“Oh, that? She is Burton’s auxiliary, the Harkaway,” replied Kane. “There will be half a dozen more of them in here before sundown. There is a regular meeting of the club to-night, and I shouldn’t wonder if there would be a score or more of yachts in here between now and midnight.”

“If the pirate only knew that, it might prove to be a harvest for him, don’t you think?” asked Nick.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. There would be too many of them for him, wouldn’t there?”

“Not if he is a submarine, and he is one. And say, Max, that thought suggests a question.”

“What is it?”

“Does the count happen to know about that meeting?”

“What meeting? Oh, you mean the club meeting?”

“Certainly. You just referred to it.”

“Why, yes. I suppose he knows about it. He has heard me say that I wished to be at the meeting to-night.”

“So he also knows that there will be a lot of craft at[55] this anchorage to-night, and that the owners and guests from them, almost to an individual, will be ashore at the club-house, doesn’t he?”

[55]

“I have never regarded him as a fool, Nick, and he would have to be pretty near one if he didn’t know that.”

“And I suppose, Max, that you are looking forward to creating a sensation when you tell the bunch about how you were boarded by a pirate and robbed like a gentleman, eh?”

“Why, yes——”

“It is too bad to take that privilege from you, old man, but I really wish you would say nothing whatever about it, and that you would caution your wife and guests to observe the same silence. I will only hold you to that for to-night. To-morrow you can tell the whole world about it if you like.”

“But why so mighty secret about it to-night, Nick?”

“Because, Max, I expect that the pirate will make another call 

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