have put upon my cheek."

She raised her whip once more, but this time young Teach, coming on the
other side, caught her hand, wrested the jeweled toy from her, and broke
it in the struggle.

"Thou shalt pay dearly for those stripes, lady!" roared Morgan, swerving
closer to her. "And not now in honorable wedlock----"

"I will die first!" returned Mercedes.

Alvarado, meanwhile, had been struggling desperately to free himself. By
the exercise of superhuman strength, just as Morgan again menaced the
woman he loved, he succeeded in freeing himself from his loosely-tied
bonds. His guards for the moment had their attention distracted from him
by the group on horseback. He wrenched a sword from the hand of one,
striking him a blow with his naked fist that sent him reeling as he did
so, and then flung out his other arm so that the heavy pommel of the
sword struck the second guard in the face, and the way was clear for the
moment. He sprang forward instantly, seized Morgan's horse, forced him
away from Mercedes by a wrench of his powerful arm, and stood at bay in
front of the woman he loved. He said no word but stood with his sword up
on guard, panting heavily from his fierce exertions.

"Alvarado, you will be killed!" screamed the girl, seeing the others
make for him.

"Here we have it," sneered Morgan. "This is the secret of your refusal.
He is your lover."

"Seize him!" cried Teach, raising his sword, as followed by the others
he made at Alvarado, who awaited them undaunted.

"Stay!" shouted de Lussan, "there is a better way."

Rudely shoving Senora Agapida aside, he seized Mercedes from behind.

"Do not move, mademoiselle," he said in French, in his excitement, which
fortunately she understood.

"That's well done!" cried Morgan, "Captain Alvarado, if that be your
name, throw down your sword if you would save the lady's life."

"Mind me not, Alvarado," cried Mercedes, but Alvarado, perceiving the
situation, instantly dropped his weapon.

"Now seize him and bind him again! And you, dogs!" Morgan added, turning
to the men who had allowed the prisoner to slip before, "if he escape
you again you shall be hanged to the nearest tree!"

"Hadst not better bind the woman, too?" queried the Frenchman gently,
still holding her fast in his fierce grasp.

"Ay, the wench as well. Oh, I'll break your spirit, my pretty one,"
answered Morgan savagely, flipping the young woman's cheek. "Wilt pay me
blows for kisses? Scuttle