o
with Spinnet; he had his wits at work, and no sooner had the last of the
villains disappeared below the hatchway, than he turned to his boys.

"Now, boys, for our lives. Seth, you clap your knife across the fore
throat and peak halyards; and you, John, cut the main. Be quick now, an'
the moment you've done it, jump aboard the pirate. Andrew and Sam, you
cast off the pirate's graplings; an' then you jump--then we'll walk into
them three chaps aboard the clipper. _Now for it_."

No sooner were the last words out of the old man's mouth, than his sons
did exactly as they had been directed. The fore and main halyards were
cut, and the two graplings cast off at the same instant, and, as the
heavy gaffs came rattling down, our five heroes leaped on board the
pirate. The moment the clipper felt at liberty, her head swung off, and,
before the astonished buccaneers could gain the decks of the fisherman,
their own vessel was a cable's length to leeward, sweeping gracefully
away before the wind, while the three men left in charge were
easily secured.

"Halloa, there!" shouted Captain Spinnet, as the luckless pirates
crowded around the lee gangway of their prize, "when you find them
silver dollars, just let us know, will you?"

Half a dozen pistol shots was all the answer the old man got, but they
did him no harm; and, crowding up all sail, he made for the vessel he
had discovered, which lay dead to leeward of him, and which he made out
to be a large ship. The clipper cut through the water like a dolphin,
and, in a remarkably short space of time, Spinnet luffed up under the
ship's stern, and explained all that had happened. The ship proved to be
an East Indiaman, bound for Charleston, having, all told, thirty men on
board, twenty of whom at once jumped into the clipper and offered their
services in helping to take the pirate.

Before dark, Captain Spinnet was once more within hailing distance of
his own vessel, and raising a trumpet to his mouth, he shouted:

"Schooner ahoy! Will you quietly surrender yourselves prisoners, if we
come on board!"

"Come and try it!" returned the pirate captain, as he brandished his
cutlass above his head in a threatening manner, which seemed to indicate
that he would fight to the last.

But that was his last moment, for Seth was crouched below the bulwarks,
taking deliberate aim along the barrel of a heavy rifle, and, as the
bloody villain was in the act of turning to his men, the sharp cra