"But where's the Pearl?" returned he.
"I hope she'll make the same harbor," I said.
The storm blew over, and broad daylight came once more. We watched continually at the window of our prison; but while we saw land all about, beaches and palms, and hills beyond, no vessel showed to us. If the Pearl were near she must be off our starboard. But we were not left long in doubt.
The bolt clicked, and our door opened. Duran appeared, and four blacks, who set to work to bind our arms again to our sides. We were led up on deck.
There lay the Pearl, some hundreds of yards away. My heart jumped at sight of her.
Accompanied by Duran, we were hurried over the side into a boat, which set off immediately toward a beach to the south-east. We could see our friends but imperfectly on the deck of the Pearl, where their figures moved about in some hurry.
We were nearing the shore when we saw a boat put off from the Pearl. Then a second boat moved out from the Orion, filled with blacks, bearing guns. A few minutes, and we were startled by the boom of an explosion, and smoke rose from the Pearl.
My heart sank. But then I saw the blacks in the water, and their boat seemed knocked to bits. The smoke dispersed, and I saw the Pearl as right as ever.
"They've got a cannon," murmured Ray in my ear. "That is Norris."
The blacks swam toward the Orion. Duran gazed, rage in his look; and he swore roundly. He directed the men to a hurried landing. We were hustled out, pushed in among the cocoa palms, thence back into the brush. We came to a stop, and the four blacks, leaving their two guns with Duran, went back. It was doubtless to pull the boat up into concealment; for they soon appeared again, and the march was taken up.