Master Harry and a Portuguese called
Murillo Braziliano, had flown with the speed of the wind into the great
cabin.
Here they found the captain of the vice admiral playing at cards
with the Sieur Simon and a friend, Madam Simon and her daughter being
present.
Captain Morgan instantly set his pistol at the breast of the Spanish
captain, swearing with a most horrible fierce countenance that if he
spake a word or made any outcry he was a dead man. As for our hero,
having now got his hand into the game, he performed the same service for
the Spaniard's friend, declaring he would shoot him dead if he opened
his lips or lifted so much as a single finger.
All this while the ladies, not comprehending what had occurred, had sat
as mute as stones; but now having so far recovered themselves as to find
a voice, the younger of the two fell to screaming, at which the Sieur
Simon called out to her to be still, for these were friends who had come
to help them, and not enemies who had come to harm them.
All this, you are to understand, occupied only a little while, for in
less than a minute three or four of the pirates had come into the cabin,
who, together with the Portuguese, proceeded at once to bind the
two Spaniards hand and foot, and to gag them. This being done to our
buccaneer's satisfaction, and the Spanish captain being stretched out
in the corner of the cabin, he instantly cleared his countenance of its
terrors, and bursting forth into a great loud laugh, clapped his hand
to the Sieur Simon's, which he wrung with the best will in the world.
Having done this, and being in a fine humor after this his first
success, he turned to the two ladies. "And this, ladies," said he,
taking our hero by the hand and presenting him, "is a young gentleman
who has embarked with me to learn the trade of piracy. I recommend him
to your politeness."
Think what a confusion this threw our Master Harry into, to be sure,
who at his best was never easy in the company of strange ladies! You may
suppose what must have been his emotions to find himself thus introduced
to the attention of Madam Simon and her daughter, being at the time in
his bare feet, clad only in his shirt and breeches, and with no hat upon
his head, a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other. However,
he was not left for long to his embarrassments, for almost immediately
after he had thus far relaxed, Captain Morgan fell of a sudden serious
again, and bidding the Sieur
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