er starboard mizen channels,
where we made her fast, and cautiously scrambled up on to the poop, one
by one.

Here we separated, the carpenter boldly making his way forward past the
noisy, jabbering, drunken crowd who were grouped about the
main-hatchway, engaged in hoisting on deck the goods that the boatswain,
down in the hold, was selecting from the ship's heterogeneous cargo,
while the rest--excepting Simpson and myself--quietly stole up the mizen
rigging, three of them concealing themselves in the top, while the rest,
continuing on up the topmast rigging, made for the main and foretops by
way of the stays; the lanterns which were being used to light the
pirates at their work about the main-hatchway so effectually dazzling
the drunken ruffians' eyes, that there was not the slightest fear of any
of the silent, sober figures stealthily moving about aloft being seen by
them; indeed so deep was the gloom created between the masts by the
towering expanses of the Indiaman's canvas that even I, far away as I
was from the dazzling light of the lanterns, was unable to follow with
my eye the dusky, indistinctly-seen figures any further than the rim of
the mizen-top. As for Simpson, it was quite possible for him to move
freely about the ship and go wherever he pleased without exciting any
suspicion, he being one of the _Francesca's_ regular crew; I therefore
instructed him to go down into the saloon and ascertain whether any of
his quondam shipmates were there, and to return to me with his
information as speedily as possible.

While he was gone I had time to look about me a little, and note such of
the most prominent characteristics of the ship as were to be seen by the
dim light of the stars. She was a noble craft, as big as the generality
of our first-class frigates, though not quite so beamy, perhaps, in
proportion to her length, not quite so high out of the water, and of
course not so heavily rigged. She carried a magnificent full poop that
reached as far forward as to within about twenty-five feet of the
main-mast, with companion, skylight, deck-fittings generally, and poop
ladders of polished teak, handsomely and elaborately carved. The
fore-part of the poop extended some six feet beyond the cabin front, and
underneath it her steering-wheel was placed, with a door on each side of
it giving access to the grand saloon. A long row of hencoops ran along
each side of the poop; and the deck was further littered with a la