arrived daily. The
elements of the air and sea were ceaselessly contending in a strife
before which the petty quarrels of men were ended. Nothing was heard at
present of Barthelemy. The English and Dutch agencies were perfectly
aware that his ships were anchored in the harbor of Cape Corso. Who
would venture to tempt Providence by putting to sea in such weather? The
heart of the boldest pirate trembles when he sees sky and water
transformed into darkness, illumined only by flashes of lightning. It
would be a devil and not a man who, amid this illumination, would risk a
battle in the midst of peals of thunder and the howling of the gale.

Barthelemy was resting on the coast; his men were drinking, carousing
and giving banquets. What else could they do in such terrible weather
when, each morning, the sea flung fresh wrecks upon the strand?

Meanwhile the governments were quietly gathering their ships against the
bold pirates who dared, single-handed, to assail a whole quarter of the
globe; in the harbor of Mydaw alone there were eleven ships waiting only
for the King Solomon with its eighty guns, and the Swallow with its
hundred and ten, to set sail in pursuit of Robert Barthelemy as soon as
the monsoons were over.

* * * * *

The tempest was raging, the sea tossed wildly, the black clouds hung so
low that it seemed as if they nearly touched the waves, and the surges
tossed their white foam upward toward the clouds.

The horizon was a dark violet blue, through which darted flashes of
lightning. A ship was visible far away tossing on the billows, its
closely furled sails and erect masts looking like black crosses.

It was the King Solomon, a proud warship, with three tiers of decks
supplied with windows, which resembled a three-story house with wings;
but windows and portholes were now tightly closed.

The rain was pouring, black and white stormy petrels fluttered around
the vessel, and ever and anon the waves tossed aloft one of the sharks
swimming around the ship, which looked down greedily a moment, with its
cold, fixed eyes, at the trembling sailors.

Every man had his hands full; in the midst stood Captain Trahern; the
boldest of the crew were in the rigging, trying to secure the sails;
others were attempting to rig a jury mast in place of one which had been
carried away. Another group toiled at the pumps, and four men were at
the helm, straining every muscle whenever a wave str