ch, to the fore; Raveneau,
to the main; and Rock, to the mizzenmast. Loose sail. Lively now. We
must get out of this before the fort's awake," cried Morgan.

[Illustration: Their blades crossed in an instant.... There was a roar
from Carib's pistol, and the old man fell.]

Instantly the shrouds were covered with nimble forms making their way
aloft where the wide yard-arms stretched far over the sea. The men were
in good spirits. The capture of the ship had been so easy; there had
been only the anchor watch and the sentry on deck to deal with, and
they had been murdered unsuspecting, although the cabin sentry had
killed one of the attacking party and wounded another before he went
down. They jumped with alacrity, therefore, to obey their captain's
commands. As the ponderous sheets of canvas fell from the yards, the men
lay down from aloft, and sheets and halyards were manned, the cable that
moored the vessel to the anchor was cut, the ship swung to starboard,
the yards were braced in, and she began to slip through the water toward
the narrow mouth of the harbor. There were other war vessels in the
harbor, but they were all dismantled and laid up in ordinary, so the
buccaneers had no pursuit to fear.

The guns of the fort commanded the harbor mouth, and under ordinary
circumstances would have made it impossible for a ship to enter or leave
without permission. The mouth was narrow and dangerous, but the best
pilot in the West Indies stood forward leaning over the knightheads,
conning the ship. Raveneau and Velsers, than whom no better seamen ever
held a spoke, by Morgan's orders were stationed at the wheel to steer
the frigate. Rock and Teach distributed the best of the men among the
guns of the spar-deck battery on the port side. As was usual, the guns
were already charged. There were no loggerheads available, no matches
with which to fire them, but Morgan instructed those who seemed to have
some skill in gunnery, whom he placed in temporary charge of the cannon,
how to fire them by snapping their pistols at the touch-holes, which
were primed from a powder horn that had been brought by the pirates.

The land breeze was fresh and strong, and the _Mary Rose_ vindicated her
claim to be considered a fast sailer. She fairly ripped down the harbor,
threading her way through the channel under Hornigold's nice pilotage
until she came near to the narrow entrance. By Morgan's orders each man
remained motionless at the place wher