be done by two men than
by one, and that between us something might be attempted which would be
impracticable by a simple pair of hands, and particularly old hands,
such as his.

I stayed but a minute or two on deck. Such was the cold that I do not
know I had ever felt it more biting and bitter. The sound of foaming
waters filled the wind, and the wind itself was blowing fairly strong,
in gusts that screamed in the frozen rigging or in blasts that had the
deep echo of the thunder-claps of the splitting ice. The clouds were
numerous and dark with the shadow of the night; and the swiftness of
their motion as they sailed up out of the south-west quarter was
illustrated by the leaping of the few bright stars from one dusky edge
to another.

I returned below and sat down. The Frenchman asked me no questions. He
had his can in the oven and his death's head in his great hand, and
puffed out clouds of smoke of the colour of his beard, and indeed in the
candle and fire light looked like a figure of old Time with his long
nose and bald head. I addressed one or two civil remarks to him, which
he answered in a subdued manner, discovering no resentment whatever that
I could trace in his eyes or the expression of his countenance; and
being wishful to show that I bore no malice I talked of pirates and
their usages, and asked him if the _Boca del Dragon_ fought under the
red or black flag.

"Why, the black flag, certainly," said he; "but if we met with
resistance, it was our custom to haul it down and hoist the red flag,
to let our opponents know we should give no quarter."

"Where is your flag locker?" said I.

"In my berth," he answered.

"I should like to see the black flag," I exclaimed: "'tis the one piece
of bunting, I believe, I have never viewed."

"I'll fetch it," said he, and taking the lanthorn went aft very quietly,
but with a certain stagger in his walk, which I should have put down to
the wine if it was not that his behaviour was free from all symptoms of
ebriation. The change in him surprised me, but not so greatly as you
might suppose; indeed, it excited my suspicions rather than my wonder.
Fear worked in him unquestionably, but what I seemed to see best was
some malignant design which he hoped to conceal by an air of
conciliation and a quality of respectful _bonhomie_.

He came back with a flag in his hand, and we spread it between us; it
was black, with a yellow skull grinning in the middle, over this an
ho