o be adrift."

"Well, it is a most extraordinary circumstance," commented the captain.
"Are you quite satisfied that the men remained fully on the alert all
the time?"

"Perfectly, sir," answered the lieutenant. "I hailed them every ten
minutes or so, not knowing at what moment some disagreeable surprise
might be sprung upon us. Besides, we did not know how you might be
faring, and thought it quite possible that the craft you were after
might attempt to give you the slip in the darkness. The men on the
forecastle were two of the best we have in the ship--William Robinson
and Henry Perkins."

"Yes," assented the captain; "they have always hitherto seemed
thoroughly trustworthy and reliable men. Where are they? I should like
to ask them a question or two."

The two men were summoned, and at once subjected to a very sharp
cross-examination, which led to nothing, however, as they both
persistently declared that they had neither seen nor heard anything to
arouse the slightest suspicion until the discovery was made that the
ship was adrift. The captain then went forward and inspected the
severed cable; but that revealed nothing beyond the fact that the
strands had been cut almost completely through with some very sharp
instrument before the stubborn hemp had given way. In short, the whole
affair was enshrouded in the deepest mystery. When, however, the
captain had heard the whole story, and thoroughly investigated the
matter, he freely absolved the first luff from all blame, frankly
acknowledging that he did not see what more could have been done to
provide for the safety of the ship, and that the thing would undoubtedly
have happened just the same had he himself remained on board instead of
going away with the boats.

Meanwhile, the dead and wounded had been conveyed from the prizes to the
_Barracouta_, where the doctor immediately took the sufferers in hand,
while the slain were stitched up in their hammocks ready for burial. At
length it came to my turn to be attended to, and when the doctor saw my
foot--now so dreadfully swollen and inflamed that my whole leg was
affected, right up to the knee--I was promptly consigned to the
sick-bay, with the intimation that I might think myself exceedingly
fortunate if in that hot climate mortification did not set in and
necessitate the amputation of my leg. I am thankful to say, however,
that it did not; and in three weeks I was discharged from the doctor's
care, and