e he squeezed the water out of his lower
garments. This done, he waited until the man on deck came close to
where he stood, when he sprang on him with the agility of a tiger, threw
him down, and placed his hand on his mouth.

"It will be your wisest course to be still, my man," said Gascoyne,
sternly. "You know who I am, and you know what I can do when occasion
requires. If you shout when I remove my hand from your mouth you die."

The man seemed to be quite aware of the hopelessness of his case, for he
quietly submitted to have his mouth bound with a handkerchief and his
hands and feet tied with cords. A few seconds sufficed to accomplish
this, after which Gascoyne took him up in his arms as if he had been a
child, carried him below, and laid him on one of the cabin lockers.
Then, dragging a sheet off one of the beds, he sprang up on deck and
waved it over the stern.

"That's the signal for me," said Corrie, who had watched for it
eagerly--"now, uncle Ole, mind you obey orders--you're rather inclined
to be mutinous, and that won't pay to-night. If you don't look out,
Gascoyne will pitch into you, old boy."

Master Corrie indulged in these impertinent remarks while he was
stripping off his jacket and shirt. The exasperated Thorwald attempted
to seize him by the neck and shake him, but Corrie flung his jacket in
his face, and sprang down the beach like a squirrel. He had wisdom
enough, however, to say and do all this in the quietest possible manner,
and when he entered the sea he did so with as much caution as Gascoyne
himself had done, insomuch that he seemed to melt away like a
mischievous sprite.

In a few minutes he was alongside of the _Foam_; caught a rope that was
thrown to him, and quickly stood on the deck.

"Well done, Corrie. Clamber over the stern, and slide down by that rope
into the little boat that floats there. Take one of the oars, which you
will find muffled, and scull to the shore and bring off Thorwald and his
men. And, hark 'ee, boy, bring off my shirt and boots. Now, look
alive; your friend Henry Stuart's life may depend on it."

"Henry's life!" exclaimed Corrie in amazement.

"Come, no questions. His life may depend on your promptitude."

Corrie wanted no stronger motive for speed. In a state of surprise
mingled with anxious forebodings, he leaped over the stern and was gone
in a moment.

The distance between the shore and the schooner being very short, the
boat was quickly