some plan for making his escape, but, unacquainted as he
was with the surrounding country, and without means of gaining any
knowledge of it, it was impossible to decide what to do. Dan and Tim
often talked over the subject with Pompey, who, however, declared that
they were so narrowly watched by the old woman that it would be
impossible to succeed.

"Mammy always sleep wid one eye open and ear wide-awake," he observed.
"Suppose we get out and she not raise a hullabaloo, where we go to?
Wait a bit, and den we see what we do."

Pompey, in truth, was no more able than the rest of the party to devise
any feasible plan for getting away.

Imprisonment is galling to all men, but it was especially so to Owen,
who had hoped to make a successful voyage, and to marry his beloved
Norah at the end of it. He had no means of communicating with her, and
she, naturally supposing him to be lost, would be plunged in grief. He
felt that he could better bear his hard fate if he could but let her
know that he was alive. He might some day regain his liberty. He had
no doubts about her constancy; he was sure that she would be faithful to
him; and although her friends might try to induce her to marry, he felt
confident that she would not do that.

At length, one evening when Pompey was sitting with his shipmates in the
loft, voices were heard below.

"Hi, dat de pirate cappen," he exclaimed; and Owen prepared himself for
an interview with O'Harrall.

Before long the pirate came up the ladder. A dark scowl was on his
brow. Owen rose to receive him. O'Harrall advanced and threw himself
into a chair, scarcely glancing at the men as he passed them.

"I am glad to see you, Captain O'Harrall, for I hope that you will allow
me and my companions to quit this place, and we shall be ready to enter
into any arrangement you may dictate not to betray its position," said
Owen.

"I am not in the habit of placing myself in the power of others when I
can help it," answered O'Harrall. "Your word may be as good as your
bond, but both may be broken. I tell you plainly I intend to keep you
prisoners as long as I remain in these seas. Circumstances may induce
me to return to Europe, and if so, I may either carry you with me or
land you at some island, from whence you may find your way to Jamaica.
When that may be I cannot say. In the mean time, you must make up your
mind to be content with your lot."

"You might land me, when you next sail fr