“I can only guess where we are, for I have not had a sight of the sea or the shore,” replied Captain Ringgold. “I don’t believe this vessel has made more than two and a half knots an hour since she got under way. I should say that we were just outside of Sandy Hook; and the last kick-up began when she got out where she could feel the swell of the broad ocean.” “Is the vessel in any danger now?” “Bless you, no! Not if she is well handled.” “Then we will proceed to business,” said Louis. “What is the business to which we are to proceed?” asked the captain. “Call Flix, if you please, and I will tell you both all about the situation,” continued the leader, who still held his revolver and stick in his hands. “Shall I bring the cook also, for he has been with us in the fore cabin for some time?” inquired the shipmaster. “No, I think not,” replied Louis, though he believed he had made a friend of Bickling. In a few minutes Captain Ringgold returned, followed by Felix, who looked about him with curiosity and interest. Louis proceeded at once to inform his friends briefly what had transpired in the cabin, and added that his mother was in the stateroom. “I think you said you were ready to proceed to business, Louis,” said the shipmaster. “What is the nature of the business?” “To capture the vessel and go to New York in her,” replied the leader bluntly and to the point. “That is plain talk; and I don’t think we should call the taking of the schooner by any such hard name as piracy. We were all kidnapped; and I do not believe this is a legal voyage, for I doubt if the craft has any papers. But you are the chief of the party, and I will follow your orders as long as they don’t lead us into hot water, for you have got the run of this affair, and I have not,” said the captain. “And what am I to do, my darlint?” asked Felix. “I will tell you what to do when the time comes. Now, Captain Ringgold, the first thing is to put the captain in irons,” added Louis. “The irons are all ready, for Scoble got them out for me.” “I’m wid ye’s, me darlint!” exclaimed Felix; and perhaps the business in hand was more to his mind than to that of the others. Louis led the way aft, but he halted between the two staterooms, one on each side of the cabin. He pointed out the unoccupied one as belonging to the mate, and suggested that he might be provided with one or more revolvers, as Captain Scoble had been. He thought it would be well to take possession of them if there were any in the room, and he sent Felix to look for them, telling him to open the drawers corresponding to those from which he had taken the master’s weapons.