waves, a bloodthirsty Pirate bore down on them
with a crew of human tigers; and a lady babble
babble babble babble babble babble babbled in
their quivering ears.

But now the captain came bustling on deck,
eyed the loftier sails, saw they were drawing well,
appointed four midshipmen a staff to convey his
orders; gave Bayliss charge of the carronades,
Grey of the cutlasses, and directed Mr.Tickell
to break the bad news gently to Mrs. Beresford,
and to take her below to the orlop deck; ordered
the purser to serve out beef, biscuit, and grog to
all hands, saying, "Men can't work on an
empty stomach: and fighting is hard work;"
then beckoned the officers to come round him.
"Gentlemen," said he, confidentially, "in crowding
sail on this ship I had no hope of escaping
that fellow on this tack, but I was, and am, most
anxious to gain the open sea, where I can square
my yards and run for it, if I see a chance. At
present I shall carry on till he comes up within
range: and then, to keep the Company's canvas
from being shot to rags, I shall shorten sail;
and to save ship and cargo and all our lives, I
shall fight while a plank of her swims. Better
be killed in hot blood than walk the plank in
cold."

The officers cheered faintly; the captain's
dogged resolution stirred up theirs.

The pirate had gained another quarter of a
mile and more. The ship's crew were hard at
their beef and grog, and agreed among
themselves it was a comfortable ship; they guessed
what was coming, and woe to the ship in that
hour if the captain had not won their respect.
Strange to say, there were two gentlemen in the
Agra to whom the pirate's approach was not
altogether unwelcome. Colonel Kenealy and Mr.
Fullalove were rival sportsmen; and rival theorists.
Kenealy stood out for a smooth bore, and a four
ounce ball; Fullalove for a rifle of his own
construction. Many a doughty argument they had,
and many a bragging match; neither could
convert the other. At last Fullalove hinted that by
going ashore at the Cape, and getting each
behind a tree at one hundred yards, and popping
at one another, one or other would be
convinced.

"Well, but," said Kenealy, "if he is dead, he
will be no wiser; besides, to a fellow like me,
who has had the luxury of popping at his enemies,
popping at a friend is poor insipid work."

"That is true," said the other, regretfully.
"But I reckon we shall never settle it by argument."

Theorists are amazing creatures: and it was
plain, by the alacrity with which these good
creatures loaded the rival instruments, that to
them the pirate came not so much as a pirate
as a solution. Indeed, Kenealy, in the act of
charging his piece, was heard to mutter, "Now,
this is lucky." However, these theorists were
no sooner loaded, than something occurred to
make them more serious. They were sent for in
haste to Dodd's cabin; they found him giving
Sharpe a new order.

"Shorten sail to the taupsles and jib, get the
colours ready on the halyards, and then send the
men aft!"

Sharpe ran out full of zeal, and tumbled over
Ramgolam, who was stooping remarkably near
the keyhole. Dodd hastily bolted the cabin door,
and looked with trembling lip and piteous earnestness
in Kenealy's face and Fullalove's. They
were mute with surprise at a gaze so eloquent
yet mysterious.

He manned himself, and opened his mind to
them with deep emotion, yet not without a
certain simple dignity.

"Colonel," said he, "you are an old friend;
you, sir, are a new one; but I esteem you highly,
and what my young gentlemen chaff you about,
you calling all men brothers, and making that
poor negro love you, instead of fear you, that
shows me you have a great heart. My dear
friends, I have been unlucky enough to bring my
children's fortune on board this ship: here it is,
under my shirt. Fourteen thousand pounds!
This weighs me down. Oh, if they should lose
it after all! Do pray give me a hand apiece,
and pledge your sacred words to take it home safe
to my wife at Barkington, if you, or either of
you, should see this bright sun set today, and
I should not."

"Why Dodd, old fellow," said Kenealy, cheerfully,
"this is not the way to go into action."

"Colonel," replied Dodd, "to save this ship
and cargo, I must be wherever the bullets are,
and I will, too."

Fullalove, more sagacious than the worthy
colonel, said earnestly: "Captain Dodd, may I
never see Broadway again, and never see Heaven
at the end of my time, if I fail you! There's my
hand."

"And mine," said Kenealy, warmly.

They all three joined hands, and Dodd seemed
to cling to them.

"God bless you both! God bless you! Oh,
what a weight your true hands have pulled off
my heart. Good-by, for a few minutes. The
time is short. I'll just offer a prayer to the
Almighty for wisdom, and then I'll come up and
say a word to the men, and fight the ship; according
to my lights."

Sail was no sooner shortened, and the crew
ranged, than the captain came briskly on deck,
saluted, jumped on a carronade, and stood erect.
He was not the man to show the crew his
forebodings.

(Pipe.) "Silence fore and aft."

"My men, the schooner coming up on our
weather quarter is a Portuguese pirate. His
character is known; he scuttles all the ships he
boards, dishonours the women, and murders the
crew. We cracked on to get out of the narrows,
and now we have shortened sail to fight this
blackguard, and teach him to molest a British
ship. I promise, in the Company's name, twenty