e murk. "Hold the course, Sultana, I am here!"

And on the heels of the words came a flash from the skies, blazing full
upon the dripping figure of the giant as he reached a great arm up,
gripped the lee-rail, and swung himself on board with the unconscious
ease of a perfect athlete.

"Thy boat, Milo?" inquired Dolores.

"Sailed under, Sultana. I have held the flare aloft in my hand while
swimming until a moment ago, when the powder burned out."

"And Rufe?"

"The sloop is close by. Thou art sailing fair at his stern if thy course
was not changed to avoid me. His topmast is gone; he sails slowly."

Then without more ado the splendid human animal clutched a backstay and
swarmed aloft with the agility of an ape, showing not a whit of strain
after his battle with the roaring seas. He reached Stumpy, sent that
numbed mariner down, and searched the waters with his keen vision,
waiting for another lightning flash. And when it came, fainter now as
the thunderstorm receded, his resonant voice boomed down:

"Broad abeam the sloop lies! She runs before the wind!"

"Slack away the main-sheet!" cried Dolores, heaving the helm up. "Hail
every minute, Milo!"

"Shall I send him a shot immediately, lady?" roared Hanglip, at the
schooner's foremost gun.

"Hold with thy shots, villain! Does Rufe deserve no sport? Stand by with
the grappling-hooks. I'll run him down!"

"The sloop is dead ahead!" hailed Milo, though none on deck could detect
anything of her in the blackness. Dolores listened intently; then
twirled the wheel, and cried: "I hear her! Ready the grapnels?"

"Aye, ready!"

"Then watch--and heave!" she commanded; and with the suddenness of light
the schooner swept around in a swift arc, the black shape of the flying
sloop stood out against the angry sea crests, and the two vessels came
together with a crash of timbers and a rattling of gear.

A distant rumbling of thunder succeeded a faint flash, and wind and rain
came down with increased fury as if to balance the defection of the
electric element. The darkness of Erebus fell upon the surging vessels,
and men groped at the rails in a blind effort to make out a footing for
boarding the sloop.

"Follow me; I want Yellow Rufe alive!" cried Dolores, leaving the wheel
and springing to the bulwarks. Instinctively Peters stepped to the
wheel, and as he passed his employer he leaned to whisper in his ear:

"Let them once leave these decks, sir, and we'll up hellum and