o it."

"Now whom do you intend to send in her, sir?"

"I will send two officers," the captain said. "Peters, and a midshipman to
take his place in case he should be disabled. I think it is Robson's turn
for special service."

The next morning the boat started soon after daybreak, the ship's crew all
watching her till the two white lug-sails disappeared through the opening.

"Now we will take a strong party of wood-cutters," the captain said, "and
see if we can make a way to the top of the hill and get some idea of the
country round. I don't expect we shall see much of interest, but it is
just as well that we should be kept employed. By the way, before we do
that, we will get hawsers to the shore and work the frigate round so as to
bring her broadside to bear upon the opening; we ought to have done that
at first. The French may know of this place, or if they don't they may
learn of it from the Spaniards. Those two ships astern of us probably got
themselves snug before the tornado struck them, and weathered it all
right, though I doubt very much if they did so, unless they knew of some
inlets they could run for. If they did escape, it is likely that they will
be taking some trouble to find out what became of us. They may have seen
their companion's fate, but they would hardly have made us out in the
darkness. Still, they would certainly want to report our loss, and may
sail along close inshore to look for timbers and other signs of wreck. I
think, therefore, that it will be advisable to station a well-armed boat
at this end of the cut, and tell them to row every half-hour or so to the
other end and see if they can make out either sailing or rowing craft
coming along the shore. If they do see them they must retire to this end
of the opening, unless they can find some place where they could hide till
a boat came abreast of them, and then pounce out and capture it."

"It would certainly be a good precaution, sir. I will see to it at
once--but we are both forgetting that we have no boats."

"Bless me, I did forget that altogether! Well, here is that little dug-out
the carpenters made for sending messages to and from the ship. It will
carry three. I should be glad if you would take a couple of hands and row
down to the mouth of the entrance and see if there is any place where,
without any great difficulty, a small party with a gun could be stationed
so as not to be noticed by a boat coming up."

"I understand, sir."