the
truth, though I should swing for it."

The crew of the boat ceased rowing, and glanced at each other in
surprise on hearing this.

"Ha! say you so?" exclaimed Montague, quickly.

"It's a fact, sir. Ask my comrade there, and he'll tell you the same
thing."

"He'll do nothin' o' the sort," sharply returned honest Bumpus, who,
having been only a short time previously engaged by Gascoyne, could
perceive neither pleasure nor justice in the idea of being hanged for a
pirate, and who attributed Dick's speech to an ill-natured desire to get
his late commander into trouble.

"Which of you am I to believe?" said Montague, hastily.

"W'ichever you please," observed Bumpus, with an air of indifference.

"It's no business o' mine," said Dick, sulkily; "if you choose to let
the blackguard escape, that's your own lookout."

"Silence, you scoundrel!" cried Montague, who was as much nettled by a
feeling of uncertainty how to act as by the impertinence of the man.

Before he could decide as to the course he ought to pursue, the report
of one of the guns of his own vessel boomed loud and distinct in the
distance. It was almost immediately followed by another.

"Ha! that settles the question; give way, my lads, give way."

In another moment the boat was cleaving her way swiftly through the dark
water in the direction of the Talisman.

CHAPTER VII.

MASTER CORRIE CAUGHT NAPPING--SNAKES IN THE GRASS.

The Sabbath morning which succeeded the events we have just narrated
dawned on the settlement of Sandy Cove in unclouded splendor, and the
deep repose of nature was still unbroken by the angry passions and the
violent strife of man; although from the active preparations of the
previous night it might have been expected that those who dwelt on the
island would not have an opportunity of enjoying the rest of that day.

Everything in and about the settlement was eminently suggestive of
peace. The cattle lay sleepily in the shade of the trees; the sea was
still calm like glass. Men had ceased from their daily toil; and the
only sounds that broke the quiet of the morning were the chattering of
the parrots and other birds in the cocoanut groves, and the cries of
sea-fowl, as they circled in the air, or dropped on the surface of the
sea in quest of fish.

The British frigate lay at anchor in the same place which she had
hitherto occupied, and the Foam still floated in the sequestered bay on
the other side of the island.