purpose, evidently, of getting a good offing before
nightfall. As her topsails appeared above the horizon, we could make
out very clearly that she was a brig.

"Hand me up my glass, Jack," said the captain with animation. He took a
long, steady look at her, and then handed the glass to Mr Gale, whose
place Peter took at the helm.

While they were all looking eagerly at the approaching brig, I felt the
schooner heel over even more than she had been doing. The captain
likewise became sensible of the movement. He looked round--

"Let go the fore-sheet!" he shouted loudly. Mr Gale at the same moment
sprang forward to execute the order; but the pirate who was tending it
held it on tight with drunken stupidity. Mr Gale tried to drag him
away from it; but the man, instead of letting go, gave a turn, and
jammed the sheet. Down came the squall on us with redoubled strength.
The little vessel heeled over till her gunwale was buried in the sea.
The water rose higher and higher up her deck. It was too late to cut
the sheet. No skill could save her.

Down, down went the vessel! Shrieks and cries arose, but they were no
longer the sounds of revelry. They were those of horror and hopeless
dismay, uttered by the pirates as they found the vessel sinking under
their feet and they were thrown struggling into the water. So suddenly
did she go over, and so rapidly did she fill, that even the most sober
had no time to consider how they could save themselves, much less had
those wretched drunken men. Overloaded as they were with clothes and
booty, they could neither swim nor struggle towards the spars, and
planks, and oars, and boats, which were floating about on every side.

When Mr Gale found that it was too late to save the schooner, he sprung
back towards one of the boats which had been stowed right aft on the
weather-side; the captain, Peter, and I, with our men, had been cutting
the lashings which had secured it with our knives; and giving it a shove
as the deck of the vessel touched the water, we were able to get clear
just as she went down. The mate had not quite reached the boat, but
Peter, leaning forward, hauled him in before he was drawn into the
vortex made by the schooner as she sunk. To clear her, we had of
necessity to shove astern, and this drove us still further from the spot
where the rest of the people were still struggling in the waves. Some
of the soberest had managed to disencumber themselves of thei