er, and a crowd of fierce,
bearded ruffians were pouring on board as fast as they could clamber up
the side, led by a tall, athletic fellow, dressed rather better than
themselves, with a crimson sash folded round his waist, who was so much
in advance of his villainous crew that he was close upon the group on
the quarter-deck before they were almost conscious of his presence. It
was his voice, the voice and face of the man who had accosted Tom and
Charley in the Turk Mohammed's coffee-house at Beyrout, and whom they at
once now recognised again, that had arrested the action of the captain--
although only for an instant, as, undismayed by the numbers now opposed
to him, and conscious that his little band and himself must be defeated
in the long run, and meet their death in the struggle, he shifted his
aim, and pointed his revolver without hesitation at the leader.

"Hold!" repeated the pirate chief again in warning accents, before the
captain could fire. "Another shot, and I won't answer for your lives!"

"And who are you, sir, who dares to attack a peaceful merchant vessel on
the high seas in this fashion?" demanded Captain Harding, without
faltering, and still keeping his pistol levelled at the head of the
other, who faced it with the utmost sangfroid, although he could
perceive that the English sailor's blood was up and his finger trembling
on the trigger.

"One who dares anything and everything, and never embarks in any
enterprise unless he has weighed the consequences and can carry it
through to a successful termination!" replied the desperado, with an
assumption of stern dignity that was in harmony with his stalwart form
and reckless air. "But, come," he continued, sinking his tone of
bravado, and speaking in the same easy, polite manner which Charley had
specially noticed when he addressed Tom and himself in the khan--a
manner that showed a very considerably greater amount of breeding than
could have been expected from a common seaman,--"you must see that you
are powerless to resist us."

"There are six of us," interrupted Captain Harding, "and we can at all
events make a fight for it!"

"To what purpose?" retorted the other. "You are six, truly; but two of
your party are boys, and one a coward who wouldn't be of much help"--
glancing as he spoke from Tom and Charley, who stood beside the captain
prepared to aid him to their last breath, upward to the mizzen-top,
where the craven-faced Tompkins stood, look