ooking scoundrels mounting guard over them in addition, as
they lay where they were thrown down on the floor of the main cabin; but
their eyes said, as plainly as eyes could speak, the thoughts that were
uppermost in the mind of each--a feeling of disappointment at the hope
of a rescue being so rudely dispelled when it looked so imminent, and a
sense of disgust at the disgraceful cowardice of the mate.

It may seem strange that the corsair, who had spared the lives of the
captain and the remainder of the crew of the _Muscadine_, and appeared
really on such jovial terms with his prisoners up to the moment of his
going below with Captain Harding to look at the ship's papers, should
all at once change his demeanour and come out in his true colours; but,
the matter is easy enough of explanation.

The corsair had been led to think that the merchant ship was freighted
with a valuable cargo of silk and tobacco, the bulk of which he could
have readily transferred to the felucca, as they were handy of shipment;
consequently, when he found out that the vessel was only half-loaded
with wine and fruit, which would require considerable storage room, and
be then almost valueless in the only markets he could command, his rage
knew no bounds. Added to this, Captain Harding, acting under a sense of
duty to his owners, had concealed the fact of his possessing a
considerable sum of money on board in drafts on bankers at Smyrna; while
the pirate chief, supposing that he did have money, looked to find it in
specie, and was correspondingly disappointed a second time. And thus it
was that he was sorry at having spared the lives of the Englishmen after
the fray had occurred; although he regretted that he had planned the
capture of the ship at all, and placed himself and his companions in
peril for a prize that was uncommonly like the king of Siam's present of
a white elephant to one he meant to ruin; for it was useless to him, and
he could not destroy the vessel or abandon it where she was, in the
regular waterway of communication between the cities of the East, for
fear of her being discovered, and he and his band of desperadoes pursued
before they had ensured their safety by flight. He wished now to get
rid of the ship, and secure whatever of her cargo he could carry away--
for his men must have some booty to repay their trouble and risk; but he
must seek some out-of-the-way spot first, where he might unload her, and
then, as he told his