Dory had the average aversion to being shot, and he did not like the sound of the threat. He did not know whether or not Pearl had a pistol, though it was not improbable that he had one. He looked at the approaching boats. One of them was not thirty yards from the schooner, and the officer could hardly have helped hearing the threat of the skipper. The port boat had come near enough by this time to enable Dory to see that his uncle was in the stern-sheets.
"Give way, my lads, with all your might!" said the officer of the nearer boat, speaking with great energy, as though he meant to take a hand in the business on board of the Goldwing.
"Are you coming down, Dory Dornwood?" demanded Pearl, as he stopped on the forward deck of the schooner.
"I think I will come down," replied Dory, who had made up his mind not to run the risk of being shot; but he was satisfied that one of the boats would be alongside the Goldwing before he could reach the deck. "But it isn't so easy to get down as it was to come up," he added, making it as an excuse for the slow movement in coming down to the deck. Dory descended with the utmost caution. He had gained time enough to enable the starboard boat to reach the schooner, and this was all he expected to accomplish by going aloft.
"Come, hurry up, Dory!" shouted the skipper, when he was about half way to the deck.
Dory immediately changed his movement, and began to ascend again.
"What are you about, you young cub? Are you going back again?" cried Pearl.
"You told me to hurry up," pleaded Dory, wishing to gain all the time he could.
"You are a natural fool! Come down, or I'll—do what I said I would," added Pearl, as he glanced at the nearer boat, which was not fifty feet from the schooner.
"All right! I will be with you in a moment," answered Dory, as he descended to the deck with a reasonable degree of celerity.