intain it."

The pirate captain pointed to a brace of pistols that lay on the table
beside him, and said, "Go."

Redford went, without uttering another word. His was one of those
coarse natures which are ever ready to presume and take advantage when
there is laxity in discipline, but which are not difficult to subdue by
a superior will. He forthwith spread the report that the new captain
was a "stiff un," a fact which nearly all the men were rather glad than
otherwise to hear.

For some days after leaving Ratinga a stiff breeze enabled the
schooner--which had been re-named by its crew the "Free Rover"--to
proceed southward rapidly. Then a profound calm succeeded, and for a
couple of days the vessel lay almost motionless on the sea.

During all this time the poor maniac in her hold lay upon his
blood-stained couch, for no one dared--at least no one cared--to
approach him. At meal times the cook pushed a plate of food within his
reach. He usually took no notice of this until, hunger constrained him
to devour a little, almost savagely. No word would he speak, but moaned
continually without intermission, save when, in a burst of
uncontrollable anguish, he gave vent to the terrible cry which so
weighed on the spirits of the men, that they suggested to each other the
propriety of throwing the father overboard after the son. Redford's
report of his interview with the captain, however, prevented the
suggestion being acted on.

It is possible that the two tremendous blows which Zeppa had received
during the mutiny may have had something to do with his madness; but
there can be no doubt that the intense mutual affection which had
subsisted between him and his only child, and the sudden and awful
manner of that child's end, were of themselves sufficient to account for
it.

For Orlando had been all that a father could wish; loving, gentle,
tender, yet lion-like and courageous in action, with a powerful frame
like that of his father, and a modest, cheerful spirit like that of his
mother. No wonder that both parents doted on him as their noblest
terrestrial gift from God.

"And now," thought the crushed man, as he crouched on his mattress in
the hold, "he is gone,--snatched away before my eyes, suddenly and _for
ever_!"

It was when this thought recurred, again and again, that the cry of
agony burst from him, but it was invariably succeeded by the thought,
"No, not _for ever_. Orlando is with the Lord. We shall s