this
frightful caress, he had said a short prayer and bolted the door.

"You have done well, my padre; and now let us break our fast. Babette, a
couple of broiled snappers and a cold duck! Be lively, old lady, for I
have business to attend to after breakfast. _Hola, mi padre_, will you
wash your hands in water before sitting down? No! _bueno!_ I will myself
take a dip all over."

No, the oily Ricardo never washed his hands, save wetting the tips of
his fingers in holy water in the chapel; and, indeed, he rarely touched
water in any quantity either outside or in; and it was with a look of
surprise, not unmingled with contempt, that he beheld his patron retire
for a bath.

CHAPTER XX.

BUSINESS.

"He had rolled in money like pigs in mud,
Till it seemed to have entered into his blood
By some occult projection;
And his cheeks, instead of a healthy hue,
As yellow as any guinea grew,
Making the common phrase seem true
About a rich complexion."

The business which Captain Brand alluded to when he was about to partake
of breakfast with his friend the padre was, in the first instance, to
arrange some matters in the way of payment of debts to his compadre, Don
Ignacio Sanchez, commander of the Colonial Guarda Costa felucca
"Panchita."

Accordingly, when he rose from table, and after a whispered dialogue and
reports as to the state of affairs in and around the den and island from
the men at the signal-stations, he summoned Pedillo. When that worthy
appeared below the veranda--for be it remembered that Captain Brand
never permitted the inferior officials of his band to pollute his
apartments, unless, perhaps, as in the case of his deceased subordinate,
Master Gibbs, it was on urgent business--Captain Brand ordered his gig
manned.

Pedillo threw up his hand in token of assent, and walked down to the
brink of the basin to execute the command. Then, after a few minutes,
Captain Brand lit a cigar, dismissed the padre, put on his fine white
Panama straw hat, unlocked a strong cabinet with a secret drawer,
glanced over a paper before him, and, making a rapid calculation, he
caught up a heavy bag of doubloons, and left the house in charge of
Babette. The captain always told his guests that his fellows had
such love and respect for him that he rarely locked up his property,
and never placed a guard at his door. The truth was, that his
fellows--scoundrels, miscreants, and villains