e became keenly anxious to reach
Port Royal with all possible expedition, in order that the painful
business of our trial by court-martial for the loss of the frigate might
be got over without delay. We therefore carried on night and day; and
so smartly did the little schooner step out, that on the seventh day
after bearing up we found ourselves at daybreak within sight of Turk's
Island, running in for the Windward Passage before the rather languid
trade wind. Most of the people were by this time getting about once
more, so that, with our own men and the _Wyvern_ party, our decks looked
rather crowded; and as we went below to breakfast the captain remarked
upon it, expressing his satisfaction that the time was so near at hand
when we could exchange our cramped quarters aboard the schooner for the
more roomy ones to be found in the Kingston hotels or the houses of the
hospitable Jamaica planters.

We were still dawdling over breakfast in the close, stuffy little cabin
of the schooner, when Lindsay, who was looking out for me, poked his
head through the open skylight to report that there were two sail
ahead--a ship and a brigantine--hove-to in somewhat suspicious
proximity; and that Captain Tucker--who had been aloft to get a better
view of the strangers--declared his belief that the brigantine was none
other than the piratical craft the crew of which had pillaged and
destroyed the _Wyvern_.

"How do they bear, Mr Lindsay?" demanded the captain.

"Straight ahead, sir," answered Lindsay.

"And how far distant?" was the next question.

"About ten miles, sir," replied Lindsay.

"And what are we going at the present moment?" asked the captain.

Lindsay withdrew his head from the skylight to glance over the rail, and
then replaced it again to answer, "A bare five, sir, I should say; the
wind seems to be growing more scant. Shall I heave the log, sir?"

"No, thank you," answered the captain; "I have no doubt your judgment is
nearly enough correct for all practical purposes, Mr Lindsay. Let a
hand be sent aloft to keep an eye on the strangers, and tell him to
report anything unusual that he may see. I shall be on deck myself in a
few minutes."

Excusing myself, I slipped up on deck to have a look at the two craft,
the upper canvas of which was visible above the horizon directly ahead
of us. As Lindsay had said, the one was a full-rigged ship, while the
other was a fine big brigantine; both were hove-to, and in su