ht succeed in taking refuge, and with the master of which we might be
able to effect an arrangement by which he would be willing to convey us
to Port Royal. But to our intense, though secret, mortification, Carera
at length resolved to keep straight on; and thus another of our
cherished hopes was disappointed. We found, however, on inspecting
Carera's well-worn chart, that the route he had adopted would take us
within some ten miles of West Point, Jamaica; and shaving the island so
closely as that there was just a possibility that we might be pounced
upon by one of our own cruisers, so that we were, after all, not exactly
in despair. Still, there was, on the other hand, the chance that the
felucca might scrape clear; and it was just this chance that we had to
provide against, the attempt to do which cost us an infinite amount of
anxious and almost fruitless thought. It was, indeed, the only thing
now left us to think about. By a curious combination of fortuitous
circumstances we had not only tumbled blindfold, as it were, into this
singular adventure, but had also been enabled to successfully avoid
awakening the suspicions of the people we were so unexpectedly
associated with, as well as to see our way clearly all through the
adventure, except to its successful ending; and, having carried the
thing smoothly forward so far, we did not intend to be beaten at last,
if there was any possibility of avoiding it. We racked our brains
perpetually on the subject, separately and together, and numerous enough
were the schemes which we evolved; but, alas, they were all so nearly
impracticable that only under the most exceptionally favourable
circumstances could we hope to carry them through successfully. The two
least impracticable were Courtenay's proposal to scuttle the felucca
when within a few miles of Jamaica, trusting to all hands being able to
make the island, as the nearest place of refuge, in the boat; and my own
scheme, which was that we should secure possession of the armoury in the
cabin, and, seizing upon the first favourable opportunity which might
present itself, arm ourselves to the teeth, and, driving the watch on
deck into the forecastle, take possession of the felucca and endeavour
to navigate her into Port Royal by our own unaided exertions. The chief
objections to the first scheme were the difficulty of obtaining the
tools necessary to the effectual performance of the scuttling, in the
first place, and, i