t my teeth and watched the coming of my tormentors.

And foremost was a short, plump, bright-eyed man who lacked an ear, and
at his elbows two others, the one a lank rogue with a patch over one
eye, the third a tall, hairy fellow.

And observing them as they came I knew them for those same three rogues
I had fought with in the hedge-tavern beside Pembury Hill on that night
I had first seen my dear lady. Hard upon their heels came a riotous
company variously armed and accoutred, who forthwith thronged upon me
pushing and jostling for sight of me, desecrating the quiet night with
their hoarse and clamorous ribaldry. Unlovely fellows indeed and clad
in garments of every shape and cut, from stained home spun and tattered
shirts to velvet coats be-laced and gold-braided; and beholding this
tarnished and sordid finery, these clothes looted from sinking ships
and blazing towns, I wondered vaguely what had become of their late
owners.

At gesture from Tressady I was dragged to my feet and my arms jerked,
twisted and bound before me crosswise, and so stood I helpless and in
much painful discomfort whiles Tressady harangued his fellows, tapping
me gently with his hook:

"Look'ee, my bullies," quoth he, "I promised ye gold a' plenty and
here, somewhere on this island, it lieth waiting to be found. It
needeth but for this fool Martin here, as some o' you will mind for
Adam Penfeather's comrade, with a curse, it needeth but for him to
speak, I say, and in that same hour each one o' you may fill your
clutch wi' more treasure than ever came out o' Eldorado or Manoa--so
speak he must and shall--eh bullies, eh?"

"Aye, aye, Cap'n!" they roared, pressing upon me with a shaking of
fists and glitter of eager steel.

"Twist his thumbs, Cap'n!" cried one.

"Slit his nose!" roared another.

"Trim his yeres!" cried a third. But Tressady silenced them with a
flourish of his hook.

"Hark'ee, lads!" says he. "You all mean well, but you're bunglers,
here's a little delicate matter as none can handle like the Smiler.
There's none like Sam can make a man give tongue! Pass the word for
Smiling Sam! Step forward, Sammy."

Hereupon cometh the great, fat fellow Spraggons who had been bo'sun's
mate aboard the "Faithful Friend," forcing his way with vicious elbows
and mighty anxious to come at me.

"O love my limbs!" says he in his high-pitched voice and blinking his
hairless lids at me, "O cherish my guts--leave him to me, Cap'n! Sam'