aracter.

"Good heavens!" I cried out in my distraction. "Do you mean that she
is in the hands of the pirates at Gheriah?"

"That's about what it comes to. And the sooner you give up all
thoughts of her the better for you, says I."

Before I could frame any answer--and, indeed, I know not what answer I
could have made--there was a great noise and trampling upon deck, and
a man came down to tell us that the vessel was about to weigh anchor,
and that the boatswain was wanted to attend to the service of the
ship. Whereupon he left me, in the company of bitterer thoughts than a
man can have more than once in his life.

I pass over the dreary time spent by me in that dismal confinement
during our voyage. Old Muzzy visited me pretty often, and once Rupert
himself came down and made offers towards a reconcilement.

"Say that you will join us honestly, and I will take off the irons,
and rate you as one of the crew. And when occasion serves, I will
cause you to be made lieutenant under me," he promised, "for after all
you are my own kinsman, and blood is thicker than water."

Whether he was sincere in this, or was compelled to it by my friend
the boatswain, I do not know. But I had only one reply to give him.

"And Marian, what of her?" I said indignantly.

A dark look came on his brow.

"Leave that business alone," he said. "It were better for you, I warn
you fairly. That woman is mine, and I will not suffer the Almighty
Himself to come between us."

At this blasphemous avowal I turned my back on him, and would
entertain no further proposals. However, I knew from the boatswain
that Rupert was first for throwing me overboard; and when Muzzy, who
had much authority with the crew, would not consent to that, he was
for putting me into the castle at Gheriah, along with the late
captain. But this my sturdy champion also opposed, and the end of it
was that I was left in my present quarters when the _Fair Maid_
arrived in the pirates' harbour, and brought them the news that a
British squadron was on its way to besiege the place.

This intelligence Rupert had acquired before leaving Bombay, and it
was this which had caused him to set sail with so much haste. Becoming
very busied in preparations for the defence, I luckily slipped
somewhat out of his mind, and the boatswain took advantage of this to
soften the rigour of my imprisonment, allowing me to take the air on
deck, and even going so far as to release me from my irons.