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prisoners, burn her--and them, too, as far as he cared--to destroy all traces of his handiwork and the possibility of detection. Had he not thought it worth his while, he would certainly never have attacked the vessel. To tell the truth, the corsair was in a quandary; so, when the smoke of the man-of-war steamer had melted into the air, he summoned Captain Harding and the rest on deck again, and having their gags removed, interrogated them once more. "You say, captain," said he, knitting his brows and looking the skipper straight in the eyes, to see whether he was telling the truth, "that you have no money, beyond the few piastres and two or three English sovereigns I saw in your desk in the after cabin?" The honest seaman could not tell a lie even to an enemy and a robber as this man was--at least, not unblushingly; so, unlike his usual way, he could not face his questioner, but gazed down on the planking of the deck as he spoke. "No--that is, yes," replied the captain hesitatingly: it was very different to his round, bluff way of bringing out his sentences with an honest straightforwardness. "You had better be careful," said the other in a threatening manner. "It is strange that you should be bound to Smyrna for more cargo, and not have the wherewithal to purchase it with! Have you got any more money or not? Reflect, it is the last time I shall ask you the question." Mr Tompkins stood by unbound, while his fellow-prisoners had their hands bound behind their backs, and their legs likewise tied. He thought it a mark of the higher consideration in which he was held, whereas the corsair considered he wasn't worth the trouble of binding, being one who would not have the pluck to help himself or his fellows. Unbound he was, however; and, anxious to ingratiate himself further with those in power, the mate up and spoke, heedless of Captain Harding's angry exclamation to hold his tongue, and the boys' cries of "Shame!" "The captain forgets," Mr Tompkins said, addressing himself to the corsair. "He might not have hard cash, but he has a draft, I know, on a firm at Smyrna." "Oh-ho!" exclaimed the pirate chief, a gleam of triumphant satisfaction passing over his face for an instant, and then vanishing as he again confronted the captain sternly. "I thought an Englishman's word was his bond through the world," he said in a scornful tone, which made the captain redden as his conscience accused him of having
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