ave us
all to burn in her. And that's just exactly what he did."

"He actually set fire to the ship!" said I. "But of course he cast you
all adrift first, and gave you at least a _chance_ to save your lives?"

"I'll tell you what he did, sir," replied the merchant-skipper. "When
the five minutes had expired he called for a lantern, and, when he had
got it, went round and examined each man's lashings with his own eyes
and hands, so as to make sure that we were all secure to his
satisfaction. Then he ordered half-a-dozen bales of cotton goods to be
cut open and strewed about the cabin; poured oil, turpentine, and tar
over them; did the same down in the forecastle; and then capsized a cask
of tar and a can of turpentine over the most inflammable goods he could
put his hand upon down in the main hatchway; had the bottoms of all the
boats knocked out; took away all the oars; and then set fire to the ship
forward, aft, and in midships; after which he wished us all a warm
journey into the next world, and went deliberately down the side into
his boat. The brig stood by us until we were fairly in flames fore and
aft, and then filled away on the starboard tack under all the canvas she
could show to it, leaving us there to perish miserably."

"And how did you manage to effect your escape after all?" I inquired.

"Well, sir," the skipper replied, "the ship--as you may imagine, with a
cargo such as we had on board--burned like a torch. In less than five
minutes after the pirates had shoved off from our side the flames were
darting up through companion, hatchway, and fore-scuttle, and in a
quarter of an hour she was all ablaze. Luckily for us, the ship, left
to herself, had paid off before the wind, and the flames were therefore
blown for'ard; but the deck upon which we were lying soon became so hot
as to be quite unbearable; we were literally beginning to roast alive,
and were in momentary expectation that the deck would fall in and drop
us helplessly into the raging furnace below. At last, driven to
desperation by the torture of mind and body from which I was suffering,
I managed to roll over on my other side; and there, within an inch of my
mouth, was a man's hands, lashed, like my own, firmly behind his back,
and his ankles drawn close up to them. The idea seized me to try and
_gnaw_ through his lashings and so free him, when of course he would
soon be able to cast us adrift in return. I shouted to him what I
intend