ified freedom to think of his own plight.
While he stood there, breathing deeply, his lungs expanding and his
heart leaping, the slaver who had gone away, reappeared, saluting him
with much politeness.

"Look back, Peter," he said, "and you can get your last glimpse of your
native soil. The black line that just shows under the sky is Sandy Hook.
We won't see any more land for days, and you'll have a fine,
uninterrupted voyage with me and my crew."

Robert in this desperate crisis of his life resolved at once upon a
course of action. He would not show despair, he would not sulk, he would
so bear himself and with such cheerfulness and easy good nature that the
watch upon him might be relaxed somewhat, and the conditions of his
captivity might become less hard. It was perhaps easier for him than for
another, with his highly optimistic nature and his disposition to be
friendly. He kissed his hand to the black line on the horizon and said:

"I'm going now, but I'll come back. I always come back."

"That's the right spirit, Peter," said the slaver. "Be pleasant. Always
be pleasant, say I, and you'll get along much better in the world.
Things will just melt away before you."

Robert looked over the schooner. He did not know much about ships, but
she seemed to him a trim and strong craft, carrying, as he judged, about
thirty men. A long eighteen-pound cannon was mounted in her stern, but
that was to be expected in war, and was common in peace also when one
sailed into that nest of pirates, the West Indies. The slaver carried
pistol and dirk in his belt, and those of the crew whom he could see
were sturdy, hardy men. The slaver read his eyes:

"Yes, she's a fine craft," he said. "Able to fight anything of her size
we're likely to meet, and fast enough to run away from them that's too
big for her. You can see as much of her as you want to. So long as we've
no neighbor on the ocean you've the run of the craft. But if you should
want to leave you needn't try to tempt any of my men to help you. They
wouldn't dare do it, and they wouldn't want to anyhow. All their
interests are with me. I'm something of a deity to them."

The slaver went away and Robert walked about the narrow deck, standing
at last by the rail, where he remained a long time. No one seemed to pay
any attention to him. He was free to come and go as he pleased within
the narrow confines of the schooner. But he watched the black line of
land behind them until it