e dwelt upon;
for he described himself as guilty of the most awful atrocities to men,
women, and even children. The fights, of course, occurred only between
himself and war-vessels; merchant-ships never attempted such an
impossible task as to fight the pirate, and very often seemed too
completely paralysed with terror even to attempt the equally impossible
task of running away!

Such was the vessel that everyone in Cavendish's squadron was so eagerly
looking for, their eagerness being further stimulated by the fact that
the captain had offered as a prize, to the first seaman who sighted her,
the best weapon that should be taken out of her after her capture--
which, of course, all on board considered as absolutely certain, could
they but once succeed in coming up with her; while to the first officer
or gentleman who saw her he offered as reward the best suit of clothing
to be found in her. Such, however, was the eagerness of all hands to
come up with and destroy the vessel, and her rascally crew and leader,
that the lookout would have been just as keenly kept if no reward
whatever had been offered.

But there was a still further stimulus in the not unnatural hope that
Jose Leirya would have on board some, at least, of that vast treasure of
his, with the possession of which he was credited by every man who had
ever heard of him; and visions of much prize-money to spend on their
return to Plymouth were always before the eager eyes of the Englishmen.

Regulating the speed of the whole squadron by that of the slowest ship--
which happened to be the _Tiger_, the rechristened _El Capitan_--the
fleet went slowly to the East-South-East on its appointed course.

In those days, as, of course, it is hardly necessary to remind the
reader, charts were few, and those few were not to be relied upon as
more than approximately accurate.

On the course that the commodore had marked out for his little squadron
they would, according to their chart, fall in with no land until they
made Oruba Island, after which Cavendish intended to steer a course
between the island of Oruba and what is now known as the Paraguena
Peninsula, leaving the other two islands of Curazao and Buen Ayre on his
port hand, and then heading straight for La Guayra.

Several sailors, and one or two officers, among whom were Roger and
Harry, were as usual perched upon the cross-trees, the yards, or at the
mast-heads, on the lookout for the first sight of the infamo