a mast has been shot
away," said Gerald; "we don't know what has happened to the enemy--
perhaps she is worse off than we are."

Not another gun was fired from the deck of the _Ouzel Galley_; that was
a bad sign, and presently afterwards there came a violent concussion and
a grating sound, as if one ship had run alongside the other.

"Gerald, oh, what is taking place?" cried Norah, seizing her brother's
hand.

"We are about to be boarded, or perhaps we are going to board the
enemy," he answered; "I don't see why one thing shouldn't happen as well
as the other."

"I am afraid it is as you first suggested," said Norah. "Hark to those
loud shouts; they are the voices of Frenchmen--they must have boarded
us. I hear their feet tramping on deck, and there they come down below.
Our people must have been quickly overpowered; what resistance could
such a mere handful offer to the numerous crew of the enemy? Oh! our
poor father and Owen--can they wish us to remain here? They may be
wounded and bleeding to death, and may require our help."

It was now Gerald's turn to insist on obeying orders. "Norah, Norah!
stay where you are," he exclaimed. "Should the Frenchmen have boarded
us, you might meet them, and we can't tell how they might behave. If
any come here they'll have to repent their audacity," he added, placing
himself with a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other at the
entrance of Norah's retreat.

"I must fight for you if they come down here--it is my duty, and I'll do
it," answered Gerald to his sister's expostulations; for she dreaded
lest, by offering resistance, he might induce the enemy to kill him.
He, however, would not listen to her entreaties. "At all events, don't
speak, Norah," he said; "the Frenchmen may hear us and find us out--
whereas if we remain quiet we may escape discovery till the boarders
have gone back to their own ship and ours is left in charge of a prize
crew, and we may be very sure that neither our father nor Owen will be
induced to quit the _Ouzel Galley_ without us."

Norah saw the prudence of this advice. She wisely also put out the
lantern, the light from which would very certainly have betrayed their
hiding-place.

We must now return on deck. As soon as Norah and Gerald had gone below,
the captain addressed the crew and asked whether they would stick by him
and assist in making every effort he could devise for escaping. They
one and all declared that they were rea