back and guide the cutters in to attack. They always had cutters, didn’t they? And they called it ‘cutting out.’ Well we’re going to cut out this pirate, and burn their stockade and rescue prisoners, and maybe find bales and boxes and heaps of rich merchandise that’ll make us wealthy. Come on.”

“All right,” says I, “but let’s not get lost.”

“Always can see the riding light,” he says. “Swim as still as you can.”

So we started off towards the pirate, swimming so quiet we could hardly hear ourselves. It wasn’t much of a swim, though there was quite a little current. We got to the pirate and all around her. There wasn’t a light except her riding light, and for a while we couldn’t hear a sound. It was just as if she was deserted. But when we got just under her tail we could hear a murmur of voices and Catty reached out and touched my shoulder and whispered, “Grab hold of her stern and listen.”

WHEN WE GOT JUST UNDER HER TAIL WE COULD HEAR A MURMUR OF VOICES

WHEN WE GOT JUST UNDER HER TAIL WE COULD HEAR A MURMUR OF VOICES

So we grabbed and lay still on the water. But we couldn’t make out a word for quite a while. Then one of the men got up and stood right over us and says, “Well, so far—so good.”

“Any fool can chase a boat in broad daylight,” says the other man, who came and stood by him.

“But we aren’t sure he’s aboard.”

“I am,” says the other man.

“Wish I was. If we’ve been fooled——”

“Oh, he never suspected a thing. How should he?”

“A man that knows what he knows is suspicious of everybody and everything—if he’s got any sense. And this fellow’s got some sense. We shouldn’t have hung to his heels so close.”

“Rubbish.”

“And, as I said, he may have fooled us. I didn’t see him aboard that yacht.”

“Why don’t you row and pay him a friendly call? Nothing unusual in that. Here we are anchored side by side and nobody would think anything of it if you made a call.”

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