They came on board of the ship as soon as she was moored; and the rest of the party, including Captain Ringgold, were in the cabin while the big four were bargaining for the use of the Salihé. The two commanders had some business, and the ladies had more to say than could be disposed of in half a day. Fourteen persons sat down at luncheon together, and just escaped the fatal number by one, so that no life was sacrificed to the ominous thirteen. The boys went on deck as soon as the meal was finished, for they were anxious to see more of the famous Rock, while the rest of the party remained in the cabin. The little steam-yacht cast off her cable, and stood off towards the town, where her enterprising captain probably expected to obtain a job for his boat. "You have not said anything to Captain Ringgold about this excursion, Louis," suggested Morris Woolridge, as they observed the departing steamer. "I did not consider it necessary to say anything to him," replied the owner of the Guardian-Mother. "He will charge you with getting up another adventure like that you three had in the same little craft, or that we had in the felucca off Teneriffe, Sir Louis." "If there is any adventure in a moonlight excursion in Gibraltar Bay in which you cannot get away more than five miles from the ship, I do not see it," added the young knight-errant, as Uncle Moses and Captain Ringgold insisted upon regarding him. "I'm go'n' wid ye's, moi darlint, and Oi shall see that no harrum comes to ye's," interposed Felix. "I'll take as good care of ye's as your modther wud if she went wid ye's." "Then I shall be perfectly safe, Squire Felix; but who will take care of you, my broth of a boy?" laughed Louis. "St. Patrick hisself, long loife to 'm! is allus on the lukout for me; an' ye've nothin' to faer as long as Oi'm wid ye's." "We have no pilot for these waters," suggested Scott. "You can take a look at the big chart of this locality before we go, and then we shall be all right," replied Louis. "The water here is a hundred fathoms deep, and I believe there is only one island in all the bay." "But there may be shoal places in the northern part of the bay, and it would not be pleasant to get aground and have to stay all night stuck in the mud," argued Scott. "The tide rises and falls about four feet here; and by the looks it will not be at the flood before nine or ten this evening; and if we get caught, we can work off any shoal without much trouble. You will be the pilot, Scott, and you must study up the tide and the shoals before we leave." "In what conspiracy are the big four engaged just now?" asked the commander, as he came out of the boudoir, in which was the grand staircase to the state cabin; and those rather high-sounding names were so marked on the plan of the interior of the ship, made by the original owner before she was purchased for the young millionaire. "Do you intend to set Gibraltar Bay on fire, blow up the Rock, or bridge over the Strait?"