I fancied I caught, just for an instant out of
the corner of my eye, a faint, silvery gleam, as of the phosphorescence
of disturbed water, deep in the heart of the darkest shadow in the
direction of the beach. I looked more closely, and presently saw again,
this time quite distinctly, the rippling, moon-like gleam of water
disturbed as it might be by the launching of a boat or a canoe. Yes,
there was no mistake about it, there was undoubtedly a movement of some
sort in there; and even as I came to this conclusion I saw the thing
repeated twice, thrice, five or six times, with spaces of a few yards
between. That was enough; at last the savages were on the move, and in
a moment my fatigue fell from me like a garment, and I was once again
the incarnation of alertness. Without making a sound I glided along the
deck in my old soft slippers, and, laying my hand lightly upon each
sleeper's shoulder, murmured in his ear: "The enemy is under way! Go to
your station as noiselessly as possible, taking your gun with you; and
do not fire until I give the word."

By the time that I had awakened my little band, and had seen each man at
his proper station, it had become perfectly apparent that eight canoes
were stealing slowly out toward us from the beach; for although they
were still enveloped in deep shadow, and were being paddled so
cautiously that not the faintest suspicion of a sound could be heard, it
was possible for us to see distinctly, in the midst of the blackness,
eight separate points of disturbance, each indicated by short, wavering
lines of phosphorescent light, marking the slight ripple created by the
gentle passage of some object through the water, in addition to which an
occasional small luminous swirl indicated the stealthy dip of a paddle
in the water at infrequent intervals. The excessive caution with which
they were making their approach seemed to suggest an intention on the
part of the savages to get as near as possible to the schooner
unobserved, with probably a quick dash at the end to cover the last
hundred feet or so of water.

Crouching low behind the bulwarks, and levelling the ship's night glass
over the rail, I kept the instrument slowly sweeping athwart the
advancing line of craft, and at length saw eight large canoes gradually
take shape as they drew imperceptibly out of the heart of the deepest
shadow. I endeavoured to count the number of occupants, but soon found
this to be impossible in the