"In about half-an-hour the faint glimmer of Jones's oar in the water showed how hard it was to find the schooner again; however, he managed to get aboard at last, by which time I was walking carelessly past the binnacle in the dark, and as soon as he sought me out and began to speak, I saw it was all right. Mr Snelling came on deck to his watch, blowing up the men for letting out the only light aboard, as he didn't know fore-and-aft from 'thwart-ships, nor north from south. The cabin lamp under the skylight had gone out too for want of oil, without being noticed as long as the moon shone, and not even the planter's cheroot was to be seen. From the snatches of their conversation he had time to gather, I agreed with Jones that, whatever the four fellows on the jib-boom might have intended beforehand, their present cue wasn't at all to try seizing the ship; in fact, the schooner's sudden appearance in this latitude, with what they knew of her before, had naturally enough brought out a number of the crew in different colours to what they'd stick to after getting a fright and finding their mistake—though by this time I had no doubt in my own mind that the villain who bent on his silk neckerchief to the signal halliards in that hurry the afternoon before actually meant it for the black flag, while the absurdity of an Indiaman striking at all to a cruiser that wanted her just to heave-to, was a sign how most of the crew's minds went, as long as they fancied us pirates. However, Jones had seen sufficient of the lantern affair on the boom to explain it to my great relief; the ringleader of them, no other I was sure than ugly Harry himself, seemed to scrub trousers ordinarily for one of the quarter-deck officers, and had got hold of an old chart in his berth that same evening, which the four had come out there to get a private overhaul of. All Jones could get room to see was that it was a chart of some islands, with a particular mark at one of them, on which the fellow with the lantern put his thumb, when another asked if there weren't any trees on it. 'Trees, ay, trees enough to hang all the blasted lubbers afloat!' said the first, as Jones listened. 'I'd as soon think of sailing in a craft without spars as aboard a dazart ileyand without trees!' One was tired of the Indiaman, another sick of the world, and a third, with Jack down on the bowsprit, wanted to chase buffaloes and shoot birds. As for the rest, the head of the gang assured his mates there were plenty of other islands not far off, and natives in them; whereupon the light was put out, and, in short, they made it up amongst them to take one of the ship's boats quietly some night as soon as she got in the latitude of the Maldives, and steer for this said island; although, in case of their being dogged about by the schooner, of which the chief scoundrel seemed, by Jones's account, to have a wholesome fear, it wouldn't be so easy a matter. Indeed the last words he was heard to say, as they crept inward down the boom, were to the effect that he thought there were some aboard as anxious to drop the cruiser as they were. ''Faith, Mr Jones,' said I, glad to find this was what they wanted, 'if that's all, I shan't stand in their way—so as soon as the breeze springs up, we'd better clear off altogether. The smoothest way is to let them take themselves quietly off and I've no fear of the ship—only, before fairly shaping our own course for Bengal, we must manage to have another sight of her under full sail for Bombay!'

"Neither of us thought of turning in, for by the next half-hour, in fact, the Indiaman's hull and canvas began to blacken out of the gloom on one side—the blue of the water spread round till it glittered against the ring of light kindling and kindling on the horizon, till it rose seemingly in a perfect fire at one spot in the rim of it, blazing up toward the cool blue aloft; then the sun was out. As long as we had to stick to your niceties and fine manners, in fact, I felt as much afraid of meeting Violet herself as a country booby would—I'll be hanged if I wasn't in doubt of her cutting me dead, suppose I met her, and I shouldn't have had a word to say; whereas with a spice of the rough work I thought of all night, or even a chance of something desperate behind, why, a fellow needn't to mind much how he went about it—seeing that in the midst of a hubbub the words come into your mouth of themselves, and you're not expected to stand upon ceremony.

"The Scotch mate, being now first officer, had the side-ropes handed us civilly enough, having just seen the decks washed down in his own thorough manner, carronades, ropes, and all; but as the captain wasn't turned out yet, I went up the poop, where a couple of boys were still swabbing up the wet. The moment I reached it, the sight of the only two passengers that were out so early, rather took me aback, one of them being the last I cared to meet—namely, the Irish Brigadier's lady, who was walking the deck in pattens, the boys evidently keeping clear of her with their swabs; and the stout red-faced Brigadier himself, buttoned up to the throat, while he stalked dismally fore-and-aft with her on his arm. At the first glimpse of me, General Brady stopped short and stared—I daresay he was doubtful whether to call me out or not. 'Glad to say you again, sir!' said he. 'Well, now,' said his lady, 'you're the very man I wanted to see!' I still looked at her, unable to say the like of herself, but terrified to speak a wrong word, with the knowledge of her confounded temper: the Brigadier had planted himself betwixt me and the poop-stairs, and never having fairly come across her since the affair about her dog and the shark, why, absurd as it was, I didn't know what the woman might make of my connection with the same craft that carried her off so soon after.

