his place! Oh the wicked scoundrel! If I had him
here, I declare I would--"

She paused suddenly and listened. There was a stealthy creaking on the
stairs. It grew more distinct; then it stopped, and there was silence.

The thirteen in their chairs made no motion whatever; but the living
turned with one accord towards the open doorway of the room. They waited
with bated breath. In another moment Captain Lingo himself was standing
in the doorway, a pistol in his right hand and a knife in his left.
Without a word he advanced into the room, and behind him came his six
men, shrinking obviously away from the sight of their thirteen murdered
friends.

As Captain Lingo came to a stand before his recent prisoners, his eyes
blazed, and with his right thumb he cocked his pistol. Each of his men
held a pistol in his right hand and a cutlass in his left, and each
cocked his pistol with his thumb.

The Third Vice-President of the Society for Piratical Research, who
seemed in no wise disconcerted, stepped forward and addressed the
pirate.

"Captain Lingo, I presume?"

"Ay, ay; be quick. I must finish this business quickly."

"My committee and myself have been long anxious, sir, in the interest of
science, to make your acquaintance. I rejoice at this opportunity."

"Oh, indeed," said Captain Lingo, drily.

"Yes, sir; I assure you I am delighted. I believe I have the pleasure of
speaking to a subject of King James the Second."

"Ay, ay," said Lingo, eyeing him suspiciously. "What then?"

"Then the records of our Society are vindicated. They go back, my dear
sir, some two hundred years; and they contain, from various sources, an
unbroken account of Captain Lingo and his exploits from the time of
James the Second to the present. But the sources of our information were
not always reliable; some doubts were thrown upon our records by jealous
persons outside the Society; and as it is the special business of the
Committee on Doubtful and Fabulous Tales to look into such matters, the
Committee is here before you at the present moment in the interest of
truth. No member of our Society has ever seen Captain Lingo, and the
jealous persons I have mentioned pretend that no such person has ever
existed. The chief mission of our Committee is to vindicate our records
by a sight of Captain Lingo himself. Thanks to you, sir, that has now
been done. Our next mission is to determine for our Society this most
important question: are you alive