tes later I found myself, with my sword drawn and a dozen
stout fellows, armed to the teeth, at my heels, standing upon the
quarter-deck of the stranger, with a little crowd of well-dressed men--
evidently Spaniards--curiously regarding me and my following by the
light of a couple of lanterns that someone had placed on the capstan-
head.

"Bueno!" exclaimed a fine, sailorly-looking, elderly man, "all is well;
they are undoubtedly English, and we have therefore nothing to fear!"

And so saying, he stepped forward and handed me his sheathed sword.

As I doffed my hat and held out my hand to receive the weapon, I could
not help saying--

"Pardon, senor, but may I be permitted to ask an explanation of that
remark?"

"Assuredly, noble sir," answered the Spaniard, returning my bow, with a
dignified grace that excited my keenest envy; "the explanation is
perfectly simple. The fact is, that when your schooner suddenly
appeared just now, as though she had risen from the bottom of the sea,
my first impression was that we had been unfortunate enough to stumble
across the path of my detested countryman, Pedro Morillo; and I was
determined to sink with my ship and all on board her rather than
surrender to him."

"And pray, senor, who is this man Pedro Morillo, of whom you speak? and
why should he require a countryman of his own to surrender to him? and
why should you be so very strongly averse to falling into his power?"
demanded I.

"Ah, senor, it is easy to see that you are a stranger to these waters,
or you would not need to ask for information respecting that fiend
Morillo," answered the Spaniard. "He is a cruel, avaricious, and
bloodthirsty pirate, sparing neither man nor woman, friend nor foe. But
little is really known about him, senor, for those who meet him rarely
survive to tell the tale; but there have been one or two who, by a
miracle, have escaped him, and it is from them that we have gained the
knowledge that it is better to perish by his shot than to fall alive
into his hands."

"Is the vessel by means of which he perpetrates his piracies a
brigantine, very handsome, and wonderfully fast?" I inquired, suddenly
bethinking me of poor Captain Tucker and his story.

"Certainly, senor, that answers perfectly to the description of the
accursed _Guerrilla_. Have you seen her of late? But no, of course you
have not, or you would not now be here; for Morillo is said to be
especially vindictive against the Eng