"'Yes, indeed, and 'twas foolish of me not to see it in ye at first!' she went on, shaking her parasol at me in a knowing way, and eyeing the schooner again. 'Howiver, I heard of you!' said she, with another look that set me all alive, 'and a mighty bold sort of admirer you are!' 'Faith, sir,' said the Brigadier, 'if I'd commanded the batthery down there last night, I'd have waited till ye got nearer, and blown you out of the wather.' ''Tis only a lieutenant you are?' said his lady, speaking without scruple in the midst of his words, and frowning him quiet. 'Nothing more, ma'am,' I said. 'Well, now, Mister Lieutenant,' said the lady suddenly, 'what d'ye mean to do? You didn't find us out here, I suppose, and actually take these cowardly ship-people of ours by sayge-like a bold fellow, for nothing?' After a few words more, Mrs Brady all of a sudden vanished down the little quarter-gallery stair near the ship's taffrail; though I had scarce missed her ere she appeared again, making me a signal. 'Hush, now!' said she in a whisper out of the stairway, 'and step after me like a cat amongst broken bhottles, for he's shaving yonder just now on the opposite side—I saw his kitmagar taking in the hot water.' Next moment I had followed her into the small state-room in the larboard quarter, where she opened an inner door and left me. By Jove! I could have hugged that Irishwoman on the spot, vixen as she was—no matter though the very ship might be out of sight in a few hours, and I never set eyes on her again; I thought no more of it at the moment than I did of her skipper waiting for me—everything was lost in the notion of seeing Violet Hyde's face come out of that door. All the time there was a whispering, a rustling, and a confusion in the berth, as if she were taken by surprise, naturally enough—then I caught a word or two of the young lady's own, that made me think it was all up.

"The door-handle turned, and the door half opened, then it shut to again, and I heard Mrs Brady's voice in a coaxing sort of strain, till at last she opened the door wide and said: 'Then you won't, my dear? So Mister Lieutenant what's-his-name,' added she, 'you may be off to your vessel, and——' Suddenly I saw Violet's figure shrinking back, as it were, behind the Brigadier's lady, into the berth; but all at once she walked straight out to the state-room, half frowning and half laughing, with an angry kind of blush all over her face. Her hair was only looped up on the side, and braided on the other, as if it weren't rightly ship-shape yet for the day; while as for her dress, I remember nothing except its being some brown cloak or other wrapped so close about her that one couldn't even see her hands, like the picture of a nun. 'Mrs Brady seems so astonished to see you here again, Mr Collins,' said she, rather sharply, as I thought, 'that she cannot rest without all the passengers meeting you, I suppose, before you go?' With that she looked back, but Mrs Brady had walked out, though I heard the young lady's waiting-girl moving about inside the berth yet. ''Twas all an accident, my happening to come on board just now, Miss Hyde,' said I, anxiously, 'or, indeed, my having orders to speak the Indiaman at all!' 'Ah!' she answered—'and it was so strange of Mrs Brady to—to persist!' The lovely girl had scarce condescended to look at me yet, but here she glanced past me through the quarter-gallery window at the schooner, where there was nothing betwixt her and the gay little state-room save the blue heaving water and the light—then her eye seemed to pass from the epaulet on my shoulder to the other that had none, till it lighted for the first time on my face, with a smile.

"'How beautiful your schooner looks just now, Mr Collins!' said she, turning hastily again; 'it is the—the same that—that we saw before?' Now there was something in those blue eyes of hers, with the dark lashes over them and under them, that made me lose sight at the moment of everything in the way of my success, fear and all—a sort of a flying glance it was, that I couldn't help turning to my favour. 'For God's sake, Miss Hyde,' said I, 'let me have something one way or other to know my fate by—it's no use telling my mind after all that's come and gone; but as I mayn't see you again—and the breeze will be up directly—why——' Violet stood all the while gazing down on the state-room carpet, making no answer: there was a dead stop, and I heard the first ripple of the breeze work against the ship's rudder below—by Jove! I could have hanged myself at that moment—when I saw her shoulder tremble as she looked down, her soft eyelids just lifted till I caught the blue of her eye, and the smile came over her lip. How I got hold of her hand—for that confounded cloak, or whatever it was, I really don't know; but so it was, and out I came with the words, 'Violet—I love you to the last drop of my blood, that's all!' I said; 'and I only wish I had the chance of showing it!' Violet Hyde drew her hand gently out of mine, and looked me straight in the face for a moment with a merry sort of a quizzical air, as if I meant some other adventure—and 'Oh no! I hope not!' added she, with a shudder, and then a blush, no doubt thinking of the African river.

