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226 watching 'em through a glass, and they are pirates, I'm dead sure on it!"

"We can't hold th' fort agin' a shipload of 'em," grumbled Matt Gory.

"I have a small cannon waiting for them," answered Watt Brown. "I am bound to hold the fort until the Concord comes back."

"The Concord!" I burst out. "Do you mean the gunboat of Dewey's fleet?"

"I do."

"And has she been here?" put in Dan, with equal interest.

"Yes, and she picked up nearly all of our old crew that were alive excepting Captain Kenny and Ah Sid, the cook. Tom Dawson was on her."

"Good fer Tom, I knew he would do somethin'!" cried the Irish sailor. "But how is it you are keeping the fort, as you call it?"

"I escaped from the Tagals and fell in with some of the owners of the Dart at Manila. They are down on Captain Kenny, and they were on the point of having him arrested for fraud when he got to Manila. They asked me to come back and claim the property, and the schooner is to be floated and turned over to the United States Government for coast service during this war. Now will all of you help me, or won't you?"