rate captain with suspicion.

"Then you will remain there till you are tired," answered Gascoyne, with
some asperity, "and after that, do what you please."

"Well, well, I am in your power," retorted the obdurate Norseman; "make
what arrangements you please, I will carry them out until--"

Here Ole thought fit to break off, and Gascoyne, without taking notice
of the remark, went on in a few hurried sentences to explain as much of
his plan as he thought necessary for the guidance of his suspicious
ally.

This done, he led the whole party to the highest part of the island, and
made them lie in ambush there while he went forward alone to
reconnoitre. The night was admirably suited to their purpose. It was
so dark that it was extremely difficult to perceive objects more than a
few yards off, and the wind howled so furiously among the palms that
there was no danger of being overheard in the event of their speaking
too loud or stumbling over fallen trees.

Gascoyne, who knew every rock and tree on the Isle of Palms, went
rapidly down the gentle slope that intervened between him and the
harbour in which the _Foam_ lay at anchor. Dark though it was, he could
see the taper masts and yards of his vessel traced dimly against the
sky.

The pirate's movements now became more cautious. He stepped slowly, and
paused frequently to listen. At last he went down on his hands and
knees and crept forward for a considerable distance in that position,
until he reached a ledge of rocks that overhung the shore of the bay.
Here he observed an object like a round lump of rock, lying a few yards
before him, on a spot where he was well aware no such rock had
previously existed. It moved after a moment or two. Gascoyne knew that
there were no wild animals of any kind on the island, and, therefore, at
once jumped to the conclusion that this must needs be a human being of
some sort. Drawing his knife he put it between his teeth, and creeping
noiselessly towards the object in question laid his strong hand on the
neck of the horrified Will Corrie.

That adventurous and desperate little hero having lain sleepless and
miserable at the feet of Alice until the squall blew the tent over their
heads, got up and assisted Montague to erect it anew in a more sheltered
position, after which, saying that he meant to take a midnight ramble on
the shore to cool his fevered brow, he made straight for the sea,
stepped knee-deep into the raging surf, an