we have styled the captain to one
who stood by his side, and might have been his lieutenant or mate.

"She bears sou'-west, I think," replied the latter.

"So much the better," returned the captain; "let her fall off a little--
so, steady. If this wind holds for half an hour we shall get well
abreast of her, and then--"

The captain shut up the telescope with an emphatic bang, by way of
termination to his remark, and, turning on his heel, paced the deck
rapidly by the side of his mate.

"We have been unlucky hitherto," he observed; "perchance fortune may
change and now be favourable. At all events, we shall be ready. See,
the breeze freshens. Go, call up the men and clear for action."

The breeze had indeed been freshening while he spoke, and now came down
in a series of squalls that caused the piratical-looking craft to lie
over as if she were about to capsize. The vessel which they were
pursuing also bent over to the breeze and crowded all sail; for well did
Francisco, its owner and padrone, know, from past experience, that
Algerine corsairs were fast sailers, and that his only hope lay in
showing them his heels! He had often given them the slip before--why
should he not again?

While thus doing his best to escape, however, the bluff merchant did not
neglect to make preparations for defence.

"Clear away the big gun," he said to Mariano, who acted as his first
officer, Lucien being the scrivano or supercargo of the vessel; "'tis a
good piece, and has turned the flight of many a pirate with its first
bark."

The latter part of this remark was addressed to Bacri, who stood,
leaning over the taffrail, looking anxiously at the vessel in chase.

"If it be Sidi Hassan," muttered the Jew half aloud, "there is little
chance--"

"What say you?" demanded Francisco.

"I say that if it be the vessel of a man whom I happen to know, you will
have to trust to your sails for deliverance--fighting will be of no
avail."

Francisco looked at the Jew with some surprise, not unmingled with
contempt.

"A warlike spirit, it seems, does not always consort with a powerful
frame," he said; "but how come you to have scraped acquaintance with
these pirates, whose existence is a blight upon the commerce of the
Mediterranean, and a disgrace to our age?"

"None should know better than thyself that a trader, like any other
traveller, becomes acquainted with strange bedfellows," replied Bacri,
with a quiet smile. "As to a w