sailed for Cuba.  But I don’t see why she should have done that.  The coast there is a good deal more dangerous than that of San Domingo.  He could not want a better place for cruising about than this bay.  You see, it is about ninety miles across the mouth, and over a hundred to Port au Prince, with indentations and harbours all round, and with the island of Genarve, some forty miles long, to run behind in the centre.  He could get everything he wants at Port au Prince, or at Petit Gouve, which looks a good-sized place.

“I should say, in the first place, that we could not do better than run down at night to the island of Genarve, and anchor close under it.  From there we shall see him if he comes out of Port au Prince, or Petit Gouve, whichever side he may take; and by getting on to an elevated spot have a view of pretty nearly the whole bay.  Looking at it at present, the two most likely spots for him to make his headquarters are in that very sheltered inlet behind the point of Halle on the north side, or in the equally sheltered bay and inlet under the Bec de Marsouin on the south.  From Genarve we ought to be able to see him coming out of either of them.  It is not above five-and-twenty miles from the island to the Bec de Marsouin, and forty to the point of Halle.  We might not see him come out from there, but we should soon make him out if he were coming down from Port au Prince.”

It was agreed that this was the best plan to adopt.  It might lead to their sighting the schooner in a day or two, while to row round the bay and search every inlet in it would take them a fortnight.  From Genarve, too, a forty-mile sail in the gig would take them into Port au Prince, which the brigantine might possibly have made its headquarters.  Accordingly, after waiting until nightfall, they got up sail, and anchored at six in the morning in a small bay in the island of Genarve.  Here they would not be likely to attract the notice of any ship passing up to Port au Prince, unless, which was very unlikely, one came along close to the shore.

As soon as the anchor was dropped, both boats rowed to shore.  Frank, George Lechmere, Pedro, and four sailors, with a basket of provisions, started at once for the highest point in the island, some four miles distant.  Dominique went along the shore with two sailors, to make inquiries at any villages they came to.

On reaching the top of the hill, Frank saw that, as he had expected, it commanded an extensive view over the bay on each side of the island, which was but some six miles across.  A village could be seen on the northern shore, some three miles distant; and to this Pedro, with one of the sailors, was at once despatched.  Both parties rejoined Frank soon after midday.  The schooner had been noticed passing the island several times, but much more often on the southern side than on the northern.  The negroes on that side were all agreed that she generally kept on the southern side of the passage, and that more than once she had been seen coming from the south shore, and passing the western point of the island on her way north.