thought this rather good, remembering, as I did, that previous to our
arrival, and before we knew how extensive was the bed, the skipper had
been straining every nerve to reach the island before his rival, with
the avowed intention of sweeping the shoal clean if he could before the
arrival of the _Kingfisher_. I said nothing, however, but, seizing the
bucket containing the pearls which I had gathered during the morning,
hastened away with the others toward where the longboat was moored. The
moment that the last man was in we cast off, threw out our oars, and
gave way for our own vessel, for the stranger was coming up hand over
fist, and Brown was very anxious to be on board before the arrival of
the _Kingfisher_, in order that he might be fully prepared for all
eventualities.

We reached the _Martha_ a few minutes before the stranger hove in stays
to fetch the passage through the reef; and Brown at once went below,
taking with him a couple of hands, routed out the arms and ammunition
chests, and served out to each man a gun, a brace of Colt revolvers, and
a cutlass, together with a liberal supply of ammunition for the
firearms, at the same time instructing us to load our weapons and have
them ready for instant use, but to keep them out of sight until it
became apparent that they would be required.

By the time that our preparations were complete, the stranger--now
identifiable beyond all question as the _Kingfisher_, since she carried
her name legibly painted in white letters upon her head-boards--had
passed through the reef and, taking in her canvas as she came, was
steering for a berth about a cable's length from where the _Martha_ lay;
and a few minutes later she put down her helm, came head to wind, and
presently let go her anchor. Meanwhile the skipper, Cunningham, and I
had been diligently taking stock of her through our glasses, with the
object of ascertaining how many hands she carried, and we agreed that
there were but eight in sight, which, counting also the cook and
steward, gave her a complement of ten all told against fourteen of us,
which fact caused our skipper to chuckle with satisfaction.

That we were not to be kept long in suspense with regard to the
intentions of the newcomers soon became sufficiently evident, for the
_Kingfisher_ had scarcely swung to her anchor when a dory was launched,
and, with three people in her, two at the oars and the third sitting in
the sternsheets, came pulling towar