t hold spirits instead o' water.
Watch my smoke, that's all."

He was indeed back in what he would term a "jiffy," bearing a battered
and rusty tin kettle in his hand which proved to contain something that
might, with reservations, be called "drinking" water though it proved to
be lukewarm and possibly full of "wigglers," as the larvae of mosquitoes
are called.

Jack raised the man's head, which he had succeeded in washing to some
extent, and forcing open his mouth allowed some of the contents of the
pannikin to drain down his throat.

This set him to coughing and so he came to, showing all the signs of
bewilderment that might be expected after going to sleep in the midst of
a most clamorous battle with the reckless hijackers, and now waking up
to find strange faces bending over him, heads that were encased in
close-fitting helmets and the staring goggles of airmen.

"You're all right, brother," Jack assured the man, on seeing how alarmed
he appeared to be. "Your crew skipped out and deserted you, but we'll
stand by. Consider yourself a prisoner of Uncle Sam, although you'll not
be punished any to speak of if only you open up and tell all you know
about the owners and the skipper of this smuggler craft. What's her name
and where are you from?"

The man had by this time recovered sufficiently to understand what was
required of him. Jack's manner was reassuring, and he came out of his
half panic so as to make quite a civil reply to the questions asked.

So they learned that the sloop had been known as the _Cicade_,
which Jack knew to mean a locust and that her home port was in the
Bahamas, hot-bed of the smuggler league, Bimini, in fact, being its
chief port of departure.

"What're we goin' to do with this chap?" Perk was asking. "We don't want
him to give us the slip, since he's the on'y prisoner we got, do we,
partner?"

"I reckon not, brother, and to make certain that doesn't happen we'll
have to tie him up or fasten him to the mast here while we finish
looking around. I hope to run across the ship's papers, if they've got
any such things aboard."

"Leave that to me, Jack, I'm some punkins when it comes to splicin' up a
prisoner o' war, so he can't break away." Perk proved himself a man of
his word by securing a piece of rope, wrapping it several times around
the ankles of the seaman, and finishing with a succession of hard knots
such as would require the services of a sharp knife blade when it came
time to