ch close
proximity that the merest tyro might shrewdly guess at what was going on
there just beyond the horizon. But, to make assurance doubly sure, I
took the ship's glass, and went up on the topgallant yard, from whence I
was able to obtain a full view of them. It was as I had expected; boats
were passing rapidly to and fro between the two craft, those which left
the ship being heavily laden, while those which left the brigantine were
light.

I was still aloft, working away with the telescope, when the captain
emerged from the companion-way, and at once catching sight of me,
hailed--

"Well, Mr Courtenay, what do you make of them?"

"It is undoubtedly a case of piracy, sir," I replied. "The brigantine
is rifling the ship, and the latter has all the appearance of a British
West Indiaman."

"Whew!" I heard the skipper whistle, as he walked to the rail and
looked thoughtfully down at the foam bubbles that were gliding past our
bends. "If she is an Indiaman she will have passengers aboard her," he
remarked to the doctor, who at that moment joined him.

The doctor seemed to acquiesce, although he spoke in so low a tone that
I could not catch his words. The two stood talking together for a few
minutes, and then the captain hailed me again.

"What do you judge our distance from those two craft to be, Mr
Courtenay?" he asked.

"A good eight miles, sir, I should say," answered I.

"Thank you, Mr Courtenay; you may come down, sir," returned the
skipper, which I took to be a hint that he wanted me. I accordingly
slung the glass over my shoulder, swung myself off the yard on to the
backstay, and so descended to the deck.

"Did you notice whether they seemed to have more wind than we have?"
inquired the captain, as I joined him.

"Pretty much the same, sir, I should think," answered I. "It looks as
though it would fall calm before long."

"I am afraid not; no such luck," remarked the skipper, cocking his
weather eye skyward and carefully studying the aspect of the heavens.
"I fervently wish it would; then we could nab that fellow beautifully
with the boats."

"Might we not try, sir, as it is?" inquired I eagerly. "We have enough
people--that is, counting the _Wyvern's_ men, who, I have no doubt,
would all volunteer," I hastened to add, as my eye fell upon three or
four of those whom we had taken out of the launch, and who, what with
starvation and their still unhealed wounds, looked more fit for a
hospita