tale.

At the early dawn, when I was with Mr Mackay on the poop, the port
watch coming on deck just then in their turn of duty, we could see
nothing of the suspicious strangers; however as the sun rose higher up,
his rays lit a more extended range of sea, and then, far-away off on the
horizon to windward, could be seen two tiny white sails in the distance
dead astern of us.

"Sail ho!" shouted I from the mizzen cross-trees, where I had gone to
look out, Tom Jerrold being sent up aloft forward for the same purpose.
"Sail ho!"

"Where away?" cried Mr Mackay, clutching the glass and climbing up into
the rigging as he spoke, being as spry as a cat. "What do you make
out?"

"Two of them, sir," said I; "and I believe it's these pirates, sir,
again. They're on our weather quarter, hull down to windward."

"Right you are, my boy!" cried he presently after a careful inspection
of the objects I had pointed out from the top, though he did not come up
aloft any higher, his telescope under his arm being rather awkward to
carry. "They are the same craft, sure enough. It is most vexatious!"

He went down below to tell the captain, and, of course, the news soon
spread through the ship, all hands turning out and coming on deck to
have a look at these bloodhounds of the deep, that seemed bent on
pursuing us to the death.

They did not close on us, though, keeping the same distance off, some
ten miles or so, till sundown, when they approached a little nearer and
could be seen astern of us, through the middle watch, by the aid of the
night-glass; but they sheered off again at the breaking of this third
day, by which time we could see Pulo Sapata right ahead, a most
uninviting spot apparently, consisting of nothing but one big bare rock.

Here, hauling round on the starboard tack, we shaped our course east-
nor'-east, to pass over the Macclesfield Bank, in a straight line almost
for Formosa Strait, our most direct route to Shanghai, the proa and the
junk still keeping after us at a safe distance off.

"By Jingo, I'll tire 'em out yet!" cried "Old Jock" savagely, when, on
our getting abreast of the Paracels, although far off to leeward, he saw
the beastly things still in our wake as he came on deck in the morning.
"I'll tire 'em out before I've done with 'em."

But, now, all at once, we had something more important to think of than
even the supposed pirates.

The wind had freshened during the morning, blowing as usual from t