, I thrust it in my belt, and then stepped out of the door, where
I found my acquaintance of the night before waiting for me.

"Are you ready?" said I.

"Yes," said he, "I am; but I must see the color of your money before I
go a single step."

"It is yellow," said I, and held the guinea out in the palm of my hand.

When he saw it his eyes shone like coals and his fingers began to
twitch. "Hand it over," says he, "and I'll take ye straight."

"No, no," said I; "avast there, shipmate. You get your money when I see
Captain Edward England, and not before."

"So be it," says he. "Lay your course straight ahead yonder, and I'll
follow after and tell you how to go."

I looked coolly into the fellow's face, and could not help grinning.
"Why," says I, "to tell the truth, shipmate" (here I drew my pistol out
of my belt and cocked it), "I have no appetite for a knife betwixt the
ribs; so you'll just march ahead, and if you try any of your tricks
I'll put a brace of bullets through your head as sure as you're alive."

The fellow looked at me for a while in a puzzled sort of way; then he
grinned, and swinging on his heel strode away, I following close behind
him with the pistol ready cocked in my hand. We went onward in this way
for about half a mile, until we came to a little hut that stood by
itself beyond the rest of the town. My guide stopped short about fifty
paces away from the hut. "There's where you'll find Ned England," said
he, "and I'll go no farther for ten guineas, for I've no notion of
catching the black tongue; and if you'll hearken to a bit of advice,
shipmate, you'll give it a wide berth yourself."

I felt assured the fellow was telling me the truth, so I paid him his
guinea, and then turned away and left him standing where he was, and as
I stopped in front of the hut and looked back I saw that the man was
yet standing in the very same spot, staring after me.

I may confess that I myself was somewhat overcome with fear of the
dreadful disease, wherefore I stood for a moment before I knocked upon
the door. But I presently rallied myself, calling to mind that this was
the only means of recovering the Rose of Paradise, even if it was at the
risk of my own life; therefore I knocked loudly on the door with the
butt of my pistol.

My guide, who stood still in the same place, called out to me that there
was no one to hear my knocking; so I pushed open the door and entered
the hut.

For a while I saw nothing,