the worse for you." And so saying he walked quickly
back toward the southern shore, holding the stumbling Jeremy's wrist in
a grip of iron.

Crashing down the hill through the brush, the lad had scant time or will
for observing things about him, but as they crossed a gully he saw, or
fancied he saw, on the knee-shaped crag above, the slouched figure of a
buccaneer silhouetted against the sky. It was not the bearded giant
called Herriot, but another, Jeremy was sure. He had no time for
conjectures, for they plunged into the thicket and birch limbs whipped
him across the face.

CHAPTER V

The events of that night made a terribly clear impression on the mind of
the young New Englander. Years afterward he would wake with a shiver,
imagining that the relentless hand of the pirate captain was again
dragging him toward an unknown fate. It must have been the darkness and
the sudden unexpectedness of it all that frightened him, for as soon as
they came down the rocks into the flaring firelight he was able to
control himself once more. The wild carouse was still in progress among
the crew. Fierce faces, with unkempt beards and cruel lips, leered redly
from above hairy, naked chests. Eyes, lit from within by liquor and from
without by the dancing flames, gleamed below black brows. Many of the
men wore earrings and metal bands about the knots of their pig-tails,
while silver pistol-butts flashed everywhere.

As the Captain strode into the center of this group, the swinging chorus
fell away to a single drunken voice which kept on uncertainly from
behind the rum-barrel.

"Silence!" said the Captain sharply. The voice dwindled and ceased. All
was quiet about the fire. "Men," went on Jeremy's captor, "clear heads,
all, for this is no time for drinking. We have found this boy upon the
hill, who tells of a fleet of armed ships not above a league from here.
We must set sail within an hour and be out of reach before dawn. Every
man now take a water-keg and follow me. You, Job Howland, keep the boy
and the watch here on the beach."

Fresh commotion broke out as he finished. "Ay, ay, Captain Bonnet!" came
in a broken chorus, as the crew, partially sobered by the words, hurried
to the long-boat, where a line of small kegs lay in the sand. A moment
later they were gone, plowing up the hillside. Jeremy stood where he had
been left. A tall, slack-jointed pirate in the most picturesque attire
strolled over to the boy's side and lo