rince in time to prevent unloading of the _George
Washington_. To get her out and send her home with her cargo." He
paused. "We may be in time to overhaul and stop her; but if she has
arrived, to carry her out from under the guns of the fort is quite
another matter. 'To avoid the British cruisers.' Well, yes, we are only
in ballast,"--he looked up with pride at the raking masts and
well-trimmed sails,--"the ship does not float can catch the _Marie_.
'Free to do as seems best if we are stopped by privateers.' Ah, he knows
well enough what I should do."

"He seems to have provided for that," said De Courval, glancing at the
carronades and the long Tom in the bow such as many a peaceful ship
prudently carried.

The captain grinned. "That is like Hugh Wynne. But these island fools
rely on us for diet. They will be starving, and if the _George
Washington_ reach the island before we do, they will lose no time, and,
I guess, pay in worthless bills on France, or not at all. However, we
shall see." This ended the conversation.

They had the usual varied luck of the sea; but the master carried sail,
to the alarm of his mates, and seeing none of the dreaded cruisers,
overtook a French merchant ship and learned with certainty of the
outbreak of war between France and Great Britain, a fresh embarrassment,
as they well knew.

At sundown on February the 15th, the lookout on the crosstrees saw the
mountains of San Domingo back of the city of Port au Prince, and running
in under shelter of one of the many islands which protect the bay, the
captain and the supercargo took counsel as to what they should do.

"If," said De Courval, "I could get ashore as a French sailor at night,
and learn something of how things stand, we might be helped."

The captain feared risks neither for himself nor for another, and at
last said: "I can run you in at dark, land you on a spit of sand below
the town, and wait for you."

Thus it was that in sailor garb, a tricolor cockade in his hat, De
Courval left the boat at eight at night and began with caution to
approach the town. The brilliant moon of a clear tropic night gave
sufficient light, and following the shore, he soon came upon the
warehouses and docks, where he hoped to learn what ships were in the
harbor. Soon, however, he was halted by sentries, and being refused
permission to pass, turned away from the water-front. Passing among rude
cabins and seeing almost no one, he came out at last on a