officer, while the men made the necessary preparations for
the intended assault, "that alters the case, Mr Manton. I don't think,
however, that Gascoyne would have taken advantage of the chance to give
the brutes what they deserve, for I must say he does seem to be
unaccountably chicken-hearted; perhaps it's as well that he's out of the
way. Do you happen to know where he is or what he's doing?"

"Not I. No doubt he is playing some sly game with this British cruiser,
and I dare say he may be lending a hand to the settlers, for he's got
some strange interests to look after there, you know," (here both men
laughed,) "and I shouldn't wonder if he was beforehand with us in
pitching into the niggers. He is always ready enough to fight in
self-defence, though we can never get him screwed up to the assaulting
point."

"Ay, we saw something of the fighting from the hill tops, but as it is
no business of ours, I brought the men down in case they might be wanted
aboard."

"Quite right, Scraggs. You're a judicious fellow to send on a dangerous
expedition. I'm not sure, however, that Gascoyne would thank you for
leaving him to fight the savages alone." Manton chuckled as he said
this, and Scraggs grinned maliciously as he replied--

"Well, it can't exactly be said that I've _left_ him, seeing that I have
not been with him since we parted aboard of this schooner, and as to his
fightin' the niggers alone,--hasn't he got ever so many hundred
_Christian_ niggers to help him to lick the others?"

"True," said Manton, while a smile of contempt curled his lip. "But
here comes the breeze, and the sun won't be long behind it. All the
better for the work we've got to do. Mind your helm there. Here, lads,
take a pull at the topsail halyards; and some of you get the nightcap
off Long Tom. I say, Mr Scraggs, should we shew them the _red_, by way
of comforting their hearts?"

Scraggs shook his head dubiously. "You forget the cruiser. She has
eyes aboard, and may chance to set them on that same red, in which case
it's likely she would shew us her teeth."

"And what then?" demanded Manton, "are _you_ also growing
chicken-hearted. Besides," he added in a milder tone, "the cruiser is
quietly at anchor on the other side of the island, and there's not a
captain in the British navy who could take a pinnace, much less a ship,
through the reefs at the north end of the island without a pilot."

"Well," returned Scraggs, carelessly,