'But Violet, Violet!' said I, eagerly, as she made a move toward the nearest door, 'won't you say, then—something, for Heaven's sake, to keep one in hope?' 'Why, what would you have, sir?' said she, quickly, still turning away—but bless me! I don't exactly remember what followed, in the desperation I felt—nor how near she was to me when I heard her begging me to 'go, go, if I really loved her!' 'Dearest girl!' I said, 'I shall be far enough off in a short time!' 'Do you actually sail so soon, then?' said Violet, in a low voice. 'Why, they're bracing round the ship's yards already, I hear,' answered I; 'but indeed I think the schooner might keep near for a few days, too——' 'No—no!' said she anxiously, 'go altogether, else my father will be still more set against—against——Perhaps,' she added, 'we may see you in Calcutta, when—you are'—and her eye glanced from one shoulder of my uniform to the other. 'When I've got my epaulet shifted to the right shoulder?' 26 asked I, eagerly; 'then may I see you?' 'See—yes,' was the whisper I caught—and 'Dearest, dearest Violet,' said I, almost going down on the deck before her, 'suppose I manage to ship them on both, in this confounded peace, will you——' Hush!' said Violet, listening, and all in a flutter, 'indeed you must go, else I must!' 'For God's sake, Violet,' I went on, keeping hold of her hand as she tried to get away, 'will you wait a year or two and give me the chance of a war in China—or up the Mediterranean—or——' But here the wild notions I had for a moment left me.

"Somehow or other at that instant a terrible glimpse, as it were, of Bonaparte standing up on the crag in St Helena flashed across me; and as the folly of the thing, let alone the impudence of it, struck me, I nigh-hand groaned, while Violet Hyde's fingers slipped out of mine. Just then she turned full round with a soft look of her eyes, and was going to say something, as I thought; but the handle of the aftermost door turned, and the Brigadier's lady hastened in. As I glanced round, something or other dropped lightly into the palm of my hand, and next moment Violet was gone. 'Twas only a little knot of white ribbon I'd got, though the scent and the warm touch of it together were enough to startle one—I almost thought she'd changed into it; and to this day, ma'am, I'll be hanged if I know what that was the scent of—unless it was sandal wood!

"'Quick!' said Mrs Brady, in a hurry, 'what d'ye stand staring there for, man alive? Sir Charles is upstairs, and you can't go this way; so through the cabins with ye, lieutenant, and out on the quarther-dheck!' Before I well knew what I was doing, accordingly, we were in the judge's main-cabin, where the ship's masts and the men gathering about the ropes could be seen through the round-house doors as they stood open. 'Mrs Brady,' said I, suddenly stepping back to her, 'you're an angel, ma'am, and——' 'You unprincipled young villain ye!' said she, springing aft with her fingers spread, and begining to raise her voice, 'what would ye do! Brigadier.—D'ye think 'tis deaf I was in the stair yonder, you promiscuous young——' However, I gave her one bewildered look, and heard no more of it, bolting as I did through the nearest door right against the man coming to the wheel; while the midshipman was on the look-out for me everywhere to say that the captain of the Indiaman was waiting for me below in his cabin.

"Indeed she was moving slowly through the water already, as the light cat's-paws ruffled it here and there, and drew aloft into her royals; our own little craft beginning to slip gently along to leeward of the ship, with the dark Lascars' faces under the foot of her white fore-topmast-staysail, giving her a doubtful enough air, I must own. I had nothing particular to say to Finch, in fact; but, captain as he was of the Indiaman for the time, 'twas the least I could do to see him; besides that somehow or other, I had a sort of feeling as I came on board half-an-hour before, I couldn't exactly say why, that made one anxious for a near sight of him. If he suspected anything wrong amongst his crew, why at any rate he would have an opportunity of mentioning it ere we parted company; but, awkward as our meeting each other again was, of course, and both being on such different footing from before, while my own mind was naturally full of what had just happened, it turned out much as might be expected. Finch was evidently not the same man he had been a few weeks before, except in his puppy fine gentleman manners and way of dress, which were twice as high-flown; with his hair curled, a white handkerchief hanging half out of his breast-pocket, a regular East India uniform, and everything showing the tiptop skipper. The thing that set me less at my ease with him was, that I was sure, by one glance of his eye, he had a pretty fair guess of where I had been last, and saw it in my manner—which made me the more careful, as matters stood, to give no signs of more meddling with the Indiaman. However, I threw in a hint or two, when Finch out and told me quite frankly, there had been a little disorderly conduct on board after they left the Cape, but he had thoroughly put it down, without letting the passengers know anything about it, as he said: only, the very day before, at the time when the schooner fired, there were a few of the men, he told me, that seemed inclined to disobey orders—fellows he wished he could get rid of.

