at that time we greatly resembled each other, though I do not
think I can ever have shared my cousin's good looks.

I was becoming feverish over the delay of our seconds, if such they
can be called, when they rose from their corner, and the boatswain
came across to me with a very grave air, Mr. Sims at the same time
going over to Rupert.

"We have arranged," the boatswain said to me, in a serious voice,
"that you are to fight out at sea. A boat is to be moored to the buoy
off the mouth of the river, and you will be rowed out and put into it
together, one at each end. You are to be armed with cutlasses and left
there together. There will be a pair of sculls on board, and the one
who kills the other will throw his body overboard, so as to leave no
trace, and then row ashore. If the boat does not return at the end of
an hour, we shall come out to her to see what has happened. Do you
agree to this?"

He spoke these words in a distinct, loud voice, so as to be overheard
by those who stood next. Then, before I could answer, he bent over
quickly and laid his lips to my ear, whispering--

"Refuse it, boy, refuse it! It will be a narrow match enough between
you with the cutlass, which was the weapon I stuck out for for your
sake. But out in a trumpery rocking boat, with you a landlubber
against a man that has been at sea these ten years, I would not give a
farden for your life."

He said this with many strong oaths, for I honestly believe the old
pirate had got an affection for me. But he wasted his breath as far as
I was concerned, my pride being then too fierce to admit of my
shrinking from any terms that might be offered by the other side.

"Tell them I accept," I said sullenly, "and make no more ado about it.
How soon can we reach this place?"

The old fellow cursed me roundly for an obstinate, bloody-minded young
fool.

"Give me a hug," he wound up by saying, "for blast me if you ain't a
youngster after my own heart!" And he fell to and embraced me
heartily, kissing me on both cheeks, and shedding tears plentifully;
for he was three-parts drunk, and clearly looked upon me as a dead
man.

And in that light I saw that the company present regarded me, my
cousin's prowess being well known by many duels which he had fought in
the past; and though I had pretty well made up my mind that I was to
die, I suffered no small discouragement and chagrin from the
compassionate looks which were cast upon me. My old enemy, Trick