"do as you please. It's all one
to me."

While the two officers were conversing, the active crew of the _Foam_
were busily engaged in carrying out the orders of Manton, and the
graceful schooner glided swiftly along the coast before the same breeze
which urged the _Talisman_ to the north end of the island. The former,
having few reefs to avoid, approached her destination much more rapidly
than the latter, and there is no doubt that she would have arrived first
on the scene of action had not the height and form of the cliffs
prevented the wind from filling her sails on two or three occasions.

Meanwhile, in obedience to Manton's orders, a great and very peculiar
change was effected in the outward aspect of the _Foam_. To one
unacquainted with the character of the schooner, the proceedings of her
crew must have seemed unaccountable as well as surprising. The
carpenter and his assistants were slung over the sides of the vessel,
upon which they plied their screwdrivers for a considerable time with
great energy, but, apparently, with very little result. In the course
of a quarter of an hour, however, a long narrow plank was loosened,
which, when stripped off, discovered a narrow line of bright scarlet
running quite round the vessel, a little more than a foot above the
water-line. This having been accomplished, they next proceeded to the
figurehead, and, unscrewing the white lady who smiled there, fixed in
her place a hideous griffin's head, which, like the ribbon, was also
bright scarlet. While these changes were being effected, others of the
crew removed the boat that lay on the deck, bottom up, between the
masts, and uncovered a long brass pivot-gun of the largest calibre,
which shone in the saffron light of morning like a mass of burnished
gold. This gun was kept scrupulously clean and neat in all its
arrangements; the rammers, sponges, screws, and other apparatus
belonging to it, were neatly arranged beside it, and four or five of its
enormous iron shot were piled under its muzzle. The traversing gear
connected with it was well greased, and, in short, everything about the
gun gave proof of the care that was bestowed on it.

But these were not the only alterations made in the mysterious schooner.
Round both masts were piled a number of muskets, boarding-pikes,
cutlasses, and pistols, all of which were perfectly clean and bright,
and the men--fierce enough and warlike in their aspect at all times--had
now rend