sh comrade, I worked my way to India. When
I arrived, I made inquiries for the officer who had employed me, and was
to pay me my reward. He was dead; and I found that I had lost the
fruits of my crime.

"The children, I felt convinced, had been lost in the burning ship; and
with the proof of her destruction, I contemplated going to England, and
claiming the price agreed on for this work from the officer's father,
who, I doubted not, was enjoying the fortune which should have been
theirs. Each time, however, that I attempted to go, I was prevented;
once I had actually got part of the way, when I was wrecked at the Cape
of Good Hope; and all the time I had my misgivings about going. First,
that I might be recognised by those who knew me as a pirate; and then,
after all, that the old gentleman would refuse to acknowledge my claims.
A poor rogue, I knew, would have but little chance with a rich one. He
had not tempted me to commit the crime, and might probably defy
scrutiny. I speak of myself as poor; for, not withstanding all the sums
I had possessed, not a dollar remained. Ill-gotten wealth speedily
disappears, and leaves only a curse behind. Years passed away, when, at
the port of Macao, in China, I took a berth as first mate on board the
American brig _Emu_, trading in the Indian Seas.

"A lady, who was reputed to have great wealth with her, and a little
girl, whom I supposed to be her child, came on board as passengers to
Singapore. Two of the crew were my former comrades. I sounded the
rest, and found that they had no scruples about joining me in any
project I might propose. The prospect of possessing the lady's dollars
was too tempting to be resisted. The master, we feared, would not join
us. To make sure, he was shot, and thrown overboard; and I took the
command. I have perpetrated so many crimes, that I can speak of murder
as of a common occurrence."

"But what became of my sister and Mrs Clayton?" I exclaimed as the
pirate had got thus far in his narrative.

"I took them from the first under my charge," he answered. "I treated
the lady with care; because I hoped that if I were captured, she might
intercede for me, and assist in preserving my life. It was not for some
time that I discovered who the little girl was. I had won her
confidence; for in her presence I always felt myself a better man, and
more than once I had resolved to repent, and obeying my mother's earnest
prayers, to return home