ping down upon the brig,
invisible hands on board the latter gradually tautened up halliard,
brace, tack, sheet, and bowline, until by the time that the two ships
were within a mile of each other, every trace of slovenliness on board
the _Virginie_ had vanished, every sail was standing as flat as a board,
and the brig was once more in a condition to be worked to the best
advantage. This done, the men were ordered to their guns, and all was
ready for the commencement of the struggle.

When within a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from the brig,
the studding-sails of the _Aurora_ were seen to suddenly collapse, and
in a few seconds they had entirely disappeared, being taken in, all at
once, man-o'-war fashion. This showed George, not only that his old
craft was heavily manned, but also that she was in the command of a man
who knew how to handle her. But the sight did not greatly disturb him;
he had had time to discover that his own crew was a good one; he had
studied the brig, and mastered her little peculiarities; and he awaited
with perfect calmness the conflict which was now inevitable.

As the _Aurora's_ studding-sails fluttered out of sight, she sheered
broadly to port; a flash, accompanied by a puff of white smoke, issued
from her side, and in another instant a nine-pound shot skipped along
the water and across the _Virginie's_ bow.

George decided to take no notice of this hint, and the brig held
steadily on her course. Another shot followed, with a like result; and
the pirates then decided apparently to waste no more powder and shot
upon so contumacious a craft, but to make short work of the affair by
simply running alongside and taking possession. The _Aurora_ was
accordingly steered in such a way as would admit of her making a wide
sweep and shooting up alongside on the brig's weather quarter. She was
handled magnificently, there was no doubt of that; and presently, with a
graceful sweep, she came surging up alongside, with the water spouting
up in a clear transparent sheet under her sharp bows, her yards swinging
simultaneously to meet her change of course, her white canvas gleaming
in the brilliant sunlight, six long nine-pounders grinning through her
bulwarks, and her deck crowded with men, as fair, yet as evil, a sight
of its kind as the eye of man ever rested upon. At the same moment a
blood-red flag streamed out over the taffrail and soared away aloft,
until it fluttered out from the ga