absolutely
safe from Garcia, for it is one of the rules of our brotherhood that
`One is for all, and all are for one;' private jealousies and
animosities are absolutely forbidden, and the punishment for
transgressing this law is _death_, let the offender be who he will.

"Now, that is one argument in favour of your joining us. But there are
others. We are weak, as yet, it is true; but that is because, as a
community, we are still very young. We are, however, gaining strength
almost daily; every capture we make adds to our numbers, because we give
our prisoners the choice between joining us, and--death; and nine of
every ten choose the former. Also, we are rapidly accumulating wealth,
which is power; and with the power which unlimited wealth will give us,
added to the power of constantly increasing numbers, all things are
possible to us, even to the conquest of the world! Now, a lad of your
intelligence ought to be able to see, without much persuasion, how
tremendous an advantage it will be to belong to such a formidable band
as we shall soon become, therefore I put it to you in a nutshell--Will
you join us?"

Upon discovering the direction in which my companion's arguments were
trending, my first impulse had been to interrupt him indignantly by
declaring that I saw through his purpose, and would have naught to do
with it. But he would not permit me to do this; he insisted upon saying
his say to the end; and while he was doing this I had time for
reflection. I perceived that the man was an enthusiastic visionary
possessed of such boundless ambition that he was able to see nothing
except the impossible goal which he and his fellow-leaders had set
before themselves. I saw that this fellow Fernandez, at all events, had
dwelt upon the mad scheme of conquest, first of Hayti, then of the West
Indian Islands, and ultimately, as he had declared, of the whole world,
until it had become an obsession with him in which all difficulties were
swept away and his gorgeous dream had seemed to be a thing already
almost within reach. It occurred to me that by pretending to listen to
this dreamer, to appear to treat his dreams as though it was possible
for them to eventually materialise, and to seem to weigh the proposal
seriously which he had made to me, I might gain time enough to mature
some plan of escape, and to put it into effect before the return of the
_Tiburon_ and my arch-enemy Garcia; and while, as a general rule, I mos