id it. Without me your wives, your
children, your subjects, would have been slaughtered in Caracas and this
dog would have been free to go further afield for prey. He coveted your
daughter--would fain make her his slave in some desert island. Give him
to me!"

"Old man," said the Viceroy, "I take back my words. You have excuse for
your betrayal, but your request I can not grant. I have promised him to
Alvarado. Nay, urge me no further. My word is passed."

"Thank you, thank you!" cried Morgan, breathing again.

"Silence, you dog!" said the Viceroy, with a look of contempt on his
face. "But take heart, man," he added, as he saw the look of rage and
disappointment sweep over the face of the old sailor, "he will not
escape lightly. Would God he had blood enough in his body to pay drop
by drop for all he hath shed. His death shall be slow, lingering,
terrible. You have said it, and you shall see it, too, and you will. He
shall have time to repent and to think upon the past. You may glut
yourself with his suffering and feed fat your revenge. 'Twill be a meet,
a fitting punishment so far as our poor minds can compass. We have
already planned it."

"You Spanish hounds!" roared Morgan stoutly, "I am a subject of England.
I demand to be sent there for trial."

"You are an outlaw, sir, a man of no country, a foe to common humanity,
and taken in your crimes. Silence, I say!" again cried the old man. "You
pollute the air with your speech. Take him away and hold him safe.
To-morrow he shall be punished."

"Without a trial?" screamed the old buccaneer, struggling forward.

"Thou art tried already. Thou hast been weighed in the balances and
found wanting. Alvarado, art ready for duty?"

"Ready, your Excellency," answered the young man, "and for this duty."

"Take him then, I give him into your hands. You know what is to be done;
see you do it well."

"Ay, my lord. Into the strong-room with him, men!" ordered the young
Spaniard, stepping unsteadily forward.

As he did so the crucifix he wore, which the disorder in his dress
exposed to view, flashed into the light once more. Morgan's eyes
fastened upon it for the first time.

"By heaven, sir!" he shouted. "Where got ye that cross?"

"From his mother, noble captain," interrupted Hornigold, coming closer.

He had another card to play. He had waited for this moment, and he threw
back his head with a long, bitter laugh. There was such sinister, such
vicious mockery and mean