CHAPTER XVIII.
I AM PUT IN IRONS.
I was thoroughly dismayed. All the plans the lawyer and myself had laid were now useless. He was left behind and I was on board little better than a prisoner. Bitterly I regretted not having taken the chances of getting ashore without being observed. Of what use now was all my information against Captain Hannock and his confederates? In an hour we would be far out at sea, and then the chances of doing anything to save myself would be small indeed.
Suddenly the idea of jumping overboard and swimming ashore entered my mind. We could not be far from the dock, and anything was better than to stay aboard the doomed Spitfire.
No sooner had the idea suggested itself than I undertook to put it into execution. I raised the trap and crawled up into the forecastle. No one was there, and I sneaked to the deck.
As I had surmised, the dock was not over a quar-
