hurrying to leave the vessel. One
of the starboard boats was already in the water, with too many men in
her. The vessel had keeled over so much that there seemed to be
difficulty in lowering the boats on the port side. Everybody seemed
rushing to starboard, and two other boats were swinging out on their
davits. Every time the bow of the steamer rose and fell upon the swell
it seemed to go down a little more and up a little less, and the deck
was slanted so much that the men appeared to slide down to the starboard
bulwarks.

Now the first boat pushed off from the sinking ship, and the two others,
both crowded, were soon pulling after her. It was not difficult to
divine their intentions. The three boats headed immediately for the
northeast, where, less than two miles away, the _Vittorio_ could be
plainly seen.

At this moment Captain Hagar gave a yell; he sprang back from the rail,
and his eyes fell upon a rifle which had been laid on a bench by one of
the clergymen. He seized it and raised it to his shoulder, but in an
instant Captain Horn took hold of it, pointing it upward. "What are you
going to do?" he said. "Captain, you don't mean to fire at them?"

"Of course I mean it!" cried Captain Hagar. "We've got them in a bunch.
We must follow them up and shoot them down like rats!"

[Illustration: HE SEIZED IT AND RAISED IT TO HIS SHOULDER]

"We'll get up steam and run them down!" shouted Burke. "We ought to sink
them, one boat after another, the rascally pirates! They tried to sink
us!"

"No, no," said Captain Horn, taking the gun from Captain Hagar, "we
can't do that. That's a little too cold-blooded. If they attack us,
we'll fight them, but we can't take capital punishment into our own
hands."

Now the excited thoughts of Captain Hagar took another turn. "Lower a
boat! Lower a boat!" he cried. "Let me be pulled to the _Dunkery_!
Everything I own is on that ship, the pirates wouldn't let me take
anything away. Lower a boat! I can get into my cabin."

Shirley now stepped to the other side of Captain Hagar. "It's no use to
think of that, Captain," he said. "It would be regular suicide to go on
board that vessel. Those fellows were afraid to stay another minute.
She'll go down before you know it. Look at her bows now!"

Captain Hagar said no more, and the little company on the deck of the
yacht stood pale and silent, gazing out over the water at the _Dunkery
Beacon_. Willy Croup was crying, and there were tears i