.

On the following Monday the _Petrel_ sailed for Refuge Harbour, with Ned
as skipper and Manners as mate, cook, steward, and crew, all rolled into
one--the adventurers receiving all sorts of cautions and good wishes as
they said good-bye at the cove. The course to be steered was east-
north-east, or nearly dead to windward as the wind stood at that season,
and the distance was about three hundred miles; so it was calculated
that the trip there and back would occupy about a week. But no sooner
were they fairly outside the harbour's mouth than Ned and Manners
exchanged the opinion that a smart little weatherly fore-and-aft rigged
craft like the _Petrel_ ought to do the distance in considerably less
than the time specified; and they forthwith took measures to practically
demonstrate the soundness of that opinion, "carrying-on" sail to such a
daring extent that even poor Captain Blyth would have remonstrated had
he been with them. The craft, however, was staunch, the spars and
rigging sound, the canvas new; and the youthful mariners, though daring,
were by no means reckless. The weather also was settled and the wind
steady, if somewhat fresh. All, therefore, went well with them, and so
thoroughly did the cutter answer the expectations of her crew that at
dawn on the Wednesday morning--the second day out--the high land of
Refuge Harbour was distinctly visible from the deck, showing just above
the horizon like a sharply-defined purplish-grey blot upon the primrose-
tinted sky to windward. At the same time the adventurers also made out
something else, to wit, a fleet of five sail of small craft dead to
windward--in fact, immediately between the cutter and the island. At
first they were considerably puzzled to determine the character of these
small craft, which were steering due west; but at length, as they closed
and became more distinctly visible, Ned was enabled to solve the riddle.
The fleet was none other than _the boats belonging to the Flying
Cloud_! And Ned conjectured that the hasty abandonment of Refuge
Harbour, indicated by the appearance of the boats at sea, arose either
from a fear that Ned might give such information of the existence of the
place as would lead to the speedy capture of its occupants, or a
determination on the part of the discomfited pirates to seek at sea a
substitute for the noble ship of which they had been so cleverly
deprived. Whichever--if either--of these surmises might have been th