the security of the prize and the prisoners during my
absence.

These arrangements made, we set off for the shore, taking two of
the six men to row back to the brig the boats from which the
buccaneers had landed, which we found hauled up on the beach, but
no one in charge of them. Either they had been left unattended
because the leader had no fears for their safety, or the men set to
watch had taken alarm from our doings on the brig and had decamped.
I hoped they had not gone ahead of us to warn their fellows, which
indeed did not seem very likely, for they would be loath to venture
alone into a strange country. If the buccaneers had had warning of
what was happening behind them and hastened back, or if we should
miss them and they returned to the cove before us, they would at
any rate be unable to recapture their vessel, lacking their boats.

I reckoned that 'twas near two hours since the main body of the
buccaneers had departed; by this time they must be three parts of
the way to the house, if that was their goal; so we set off at a
great pace to follow them up. The sun was not yet risen, though the
darkness was lifting; and the air being cool, we could march
without discomfort.

We had not gone very far, and had come to where the track runs
between thin clumps of trees, when Joe Punchard suddenly left my
side and darted into the woodland. His bandiness was no check upon
his running. In a few seconds he was back, shoving before him a
seaman much larger than himself, having one hand upon his neck and
the other grasping his arm behind his back. He thus propelled the
man towards us at a quick trot, crying out to me:

"Here be one of the villains, sir, and I reckon 'twill be well to
make him speak."

Without slackening our pace I made the captive walk by my side and
questioned him. He had been left, as I suspected, in charge of the
boats, alone, and at the noise of our assault he had run up the
path, intending to overtake his comrades and give them warning of
what was happening. But being out of his element, his heart failed
him when he came into the wild wooded country, and he had been
skulking behind the trees when Joe espied him. He was a Frenchman.

I learned from him that some weeks before, his vessel had been
joined by an Englishman, who had proposed to his captain an
expedition to an estate some ten miles inland. The captain had been
at first reluctant to undertake the expedition; 'twas work for
landsmen,