"Come, lads," Captain Blizzard said to them at last. "We have seen what we had to see, and many is the witness now against Claggett Chew and all his company!" "Aye! Aye! That we are! We'll bear witness to such villainy--they should all hang for it!" the voices cried. "Then let us go back to our own ship, for the dreaded _Vulture_ is not yet gone, and unarmed as we too are, what chance have we against cannon balls and armed men?" The men turned about and trouped back to the dinghies, while Captain Blizzard stayed behind a moment to speak to Chris. "My boy," he said, his hand on Chris's shoulder, as in front of them in the late afternoon light the men of the _Mirabelle_ made their way back to the ship, "'tis my advice you had best return with us now, or you might be missed by one or another of the men, and they have much time to think. You shall do what has been set for you to do--we shall stay here another day to take on water and fresh fruits." He looked smilingly down at Chris but his eyes were concerned. "It will not be a moment too soon for me until I see you safe and sound on board again, my lad," he said, "for I like you well and would have no smallest harm come to you." Together they went down to the beach and the waiting dinghy. Chris dared not look at the sky above them for he knew night was darkening it, and with the night he must leave. CHAPTER 25 As soon as the night was dark enough, Chris loudly complained of not feeling well--of being hot and dizzy, and in no time Captain Blizzard had, as loudly, told him he was to go to bed on a cot in the Captain's cabin. Captain Blizzard closed the door behind him, and in Amos's and Ned Cilley's hearing, told Mr. Finney that he was much afraid that Chris had a touch of the sun and was coming down with a tropical fever. Chris remained alone in the cabin from that time. Soon, in the cool of the night, the sailors of the _Mirabelle_ set out in dinghies to a cascade of fresh water that emptied itself into the cove at its farther end, taking with them casks and barrels to replenish the ship's water supply. Their deep voices swept back over the water to where Chris stood by the open port of the Captain's cabin. He was forcing himself toward the moment when he must board the _Vulture_. His resolve was held back by his mounting anxiety as to how best to carry out what would be necessary, and a strong natural reluctance to leave the _Mirabelle_. Leave it he must. He stood pondering on what shape to assume, and when he heard the cry of a belated night bird, and saw it coast by on silent wings to vanish in the night, he decided to take that shape. It took all his courage and determination, but this was the first step toward what he had trained for so long to do, and he knew he must do it, and at once. The boy looked a last time around the cabin, then spoke the magic formula in his mind, and, with a sudden enjoyment in the sense of flight, he soared away from the ship out over the cove.