ideas very like his own. "I shouldn't wonder if they would fire upon
us," she said, her face very pale; "and I want you to remember that you
are most likely the tallest man on board. No matter what happens, you
must take care of yourself,--you must never forget that!"

"I will take care of you," he said, with his arms about her, "and I will
not forget myself. And now keep close, and watch sharply. I don't
believe they can ever board us,--we're too many for them!"

The instant the Captain had gone, Edna called Maka and Cheditafa, the
two elderly negroes who were the devoted adherents of herself and her
husband. "I want you to watch the Captain all the time," she said. "If
the people on that ship fire guns, you pull him back if he shows
himself. If any one comes near him to harm him, use your hatchets; never
let him out of your sight, follow him close, keep all danger from him."

The negroes answered in the African tongue. They were too much excited
to use English, but she knew what they meant, and trusted them. To Mok,
the other negro, she gave no orders. Even now he could speak but little
English, and he was in the party simply because her brother Ralph--whose
servant Mok had been--had earnestly desired her to take care of him
until he should want him again, for this coal-black and agile native of
Africa was not a creature who could be left to take care of himself.

The _Vittorio_, which was now not more than a quarter of a mile away,
and which had slightly changed her course, so that she was apparently
intending to pass the _Monterey_, and continue northward contented with
an observation of the larger vessel, was a very dangerous pirate ship,
far more so than the one which had captured the _Dunkery Beacon_. She
was not more dangerous because she was larger or swifter, or carried a
more numerous or better-armed crew, but for the reason that she had on
board a certain Mr. Banker who had once belonged to a famous band of
desperadoes, called the "Rackbirds," well-known along the Pacific coast
of South America. He had escaped destruction when the rest of his band
were drowned in a raging torrent, and he had made himself extremely
obnoxious and even dangerous to Mrs. Horn and to Captain Horn when they
were in Paris at a very critical time of their fortunes.

This ex-Rackbird Banker had had but a very cloudy understanding of the
state of affairs when he was endeavoring to blackmail Mrs. Horn, and
making stupid charges aga