“Do they know how the ship came to strike upon that reef?” I asked.

“Probably not, unless madam has enlightened them. I did n’t take the trouble, — they would n’t have believed me, — and I can take my oath my lord has n’t. He was only our helpless prisoner, you know; and they would think madam mistaken or bewitched.”

“It ‘s not a likely tale,” I said grimly, “seeing that we had already opened fire upon them.”

“I trust in heaven the sharks got the men who fired the culverins!” he cried, and then laughed at his own savagery.

I lay still and tried to think. “Who are they on board?” I asked at last.