54 FOR THE FLAG

‘placed in the stern of the boat, and the Captain and his
men immediately took their places.

‘Let go the grapnel, quick,” the Captain cried to the
boatswain..

The latter obeyed the order, and slipping down the
bank, he entered the boat in his turn. seals

The four oars struck the water, and the boat shot out
towards the schooner. A light at the foremast indicated
its moorings, and twenty minutes before she had swung to
her anchors at the flow of the tide.

Two minutes later the boat was alongside the Zdda.

D’ Artigas was leaning over the side near the ladder.

“Ts it done, Spade ?” he asked.

“Tt is done.”

“ Both ?”

“ Both—the keeper and the kept!”

“No one suspects at Healthful House ?”

“No one!”

It was not likely that Gaydon, with his eyes and ears
tied up, could recognize the voices of Count d’Artigas and
Captain Spade.

One thing he might have observed. Neither Roch nor
he were hoisted on board the schooner at once. There
was some grinding against the side, and half an hour
passed before Gaydon, who had never lost his presence of
mind, felt himself seized anew, lifted, and then lowered to
the bottom of the hold.

The capture being accomplished, the Edda had only to
quit her moorings, descend the estuary again, make for