We felt almost stupified with horror.  Combining the shrieks we had heard and the occurrence we had just witnessed, we could have no doubt that the schooner we saw before us was a pirate, and that her crew had, after murdering those on board the brig, sunk her, to destroy, as they might hope, all traces of their guilt.  They had had in us, however, witnesses of the atrocity they had committed, when they thought no human being could be cognisant of the fact.  What, however, had become of Mr Brand, and Ben, and the native?  Had they been on board, we should probably have acted wisely in endeavouring to get away from the pirates, as they would undoubtedly, if they could catch us, and thought that we suspected what had occurred, treat us much in the same way that they had treated the crew of the brig.  Still, how could we think for a moment of running away and deserting our friends--such a man, too, as Cousin Silas, who, we felt sure, would never have deserted us while the slightest hope remained of our being alive?