to get assistance at the time this happened."

"Was yours a large, full-rigged ship?"

"Yes, sir, the _Saint Pierre_ is of good size and had all her sails
set," replied the other to the skipper's question. "We were running
before the wind with our helm lashed amidship, as it had been since the
previous Friday, for we were all too busy defending our lives to think
of attending to the ship."

"Steering about nor'-east, I suppose?"

"Confound it, captain!" said the colonel impatiently. "We were
drifting, I tell you, sir, at the mercy of the elements, and heaven only
knows how we were going! Fortunately, the weather was pretty fair, save
the very day the mutiny broke out, when it blew heavily and our canvas
got split to pieces as there was no one to go aloft and take it in.
Otherwise we must have gone to the bottom!"

"By George!" exclaimed the skipper, turning round to old Masters and
myself, who were still standing by with the hands who had come aft to
haul up the boat. "Then my bo'sun here, and this young officer were
right when they declared they saw a large full-rigged ship to the
westward of us, though I only noticed the light of your flare-up. You
were too far off for me to make you out."

"_Ojala_!" ejaculated the American, reverting again to the familiar
Spanish tongue in his emotion. "Would to God, captain, you _had_ seen
us!"

"It would have been useless if I had, my friend," said the skipper
soothingly. "We couldn't move to come to your assistance if every soul
on board had seen you and known your peril, sir; for our engines were
broken-down and we were not able to get up steam again until late this
afternoon, when we ran down to pick you up!"

"But, sir," hastily whispered the colonel, suppressing a sob of emotion,
"you can and will steam now?"

"Why ask?" replied the skipper. "The moment we know where to go in
search of your ship, that very moment we'll start and try to overhaul
her. You say you quitted her last night?"

"Quitted her? We were _thrown_ overboard, sir, by the black devils!"

Captain Applegarth in reply said calmly, "Yes, yes, of course,"
accepting the correction and trying by his manner to soothe the
infuriated man. "But what time was that?"

"I can't say the exact hour," replied the American, whose vexed tone
showed that the captain's methodical mode of setting to work did not
quite harmonise with the excited state of his feelings. "I think,
however, it must have been