will be a consolation to him to die under the British
flag, on board his own ship, and if you will lend me a hand to carry him
down to the boat, why I can just as easy escape with him on board as by
myself. I'll trouble you also for some of your physic, and some lint
and bandages, to doctor him with, and I hope he may yet do well.'

"The Italian was silent for a few moments, when a sudden thought seemed
to strike him, and he replied that he would do as I wished, though he
warned me of the risk to which I was exposing the captain's life by so
doing; but as he had just told me he would die on shore, I did not
listen to him--in fact, I had no great confidence in the honesty of
Signor Paolo. There was something in his eye, as he looked at the
captain, which I did not like, and besides, I should like to know how
any respectable man came to be herding with such a set of cut-throat
rascals. I accordingly went outside the hut, to see how the coast lay,
and I found that all was silent round us, for every man, woman, and
child had gone up to the fire; and had it not been for the glare of the
conflagration, the night would have been pitchy dark; so, lifting the
captain up in a cloak on which he had been laid, Paolo taking the head
and I the feet, we bore him, as well as we were able, down to the boat,
though I was afraid every moment of letting him fall, and hurting him;
indeed, nothing but the anxiety I felt would have enabled me to succeed.
At length we reached the boat, and placing the captain at the bottom, I
again thanked the Italian for the service he had rendered us; indeed,
after all, I was afraid I was wronging him by my suspicions. Then, with
a lighter heart than I had felt for some hours, I got him to assist me
in shoving the boat off the beach, and with the impetus he had given her
I let her drift out into the harbour. I then, as silently as I could,
paddled round by the west shore, keeping clear of the brig and the two
misticoes, for the one which chased us had just come in; but I had not
much fear of any of them, for I knew that the few hands left on board
them would be looking up at the fire, and would not observe me: though,
had any one turned, they might have done so, for the bright glare from
the flames fell on the boat, and would have showed her distinctly, even
right across the bay. Anxious as I was to get out of the harbour, I was
afraid of pulling hard, lest any one should hear the splash of the oars;
an