d trader would have known nothing about the fight that
raged on the other side of the island on the Sunday but for the three
shots, fired by the first lieutenant of the Talisman, which decided the
fate of the day.

Being curious to know the cause of the firing, Manton climbed the
mountains until he gained the dividing ridge,--which, however, he did
not succeed in doing till late in the afternoon, the way being rugged as
well as long. Here he almost walked into the midst of a flying party of
the beaten savages; but dropping suddenly behind a rock, he escaped
their notice. The haste with which they ran, and the wounds visible on
the persons of many of them, were sufficient to acquaint the mate of the
Foam with the fact that a fight had taken place in which the savages had
been beaten; and his knowledge of the state of affairs on the island
enabled him to jump at once to the correct conclusion that the
Christian village had been attacked.

A satanic smile played on the countenance of the mate as he watched the
savages until they were out of sight; then, quitting his place of
concealment, he hurried back to the schooner, which he reached some time
after nightfall.

Immediately on gaining the deck he gave orders to haul the chain of the
anchor short, to shake out the sails, and to make other preparations to
avail himself without delay of the light breeze off the land which his
knowledge of the weather and the locality taught him to look for before
morning.

While his orders were being executed, a boat came alongside with that
part of the crew which had been sent ashore by Gascoyne to escape the
eye of the British commander. It was in charge of the second mate,--a
short, but thick-set, and extremely powerful man, of the name of
Scraggs,--who walked up to his superior the moment he came on board,
and, in a tone somewhat disrespectful, asked what was going to be done.

"Don't you see?" growled Manton; "we're getting ready to sail."

"Of course I see that," retorted Scraggs, between whom and his superior
officer there existed a feeling of jealousy as well as of mutual
antipathy, for reasons which will be seen hereafter; "but I should like
to know where we are going, and why we are going anywhere without the
captain. I suppose I am entitled to ask that much."

"It's your business to obey orders," said Manton, angrily.

"Not if they are in opposition to the captain's orders," replied
Scraggs, firmly, but in a more respect