They took me up a flight of steps on to a veranda,
through one room into another, furnished with a table, a chair, and
a bed, and there left me.

"I warn you once more," I said to Vetch before he went. "You are
dealing with a king's officer, and if you think this outrage will
go unpunished you are mistaken, and very grievously. And I tell
you, Vetch, that if Mistress Lucy suffer a jot at your hands,
either in herself, or in her property, you shall hang for it, as
sure as my name is Humphrey Bold."

He smiled, swept me a bow and was gone.

The chamber in which I was left was an inner apartment, such as are
common in the houses in Jamaica, enclosed by other rooms, to defend
it from the heat. It had but one door, and was illuminated by a
little window high up in the partition wall. Escape was impossible
save through the door, and I knew by the sound of voices from
without that the two men had been stationed there to keep guard
over me. They brought me some food by and by, one of them carrying
it into the room, the other standing at the door with a musket in
his hand, and I perceived that he had a hanger at his belt. To
attempt to overpower them and escape would be madness; but I
thought it might not be impossible to prevail on them by means of a
bribe to help me, and with that ultimate design I resolved to open
friendly communications with them.

"What house is this?" I said.

"Look 'ee, master, drink your bumbo and say nought," he growled.

"Come, come," I said pleasantly, "you are a tar, as any one can
see, and as good a seaman, I doubt not, as ever slept upon
foc's'le. Two years ago I was a swab myself--"

"Splutter and oons!" cried the man, interrupting me, "who be you
a-calling swab, I'd like to know!"

"No offense," I said, "I was just going to tell you of the fun we
had, my mates and I, when we were prisoners in France, and how we
escaped and had a running fight with Duguay-Trouin--"

"That's a good un!" he cried.

"Hark to him, Jack: says he had a fight with Doggy Trang."

"Let's hear about it," cries the man he had called Jack.

Whereupon I launched out into the story of our escape, made them
laugh heartily by my description of our dealings with the French
captain, and so brought them, as I thought, to a more reasonable
temper.

"And now, seeing that we're in a manner shipmates, you won't refuse
to answer a simple question, I'm sure," I said. "What house is
this?"

"No harm in that, Bill," says