ut of sight, when we could again haul on the
wind. He remained some time aloft. When he came down he looked even
grave than before.

"It is as I feared, sir. The fellow has clapped on all sail and is
standing after us. It is a question which has the fastest pair of
heels. If we can keep well ahead until nightfall, we may then alter our
course and get clear of her."

"Perhaps, after all, she is only a British man-of-war, which takes us
for a slaver, or perhaps for an enemy's cruiser; for the `Arrow,' I
flatter myself, doesn't look like an ordinary trader," observed Captain
Magor.

"That may be, sir," answered the mate, "but we are doing the wisest
thing to keep out of her way; and, as you said, it's better to do that
and lose a day or two, than be snapped up by an enemy." The captain
ordered all hands to remain on deck at their stations, ready to shorten
sail at a moment's notice. I saw him frequently look astern, not so
much at the stranger as at the appearance of the clouds.

"Do you think she is coming up with us, Captain Magor?" I asked.

"No doubt about that, though she is carrying less sail than we are. She
has got a stronger breeze, and I am watching lest the wind should come
down on us harder than our sticks can stand."

A few minutes afterwards, as I moved to the fore part of the
quarter-deck, where the boatswain was standing, the captain cried out,
"All hands shorten sail!"

In an instant Tom's whistle was at his mouth, and didn't he stamp and
shout.

"In with the studding-sails, my lovely lads; let fly topgallant sheets,
my sweet angels. Haul down, trice up, my pretty boys." Though what
between the orders issued by the captain and mates, and repeated by him,
with the howling of the wind and the whistling of his shrill pipe, the
rattling and creaking of the blocks, and the fluttering of the sails, it
was difficult for ears unnautical to comprehend the actual words
uttered. All to me seemed hubbub and confusion. The men flew here and
there, some going aloft, while others came tramping along the deck with
the ropes. Even Captain Magor and the mates were pulling and hauling.
Harry and I caught hold of the ropes they gave us, and ran along with
them to gather in the fluttering canvas, which seemed as if it would be
blown to shreds before it could be secured. As it was, a fore-royal was
carried away and a studding-sail boom was snapt off. Before we had time
to stow the lighter canvas the sq