s afraid of going on deck lest I
should be seen by the mutineers, and I at once therefore went to the
port, hoping that I might catch a glimpse of them pulling away. Even if
Larry got off with them, there might be many chances against his
returning. The boat even might fill before she could reach the shore,
or she might encounter the French officers returning to the brig, and be
seized. I wondered at their carelessness in leaving the vessel with
such a crew as theirs; for those who had proved traitors to me might
have been expected to turn traitors to them.

Scarcely a minute had elapsed before, to my surprise, I heard a "hwist"
come from under the counter, and Larry's voice saying--

"Lend a hand, Mr Terence, and catch the painter as I chuck it up."

I did as he desired, and presently he climbed up in at the port.

"Hold fast there, Mr Terence," he said, as he squeezed through, and
springing forward locked the cabin door. "I'll tell you all about it
when we're free of the brig," he whispered.

Quick as thought he made the painter fast to an eye-bolt, used to secure
the dead-light. "Now jump into the boat, Mr Terence, and we'll be
off," he added.

As he bid me, I slid down the painter, expecting him to follow
immediately. For a few seconds he didn't come, and I feared that
something had happened to him; but he soon appeared, and slid down as I
had done, holding in his mouth a knife, with which he quickly cut the
rope.

I had taken one of the oars, he seized another, and giving a shove
against the counter, sent the boat off from the brig. We paddled away
with might and main, making, however, as little noise as we could.
Scarcely, however, had we gone half a cable's length than I heard a
gruff voice, which I recognised as Dan Hoolan's, uttering a fearful
oath, and inquiring what had become of the boat. Several others replied
in the same tones; and one of them, who had apparently run aft,
exclaimed, "Shure there she is, and that so-and-so Larry Harrigan has
gone off with her."

"Come back, come back, you villain!" shouted the men.

"It's mighty likely we'll be after doing that," Larry was on the point
of shouting out, when I told him to be silent; and there being now less
necessity for caution, we bent to our oars with all our might.

"I wonder the villains don't fire at us," I said.

"Shure the cabin door's locked, and they can't get at the muskets, or
they would be after doing the same," answered Lar