work of repairing the frigates, while the
admiral--in the hope that I might still turn up, and with that extreme
kindness that had marked all his treatment of me--had determined not to
give the command of her to anyone else until she should be absolutely
ready for sea. I therefore at once stepped into my former position, and
lost no time in getting as many men to work upon her as could be spared.
And there was the less difficulty in accomplishing this, that Morillo
was believed to be more busy than ever, several outward-bound ships
being overdue without the occurrence of any bad weather to account for
their disappearance. Meanwhile, during the progress of the work aboard
the brigantine, I gave myself up to the task of getting together a crew,
of which my old friend Black Peter constituted himself the nucleus,
while several former _Terns_ volunteered, these again inducing other men
of their acquaintance to come forward and join; so that by the time that
the finishing touches were being put to the _Diane_, I had fifty-two
first-rate men waiting to go aboard as soon as the ship should be ready
to receive them. But I wanted five more to complete my complement, and
these I picked up by making a raid one night upon the low boarding-
houses in Kingston, where the crimps were in the habit of taking in
sailors and keeping them in hiding until they had extracted from them
every penny of their hard-earned wages.

At length, some five weeks from the date of my reappearance, the time
arrived when the _Diane_, being ready for sea, with her guns mounted,
provisions, water, and stores of every kind on board, and sails bent,
hauled off alongside the powder hulk to ship her ammunition; and that
delicate job having been successfully accomplished, under my personal
supervision, I went up to Kingston to dine with the admiral prior to
sailing, calling at the hotel on my way in order to change my clothes.
As I entered the building, the head waiter--a negro--stepped forward and
handed me a letter addressed in an unknown and foreign-looking
handwriting to myself. I opened it at once, and found that it bore a
date a full fortnight old, and read as follows, the language being
English:--

"Senor Courtenay,--You have constituted yourself my especial enemy, and
have apparently declared war to the knife against me. In return I now
declare my determination to destroy you by whatever means may present
themselves. Thrice have you injured me, eith