At first the manner of the speakers indicated that they were wildly congratulating each other, but very soon it was evident that the _Summer Shelter_ was the subject of their discourse. They all looked over at the yacht, some of them even shook their fists at her, and although Shirley did not understand their language, he knew very well that curses, loud and savage, were pouring over the bulwarks in the direction of his friends and their yacht. Then the subject of the conference changed. The fellows began to gaze northward, a glass was turned in that direction, the exclamations became more violent than before, and when Shirley turned, he saw for the first time the other vessel which was coming down from the north. This was now far away, but she was heading south, and it could not be long before she would arrive on the scene. Now Shirley's heart sank about as far down as it would go. He had no doubt that this very vessel was another of the pirates. If she carried a gun, even if it were not a heavy one, he might as well bid good-bye to the _Summer Shelter_. The pirates would not allow her to go to any port to tell her tale. The noisy conference now broke up. The boat with its crew returned to the other vessel, which almost immediately started, turned, and steamed away to the north, in the direction of the approaching steamer. This settled the matter. She was off to join her pirate consort. Now the _Dunkery Beacon_ started her engines, and steamed slowly in the direction of the yacht, as if she wished to hail her. Shirley's heart rose a little. If there was to be a parley, perhaps the pirates had decided to warn the yacht to stop meddling, and to take herself away, and if, by any happy fortune, it should be decided to send him to his friends, he would implore them, with all his heart and soul, to take the advice without the loss of a second. CHAPTER XXVIII THE PEOPLE ON THE "MONTEREY" The vessel which had last appeared upon the scene and which was now steaming down towards the _Dunkery Beacon_ and the _Summer Shelter_, while the small steamer from the Mediterranean was making her way northward to meet her, was the _Monterey_ of Vera Cruz, and carried Captain Philip Horn and his wife Edna. As soon as Captain Horn had heard of the danger which threatened the treasure which was on its way from London to the Peruvian government,--treasure which had cost him such toil, anxiety, and suffering, and in the final just disposition of which he felt the deepest interest and even responsibility,--although, in fact, the care and charge of which had passed entirely out of his hands,--he determined not only to write to Shirley to go to Jamaica, but to go there himself without loss of time, believing from what he had heard that he could surely reach Kingston before the arrival there of the _Dunkery Beacon_.