Our appearance did not seem to have created any alarm on board, for she stood on steadily in her course to the southward.  We followed like a blood-hound chasing its prey.  The pirates were in high glee; they recognised the vessel as one which had been unloading in San Francisco when they had been there, and they seemed to have no doubt, from the number of people who appeared to be on board, seen through their glasses, that her passengers were gold-diggers, returning to their distant homes with their hard-earned gains--some obtained, undoubtedly, by honest, laborious industry--others, perhaps, by the many lawless means to which people will resort when excited by the lust of getting money.