s they must attack from the open. More
than that, we will have the advantage in arms; here is a magazine rifle
for each of you, while they, if I am not mistaken, will attack with
pistols. We must keep them at a distance, if possible. If they should
attempt to rush us we will meet them with cutlasses and sabers."

"Mr. Cleggett," said Lady Agatha, rising when he had finished, and
speaking with animation, "will you permit me to make a suggestion?"

She went on, without waiting for an answer: "It is this: Choose your
own ground for this battle! The Jasper B. is now a full-rigged
schooner. Very well, then, sail her! At the moment you are attacked,
weigh anchor, fight your way to the mouth of the canal, take up a
position in the bay in front of Morris's within easy rifle range and
out of pistol shot, and compel the place to surrender on your own
terms!"

As the brilliance of this plan flashed upon her hearers, applause ran
around the room, and Kuroki, who spoke seldom, cried in admiration:

"The Honorable Miss Englishman have hit her head on the nail! Let there
be some naval warfares!"

"You are right," cried Cleggett, catching fire with the idea, "a
hundred times right! And why wait to be attacked? Let us carry the
war to the enemy's coast. Crack all sail upon her!--Up with the
anchors! We will show these gentry that the blood of Drake, Nelson,
and Old Dave Farragut still runs red in the veins of their countrymen!"

"Banzai!" cried Kuroki. "Also Honorable Admiral Togo's veins!"

A good breeze had sprung up out of the northwest while the conference
in the cabin was in progress.

Cleggett was relieved that it was not from the south. There is not
much room to maneuver a schooner in a canal, and a breeze from the
south might have sailed the Jasper B. backwards towards Parker's Beach,
which would undoubtedly have given the enemy the idea that Cleggett was
retreating. The Jasper B.'s bow was pointed south, and Cleggett was
naturally anxious that she should sail south.

At the outset a slight difficulty presented itself with regard to the
anchors--for although, as has been explained before, the Jasper B. was
a remarkably stable vessel, Cleggett had had the new anchors furnished
by the contractor let down. Having the anchors down seemed, somehow,
to make things more shipshape. It appeared that no one of the
adventurers was acquainted with an anchor song, and Cleggett, and,
indeed, all on board, felt that