Starting up, he sat on the side of his bed listening.
"Boom!" A second report, more heavy than the first, shook the air.
"God in heaven! can it be cannon ?" cried Stevens.

He leaped to his feet, pulled on his rude shoes and seized his musket.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Three more shots from the sea rang on the air, and there could now be no doubt that a ship was near the island.

The hope which suddenly started up in his heart almost overcame him, and he clung to the door for support.
Only for an instant did he linger thus, then he rushed to the headland from whence his tattered flag had floated all these years.

The moon was shining brightly from a cloudless sky, and his vision swept the ocean far beyond the dangerous reefs which formed a natural guard about the island.

There he saw a sight calculated to startle him.