as they had
disappeared, quietly clapped on the hatch and battened it down.
Meanwhile Joe and I joined the group at the bulwarks, without
awakening suspicion among the crew. At a signal from me the men
tripped them up, and in another two minutes they were lying gagged
and bound on the deck.

It was scarcely ten minutes since we came on board, and we had done
everything without the least noise to alarm the town. Then, leaving
the deserters to guard the ship, I returned in all haste with the
others to the maire.

"What shall we do with our prisoners, Joe?" I asked, as we hurried
along.

"Leave 'em locked up, sir, and lock the maire up with them in case
of accidents."

"But I think we will bring the captain and the sergeant," I said.
"You see, they have got our clothes."

"But these are better, sir," he replied, "and you make a rare fine
captain, smite my timbers if you don't."

"Still, we will bring them; a taste of prison may do the captain,
at any rate, a world of good."

And so, when we got to the mairie, I unlocked the door where the
prisoners were confined, told my comrades in a few words what had
happened, and bade them go forth into the street, when Joe and the
bosun had loosed their bands and hasten to the harbor.

The maire, learning that I had returned, had followed me in, and
hearing these words of English, and seeing Joe and the bosun
untying the cords, he cried to me to know what I was about. The
bosun instantly laid hands on him and began to truss him up. He
gave one shout of alarm, which Joe deftly checked with a gag made
of the bandage he had stripped from his head, and then he was laid
on the floor beside the Frenchmen. Then we seized the captain and
sergeant, and having locked the door again, marched them among us
at a brisk pace to the harbor and on to the brig.

"Now, man, we have no time to lose," I said, as we stepped aboard.
"'Tis nearly dark, and Doggy-Trang, as you call him, may return any
minute. Luckily the tide is fast ebbing.

"Cast off, Joe; Bosun, run up the sail. And we are only just in
time. Here they come."

And indeed we had escaped only by the skin of our teeth, for I saw
a number of French seamen coming down the streets and a horseman
behind them. No doubt it was Duguay-Trouin himself, and his coming
had caused his men to turn out of the cabarets. The brig was
already moving from the jetty; the practised hands of my comrades
were at work with the sails; and as the vess