the battery, and land in the
little bay about half a mile inside. I noticed a big rock, the only
one, jutting out of the sand there to-day. That should be a very good
spot at which to meet you."

"Yes, sir, I know the rock well; I've seen it hundreds of times,"
remarked Hoard. "You can't do better, sir, unless the wind happens to
be off shore. If it is, the other plan will be best."

"Very well, then, that is understood," said I. "And now, how will you
manage about getting back to the mainland?"

"Oh," remarked my companion, "I shall have to stay on this here island
all night. But Panza will keep a look-out for me and take me across to-
morrow morning."

"Then," said I, "you had better walk with me as far as the beach, and
get the fresh stock of provisions that they will bring ashore. And how
are you off for money, in case you should want any?"

"Why, the fact is that I haven't got any, and I was goin' to ask you to
let me have some, sir; it might come handy," was the reply.

I happened to have a few dollars that I had taken the precaution to slip
into my pocket before leaving the ship; these I handed to him, and we
then sauntered slowly toward the spot where the boat was to meet us.

I went on board the schooner that night, and devoted the whole of the
following day to the preparations for our great _coup_, setting all
hands to work sharpening cutlasses, cleaning pistols, effectually
muffling the boats' oars and rowlocks, and, in fact, making every
possible provision that I could think of to ensure our success. And the
next day I made the men rest all day, so that they might be fit for a
long and arduous night's work.

It may be imagined that I kept an exceedingly anxious eye on the
barometer throughout that day, for I realised that the weather would
have much to do with the making or marring of our fortunes on the
eventful night. The mercury remained steady in the tube until close
upon sunset, and then it began to drop a little, the drop continuing
until it had gone down nearly three-tenths of an inch. I scarcely knew
what to make of this; whether to expect a shift of wind and a strong
breeze, or whether it merely meant rain, or a thunder-storm. The sun,
however, had scarcely set when we got a hint of what was to come, in the
shape of a bank of dark, purplish, slate-coloured clouds that began to
pile themselves along the eastern horizon, their edges as sharply
defined against the clear sky as thoug