Dory dropped down upon the seat again. His mother was not sick or dead. The current of life began to flow through his veins again. A terrible load was removed from his mind almost as soon as laid upon it. He even began to think that the officer was playing a trick upon him to get him to see the captain of the steamer, whom he had so carefully avoided. "Give way, my lads!" shouted the officer of the boat, as soon as he had answered Dory's question. "I want Theodore Dornwood. Will you give him up?" This question was addressed to the skipper of the schooner, which was not more than a hundred feet from the boat. "Yes, with the greatest pleasure," replied Pearl. "I will put him ashore in here, and you can take him on board." Dory heard this reply with astonishment and indignation. Pearl intended to put him ashore, and then allow the boat from the steam-yacht to pick him up. If he could keep the boat from coming alongside, and thus prevent the officer from ascertaining the condition of things on board of the Goldwing, the Sylph would trouble him no more. If the business on which she came after Dory was a matter of life and death, Captain Gildrock would not be likely to molest him after he had accomplished his mission. The Goldwing was now within a hundred yards of the shore. Through an opening in the land she was getting a better breeze, and was making at least four miles an hour. Dory saw that something must be done very soon. He had been released from his imprisonment so that the owner of the steamer should not see that he was in trouble. The boat from the steamer was not hurrying; for the officer seemed to be satisfied with the arrangement Pearl had proposed, to put the boy ashore. When the steamer's port boat saw that the schooner was cornered, she began to pull towards the scene of action. It had gone but a short distance from the vessel before she changed her course; but she still kept in position to head off the schooner if she attempted to escape to the eastward. "Get ready to go ashore, Dory Dornwood," said Pearl in one of his mild tones. Dory made no reply. He was fully resolved not to do any thing of the sort. If he went on shore, and submitted to the villain's plan to escape from his pursuers, he could hardly expect ever to see the Goldwing again. But he considered it the safest way to say nothing about the purpose in his mind. "You will tell the captain of the Sylph the state of things on board of this boat, Dory," said Peppers, who had no objection to the plan; for he thought Captain Gildrock would make a business of liberating him and his companion in the cuddy as soon as he was informed of their condition. "Tell him any thing you like, Dory Dornwood, as soon as you get on board of the steamer," added Pearl. "Are you ready to go on shore?" "If I must go on shore, I suppose I must," replied Dory in a non-committal way. "What is to become of my boat if I go ashore?"