ip with them.
David said, smiling, that he would not, for he had other work to do; and
the old man seemed to try and persuade him, saying that it was a good
service; that they lived a free life, wandering where they would; but
that they had lost men lately, and were hardly enough to sail the ship.

Then it came into David's mind that he had fallen in with pirates. They
were not often seen in these parts, for there was little enough that
they could get, the folk being all poor, and small traffic passing that
way. And then, for he saw the group beginning to gather round him, he
made a prayer in his heart that he should be delivered from the evil,
and made proffer to the men of the little stores that he had. The old
man shook his head, and spoke with the others, who now seemed to be
growing angry and impatient; and then he said to David that they had
need of him to help to sail the ship, and that he must come whether he
would or no. David cast a glance round to see if he could escape up the
rocks; but the men were all about him, and seeing in his eye that he
thought of flight, they laid hands upon him. David resisted with all his
might, but they overpowered him in a moment, bound his hands and feet,
and cast him with much force into their boat. Then David was sorely
disheartened; but he waited, committing his soul to God. While he
waited, he saw a strange thing; on the beach there lay a box, tightly
corded; the men raised this up very gently, and with difficulty, as it
seemed to be heavy. Then they carried it up above the tide-mark; and,
making a hole among the loose stones, they buried it very carefully,
casting stones over it. Then one of them with a chisel made a mark on
the cliff behind, to show where the box lay--and then, first looking
carefully out to sea, they came into the boat, and rowed off to the
ship, which seemed almost deserted; paying no more heed to David than if
he had been a log of wood.

The old man who understood English steered the boat; and David tried to
say some words to him, to ask that he should be released; but the old
man only shook his head; and at last bade David be silent with great
anger. They rowed slowly out, and David could see the great rocks, that
had now been his home so long, rising, still and peaceful, in the
morning light. Every rock and cranny was known to him. There was the
place where, when he first came, he was used to fish. There was the
cliff-top where he had made his fire;