ich he was now suffering. Having secured a retreat to their boats,
they were just beginning to think of a rapid departure, when the
friendly pilot-boat hove in sight. So fortunate a reinforcement
renerved our gang. A plan of united action was quickly concerted. The
French vessel was again hoarded and carried. Two of the opposite party
were slain in the onslaught; and, finally, a rich remnant of the cargo
was seized, though the greater part of the valuables had, no doubt,
been previously dispatched ashore by the earlier band of desperadoes.

"Thank God!" added the narrator, "we have now the boat and the
assistance of Bachicha, who is as brave as Rafael: with his
'_Baltimore clipper_,' we shall conduct our affairs on a grander scale
than heretofore. _Sacre-bleu!_ we may now cruise under the Columbian
flag, and rob Peter to pay Paul!"

In fact, the "clipper" had brought down an ample store of ammunition,
under the innocent name of "provisions," while she carried in her
bowels a long six, which she was ready to mount amidships at a
moment's notice.

But poor Mesclet did not live to enjoy the fruits of the larger
piracy, which he hoped to carry on in a more elegant way with
Bachicha. The _roue_ could not be restrained from the favorite
beverages of his beautiful France. His wound soon mastered him; and,
in a month, all that was mortal of this gallant Gaul, who, in earlier
years, had figured in the best saloons of his country, rested among
sand-graves of a Cuban key.

"Ah!" growled Gallego, as they came home from his burial, "there is
one less to share our earnings; and, what is better, claret and brandy
will be more plentiful now that this sponge is under the sand!"

* * * * *

In a few days, the boats were laden with fish for the mainland, in
order to cover the real object of our _patron's_ visit to Cuba, which
was to dispose of the booty. At his departure, he repeated the
cherished promise of liberty, and privately hinted that I had better
continue fishing on good terms with Senor Gallego.

It required some time to repair the nets, for they had been rather
neglected during our late fishing, so that it was not, in fact, until
Rafael had been three days gone that I took the canoe with Gallego,
and dropped anchor outside the reef, to take breakfast before
beginning our labor.

We had hardly begun a frugal meal when, suddenly, a large schooner
shot from behind a bend of the island, and