hip, he and Owen having decided on the best
plan for carrying it out. He took the sword which his son brought him--
the lamp which swung from the deck above shed a feeble light throughout
the cabin--he had just quickly dressed, when Norah appeared.

"I had wished you to remain in your berth till we had secured the
Frenchmen," he whispered.

"Pray do not insist on my doing so," she answered. "I may be able to
help you, and I cannot bear the thoughts of hiding away while you are
exposed to danger. Do let me try to be of use, father; I shall run no
greater risk than I should by keeping in my berth. See, Gerald has
given me a pistol, and I know how to use it. It will serve, at all
events, to frighten the Frenchmen."

The captain, seeing Norah was determined, at length consented to do as
she proposed. Owen now joined them, and he and the captain crept to the
foot of the companion-ladder, up part of which they mounted, to be in
readiness to attack the man at the helm as soon as Gerald's signal
should be heard. Meantime, Gerald had made his way on deck. He had on
a dark jacket and trousers and dark worsted socks, and by creeping along
close under the bulwarks he would be able, he hoped, to get forward
without much risk of being seen. Jacques Busson, the officer of the
watch, was slowly pacing the deck, now looking up at the canvas which
like a dark pyramid seemed to tower into the sky, now addressing the man
at the helm to keep the sails full or else to steer rather closer to the
wind, now shouting to the look-out forward to ascertain that he was
awake and attending to his duty. Gerald stopped to observe what Jacques
Busson was about; he could distinguish the Frenchman's figure against
the sky, as he paced backwards and forwards on the raised poop, halting
now and then to take a glance to windward, and again taking a few steps
towards the stern. The moment Gerald thought that his back was turned
he again crept forward. He had no fear of being discovered by the man
at the helm, whose eyes, dazzled by the binnacle lamp, were not likely
to distinguish him. Thus on he went, quickly doubling round the guns,
till he reached the fore hatchway, down which he slipped without being
perceived by either of the Frenchmen on deck, who were seated under the
weather bulwarks, and, as he rightly concluded, with their eyes shut.

"We shall have no difficulty in tackling those two fellows," he thought.
The Frenchmen were berthed