ng to his feet. Alas! the sloop had run
too far on the northerly tack, and simultaneously the wind had shifted
a point to the southward. In the open water this had advantaged her;
but she had been allowed to run into a bight of the north shore and a
line of foam cut her off to the eastward, leaving small room to tack.
She might still clear the westerly rocks and run out to sea, but the
skipper saw--with an oath--that this was doubtful, and with a seaman's
quickness he made up his mind.

"Keep her on!--keep her on!" he roared, "you son of a _maudite mere_!
Child of the accursed! We must run into Skull haven! And if the men of
Skull take so much as an iron bolt from us, and I misdoubt them, I'll
keel-haul you, son of the _Diable_! I'll not leave an inch of skin upon
you!"

The man, cowering over the wheel, obeyed, and the little vessel ran up
the narrowing water--in which she had become involved--on an even keel.
The crew were already on their feet, they had loosened the sheet, and
squared the boom; they stood by to lower the yard. All--the skipper
with a grim face--stood looking forward, as the inlet narrowed, the
green banks closed in, the rocks that fringed them approached. Silently
and gracefully the sloop glided on, more smoothly with every moment,
until a turn in the passage opened a small land-locked haven. At the
head of the haven, barely a hundred yards above high-water mark, stood
a ruined tower--the Tower of Skull--and below this a long house of
stone with a thatched roof.

It was clear that the sloop's movements had been watched from the
shore, for although the melancholy waste of moor and mountain disclosed
no other habitation, a score of half-naked barefoot figures were
gathered on the jetty; while others could be seen hurrying down the
hillside. These cried to one another in an unknown tongue, and with
shrill eldritch voices, which vied with the screams of the gulls
swinging overhead.

"Stand by to let go the kedge," Augustin cried, eyeing them gloomily.
"We are too far in now! Let go!--let go!"

But the order and the ensuing action at once redoubled the clamour on
shore. A dozen of the foremost natives flung themselves into crazy
boats, that seemed as if they could not float long enough to reach the
vessel. But the men handled them with consummate skill and with equal
daring. In a twinkling they were within hail, and a man, wearing a long
frieze coat, a fisherman's red cap, and little besides, stood