r Cornelys Jensen.

There was nothing for it but to tell Lancelot of what Jensen had said,
and I did this with all dispatch. My statement had at least the effect
of convincing Lancelot that I had in very fact seen what I had described
to him about the flag. But I could see that Jensen's explanation had its
effect upon him very much as I felt sure that it would have its effect
upon Captain Marmaduke. Lancelot had nothing like the same regard for
Jensen that his uncle had, but I knew that he did follow his uncle's
lead in trusting him.

'You see, Ralph,' he said to me, 'this is a very likely story. Jensen is
an old sailor. My uncle has told me a thousand times that he has served
against pirates in his youth. What more natural than that he should
preserve such a trophy of his prowess as the captured flag of some such
villain as that same Captain Anthony, of whom I have often heard? But we
will be watchful none the less, and well on our guard.'

I could see that Lancelot did not share my fears as regarded Jensen,
although he was troubled by the mutinous carriage of certain of the
crew. I know that I was very apprehensive and unhappy, and that it
seemed to me as if that night would never end.

CHAPTER XXI

RAFTS

When the day did break at last it brought no great degree of comfort
with it. We were surrounded by a yellow, yeasty sea, and the air was so
thick that the islands on which our lives depended seemed but shapeless
shadows in the distance. Still the wind had abated somewhat, but the
swell was very strong, and we were without any means of attempting to
leave the vessel.

When it was quite morning, and the sky cleared a little, we saw the
skiff, with the Captain on board, beating about on the water and trying
to make for us. But in this he was not able to succeed, for the waves
were running so high that it would have been quite impossible either to
bring the skiff alongside or to get on board our vessel if he had done
so. We could see the Captain standing up in the bows of the boat and
signalling to us, and it made our hearts sick to be able to see him and
to be unable to know what he wanted or what we ought to do.

At this moment one of the men--he was the ship's carpenter, and a
decent, honest sort of fellow--said that he was a very good swimmer,
and that he thought he could reach the skiff in that way. He was so very
confident of his own powers that though we were somewhat unwilling to
let him risk