e
from the pirates. He then recommended Roger to the care of one of his
officers, and, directing Jake and Bevan to take up their quarters and
duties with the other seamen until such time as they could be
transferred to their own craft, turned away to give orders and attend to
the sailing of his ship.

Even as the cutter had dashed alongside, the vessel, as though impatient
to resume the chase, had paid off and had begun to move through the
water, her bows having been turned in the direction of the other ships,
and the craft herself merely thrown into the wind for a moment to lessen
her way while the boat came up to her and the falls were hooked on.
Then the helm was put up and the ship was away on her old course once
more, cracking on and showing every stitch of canvas to the freshening
breeze, in full and eager pursuit of her consorts and the pirate, the
latter now being hull-down on the southern horizon with nothing below
her topsail-yard showing. The flag-ship was the leading ship of the
three pursuing vessels; and she was distant some nine miles from the
_Elizabeth. El Capitan_--or the _Tiger_ as she was now named--was two
miles astern of the flag-ship, and some seven miles ahead of the
_Elizabeth_; the latter vessel therefore had some considerable distance
to cover before she could overtake her consorts. Night was now
beginning to fall, and the masts of the _Black Pearl_ gradually
disappeared from the sight of those aboard the _Elizabeth_; but the
flag-ship, being so far in advance, still had the pirate well in view;
and now she lighted her three poop-lanterns as a guide to the _Tiger_,
which in turn lighted hers to pilot the way for the _Elizabeth_. The
darkness soon falls in those regions, and in a very few minutes, as it
seemed, night enveloped them like a pall. There was no moon, and, the
night being cloudy, no stars were visible; the blackness, consequently,
was intense.

All that could be seen was the triangle of lights in the flag-ship, very
dim in the distance, and those on the _Tiger_, shining somewhat more
brightly because nearer at hand. The captain of the _Elizabeth_
commanded that no lanterns should be lighted on board his ship, and
indeed that no lights of any kind should be shown on board at all.

"For," said he, "we sail somewhat faster than the _Tiger_ and the _Good
Adventure_, and can see their lights, so that we can tell where they
are. But it is in my mind to have a little sport with