eir picturesque dress--a short sleeveless jacket, coarse
gaiters and shoes, a kilt of some rough texture, and a fez; while across
their chests they carried a cartridge belt, and around their waist a
sash, in which were stuck pistols and knives, not forgetting the long
yataghan, that hung to their sides in the same fashion as they had
noticed with the crew of the pirate felucca.

Amongst this band of miscreants, who thought less of murder than they
did of killing a fowl, the survivors of the _Muscadine_ suffered a
species of moral torture for more than a week, being moved from place to
place meanwhile, generally by night, as the brigands' encampment was
shifted to evade the pursuit of the Turkish troops, who were wonderfully
active in hunting the mountain gentry about--after Mr Suter's and
Colonel Synge's release!

During this time, they heard nothing of the pirate chief, although the
leader of the brigands--a gigantic Albanian named Mocatto--was
continually engaged in pleasantly putting before Captain Harding what he
and his countrymen might expect should the bank-draft remain unsigned
after the corsair's return--of course acting under that worthy's
instructions; pointing the moral of his remarks by practising the most
unheard-of cruelties on such captives as the brigands brought in day by
day, who were unable or unwilling to send to their friends to ransom
them.

At last, one day, after witnessing the horrible exhibition of a poor
Turk having his clothing saturated with paraffine oil, and then set fire
to, the captain, urged more by considerations for the safety of Tom and
Charley and his men, than for his own, gave in, and told Mocatto that he
would sign the draft.

"That is good," said the brigand. "Demetri comes to-night, and you can
sign it in the presence of the chief. If you do not, you know the
consequences."

However, as it turned out, Captain Harding was fortunately able to keep
his word to the corsair, when he said "he would see him hanged first"
before he should attach his name to the money order.

That very same afternoon, a whole battalion of Turkish troops, sent out
from Salonica, surrounded one of the mountains in which the brigands'
stronghold was situated; and after desperate fighting, in which many men
were killed on either side, compelled the surrender of Mocatto's band.

Demetri, the pirate chief, who was on his way, like Shylock, for his
bond or pound of flesh from the captain, got captur