rough the carelessness of a lot of drunken fools!" snarled Gage. "She
should not have been burned. But for that, we wouldn't be here now,
hiding from officers of the law."

"Well, here we are," growled Ben Bowsprit, "an' shiver my timbers if we
seem able to get out of this howlin' swamp! The more we try, the more we
seem ter git lost."

"Fo' goodness, be yo' gwine to stan' roun' an' chin, an' chin, an'
chin?" demanded Black Tom.

"The fire's out, and we can't be seen," spoke Gage, swiftly, in a low
tone. "Get the boats ready. You two are to take the old man in one; I'll
take the girl in the other."

"It's the gal you've cared fer all the time," cried Jaggers, madly. "It
was for her you led us into this scrape."

"Shut up!"

"I won't! You can't make me shut up, Gage."

"Well, you'll have a chance to talk to yourself and Tomlinson before
long. Tomlinson will be jolly company."

"You've killed him!" accused the wounded man. "I saw you strike the
blow, and I'll swear to that, my hearty!"

"It's not likely you'll be given a chance to swear to it, Jaggers. I may
have killed him, but it was in self-defense. He was doing his best to
get his knife into me."

"Yes, we was tryin' to finish you," admitted Jaggers. "With you out of
the way, Tomlinson would have been cap'n, and I first mate. You've kept
your eyes on the gal all the time. I don't believe you thought the cap'n
had money at all. It was to get the gal you led us into this business.
She'd snubbed you--said she despised you, and you made up your mind to
carry her off against her will."

"If that was my game, you must confess I succeeded very well. But I
can't waste more time talking to you. Get the boats ready, boys. I will
take the smaller. Put Cap'n Bellwood in the larger, and look out for
him."

The two sailors obeyed his orders. Boy though he was, Gage had resolved
to become a leader of men, and he had succeeded.

The girl, quite overcome, was prostrate at the feet of her father, who
was bound to the cypress tree.

There was a look of pain and despair on the face of the old captain. His
heart bled as he looked down at his wretched daughter, and he groaned:

"Merciful Heaven! what will become of her? It were better that she
should die than remain in the power of that young villain!"

"What are you muttering about, old man?" coarsely demanded Gage, as he
bent to lift the girl. "You seem to be muttering to yourself the greater
part of the time."

"Y