was another close on our lee-bow, which I had not observed on account of
our mainsail. Luckily, however, it proved to be a Ning-po wood-junk,
like ourselves, which the pirates had taken a short time before, but
which, although manned by these rascals, could do us no harm, having no
guns. The poor Ning-po crew, whom I could plainly see on board, seemed
to be very much down-hearted and frightened. I was afterward informed,
that when a junk is captured, all the principal people, such as the
captain, pilot, and passengers, are taken out of her, and a number of
the pirates go on board and take her into some of their dens among the
islands, and keep her there until a heavy ransom is paid, both for the
junk and the people. Sometimes, when a ransom can not be obtained, the
masts, and spars, and everything else which is of any value, are taken
out of her, and she is set on fire.

The two other piratical junks which had been following in our wake for
some time, when they saw what had happened, would not venture any
nearer; and at last, much to my satisfaction, the whole set of them
bore away.



A SEA FOWLING ADVENTURE.

One pleasant afternoon in summer, Frank Costello jumped into his little
boat, and pulling her out of the narrow creek where she lay moored,
crept along the iron-bound shore until he reached the entrance of one of
those deep sea-caves, so common upon the western coast of Ireland. To
the gloomy recesses of these natural caverns, millions of sea-fowl
resort during the breeding season; and it was among the feathered tribes
then congregated in the "Puffin Cave," that Frank meant, on that