the first, for Jamie McMurtagh was beside him.

Then word was passed rapidly down the pier how this ship of pirates
had been captured, red-handed, her own captain still on board,--the
good ship Alarm having seen a redness in the sky, and heard some
firing in the night before; and how Captain How had put it to his
crew, Would they fight or not? And they had fought, rushing in before
the pirate's long-range guns could get to work, in the early dawn, and
boarding; so now there was talk of prize money.

Young James Bowdoin and McMurtagh were all eyes. The boat rowed up to
the slippery wharf steps; in the bow were the two ringleaders and the
ship's captain, in the waist of the boat the rowers, and in the stern
the rank and file of the pirates, some eight or ten ill-looking
fellows chained together. (The rest of them, the captain remarked
casually, had been shot or lost in the battle; and not much was said
about it.)

The boat was made fast, and the two leaders got up, with Captain How.
The pirate captain, as Mr. James remarked, was a splendid-looking
fellow. Captain How said something to him as the boat stopped, and he
looked up and caught Mr. James's eye; and Bowdoin had time to remark
that it was blue and very keen to look upon. Young Bowdoin and
McMurtagh were standing on the very verge of the wharf, and the crowd
around had made a little space for them, as the owners of the ship;
Mr. James Bowdoin was standing farther back with the captain of a file
of soldiers. But the second of the pirates was a swarthy Spaniard,
with as evil-flashing eyes as you would care to see. And it was he
who held in his arms a little girl, almost a baby, whose long yellow
hair had made that note of color in the boat.

They were marched up the steps matted with seaweed; for it was low
tide, and only the barnacles made footing for them. And as the pirate
captain passed young Bowdoin he said, in very good English, "You look
like a gentleman," and rapidly drew from his breast, and placed in
Bowdoin's hands, the bag of gold. So quickly was this done that the
captain had passed and was closely surrounded by the file of soldiers
before Bowdoin could reply; nor had he sought to do so, for, on
looking to McMurtagh for advice, he saw him holding, and in awkward
yet tender manner trying to caress and soothe, the little lady with
the yellow hair. The second pirate had sought to hand her, too, to
Bowdoin, but some caprice had made the little maiden shy