well!" said the commander. "Secure the guns and muster the crew.
We'll divide into watches and bear away to the southward."

"Long live Sir Henry Morgan, King of the Buccaneers!" cried a voice out
of the darkness, and amid a tremendous roar of cheers the vessel swept
away, leaving the lights of Port Royal twinkling faintly in the distance
far behind them.

BOOK II

THE CRUISE OF THE BUCCANEERS AND WHAT BEFEL THEM ON THE SEAS

CHAPTER V

HOW THE "MARY ROSE" OVERHAULED THREE SPANISH TREASURE SHIPS

Ten days after her departure from Port Royal the _Mary Rose_ was
tumbling southward before a gentle breeze through the blue and languid
seas. Much had happened in the interval. In the first place, Morgan had
organized and drilled the ship's crew relentlessly. With the aid of the
five principal adventurers, whom he had constituted his lieutenants, he
had brought the motley crowd which he had shipped into a state of
comparative efficiency and of entire subjection to his iron will. Years
of quasi-respectability, of financial position, of autocratic power as
Vice-Governor had modified the ideas of the old buccaneer, and the
co-operative principle which had been the mainspring of action as well
as tie which produced unity among the brethren-of-the-coast had ceased
to be regarded, so far as he was concerned. He took care, however, to be
upon fairly amicable terms with the officers in command and the
veterans, though he treated the rest of the riff-raff like the dogs they
were. They murmured and raged but did not revolt, although it was quite
possible that if he pushed them too far, and they found a leader, they
might make trouble.

In accordance with Hornigold's advice, after deliberation between Morgan
and the leaders, the _Mary Rose_ had first run up to La Vaca Island,
south of Hispaniola, and the number of original marauders had been
increased by fifty volunteers, all those, indeed, who could be reached,
from the small pirates who made that delectable spot their rendezvous.
In addition to those, the crew had also been reenforced largely from
those of the unpaid and discontented seamen and soldiers of the frigate
who had happened to be under hatches the night of the capture. Presented
with the choice of instant death or adherence to the band, most of them
had accepted the latter alternative, although, to their great credit be
it said, not until one or two of the loyal veterans, who had hotly
refused to have a