urther
shifting of brazen glances, or winking of knowing eyes. Shrill voices of
terrified blacks, hoarse bellowings of the hardiest rascals who had
ever kissed a dripping cutlas, the throaty roar of men who had played
willing lieutenants to the ringleader: all pealed up to high heaven for
the culprit to come forth and taste of the queen's justice rather than
wait for her vengeance.

"Rufe! Yellow Rufe!" they howled. They howled it until the forest echoed
with the word.

"Peace, Devilspawn!" cried Dolores, covering the crowd with an
all-embracing smile of utter scorn. "Think ye I need to hear the name?
Go, all of ye! Fill your swinish skins with liquor, and trouble me no
more this day. When I will that Yellow Rufe appear, here he shall be
drawn, whether he will or not. And in your carousal let this thought be
with ye: Ye are dogs and slaves of dogs; by my will ye live, at my word
ye die. The Red Chief is dead; I am your law, your queen, owner of your
bodies and souls! Let any of ye seek to imitate Yellow Rufe, and Milo
shall pick your limbs apart as if ye were flies. Go now; there is rum
broached, and wine; make a barbecue, and fill yourselves to bursting
like the vultures ye are!"

"Hello, lads, that's your sort!" roared a purple-faced ruffian with a
hang-lip. "A right proper gal is that. Give her a huzza and crack yer
pipes, lads!"

"Bravo, Hanglip!" bellowed another of the same kidney. Spotted Dog had
lost part of an ear, and the same knife had seamed his flabby jowl into
the likeness of a bloodhound's cheek; his deeply-pitted visage completed
the ensemble, and no other name would have fitted him as well. "Bravo,
old cutthroat! Let her play queens an' fairies, if she wants to. Here's
for th' jolly grog, lads. Hey, Stumpy, start a cheer for th' pretty
wench!"

So had the spell of the Grove left them immediately they smelled the
fleshpots. But Dolores still held the altar; and Stumpy, having a keener
memory perhaps than most of his fellows, took the warning that flashed
from her angry eyes. He shivered slightly as his gaze met hers, then,
hopping forward on his one good leg and club-foot, he swung a knotty
fist against Spotted Dog's creased jowl and growled:

"A turn wi' that poison tongue, Spotted Dog. All hands, too, hear me
talkin'. Here's a royal feast spread for us, an' th' spreader's queen o'
th' pirates! Don't ever ferget that, lads. I ain't hankerin' fer what
Rufe'll get. Away wi' you, now, an' I'll slit