es
for the long gun and swivels, and making up musket and pistol
ball-cartridges.

In the midst of all these busy throngs moved Captain Brand, hither and
thither, from vessel to forge, from sails to rigging, giving clear,
sharp directions in various languages--commendation here, reproof
there--inspecting with his own cold eyes every thing; judging of all;
quick, active, ready; never at a loss for an expedient, and urging on
the work like a thorough-bred seaman as he was, who knew his own duty
and how to make others do theirs. So went on the refitting of the
"Centipede," all through the burning hot tropical day; and while the
half-exhausted crew took a respite in the scorching noon for dinner,
still their leader toiled on. Or, if he took a rest, it was in closely
scrutinizing the progress made by his men, in puffing a cigar like to a
small high-pressure engine, or in clambering up the steep face of the
crag to the signal-station, where he would peer away in all directions
around the island--never missing the glance of a pelican's pinion or the
leap of a fish out of water. Then he would return to the cove and begin
anew the work. It was no longer the elegant Captain Brand, in
knee-breeches, point-lace sleeves, and velvet doublet, seated at his
luxurious table, groaning under splendid plate, fine wines, and
brilliant wax-lights, and dispensing a profuse hospitality, but Captain
Brand the pirate, in tarry rig, amid sailors, sails, and cordage,
munching a bit of hard biscuit at times, or a cube of salt-junk out of a
mess kid, but ever ready, never weary, and always up to the professional
mark.

At the first gray blush of dawn on the following day Captain Brand was
astir again, and before the sun went down behind the waves the schooner
"Centipede" had been transformed into a brigantine, her fore-mast
reduced, new standing rigging fitted for it, with a new bowsprit and
head-booms, her rail raised four or five feet by shifting bulwarks, and
a temporary house built on deck over the long gun. She was also painted
afresh, with a white streak; and, with false head-boards on her bows to
hide her snakelike snout of a cutwater, no one, unless in the secret,
could have known that the clumsy box of a merchantman lying there was
once the low, swift, piratical schooner which had made so notorious a
name in the West Indies. Still the work was driven on with scarcely any
intermission--a few hours' repose for the crew at night, and an hour