there,
fully dressed, and evidently waiting with some impatience for news. As
I advanced she rose to her feet and held out her hand to me.

"Well, Walter," she exclaimed, "it is all over--the dreadful fighting, I
mean--and you are unhurt. Is it not so?" Then, as I briefly replied in
the affirmative, she continued: "But why are you looking so serious?
And why have you come to me ins