desperate trade. The dice had fallen against
him in this venture. The tables had been turned upon him in the very
moment of success. He accepted the situation with the fortitude of a
fatalist.

With the utmost calm he enquired:

"And now, Senior Capitan?"

"And now," said Captain Blood--to give him the title he had
assumed--"being a humane man, I am sorry to find that ye're not dead
from the tap we gave you. For it means that you'll be put to the trouble
of dying all over again."

"Ah!" Don Diego drew a deep breath. "But is that necessary?" he asked,
without apparent perturbation.

Captain Blood's blue eyes approved his bearing. "Ask yourself," said he.
"Tell me, as an experienced and bloody pirate, what in my place would
you do, yourself?"

"Ah, but there is a difference." Don Diego sat up to argue the matter.
"It lies in the fact that you boast yourself a humane man."

Captain Blood perched himself on the edge of the long oak table. "But
I am not a fool," said he, "and I'll not allow a natural Irish
sentimentality to stand in the way of my doing what is necessary and
proper. You and your ten surviving scoundrels are a menace on this ship.
More than that, she is none so well found in water and provisions. True,
we are fortunately a small number, but you and your party inconveniently
increase it. So that on every hand, you see, prudence suggests to
us that we should deny ourselves the pleasure of your company, and,
steeling our soft hearts to the inevitable, invite you to be so obliging
as to step over the side."

"I see," said the Spaniard pensively. He swung his legs from the couch,
and sat now upon the edge of it, his elbows on his knees. He had taken
the measure of his man, and met him with a mock-urbanity and a suave
detachment that matched his own. "I confess," he admitted, "that there
is much force in what you say."

"You take a load from my mind," said Captain Blood. "I would not appear
unnecessarily harsh, especially since I and my friends owe you so very
much. For, whatever it may have been to others, to us your raid upon
Barbados was most opportune. I am glad, therefore, that you agree the I
have no choice."

"But, my friend, I did not agree so much."

"If there is any alternative that you can suggest, I shall be most happy
to consider it."

Don Diego stroked his pointed black beard.

"Can you give me until morning for reflection? My head aches so damnably
that I am incapable of thought. And