le Laurvik was under water. He fitted her, therefore, with
a Maxim gun on the roof of the deck-house, and armed the crew with
repeating Winchesters.

Thus equipped, he felt ready for any perils that might confront him
above the surface of the water. As to what might lurk below he felt
somewhat less confident, as these he should have to face alone, and he
remembered the ominous warning of his pirate friend, about the sharks
and the "killers." For sharks Jan Laurvik had comparatively small
concern; but for the "killers," those swift and implacable little whales
who fear no living thing, he entertained the highest respect.

On the evening of the day after Captain Jerry's arrival, the tug
_Sarawak_ steamed quietly out of the harbour. As this was a customary
thing for her to do, it excited no particular comment among the
frequenters of the waterside. By the pirates' spies, who abounded in the
city, it was not considered an event worth making note of.

[Illustration: "THOSE SWIFT AND IMPLACABLE LITTLE WHALES WHO FEAR NO
LIVING THING."]

The journey, across the Straits, and down the treacherous Javan Sea, was
so prosperous that Jan Laurvik, his blood steeped in Norse superstition,
began to feel uneasy. The sea was like a millpond all the way, and
they were sighted by no one likely to interfere or ask questions. Jan
distrusted Fortune when she seemed to smile too blandly. But Captain
Jerry comforted him with the assurance that there'd be trouble enough
ahead; and strangely enough this singular variety of comfort quite
relieved Jan's depression.

The unusual calm made it easy to hold close inshore, when they reached
that portion of the coast where they must keep watch for the landmarks
indicated on the pirate's map. Every reef and surface-ledge boiled
ceaselessly in the smooth swell, and by that clear green sea they were
saved the trouble of tedious soundings. When they came exactly abreast
of a low headland which they had been watching for some time, it
suddenly opened out into the semblance of a two-humped camel crouching
sidewise to the sea, exactly as it was represented in Jan's map. Just
beyond was a narrow bay, and across the middle of its mouth, with a
dangerous passage on either side, stretched the reef on which the pirate
junk had gone down. At this hour of low water the reef was showing its
teeth and snarling with surf. At high tide it would be hidden, and a
perfect snare of ships. According to the map, the wreck