"By God, she's a wonder!" cried the boatswain, looking at her. And so was he. The muscles on his bare arms stood up like lumps of iron under the flesh as he strained the heavy brace. The great yards swung easily; the topsail, top-gallant, and royal yards came round with the mainyard, and swung themselves when the sails filled. There was no time to gather in the slack of the lee-braces. I ran to windward, belayed the braces, and raised a loud cry. "They're after us, bo'sun!--they're after us!" We might have been sure of that; for if we had not been able to see them we could have heard them: the grinding of the oars in the rowlocks, the frothing of the water at the boat's bows, the cries and oaths of the men in the long-boat, inciting the others to overtake us. Only the quarter-boat was in pursuit as yet; but in the long-boat they were rigging up the stun'-sail they had shipped, meaning, as they were to windward, to bear down upon us. There was no doubt that they guessed their scheme had been baffled by discerning _three_ men on deck. The carpenter at least knew that old Mr. Robertson was too ill to leave his cabin, and failing _him_ he would instantly perceive that a trick had been played; and though he could not tell in that light and at that distance who the third man was, he would certainly know that this third man's presence on board implied the existence of a plot to save the ship. As the boat approached I perceived that she was rowed by four men and steered by a fifth, and presently, hearing his voice, I understood that this man steering was Stevens. The ship had just got way enough upon her to answer her helm. Already we were drawing the long-boat away from our beam on to the quarter. I shouted to Miss Robertson "Steady! keep her straight as she is!" for even now we had brought the wind too far aft for the trim of the yards. "Steward," I cried, "whip out one of those iron belaying-pins, and stand by to hammer away." We then posted ourselves, the boatswain and the steward at the gangway, and I half-way up the poop ladder, each with a heavy belaying-pin in his hand, ready to receive the scoundrels who were making for the starboard main-chains. The boat, urged furiously through the water, came up to us hand over fist, the carpenter cursing us furiously, and swearing that he would do for us yet. I got my pistol ready, meaning to shoot the ruffian the moment he should be within reach of the weapon, but abandoned this intention from a motive of hate and revenge. I knew if I killed him as he sat there in the stern sheets, that the others would take fright and run away; and such was my passion, and the sense of our superiority over them from our position in the ship as against theirs in the boat, that I made up my mind to let them come alongside and get into the chains, so that we might kill them all as a warning to the occupants of the long-boat, who were now coming down upon us before the breeze.