d, when, on the fifteenth day, they
perceived two sails to the northward.

Francisco's heart bounded with joy and gratitude to Heaven; he had no
telescope to examine them, but he steered directly for them, and, about
dark, he made them out to be a ship and a schooner hove-to.

As Francisco scanned them, surmising what they might be, the sun set
behind the two vessels, and after it had sunk below the horizon their
forms were, for a few minutes, delineated with remarkable precision and
clearness. There could be no mistake. Francisco felt convinced that the
schooner was the _Avenger_; and his first impulse was to run to the
sweep with which they were steered, and put the head of the raft again
to the northward. A moment's reflection determined him to act otherwise;
he lowered down his sail that he might escape observation, and watched
the motions of the vessels during the few minutes of light which
remained. That the ship bad been captured, and that her capture had been
attended with the usual scene of outrage and violence, he had no doubt.
He was now about four miles' from them, and just as they were vanishing
from his straining eyes he perceived that the schooner had made all sail
to the westward. Francisco, feeling that he was then secure from being
picked up by her, again hoisted his sail with the hope of reaching the
ship, which, if not scuttled, he intended to remove on board of, and
then make sail for the first port on the coast. But hardly had the raft
regained her way when the horizon was lighted up, and he perceived that
the pirates had set fire to the vessel. Then it was useless to proceed
towards her; and Francisco again thought of putting the head of the raft
to the northward, when the idea struck him, knowing the character and
cruelty of the pirates, that there might be some unfortunate people left
on board to perish in the flames. He therefore continued his course,
watching the burning vessel; the flames increased in violence, mounting
up to the masts and catching the sails one after another. The wind blew
fresh, and the vessel was kept before the wind--a circumstance that
assured Francisco that there were people on board. At first she appeared
to leave the raft, but as her sails, one after another, were consumed by
the element, so did she decrease her speed, and Francisco, in about an
hour, was close to her and under her counter.

[Illustration: _The flames increased in violence, mounting up to the
masts