edom;
to-day we were confined to the veriest commonplaces.

And all because our eyes had met for one long instant the evening before
and hinted at something in the unspoken language of young people the
world over.

The arrival of Jimmie Welch with a very robust appetite helped things a
good deal, and we were presently ourselves again. After breakfast Miss
Wallace went to relieve her aunt at the bedside of the wounded carpenter
while I mounted to the bridge to take Blythe's place, Tom doing the same
for Alderson.

It struck me as a piece of grim satire that I should be ringing orders
down to the men in the engine room with whom a few hours before we had
been battling for life, and probably soon would be again.

It was beyond doubt that we would have to measure strength with them a
second time. Bothwell would never let us run into port at Panama if he
could help it. The men were probably not anxious for another brush after
the drubbing they had received, but the situation forced their hands.
They must either take the ship or let us give them up to the authorities
as mutineers.

My opinion is that if Bothwell had not been recognized by Jimmie he
would have waited until we were actually on the treasure ground, and
perhaps even until we had lifted it.

From the sounds that came forward to us from the forecastle it was plain
that the enemy were drinking pretty steadily. More than once I saw an
empty bottle flung through a porthole into the sea. Occasionally some
one appeared on the deck aft, and from the drunken shouts bawled up and
down the hatchway the condition of the crew could be guessed.

Blythe and I agreed that this probably meant an attack after darkness
had fallen. Fortified by the courage which comes from whisky, they would
try and slip up on us in the night and win by a surprise.

CHAPTER XVI

THE NIGHT ATTACK

The captain and I were in the wheelhouse when the attack came. It must
have been an hour past midnight of a gentle starry night, without the
faintest breath of wind in the air. Ever since dark the vibration of the
propeller had ceased.

No doubt the charge was intended for a surprise, but we had half a
minute of warning. Dimly I could make out figures moving tiptoe at the
head of the stairway. Three times I flashed a lantern in signal to our
friends. Almost simultaneously came the rush along the deck.

This time they took cover as they advanced, scattering like a covey of
young quail