_Vengeance_, an' by that
time she wus chock up with loot. Still at that she could sail 'bout
three feet to our one. Afore night come we wus out o' sight astern.
Thar wus eight o' us in the crew, beside the nigger, an' we had twelve
Dutchmen under hatches below. I sorter looked 'round, an' sized up
four o' that crew ter be good honest sailormen, who'd been shanghied
same as I wus. So, long about midnight, I 'd got ter talk with all
these fellers, an' when LaGrasse went down below ter take a snooze in
the cabin, we hoisted them Dutchmen on deck, flung a couple o'
hell-hounds overboard, an' just naturally took control. The mate wus
a dead nigger afore he ever knew whut wus up. When daylight come we
wus streakin' it eastward by compass, an' every damn sail set. Thet
wus the easiest part of it. Them Dutchmen could n't talk nuthin' but
their own lingo; an' thar wa'n't a navigator aboard, fer Sanchez hed
kept all the offercers with him, an' the end wus about a week later,
when we piled up against an island off the African coast, an' only one
boat load of us got ashore. Thet's whut I know about Sanchez."

"I had a shipmate once," I observed, interested in his story, "who
claimed to have seen the fellow; he described him as being a very
large man, with intensely black hawklike eyes, and a heavy black beard
almost hiding his face."

Haley laughed.

"Maybe he looked like that when he saw him, but he ain't no bigger man
than I am; he won't weigh as much by fifteen pound. Fact is he mighty
seldom looks the same, fer thet's part o' his game. Them whiskers is
false, an' so is the saller look to his face. I 've seen him in all
sorts o' disguises. It's only his eyes he can't hide, an' thar's been
times when I thought they wus the ugliest eyes ever I saw. He's sure
an ornary devil, an' when he gits mad, I'd rather be afront of a
tiger. Besides fightin's his trade, an' no weaklin' ain't goin' ter
control the sort o' chaps he's got ter handle. Most of 'em would
murder him in a minute if they dared. Oh, he's bad all right, but yer
wouldn't exactly think so, just ter look at him, I've run up agin a
lot o' different men in my time, thet I 'd naturally sheer off from a
blame sight quicker than I would from him."

"You mean that when he is not in disguise he does not appear
dangerous. What then does he really look like?"

Haley spat again onto the deck, and scratched his shock of hair as
though thus to stimulate his memory.

"Oh, a sor