d the cutter was now not more than a mile away.

"Look! look!" cried Mike suddenly. "There's old Joe Daygo coming."

"So it is," said Vince. "No mistaking the cut of that sail;" and he
gazed excitedly at the little boat, which was coming rapidly on from the
other end of the island.

"Ay, that's he sure enough," said the cook. "He's seen the cutter and
come to give us warning, but we can see her ourselves now."

Still no wind, and the captain stamped up and down the deck, enraged
beyond measure to see two vessels in totally opposite directions sailing
merrily on, while the towering crag diverted the breeze and left him and
his companion in a complete calm.

Nearer and nearer came the cutter, and the boys' hearts beat hard with
excitement as they saw the flash of arms beneath the white sails, and
began to feel that before long they would be on board, and that meant
freedom.

Mike said something of the kind, but Vince made an allusion to the old
proverb about not counting chickens until they were hatched.

"Get out!" cried Mike: "you always make the worst of things. I say,
look how beautifully she comes along."

"Yes, and she'll be on one of they rocks if she don't mind," said the
cook. "I say, my lads, there'll be no breakfast till all this business
is over, but if you step in here I'll give you both some coffee and
biscuit."

"Oh, who could eat and drink now?" said Vince. "I can't."

"I can," said the man; "and as my pokers are all hot, I mean to have a
snack."

The boys' great dread was that they would be sent below, and
consequently they kept out of the captain's way, and saw all that was
going on, till the cutter was within a few hundred yards; and then, all
at once, the wind failed her, and she lay as motionless as the two
smugglers. The same fate had befallen Daygo in his boat, he being a
mile away; but they saw that he had put out his oars, and was rowing.

"Going to board us," said the cook, with a sigh. "Now the fun's going
to begin."

For two boats dropped from the cutter's sides, and the boys saw an
officer in uniform in each, with a couple of red-coated marines, whose
pieces glistened in the morning sunshine, as did the arms of the
sailors.

But they saw something else as well. At a word from the captain, a
dozen of the men went on hands and knees to the arm chest, each sailor
in turn taking a cutlass, pistols, and cartridge pouch, and crawling
back under the shelter of the bulwarks