separate he was as nearly drunk as it seemed
possible for him to be and yet retain his understanding.

Finally, towards evening, Captain Blood went over the side and was rowed
back to his great ship with her red bulwarks and gilded ports, touched
into a lovely thing of flame by the setting sun.

He was a little heavy-hearted. I have said that he was a judge of men,
and his judgment of Levasseur filled him with misgivings which were
growing heavier in a measure as the hour of departure approached.

He expressed it to Wolverstone, who met him as he stepped aboard the
Arabella:

"You over persuaded me into those articles, you blackguard; and it'll
surprise me if any good comes of this association."

The giant rolled his single bloodthirsty eye, and sneered, thrusting out
his heavy jaw. "We'll wring the dog's neck if there's any treachery."

"So we will--if we are there to wring it by then." And on that,
dismissing the matter: "We sail in the morning, on the first of the
ebb," he announced, and went off to his cabin.

CHAPTER XIV. LEVASSEUR'S HEROICS

It would be somewhere about ten o'clock on the following morning, a
full hour before the time appointed for sailing, when a canoe brought up
alongside La Foudre, and a half-caste Indian stepped out of her and went
up the ladder. He was clad in drawers of hairy, untanned hide, and a red
blanket served him for a cloak. He was the bearer of a folded scrap of
paper for Captain Levasseur.

The Captain unfolded the letter, sadly soiled and crumpled by contact
with the half-caste's person. Its contents may be roughly translated
thus:

"My well-beloved--I am in the Dutch brig Jongvrow, which is about to
sail. Resolved to separate us for ever, my cruel father is sending me to
Europe in my brother's charge. I implore you, come to my rescue. Deliver
me, my well-beloved hero!--Your desolated Madeleine, who loves you."

The well-beloved hero was moved to the soul of him by that passionate
appeal. His scowling glance swept the bay for the Dutch brig, which
he knew had been due to sail for Amsterdam with a cargo of hides and
tobacco.

She was nowhere to be seen among the shipping in that narrow, rock-bound
harbour. He roared out the question in his mind.

In answer the half-caste pointed out beyond the frothing surf that
marked the position of the reef constituting one of the stronghold's
main defences. Away beyond it, a mile or so distant, a sail was standing
out to s