. My whole body, my whole soul,
unified, arose. I stretched out my arms, craving, demanding. "Helena!"
I cried.

My voice was hoarse. Perhaps she did not know me, even yet. Her answer
was a long clear call for help.

"Ahoy!" she sang. "On shore, there--Help!"

Her call was a signal for present trouble. Partial, my dog, abandoned
in the long boat, began barking furiously. There came an answering
hail which assured me that yon varlet, Davidson, had heard. I was
conscious of the sound of a scuffle somewhere forward. Below, at my
side, Aunt Lucinda gave voice to a long shrill wail of terror. John,
my Chinaman, his cue still held fast in the jammed edges of the door,
chimed in dismally. Midships I heard a muffled knocking at Williams',
the engineer's, hatch.

I forgot I was standing masked, with a naked weapon in my hand. I
dropped my mask, dropped my weapon, and turned quickly toward Helena.

"Be silent!" I commanded her.

She stood for one instant, her hands at her cheeks. Then, "Ahoy!" rang
out her voice once more in sheer disobedience, and "You!" she said to
me, furious.

"Yes, I," was my answer, and my own fury was now as cold as hers. "Go
below," I ordered her. "I am in command of this boat. Quick!"

I had never spoken thus to her in all my life, but almost to my
surprise she changed now. As though half in doubt, she turned toward
the stair leading down to the ladies' cabin where Aunt Lucinda was
shrieking in terror.

"Guard the door," I called to L'Olonnois as I turned away. I heard it
slam shut and the click of the lock told me my prisoners were safe, so
I hastened forward.

"Good Lord, Mr. Harry!" cried my skipper, Peterson, when he saw me.
"Come here, take this little devil--away--I'm afraid he'll knife me."

I hurried to him for he struggled in the dark with Jean Lafitte.

"To the rescue, Black Bart!" called Jean Lafitte. "Catch his other
arm. I've got this one, and if he moves, by Heaven I'll run him
through."

"Run me through, you varmint--what do you mean?" roared Peterson.
"Ain't it enough you pull a gun on me and try to poke out my eye, and
twist off my arm, without sticking me with that bread-slicer you got?
Mr. Harry--for Heaven's sake----"

"There now, Jean Lafitte," I said, "enough. He has begged for
quarter."

"No, I ha'int," asserted Peterson venomously. "I'll spank the life
outen him if I ever get the chance--" I raised a hand.

"Enough of all this noise," I said. "I am in charge