ost stories are told in their presence.

"Look, look yonder!" said Philip, suddenly pointing into the gray mist,
"I swear by St. George, I see the spectre ship!"

His messmates, panting for breath, followed the direction of his finger.
The lightning flashed and they all made the sign of the cross.

"There it is."

"What do you see there?" called the captain, noticing the surprise of
his men.

"The spectre ship, sir," one of them answered at last, trembling.

Trahern began to scan the vessel through his spy-glass.

"That's no spectre ship," he said after a short pause.

"What else could she be, sir? Would any mortal man carry sail in such a
tempest? See how fast she approaches us! She does not heed the shock of
the waves, but flies like a bird."

"That is no spectre ship," the captain repeated, "they are pirates."

"Living devils," muttered Philip.

"It must be Barthelemy," said Trahern. "What a pity that we cannot
approach him, we would capture him at once. But who could fight in such
a storm?"

The pirate swiftly approached the King Solomon. From time to time the
waves concealed it, but the next instant it rose on their crests, still
advancing.

"Those crazy fellows actually seem to be trying to meet us," said
Trahern.

"Those are not men," replied Philip. "If men tried to cut through the
waves in that fashion their ship would be battered to pieces."

The vessel really seemed to be pursuing the King Solomon; approaching
it on one tack, it made every effort to come alongside, but was
constantly baffled by the force of the waves which, like a stronger
power, constantly tossed the two ships apart, and if they were within
gunshot of each other at one moment, separated them the next by half a
mile.

"Honest men pray to God at such times," cried Philip. "These do not even
fear the gale. Ha! How that lightning blazed between the ships. The very
fires of Heaven forbid approach."

The pirate suddenly furled her sails, and the next instant the crew of
the King Solomon saw the large boat lowered. Twenty pirates sprang in
and rowed toward the King Solomon.

The man-of-war had two hundred men and eighty guns; Trahern could not
imagine what the object of these few people could be.

The waves tossed the boat to and fro but, spite of wind and water, the
oarstrokes of the twenty men gradually brought it nearer. Then a
gigantic figure stood erect, spite of the terrible tossing of the waves,
and, raising a speaki