The pirate was at sea on her mission of plunder--the murderer was free!

The engines stopped abreast the city; the steamer lay almost motionless,
for there were lights upon the beach; a shrill "Ahoy!" broke over the
intervening waters, and the dip of oars indicated some pursuit. The
crew, half drunken, rallied to the edge of the vessel; knives glittered
amid the confusion of oaths and the click of pistols, while Mr. Plade
hastened to the skipper's side, and urged him for pity and mercy to
hasten seaward.

The other motioned him back, coldly, and the boatswain piped all hands
upon deck. Lafitte nor Kidd never looked down such desperate faces as
this gristly privateer, when his buccaneers were around him.

"Seamen," he spoke aloud, "you are afloat! Gold and glory await you; you
shall glut yourselves by the ruin of your enemy, and count your plunder
by the light of his burning merchantmen."

The knives flickered in the torchlight, and a cheer, like the howl of
the damned, went up.

"On the brink of such fortune, you find yourselves imperilled; treason
is with you; this pursuit, which we attend, is a part of its programme!
There is, within the sound of my voice, a spy!--a Yankee!"

The weapons rang again; the desperadoes pressed forward, demanding with
shrieks and imprecations that the man should be named.

"He is here," answered the captain, turning full upon the astonished
fugitive. "He came to me with a story of distress. I pitied him, and
gave him shelter; but I telegraphed to Paris to test his veracity, and I
find that he lied. No man has been slain in a duel as he states. I
believe him to be a Federal emissary, and he is in our power."

A dozen rough hands struck Plade to the deck; he staggered up, with
blood upon his face, and called Heaven to witness that he was no
traitor.

"Did you speak the truth to me to-day?" cried the accuser.

"I did not; had I done so, you would have refused me relief."

"What are you then? Speak!"

The murderer cowered, with a face so blanched that the blood ceased to
flow at its gashes.

"I cannot, I dare not tell!" he muttered.

The skipper made a sign to an attendant. A rope from the yard-arm was
flung about the felon's neck, and made fast in a twinkling. He struggled
desperately, but the fierce buccaneers held him down; his clothing was
rent, and his hairs dishevelled; he made three frantic struggles for
speech; but the loud cheers mocked his words as they brandished the