Now
the truth struck into the soul of Abner. "Hide yourself, Mary," he
whispered. "It is a pirate ship!" And almost at the same instant the
young man and his wife laid themselves flat on the ground among the
bushes, but they were very careful, each of them, to take a position
which would allow them to peep out through the twigs and leaves upon the
scene before them.
There seemed to be a good deal of commotion on board the black schooner,
and very soon a large boat pushed off from her side, and the men in it
began rowing rapidly toward the shore, apparently making for a spot on
the beach, not far from the bluff on which Abner and Mary were
concealed. "Let us get up and run," whispered Mary, trembling from head
to toe. "They are pirates, and they are coming here!"
"Lie still! Lie still!" said Abner. "If we get up and leave these
bushes, we shall be seen, and then they will be after us! Lie still, and
do not move a finger!"
The trembling Mary obeyed her husband, and they both lay quite still,
scarcely breathing, with eyes wide open. The boat rapidly approached the
shore. Abner counted ten men rowing and one man sitting in the stern.
The boat seemed to be heavily loaded, and the oarsmen rowed hard.
Now the boat was run through the surf to the beach, and its eleven
occupants jumped out. There was no mistaking their character.
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