d her where all the others were? And in a fit of disgust
and horror she said to him he should not take her from the island unless
it was to restore them to their friends. Giving her a ferocious look he
said her fate should be decided according as she behaved, and they were
in no particular want of money at present, having been very successful
in their late excursion. He also told her that they had been on the look
out for us a long time, and wanted to know if we had not great riches,
plate, and diamonds with us; he, in fact, asked so many questions, we
could not but perceive they knew a great deal about us. Finding Schillie
grew more and more reserved and angry, he separated the three, and
proceeded to question them. Jenny declared point blank, as well as she
could by signs, that all the rest of us were dead! and only those three
left. Serena pretended not to understand, and fell into such hysterical
tears at being separated from Schillie, that after awhile they restored
them together.

"Well, Schillie," said I, "I don't think I should have objected to go
with them so much, for they are generally such needy people these
pirates that money would surely have tempted them to give you up."

_Schillie._--"Brutes!"

_Mother._--"And then you could have made arrangements to come for us."

_Schillie._--"Villains!"

_Mother._--"Now do be rational, why don't you listen to what I say,
instead of vituperating in this manner?"

_Schillie._--"It is you that want reason. I tell you what, June, I had
rather stay here all the days of my life, and live to be the last
person on it, burying you every one, than be a week at sea with such a
set of rascally, vile, audacious, drunken robbers as they were. Now if
you love me let me hear their names no more. Let me enjoy the fact that
I am with you all again. Let me do anything to drive away the horrors
that beset me when in their power. I don't mean to say they were
uncivil, or rude, or that they treated us unnecessarily roughly. I had a
knife ready if they had done so to either of us."

So the subject was dropped, and, though we might have had some
misgivings that we had not acted with great courage, and that we had
lost an opportunity of being restored to the world which we might not
have again, yet we were not worse off than we had been ten days ago.
Moreover, we had escaped a great and serious misfortune, namely, being
separated. Also we knew the extent of what we had suffered, and we