She could now be seen with tolerable distinctness, the outline of the hull and of the lofty canvas showing black as ebony against the dark background of sea and sky; and any doubts which Captain Leicester might have still entertained concerning her, were completely set at rest as he glanced at the cut of her canvas. It was French all over. Foot by foot the brig--for such she was--crept up to the _Aurora_, until her bows were in a line with the barque's stern and not more than twenty feet distant. George stood by the main-rigging, watching her, cutlass in hand, calm and determined, his plans already formed for action in the event of his suspicions proving correct. In the ordinary course of things the two craft were now quite near enough to each other for any communication, however confidential in its nature, to be made without the possibility of its being overheard; but, though George could see that a figure stood on the brig's rail by the main-rigging, not a word was uttered. Keeping his gaze steadfastly fixed upon the brig, Captain Leicester saw that her helm had suddenly been ported, for she was sheering strongly in toward his own vessel. "Brig ahoy!" he hailed. "What is it you have to say to me? Do not come too close, sir, or you will be into us." "Never fear," answered in perfect English the dark figure on board the brig, "we will not carry away so much as a rope-yarn belonging to you. But I must be on board you before I can venture to give you your instructions." "Oh! very well," said George. "If you intend boarding us, you had better do so by way of our fore-rigging, or you may get a nasty fall; we are very much littered up here abaft with spars and so on." "Ah, thank you very much; I will take your advice," was the reply. George saw the man motion with his arm, and the brig's course was altered sufficiently to put her alongside with her gangway even with the _Aurora's_ fore-mast. Another second or two, and the ships gently jarred together, the brig's quarter dropping alongside the barque at the same moment. "_Enfans, allons-nous-en_!" exclaimed the voice of the stranger forward, followed by the sound of a leap on to the barque's deck, and a scramble among the spars which littered it there. "Now is your time, lads; jump for your lives!" exclaimed George in a low, excited tone; and, setting his men the example, he forthwith sprang from his own ship's bulwarks to those of the brig; and dashing at the helmsman, cut him down with his cutlass before the fellow could recover sufficiently from his astonishment to utter a cry. Then, without a moment's pause, he seized the wheel and exerting all his strength, sent it with a single twirl spinning hard over to starboard, where he lashed it.