Levee, and we embraced.

"You did not come a minute too soon," I said, wiping the blood from my
face.

"No, indeed; and but for your clever manoeuvre, you would have been
beaten. Your vessel is a mere nutshell compared to this;--you did
well, more than well, to maintain the combat so long. Have you lost
many men?"

"We had ten sent below before we boarded; what may have followed since
I do not know. I have the French captain safe in my cabin."

"I saw the men hand him over:--well, now to repair damages, and then
I will tell you what you shall do. I must send on board and help you;
the Arrow has not suffered much considering, and I can spare the men.
As soon as we have cleared up the decks a little, we will breakfast
together, and talk the matter over."

It required two hours before we could clear the decks of our vessels,
for we had separated, and the Arrow had taken charge of the prize.
Before I took the boat to go on board the Arrow, I went down into my
cabin, where the French captain lay bound and watched by two of the
men.

"You are prepared to pay the penalty agreed upon, Monsieur?" said I.

"I am, Sir," he replied. "I now understand what you meant when you
said that I should meet with my match. I have no one to blame but
myself. I urged you to the conditions, expecting an easy and certain
conquest with my superior vessel. I have fallen into my own net, and
there's an end of the matter--except that when things go wrong, a
woman is certain to be at the bottom of it."

"I am aware, Sir," I replied, "that your wife instigated you to act as
you did, or you would never have so behaved. In attempting to revenge
the death of one husband, she has lost two."

"_C'est vrai_," replied the Frenchman, composedly, and I then quitted
the cabin, and went on board of the Arrow.

"Well, Elrington," said Captain Levee, "what do you intend to do with
the French captain? Is he to pay the forfeit, and swing at the
yard-arm?"

"I don't like hanging a man, especially a brave man, in cold blood," I
replied. "It was all his wife's doing, and he has confessed as much."

"He would certainly have hanged you," replied Levee.

"Yes, that I believe; but it would have been that he might have a
quiet life at home--not from any resentment against me. Now I have no
feeling of that kind to actuate me."

"What will you do, then?"

"Not hang him, certainly; and yet I should like to punish her."

"She deserves it," replied Captain Le