nd you do not
answer me. You are using up my patience, and I tell you that I will not
be trifled with!" said Captain Mazagan in a loud tone, with a spice of
anger and impatience mixed in with it.

"That's just my case! I won't be trifled with! Stop where you are! If
you pull another stroke, I shall proceed to business!" called the
captain, with vim enough to satisfy the most strenuous admirer of pluck
in a moment of difficulty.

The oarsmen ceased rowing; and when the boat lost its headway it was not
more than forty feet from the side of the Maud. Scott did not object to
this distance, as there was to be a talk with the pirate.

"Mr. Belgrave will speak with you since you desire it," said Captain
Scott, as soon as he realized that the boat's crew did not intend to
board the steamer.

He walked over to the port side of the deck, where he could still
command a clear view of the boat all the time; and he did not take his
eyes from it long enough to wink. He was ready to order the riflemen to
the forecastle; and he intended to do so if the boat advanced another
foot.

"What is going on, Captain Scott?" asked Morris, who stood at the head
of the column.

"Mazagan wants to talk with Louis, and we are willing he should do so;
for we desire to gain all the time we can, in order to enable the
Guardian-Mother to arrive here before anybody gets hurt."

"We have heard all that has passed so far, and we expected to be called
out by this time," added Morris.

"I don't care to have you show those rifles just yet, and I hope you
will not have to exhibit them at all. You can sit down on the deck and
hear all that is going on," added the captain, as he moved away. If he
took his eyes off the boat at all, it was only to glance at the lofty
cape where the ship would first be seen.

Louis had placed himself at the rail, ready for the conference that the
pirate desired. Mazagan had met him face to face, and he could not help
knowing him.

"Are you Mr. Louis Belgrave?" demanded the Moorish captain, more gently
than he had spoken to Scott at the close of the interview with him.

"That is my name," replied the young millionaire with all his native
dignity.

"We have had some business relations together, and at the present moment
they are not in a satisfactory condition," the captain proceeded.

"Go on," replied Louis when he paused; for he had decided to say nothing
that would unnecessarily irritate the villain.

"I wish you