till he could
not believe what it saw. And then a voice at his elbow--the voice of
Dyke, who had elected to sail with him--assured him that he was not
singular in his bewilderment.

"In the name of Heaven, is that the Arabella or is it the ghost of her?"

The Old Wolf rolled his single eye over Dyke, and opened his mouth to
speak. Then he closed it again without having spoken; closed it tightly.
He had a great gift of caution, especially in matters that he did not
understand. That this was the Arabella he could no longer doubt. That
being so, he must think before he spoke. What the devil should the
Arabella be doing here, when he had left her in Jamaica? And was Captain
Blood aboard and in command, or had the remainder of her hands made off
with her, leaving the Captain in Port Royal?

Dyke repeated his question. This time Wolverstone answered him.

"Ye've two eyes to see with, and ye ask me, who's only got one, what it
is ye see!"

"But I see the Arabella."

"Of course, since there she rides. What else was you expecting?"

"Expecting?" Dyke stared at him, open-mouthed. "Was you expecting to
find the Arabella here?"

Wolverstone looked him over in contempt, then laughed and spoke loud
enough to be heard by all around him. "Of course. What else?" And he
laughed again, a laugh that seemed to Dyke to be calling him a fool.
On that Wolverstone turned to give his attention to the operation of
anchoring.

Anon when ashore he was beset by questioning buccaneers, it was from
their very questions that he gathered exactly how matters stood, and
perceived that either from lack of courage or other motive Blood,
himself, had refused to render any account of his doings since the
Arabella had separated from her sister ships. Wolverstone congratulated
himself upon the discretion he had used with Dyke.

"The Captain was ever a modest man," he explained to Hagthorpe and those
others who came crowding round him. "It's not his way to be sounding his
own praises. Why, it was like this. We fell in with old Don Miguel,
and when we'd scuttled him we took aboard a London pimp sent out by the
Secretary of State to offer the Captain the King's commission if so be
him'd quit piracy and be o' good behaviour. The Captain damned his soul
to hell for answer. And then we fell in wi' the Jamaica fleet and that
grey old devil Bishop in command, and there was a sure end to Captain
Blood and to every mother's son of us all. So I goes to him, an