o under our lee quarter, within pistol-shot;
we heard the rattle of the ropes running through the davit-blocks, and
the splash of the jolly-boat touching the water, then the measured
stroke of the oars, as they glanced like silver in the sparkling sea,
and a voice calling out, "Give way, my lads."

The character of the vessel we were on board of was now evident; and the
bitter reflection that we were chained to the stake on board of a
pirate, on the eve of a fierce contest with one of our own cruisers, was
aggravated by the consideration, that the cutter had fallen into a snare
by which a whole boat's crew would be sacrificed before a shot was
fired.

I watched my opportunity as she pulled up alongside, and called out,
leaning well over the nettings, "Get back to your ship!--treachery! get
back to your ship!"

The little French serpent was at my side with the speed of thought, his
long clear knife glancing in one hand, while the fingers of the other
were laid on his lips. He could not have said more plainly, "Hold your
tongue, or I'll cut your throat;" but Sneezer now startled him by
rushing between us, and giving a short angry growl.

The officer in the boat had heard me imperfectly; he rose up--"I won't
go back, my good man, until I see what you are made of;" and as he spoke
he sprang on board, but the instant he got over the bulwarks, he was
caught by two strong hands, gagged, and thrown bodily down the
main-hatchway.

"Heave," cried a voice, "and with a will!" and four cold 32-pound shot
were hove at once into the boat alongside, which, crashing through her
bottom, swamped her in a moment, precipitating the miserable crew into
the boiling sea. Their shrieks still ring in my ears as they clung to
the oars and some loose planks of the boat.

"Bring up the officer, and take out the gag," said Williamson.

Poor Walcolm, who had been an old messmate of mine, was now dragged to
the gangway half-naked, his face bleeding, and heavily ironed, when the
blackamoor, clapping a pistol to his head, bid him, as he feared
instant death, hail "that the boat had swamped under the counter, and to
send another." The poor fellow, who appeared stunned and confused, did
so, but without seeming to know what he said.

"Good God," said Mr. Splinter, "don't you mean to pick up the boat's
crew?"

The blood curdled to my heart, as the black savage answered in a voice
of thunder, "Let them drown and be d----d! Fill, and stand on!"