hot fired
in the cabin had attracted only the most casual and momentary notice of
the few Frenchmen on deck; the majority of them, indeed, scarcely
rousing themselves sufficiently to do more than merely turn their heads
to send a single inquiring glance aft. This was good news, as, although
the schooner was now to all intents and purposes our own, there were few
enough of us to navigate her, and I was most anxious that those few
should not be weakened by possible injuries in a struggle to secure full
and complete possession. That full and complete possession, however, it
was absolutely necessary to secure at once, if anything was to be done
toward rescuing the unhappy Spaniards on board the fast-sinking _Santa
Theresa_; so Dumaresq and I went forward and, by dint of a little good-
humoured force, succeeded in persuading the remainder of the Frenchmen
to go below, where we secured them without much difficulty. This done,
we at once brought the schooner to the wind, and proceeded to beat up
toward the Spanish ship, which we could just make out in the rapidly
deepening dusk of the tropical evening. I carefully noted her bearing
and distance; and then, Dumaresq taking the wheel, the rest of us went
to work to make our prisoners permanently secure. Fortunately for us,
Renouf's foresight enabled us to do this very effectually, he having
apparently recognised that circumstances might possibly arise rendering
it important that he should possess the means to reduce a large number
of men to absolute helplessness; for which purpose he had provided
himself with an ample supply of irons, which now proved most useful to
us. We lost no time in clapping these irons upon the hands and legs of
the Frenchmen, thus rendering it impossible for them to give us the
slightest trouble upon their recovery from their drunken debauch; and,
having made all perfectly secure, our next business was to restore the
cook and steward to sobriety, by subjecting them to a liberal douche of
salt-water, and to set them to work to prepare us a meal, of which we
began to feel that we stood in need.

The task of effectually securing the whole of our prisoners occupied a
considerable amount of time; so that when it was at length completed to
my satisfaction the night had long since fallen, and we had completely
lost sight of the Spanish ship, although Dumaresq had kept his eye upon
her as long as possible. We had brought the schooner to the wind on the
sta