enemies," whispered Poole, "but they don't see us yet. I
wonder which they are."

Just then the lambent flashing of the phosphorescent water and the soft
splashing ceased.

It was the reign of darkness far and near.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

ANXIOUS TIMES.

As the minutes glided by in the midst of that profound silence, a fresh
kind of feverish feeling began to steal over Fitz. There in the
distance, apparently beyond the dome of great stars which lit up the
blackish purple heavens, was the dull glowing cloud which looked like
one that the sunset had left behind; beneath that were the twinkling
lights of the town, and between the schooner and that, a broad black
plain of darkness, looking like a layer which extended as high as the
top of the masts.

But as Fitz looked down, it was to see that the blackness below his feet
was transparent and all in motion with tiny glowing specks gliding here
and there as if being swept along by a powerful current.

There were moments when he could have fancied that he was gazing into a
huge black mirror which reflected the vast dome of stars, but he knew by
experience that these moving greenish golden specks were no orbs of
light but the tiny phosphorescent medusas gliding in all directions
through the transparent water, and every now and then combining to emit
a pale green bluish flash of light, as some fish made the current swirl
by giving a swoop with its tail.

Moment by moment in the silence all seemed to grow more and more unreal,
more dream-like, till he felt ready to declare that all was fancy, that
he had heard no splash of a coming boat, and that the next minute he
would start into wakefulness and find that it was all imagination.

Then all at once he was listening with every nerve on the strain,
wishing that he knew Spanish instead of Latin, for a low clear voice
arose out of the darkness, saying, as he afterwards learned--

"Aboard the English vessel there! Where are you? I have lost my way."

The skipper answered directly in Spanish.

There was a quick interchange of words, and then the latter gave an
order in English which came as a relief to Fitz and made his heart jump,
suggesting as it did that the next minute there was going to be a fight.

"Get the lads all round you, Burgess, and be on the alert. It seems all
right, but it may be a bit of Spanish treachery, so look out."

As he was speaking Fitz with straining eyes and ear saw that the pale
golde