said she, softly. 'To think how all the passengers were amused, and even papa too, when they heard this morning of your being arrested as a--a----But nobody could know you were so hurt, Mr Westwood. Then when some of the sailors came back, and said they had seen the French ship in disguise----' 'By Jupiter! the _brig_ they meant?' I broke out. 'Then, good heavens! they must have painted her lead-colour, and turned her back into a schooner! _That_ was she, for a thousand!' 'And, you know, yesterday morning, sir,' continued the young lady, '_you_ told me you knew our friends were there, instead of being lost, as we thought!' "'Yes, yes!' said I, 'there must be some bad scheme at the bottom; but by morning we'll have a slap at them, for certain. For my part I feel----' 'Why,' said Miss Hyde, turning anxiously to me, 'almost everybody in the ship has gone _already_. Whenever the truth was discovered, there was such a confusion amongst the gentlemen and the officers that they could not think of anything else; and, as soon as the sun had set, they all crowded into the boats and went away together, to surprise the pirates in the dark.' 'Good God!' exclaimed I, in sheer amazement, and making toward the hatchway. 'Miss Hyde! _do_ you say so!--How many were there then, ma'am?' I asked. 'Oh,' said she, quickly, 'I am so glad there was such a number--five boats quite full, I believe. Not a single gentleman would stay, except little Tommy's father, who is upstairs--and papa was one of the first to get down into a boat with his rifle. But do you not think,' added she, with somewhat of a tremble in her voice, 'do you not think the people in the French ship will yield, or at least give our friends up?' "'I hope to goodness they may!' said I, turning away from the eagerness those soft eyes of hers glittered with, as she leant out before the faint glimmer through the cuddy-door, the light of the lamp in her hand shining bright over her hair and her shoulders; while the gloomy stillness of the whole ship, below, made me think of the voice that had hailed us through the lagoon, and the same man's face--as I had no doubt now it was--when I saw it aboard the brig at sea, before the thunder-squall came on. I almost fancied I saw Finch and _him_ meeting at the present moment, with the mate's awkward look as the Frenchman's sword flashed across him--my fingers gripped together for the handle of a cutlass, to go tumbling up amongst the men over the schooner's bulwarks in the creek--when all at once another notion darted into my head, to remind me where we were in the meantime; I ran to the companion and sprang up the stair on to the quarter-deck.