preliminary effort, a mere trial of strength--compared
with what he _would_ do. He would never be satisfied, he informed them,
until he could finally lead them all out of that harbour on board a
fleet of at least ten well armed, swift, and fully manned ships, in
which it would be possible for them to ravage the entire coast of
Spanish South America, despoiling the rich towns and laughing at all
opposition. In this way, he promised them, he would place them in
possession of such an unheard-of amount of treasure that every man among
them should be worth his millions; after which, by following a plan
which he would unfold to them at the proper time, they could quietly
disband and settle down for the remainder of their lives, each man on
that particular spot of earth which pleased him best, in the peaceful
enjoyment of his well-earned gold. And they were assembled there that
day, he added in conclusion, to lay the keel of the first of the ten
clippers by which this glorious result was to be accomplished.

It was an eloquent and masterly speech. Johnson was most accurately
acquainted with the characters of those who surrounded him; he was
making a great bid for the recovery of that popularity which in some
unexplained way--but largely through the machinations of Alec Ralli, he
shrewdly suspected--had been steadily slipping away from him; and he
believed that the making of such dazzling promises as he had just
indulged in was the surest way of winning it back. And if vociferous
and tumultuous cheering was to be taken as an indication of success the
pirate chief had every cause to be gratified. The enthusiasm was
intense. Cheer after cheer rent the air; the men shook hands all round
and then pressed forward, hustling each other, eager to perform the same
ceremony with Johnson, vowing as they did so the blindest and most
unswerving fidelity to him, and calling down the most frightful
imprecations upon all traitors.

Ralli stood at some little distance in the background, his arms folded
across his chest, and a cynical smile wreathing his lips.

"Ah right," he muttered; "go on and shout yourselves hoarse, you swine!
Yell, cheer, and swear fidelity until you are out of breath if it
pleases you so to do; I like to see and hear it, for what is it after
all but froth; you are all in a ferment just now, and it is best that
this noisy gas should have its vent; you will soon sober down again, and
then--we shall see. As for _yo