s
glad to find that you had escaped the trouble into which I thought you
would have fallen."

The ice was thus broken, and Jack, while wishing to be of use to the
wounded man, whose time on earth he thought was likely to be short,
determined to gain all the information he could from him respecting
Pearson, and the circumstances which had brought them together. As soon
as the ship had been put to rights, those who could be removed were
carried to the main-deck, and placed in a part screened off, called the
sick-bay. Here Jack had an opportunity of visiting his wounded
acquaintance whenever he chose. The man grew weaker and weaker, and
seemed indeed to suspect that his own end was approaching.

"Deane," he said, "there's nobody on board this ship I can trust but
you; for though you know little about me, I know you to be an honest
young gentleman, and very different from the greater number of wild
blades on board. I have a wife and child living at Carlisle, and the
poor girl does not know what has become of me, and never will, unless
you will undertake, should you ever get on shore, to inform her. I had
to leave the country in a hurry to save my life: for when they took to
hanging a poor trumpeter for that affair of Sir George Barclay's, I felt
very sure if I was caught hold of they would not spare me."

"What! were you engaged in that fearful plot?" asked Jack.

"Ay, lad, was I: you may well call it fearful!" answered Burdale. "And
I should think you were too, Master Deane, whether you knew it or not."

"I am afraid that I was, though I did not know it," said Jack. "Still
no man could have hated the thoughts of what was proposed to be done
more than I did. But how were you mixed up with it, Burdale?"

"Why, just in this way," was the answer. "The man whom you know as
Master Pearson, though he has as many different names as there are days
in the week, was once one of the most noted smugglers on the coast, and
I for several years served under him. We also took two or three trips
to the Spanish Main, where we had varied fortune; Master Pearson on all
occasions got the lion's share. I was a youngster, and could not look
after my own interests in those days. We came back with a couple of
chests of gold, and plate, and jewels. Somehow or other my master
seemed to think that he had had enough of the sea. He met a lady, a
real lady she was too, though I don't know her name, and he married her,
and for the sake