he hospital
ready for a patient. Mr. Boulong was called in, and directed to
superintend the removal of the wounded Moor to this apartment, under
the direction of the surgeon. Dr. Hawkes was called from the boudoir,
where the company had assembled by this time, and conducted to the
patient.

"With this affair all concealment comes to an end for two reasons," said
the commander, as soon as he had given the orders for the disposal of
the wounded man. "First, there is no longer any necessity for us to keep
our own counsel, for Mazagan is now deprived of the means of following
us on our voyage; and second, it would be impossible to cover up our
movements under the present circumstances. The nervous mothers have no
longer any cause for alarm."

"It did not occur to me that we had made an end of this scare business,"
said Captain Scott. "I had not thought of the matter in that connection,
and all I did was to defend my steamer from the attack of the pirate,
who proposed to come on board and take Louis Belgrave out of her."

"Then you did your duty!" exclaimed Captain Ringgold, rising from his
arm-chair, and extending his hand to the young man. "I congratulate you
on your success, and I am only sorry that the unfortunate grounding of
the Guardian-Mother compelled you to fight the battle alone. I had no
intention of allowing the Maud to be out of my sight more than a few
hours."

Louis, Felix, and Morris clapped their hands with all their might at the
indorsement the commander had given Captain Scott.

"I cannot express to you, Louis, how happy I am to have you still with
us," continued the captain of the ship, as he took the hand of the young
millionaire; "for it appears from the report of Captain Scott that you
have been in imminent danger of being captured and carried off by that
miscreant, and that you have been saved only by the bravery and
determination of the commander of the Maud. He has done no more than I
would have done in his place, and if the pirate had taken you I would
have sunk his steamer at sight to rescue you."

"I am glad you approve the action of Captain Scott, though I had no
doubt you would do so when you learned the facts," replied Louis, as he
pressed the hand of the commander.

"But I have got only a skeleton of the facts yet, and now I should like
to hear the whole story in detail," said Captain Ringgold.

Scott took a paper from his pocket, the one he had drawn off of the
situation of the tw