"'Now, Captain Finch,' said I, as I looked over my shoulder at them from the capstan, 'will you point out the men you spoke of, sir, that showed themselves mutinous?' Finch drew back at this, however, and hummed and hawed at the word. 'Yes, mutinous,' repeated I; 'there's no use mincing the matter, I suppose. Just be so good as let me see the fellows, and I'll rid you of them at once!' Finch's glance followed mine as it lighted on Harry Foster's shaggy head watching us with the eye of a buffalo, past a knot of slouching, hulking, foremast-men of his own kidney. The moment I caught sight of Jacobs' broad, hearty, brown face, standing apart a bit with his friends, Tom, Bill, the red-haired Irish topman, and three other honest-like man-o'-war's-men, I took my cue for the meantime. 'My lads,' said I, walking quietly forward, 'I want a few hands for the Hebe frigate—you know her, I daresay—and that's enough; for a model like the Hebe doesn't float the water—now, I can't press any of you!' Here a general laugh ran along both rows, and I heard a growling chuckle from ugly Foster. 'But,' added I, laughing too, 'you can volunteer!'

"There was a dead silence, in the midst of which Tom, the fore-topman, the most dashing fellow in the ship, stepped aft with his hat in his hand, then Jacobs, then Bill, and my acquaintance the 'Savage,' then the three others. In place of grumbling, in fact, there began to be a hurrah amongst the rest, except some of Foster's chums; a few more seemed inclined to follow, and as for my gentleman captain, he appeared not to know what to do. 'Now, my man,' said I, stepping straight up to ugly Harry, and eyeing him right in the face as he stood, 'you're a fine seaman-like fellow—true-blue, I'm sure—I've taken a particular fancy to ye—won't you ship for the Hebe—eh?' Foster didn't know where to look, twisting himself round, hitching up his trousers, and altogether taken fairly aback; every eye was on him, and I'll be hanged if I don't think he turned it in his mind to agree. 'Come, Foster,' said I, in a low voice, 'I know you, my man, but if you ship I'll look over the whole!' All at once Captain Finch walked up to me, saying, 'If you persist in taking these men, sir, you'll have to answer for it, I can tell you!' 'I know my own meaning, sir,' said I firmly; 'I am in the regular course, and answer for it I will! Say the word, my man, and ship?' said I again. 'Blowed if I do!' said Harry, turning on his heel with a grim scowl; 'none o' yer frigates for me!' and he walked off. Jacobs and the others came on the gangway with their bags, however, and pitched them to the men in the boat, without anyone offering to interfere; indeed, Finch had seemingly given it up sooner than I expected.

"'Now, Captain Finch,' said I, before stepping over the side after Mr Snelling and the men, 'I'd much rather we could have hit upon the right men; however, the more need for my keeping in sight of you to windward, as I shall do at least till we steer for the Bay of Bengal. I couldn't do less, you see,' added I, on getting no answer, 'than make myself strong enough to help you if needful!' 'I shall report to the Admiral at Bombay, sir!' said he fiercely. 'You may do that, Captain Finch,' I said, 'as soon as possible; but, in the meantime, you can't be sure of what may turn up of a dark night, and a couple of lights at your main-yardarm, or anywhere, will bring the schooner down in half-an-hour or so if there's a breeze. As for a calm,' said I, turning round—but such a strange white look had come over Finch's face as he glanced after me, that, thinking he was beside himself with rage, I went down the side without another word. 'Take your own way!' I fancied I heard him mutter betwixt his teeth; but next moment we were pulling off.

"Well, the breeze ere this time was steady, though light, and we drew gradually to windward of the Indiaman, till by the afternoon the white band on her hull was just awash with the water, and there I kept her, with a little variety, pretty near the whole night, and most of the following day.

"The next night came almost as dark as it had been that night of the calm; but the breeze freshened again pretty strong, and accordingly I kept the schooner down to get nearer the ship, which we had seen in the first dog-watch dead to leeward. I was rather uneasy for a while at not being able to make out her lights, and we slipped fast through the water, when all at once both Jones and Westwood called out from forward that they saw them, and I walked to the bows.

