men. Forward,
gentlemen.'"

"Is that the star you mean, Enrico?" asked Isabel, interrupting the
tale, as she pointed to the westward; "it does not set, and seems larger
than it was. Can it be on land?"

Midnight, the hour fixed for the outbreak, had long passed, and all was
as yet quiet on board. The voices of the speakers ceased as both
concentrated their gaze on what seemed a red star, for Hughes did not
like to wake the sleepers for nothing.

A form moved at the far end of the raft. It was the man Gough, who
raised himself gently on his elbow, listening cautiously. Hearing no
noise save the swish of the waves, he pushed one or two of the men who,
wrapped in their coats, were fast asleep, and then throwing the covering
from him, he rose. The starlight gleamed from the blade of his long
knife as he stole his way round the cases which formed the sea wall of
the cabin. Step by step he advanced, but just as he rounded them,
Hughes rose, his back turned towards the man.

"I will wake the captain, Isabel. I know not what it is."

With a loud curse, the ruffian raised his arm, and the blow fell, with
such force, that it precipitated Hughes, who was wholly off his guard,
into the sea.

With a loud shriek, which aroused every one on the raft, Isabel rushed
forward. Seizing her with his iron grasp by the hair, the murderer's
knife once more gleamed in the starlight, when a straightforward blow
from Morris the carpenter struck him full between the eyes, knocking him
overboard; while shriek after shriek from Isabel rang out on the air.

The men had now formed, and came on with their knives gleaming in the
starlight, and a savage determination on their faces.

"Lay down your arms, my lads," shouted Weber; "your plot is known, and
we are armed."

For a second the crew seemed disposed to obey the voice whose tones of
command had so often rang in their ears.

"Come on, my lads," shouted a burly sailor; "follow Jack Smith, and
we'll soon have the gold."

A wild shout rang out, a pistol shot, and the speaker, struck right on
the bridge of the nose by a ball from the captain's pistol, gave a
fearful scream as he spun round in his intense agony; dropping the
knife, he uttered a volley of hideous imprecations, then came an
appalling yell, and he fell dead.

The men were startled, two of their leaders were gone, while opposed to
them, and fully armed, stood the captain and his party.

Isabel lay senseless on the p