d on either side of the
bight, were spiked and thrown into the water, and all arms found about
were carried off.

Such was the end of the _Foam_; and such will, in every ease, probably
be the concluding scene of piratical craft and their crews now-a-days.
They certainly deserve no better; and although their captains, to rise
to that unenviable post, must possess some of those fiercer qualities
which people are apt to admire, I have no fancy for making them
interesting characters, or heroes of romance.

On hearing that there was a considerable amount of booty on shore, the
captain despatched fresh hands to bring it off. I longed to caution
them that Hawk, if he was alive, was a man very likely to play them a
trick, but I had no opportunity of doing so till they had gone. The
boats were sent away, and I was afterwards had up for examination. I
then, as the schooner was destroyed, no longer felt myself bound by my
oath to keep silence; I therefore gave a rapid sketch of my adventures
as the best way of accounting for being found in such bad company. The
captain laughed at my statements, which, he said, were altogether
incredible, and assured me that he fully believed that I deserved
hanging as much as the rest.

I assured him that I had not deceived him, and requested him to confront
the negro, Mark Anthony, with me, and that he would corroborate all my
assertions. Had I known more of the worst part of human nature, I might
not have made this request. When the black was brought up, he gave a
malicious grin at me, and, putting his hand on his heart, assured the
captain and officers that, as he spoke the truth, I was the most wicked,
vicious youngster on board the schooner, to which he knew that it was
useless to deny that he belonged--that he was perfectly innocent of any
piratical act, having been carried off to act as cook--that he had at
first taken an interest in me, and had done his best to reform me, but
in vain, and that lately he had given my case up as hopeless.

"What do you mean by lately?" I asked.

"Just de last six months or so," he answered, with the greatest
effrontery.

"I beg, gentlemen, that his answer may be noted; for I hope to be able
to prove that I have not been on board the schooner as many weeks," I
said, with a calm voice, which had, I think, some effect on my hearers.

There was such a mass of false swearing and contradictory evidence taken
during the examination, that the naval of