"I can't tell you anything now," said Shirley. "Give me a dram, and let me get on some dry clothes! And now all of you go and attend to what you've got to do. Don't bother about that steamer--she'll go down in half an hour! She's got a big hole stove in her bow!"
With a cry of surprise Burke turned and looked out at the _Dunkery Beacon_. Even now she had keeled over to starboard so much that her deck was visible, and her head was already lower than her stern. "She'll sink," he cried, "with all that gold on board!"
"Yes," said Shirley, turning with a weak smile as he made his way to the cabin, accompanied by Mr. Hodgson, "she'll go down with every bar of it!"
There was great commotion now on the _Dunkery Beacon_. It was plain that the people on board of her had discovered that it was of no use to try to save the vessel, and they were lowering her boats. Burke and his companions stood and watched for some minutes. "What shall we do!" exclaimed Mr. Arbuckle, approaching Burke. "Can we offer those unfortunate wretches any assistance?"
"All we can do," said Burke, "is to keep out of their way. I wouldn't trust one of them within pistol shot." Now Shirley reappeared on deck--he had had his dram, and had changed his clothes. "You're right," said he, "they're a set of pirates--every man of them! If we should take them on board, they'd cut all our throats. They've got boats enough, and the other pirates can pick them up. Keep her off, Burke; that's what I say!"
There was no time now for explanations or for any story to be told, and Burke gave orders that the yacht should be kept away from the sinking steamer and her boats. Suddenly Burdette, from the pilot house, sung out that there was a steamer astern, and the eyes which had been so steadfastly fixed upon the _Dunkery Beacon_ now turned in that direction. There they saw, less than a mile away, a large steamer coming down from the north.
Burke's impulse was to give orders to go ahead at full speed, but he hesitated, and raised his glass to his eye. Then in a few moments he put down his glass, turned around, and shouted, "That's the _Monterey_! The _Monterey_! and Captain Horn!"
11° 30' 19" N. LAT. BY 56° 10' 49" W. LONG.
The announcement of the approach of Captain Horn created a sensation upon the _Summer Shelter_ almost equal to that occasioned by any of the extraordinary incidents which had occurred upon that vessel. Burke and Shirley were wild with delight at the idea of meeting their old friend and commander. Willy Croup had never seen Captain Horn, but she had heard so much about him that she considered him in her mind as a being of the nature of a heathen deity who rained gold upon those of whom he approved, and utterly annihilated the unfortunates who incurred his displeasure.