and he lusted most of all that Morgan should know in
his last hours--which Hornigold prayed Satan might be long ones--to whom
he was indebted for it all.

And, strange as it may seem, there was still a certain loyalty of a
distorted, perverted kind, in the man's breast. No matter what Morgan
had done, no one else should punish him but himself. He would even have
fought for his sometime chief, were it necessary, against the King or
his law, if need be. He was therefore very much disturbed over what he
heard. Had it been possible he would have warned Morgan immediately of
his purposed arrest, but he had been detained on the frigate by
necessary duties from which he could find no means of escape until too
late. He had, however, a high sense of Sir Henry's courage and address.
He hoped and believed that he would not be taken by such men as
Hawxherst and Bradley; but if he were, Hornigold made up his mind to
rescue him.

There was a little islet in the Caribbean just below Hispaniola, in
whose wooded interior still lurked some of the old-time buccaneers,
proscribed men, who, from time to time, did pirating in a small way on
their own account; just enough to keep their hands in. If the worst
came, Hornigold, who with his little pinnace had kept in touch with them
secretly, could assemble them for the rescue of their old captain. Then
the former Governor, in his power and in their possession, could be
disposed of at their leisure and pleasure. All these things had busied
the man during the evening, and he sat even now in the midst of the
revelry about him, plunged in profound thought.

Unobserved himself, he had taken account of every man who was present.
He knew all the habitues of the port, and enjoyed a wide acquaintance
among the seamen whose vessels frequented the harbor. He decided there
were then in that room perhaps twenty men upon whom he could depend,
proper inducement being offered, for almost any sort of service. Among
these were five or six superior spirits whom he knew to be tried and
true. There was young Teach, the singer of the evening, a drunken,
dissolute vagabond, who had been discharged from his last ship for
insubordination and a quarrelsome attack upon one of his officers, for
which he had narrowly escaped hanging as a mutineer. The man was as bold
as a lion, though; he could be trusted. There, too, was Rock Braziliano,
a Portuguese half-breed, and hobnobbing with him was Raveneau de Lussan,
a Frenchm