"'All right,' said I, 'but, no, by heaven! That's the signal I named to the captain! Set stunsails, Mr Jones, and make her walk, for God's sake!' Two lights it was aloft in the gloom, right to leeward as before: there was something wrong, or else she wanted to speak us; so away we flew before the wind, under everything that could be set. I looked and looked, when a thought struck me; not another light was to be seen below, and they weren't high enough from the heave of the sea for even a ship's lower mast.

"Yes, by George!' said I hurriedly to Westwood and Jones, 'that's a trick! The fellow means to give us the slip. Clap the helm down, Mr Snelling, and haul aft the sheets there—luff, luff!' We were losing our weather-gage; in fact, the Indiaman must actually be to windward of us ere then, and if the breeze freshened we might lose them altogether. The thing that troubled me most was, that I couldn't believe the man had thought of such a plan himself; and if he once took a hint from any of the scoundrels I knew were aboard, why, there was no saying what might be the upshot in the end. Finch was a common enough character at bottom; but with such notions as I was sure were working in his head about Miss Hyde, one step might lead him on to another, till any chance occasion might make a desperate villain of him, especially if he suspected myself of aught like good fortune with the young lady. It wasn't much past midnight, the air was wonderfully heavy and sweltering, and the swell going down, when we heard a murmur amongst the men on the forecastle, and saw a red fire-ball pass high over to nor'ard for half-a-minute, leaving a trail in the dark sky beyond the headsails.

"A queer ghastly sort of ruddy gray streak opened out in the black of the horizon, where some of them thought they made out the ship; but soon after we could hear a low hollow kind of a hum, rushing as it were from east to west, till it grew almost like the sound of waves on a beach; which made us begin to look to ourselves. There was a bright line of light directly in the opposite quarter, and the sea far away seemed getting on fire, with a noise and hubbub coming along below, that nobody appeared to know the meaning of; while aloft it was as still as a church. For a moment I saw the Seringapatam quite plainly several miles off; but from the confusion, I never could say whether it was north or east; in fact, we kept watching the canvas, expecting to have a hurricane into it next minute. Suddenly the sea came gleam-gleaming and flickering on, as it were, with a washing bubble and a hissing smother of foam, till it splashed right against our larboard bulwarks, heaping up like perfect fire upon the schooner's side, and running past both stern and bows, away with a long rolling flash to the other horizon. All was pitch-dark again after that, and a whisper went about our decks and round the binnacle lamp of 'The ripples!—It's the ripples!' 27 'Nothing more, sir!' said Jones, even he seemingly taken by surprise at first. Twice again we had it, though each time fainter, right out of the midst of the gloom; after which it was as calm as before. 'Thank God!' said I, breathing hard, 'we'll have that Indiaman in the morning, at any rate!' 'Why, sir,' answered Jones, thoughtfully, 'after this we are likely to have the south-west monsoon upon us ere long—'tis just the place and the season for it.'

"And so it was. Instead of sighting the Seringapatam at daybreak, I had a strong suspicion she had gone to eastward; but of course the faster the schooner was, why if it were the wrong way we should only get from her the farther, and miss her altogether, without ever knowing how matters went, even if she got quietly into port; so, being the best plan I could think of for the meantime, away we drove north-westward, sweeping the horizon with the glass every morning. We had run so far, indeed, without success, that I was sure she couldn't be ahead; when one day I asked Mr Jones to bring me up the chart for those parts, as we took the latitude. We were a long way to westward of our own course at the time, and Jones's finger went along eastward till it stopped right upon the Maldive islands, while he looked up with a sudden sharp glance. 'By heaven,' said I, 'yes!—I forgot that story altogether—be so good as to send that man there, Jacobs, to me. Jacobs,' said I, 'which of the officers' clothes did that fellow Foster use to scrub lately, in the Indiaman?' Jacobs gave his hair a rub, recollected a moment, and answered, 'Why, sir, the captain's own.' 'Oh!' I said, 'well, that'll do, Jacobs'—and Jacobs walked forward again. 'Mr Jones,' said I, quickly, 'that chart belonged to the captain!—I'll have a look at that said desert island, sir!' We found something answering to it on the chart; and in a few minutes the schooner was bowling before the dregs of the monsoon to eastward.

"'At all events,' added I, 'we'll see if these vagabonds mean to keep their word and turn hermits—either we catch them there, Mr Jones, or else we must find that Indiaman, though she were in sight of Colibah 28 lighthouse!' Jones's eye lighted, and he turned his nostrils to the monsoon as if he snuffed it in; in fact, he was that sort of man that needed somewhat out of the common way to keep him right."