"If ever--" began Mark. "Will you lie down?" cried Bob. "Well, I am lying down," replied Mark. "I don't feel as if I could sit up." "No, nor you won't till Whitney and I have bricked and mortared you well." "Pray, pray go on, and tell me about capturing the schooner." "You won't let me with your interruptions," cried Bob. "It's always the way with you fellows when you're getting better. You are right down nasty." "Go on, Bob." "Well, on we went after my gentleman, getting close enough to make his sails ragged, and then being dodged about in every direction as he went through all sorts of manoeuvres to escape. Now we were hove to, to pick up some of his cargo, now in full chase again, till I got sick of it by daylight, and every one else too, and the men so savage that they would have liked to pour in a broadside if it hadn't been for the poor fellows under hatches. At last it was morning, and the sun up, with the schooner a good mile away, and then came the worst of it." "The worst of it?" "Ay, ay, sir! as we say at sea. No sooner was the sun well up than the sails began to shiver. "`Wind's failing, sir,' says old Staples. "`Bah! nonsense!' says the skipper, and there came a hot puff and filled the sails again, making us careen over. `There, Mr Staples,' says the skipper, `what do you think of that?' "`Last puff, sir, for the day,' says Staples. "`Nonsense we shall have her now,' says the skipper; and then he crossed just in front of me and gave a big stamp, for the sails flopped down all at once, and there we were gliding slowly on for a bit, and then settling on an even keel, while a mile away there was the schooner with a light breeze, going along as easily as could be, and if the Yankee captain didn't have the cheek directly after to load a little swivel gun he had on board, and fire at us over the stern, as if he were laughing at us. "Then I saw Maitland give old Staples such a savage look, and go down into his cabin." "Well?" said Mark. "Oh no, it wasn't, old chap; it was ill. There we were regularly becalmed, and if the wind didn't keep along astern of the schooner and carry her right away, till she was hull down, and then by degrees we lost sight of her sails, and the game was up." "Then you didn't take her?" cried Mark. "Take her? How could we take her when we were becalmed?" "And the Yankee skipper got right away?" "Right away, a robber; and took the prize-money we had so honestly earned along with him. All that trouble for nothing; and what was worse, we couldn't come in search of you, for it fell about the deadest calm I ever saw in all my experience at sea, and that isn't saying much, is it, Van?" "Oh!" ejaculated Mark, "how horrible! You ought to have caught her, Bob." "That's right jump on me just as if I didn't do my best." "Go on now, and tell me the rest," said Mark sadly. "Not that it is of much consequence. I know you picked us up."