“We might burn her, sir.”

“Yes, we might, and run the risk of being hung for it.  We might take her into Port au Prince, but we have no absolute evidence against her.  We could not swear that we had positive knowledge that Miss Greendale was on board, and certain as I am that the female figures I made out on the deck were she and her maid, they were very much too far away to recognise them, and the skipper might swear that they were two negresses to whom he was giving a passage.

“Moreover, if I took the brigantine I should only cut off Carthew’s escape in that direction.  His power over Miss Greendale would be just as great, if he had her up among those mountains among the blacks, as it was when he had her on board.  I can see that I have made a horrible mess of the whole business, and that is the only thing that I can see.  Yesterday I thought it was the best thing to start on a direct chase, as it seemed absolutely certain to me that we should overhaul and capture her.  Now I see that it was the worst thing I could have done, and that I ought to have waited until I could take her in the bay.”

“But you see, Major,” said George Lechmere, who was standing by, “if we had gone on searching with the boat, before we had made an examination of the whole bay, there would be no knowing where she had gone, and it might have been months before we could have got fairly on her track again.”

“No, we acted for the best; but things have turned out badly, and I feel more hopelessly at sea, as to what we had better do next, than I have done since the day I got to Ostend.  At any rate, there is nothing to be done until we have got a fair sight of the brigantine.”

It seemed, to all on board, that the Osprey had never sailed so sluggishly as she did for the next hour and a half.  As they expected, no craft was to be seen on the waters of the bay as they rounded the point, but Dominique and the other pilot had been closely questioned, and both asserted that at the upper end of the bay there was a branch that curved round “like dat, sar,” the latter said, half closing his little finger.

Progress up the bay was so slow that the boats were lowered, and the yacht was towed to the mouth of the curved branch.  Here they were completely landlocked, and the breeze died away altogether.

“How long is this bend, Jake?” Frank asked the second pilot in French.

“Two miles, sir; perhaps two miles and a half.”

“Deep water everywhere?”

“Plenty of water; can anchor close to shore.  Country boats run in here very often if bad weather comes on.  Foreign ships never come here.  They always run on to the town.”

“You told us that there were a few huts at the end.”

“Yes, sir.  There is a village there, two others near.”

The crew had all armed themselves, and the muskets were again placed ready for use.

“You had better go round, Hawkins,” Frank said, “and tell them that on no account is a shot to be fired unless I give orders.  Tell the men that I am just as anxious to fight as they are, and that if they give us a shadow of excuse we will board them.”