sel; either asleep, or
"playing possum." At all events, the Mills-Pointers gave the enemy but a
brief period to sleep or act; for, dashing alongside, a brawny arm
seized the victim in the strange canoe by the breast and throat, with
such a rush and fierceness that both canoes were upon the apex of
"swamping."

"Don't move! Don't budge an inch, or you're a case for eels, you thief!"

"Make catfish bait of him at once!" yelled the second.

"Don't move," cried the third, "don't move, you possum, or you're
giblets, instanter!"

But these injunctions scarcely seemed necessary, for, even had the
captive been so inclined, he neither possessed the power nor opportunity
to move a limb.

"Haul him out," cried one.

"Yes, lug him into our boat," said another; "so now, you skunk, lay
still; don't open your trap, or I'll brain you on sight!"

Having transferred the body of the captive from his "own canoe" to
theirs, the Mills-Pointers made fast the stranger's _dug-out_, and then
paddled for the landing. The pirate was duly hauled ashore, or on to the
_wharf-boat_, and left under guard of one of the captors--a dreadful
ugly-looking customer, a _cross_ between a whiskey-cask, bowie-knife,
and a Seminole Indian or bull-dog, and armed equal to an arsenal--while
the other two went up to the nearest "grocery," reported the capture,
took a drink, and sent out word for _Court_ to meet. The poor victim was
deposited on his back across some barrels, with his hands tied behind
him. Recovering his scattered senses, the _pirate_ "waked up."

"Look here, my virtuous friend," said he to his body-guard, who sat on
an opposite barrel, with a heavy pistol in his hand, "what's all this
about?"

"Shet up!" responded the guard; "shet up your gourd. You'll know what's
up, pooty soon, you ugly cuss, you!"

"Well, that's explicit, anyhow!" coolly continued the captive. "But all
I want to know, is--am I to be robbed, killed off, or only initiated
into the mysteries of your craft?"

"Shet up, you piratin' cuss, you; shet up, or I'll give you a settler!"
was the reply.

[Illustration: "Shet up, you piratin' cuss you; shet up or I'll give you
a settler!--_Page_ 305.]

"Well, really, you are accommodating," cavalierly replied the but little
daunted captive. "One thing consoling I glean, my virtuous friend, from
your scraps of information--you are not a pirate yourself, or in favor
of that science! But I should like to know, old fellow, where I