o the boat again; we have a prize
worth taking!'

Clara screamed; but she was gagged with a handkerchief and lifted into
the boat, which immediately rowed back to the schooner.

When the mate came on board and reported his capture, the pirates were
delighted at the prospect of addition to their prize-money. Cain could
not, of course, raise any objections; it would have been so different
from his general practice, that it would have strengthened suspicions
already set afloat by Hawkhurst, which Cain was most anxious just then
to remove. He ordered the girl to be taken down into the cabin, hoisted
in the boat, and the breeze springing up again, made sail.

In the meantime Francisco was consoling the unfortunate Clara, and
assuring her that she need be under no alarm, promising her protection
from himself and the captain.

The poor girl wept bitterly, and it was not until Cain came down into
the cabin and corroborated the assurances of Francisco that she could
assume any degree of composure; but to find friends when she had
expected every insult and degradation--for Francisco had acknowledged
that the vessel was a pirate--was some consolation. The kindness and
attention of Francisco restored her to comparative tranquillity.

The next day she confided to him the reason of her coming to the beach,
and her mistake with regard to the two vessels, and Francisco and Cain
promised her that they would themselves pay her ransom, and not wait
until she heard from her father. To divert her thoughts Francisco talked
much about Edward Templemore, and on that subject Clara could always
talk. Every circumstance attending the amour was soon known to
Francisco.

But the _Avenger_ did not gain her rendezvous as soon as she expected.
When to the northward of Porto Rico an English frigate bore down upon
her, and the _Avenger_ was obliged to run for it. Before the wind is
always a schooner's worst point of sailing, and the chase was continued
for three days before a fresh wind from the southward, until they had
passed the Bahama Isles.

The pirates suffered much from want of water, as it was necessary still
further to reduce their allowance. The frigate was still in sight,
although the _Avenger_ had dropped her astern when the wind became
light, and at last it subsided into a calm, which lasted two days more.
The boats of the frigate were hoisted out on the eve of the second day
to attack the schooner, then distant five miles, when a b