ng murdered as he was!

"Needless to say, I immediately drew back the bolts of the hatchway
cover leading down into the after-hold, which was just under the
flooring of little Elsie's cabin, and released the three, overjoyed not
only at finding alive those whom we had thought dead, but doubly so at
having such a welcome addition to our small force of five--I couldn't
rely upon that coward Boisson--opposed as we were to the thirty, whom
the enemy still mustered, after deducting those we shot.

"Why, with this adventitious aid, we could now attack the cursed
wretches in their stronghold, instead of our merely remaining on the
defensive, waiting for them to assail us, as we had been forced to do
all along!

"I thought it best, however, not to let the Haytian scoundrels know of
this increase to our strength until the morrow, believing that if we
waited till daylight we might be able to take them more completely then
by surprise and ensure a victory; for in the dark we might get mixed up
and, firing at random, hit our friends as well as our foes. So I went
up above and spoke to Captain Alphonse, who agreed with me about it, and
we planned a pleasant little fete for the morning.

"This broke auspiciously enough, the sun rising on a tolerably calm sea,
while the strong wind of the previous evening had graduated down to a
gentle breeze from the south-west.

"But hardly had we made all our arrangements as to the distribution of
arms and settling our form of attack, when our plans were upset by the
villainous `marquis' advancing aft with a pistol in his hand, supported
by another of the scoundrels, a negro like himself from Port au Prince,
and black as a coal, but a regular giant in size, and who likewise held
a revolver.

"Heavens! They had previously been without firearms, wherein lay our
superiority in spite of numbers; but these weapons now put us almost on
level terms, notwithstanding the reinforcement we had received.

"`Where could they have got 'em, sir?' said little Mr Johnson to me, he
and Captain Alphonse and myself being in counsel together at the time,
it being the watch below of Don Miguel and Basseterre and the sailor
Duval, all three of whom were asleep in the wheel-house, recruiting for
their night duty. `They didn't have no firearms yesterday, colonel,
I'll swear. Do you think they've murdered the mate and bo'sun forrads,
and robbed 'em?'

"As a similar idea flashed through my mind, that devil, the