f yourselves," I answered, with a sinking heart.

I crept first on deck, and lay down among the men forward. Presently
the crew rushed on deck, and in a few minutes the previous order of
things was completely reversed, and the pirates were bound and floating
helplessly in a boat by themselves. The black, who was near me, was the
only one who was aroused, and he saw me being bound like himself. He
would have cried out, but a gag thrust into his mouth effectually
prevented him.

With mingled feelings of pain and joy I saw, through the gloom, the
sails of the _Mary_ drop from their yards, and her cable being cut, she
glided away into the obscurity of the distance. I uttered a prayer for
the safety of those on board. I had no fears for myself; but I confess
I wished that, notwithstanding my protestations, Captain Dean had
forcibly detained me, though I, of course, was compelled to insist on
being treated like the rest of the pirates, and he, not knowing my real
wish, thought he was bound to do as I desired. Mary was all the time
below, or her keen perception would have saved me, as she would have
insisted on keeping me, in spite of myself. I repeated the oath I had
taken over and over again, and I did not find that it in any way
prevented me from liberating the prize. That any one would dream of
doing such a thing had, I suppose, never occurred to its framers.

It was broad daylight before any of the people came to their senses.
The black had been all the time, in a degree, awake, though his
intellects were not very bright; he, however, had been too tightly bound
hand and foot to move, while his mouth was too securely gagged to allow
him to cry out. I arose with pretended difficulty; I saw his keen eye
glaring on me. I looked over the gunwale: the _Mary_ was nowhere to be
seen. She had then escaped, and I returned thanks to Heaven for her
safety.

The boat had been driven by the wind some way out to sea, and it
occurred to me that there was a great probability of our being starved
before we could regain the shore, should we not be seen by the
schooner's crew. This idea gave way to the picture which presented
itself of the rage and disappointment of the pirates when they found
that their prize had escaped.

"They will wreak their vengeance on us all, perhaps--on my head
especially, if it is suspected that I had a hand in liberating the
prisoners. How can I avoid being suspected? The mate will recollect
th