an! I fancy a taste of the cat will do you no harm."

Peter regarded me with horror for a moment as the sinister meaning of
this threat dawned upon his muddled senses; then he drew himself up to
his full height, saluted with drunken gravity, and vanished into the
outer darkness, as he stumblingly made his way up the companion ladder
and for'ard.

About a quarter of an hour later he returned, comparatively sober, and,
saluting again, stood in the doorway, waiting for me to question him.

"So there you are again, eh?" remarked I. "Very well. Now, Peter, if
you are sober enough to speak plainly, I should like to know what you
meant by saying that you have `got' Morillo, the pirate. Do you mean
that you have actually found and _captured_ the fellow?"

"Well, no, Mistah Courtenay, I don't dissactly mean that; no such luck,
sah! But I'se got de next best t'ing, sah; I'se got a man who says he
knows where Morillo's to be foun'," answered Peter.

"Um! well that is better than nothing--if your friend is to be trusted,"
said I. "Who is he, and where did you run athwart him?"

"He ain't no friend ob mine," answered Peter, virtuously indignant at so
insulting an insinuation; "he's jus' a yaller man--a half-breed--dat I
met at a rum shop up in Kingston. I heard him mention Morillo's name,
so I jined him in a bottle ob rum,--_which I paid for out ob my own
pocket_, Mistah Courtenay,--and axed him some questions. He wouldn't
say much, but he kep' on boastin' dat he knew where Morillo could be
found any time--excep' when he was at sea. So I made him drunk wid my
rum, Mistah Courtenay, and den brought him aboard here instead ob
puttin' him aboard his own footy little felucca in Kingston harbour."

"I see. And where is the fellow now, Peter?" inquired I.

"Where is he now, sah?" repeated Peter. "Why, sah, he is on deck,
comfortably asleep between two ob de guns, where I put him when I come
aboard."

"Very good, Peter; I begin to think you were not so very drunk after
all," answered I, well pleased. "But it will not do to leave him on
deck all night," I continued; "he will get sober, and give us the slip.
So, to make quite sure of him, stow him away down below, and have a set
of irons clapped on him. When we are fairly at sea to-morrow, I will
have him up on deck, and see what can be made of him. Meanwhile, Peter,
he is your prisoner, remember, and I shall hold you responsible for him.
Now go and turn in, and beware