the chance of my men being able to do something. But, for the love of
Heaven, Don Luis, let her not fall alive into the hands of the
scoundrels!"

"She shall _not_, if I have to slay her with my own hand," ejaculated
Don Luis through his set teeth. "There is one thing more," he continued
hurriedly. "Your men cannot possibly do any good with those makeshift
weapons with which they have provided themselves. Now, if I am willing
to compromise myself to the extent of providing you all with suitable
arms, will you pledge your sacred word of honour, Don Leo, that those
weapons shall not be employed save against the pirates, and only then in
the event of my countrymen proving unequal to cope with them."

"Willingly," said I, "but with this proviso, Don Luis: If the pirates
conquer your countrymen and gain possession of the _Santa Catalina_, and
we, after that, are able to recover her, I shall regard her as my prize
and retain possession of her by every means in my power."

Don Luis cogitated deeply for a full minute.

"Be it so," he then said. "That was agreed upon between you and Don
Felix, I remember; and after all it would be infinitely preferable that
we should be your prisoners than that we should fall by the murderous
hands of the pirates. Do you happen to know if there is any other means
of gaining the deck above than the ladder by which we descended!"

"Yes," said I; "there is another ladder abaft there which leads to the
main and upper decks by way of the after hatchway."

At this moment a muffled _boom_ smote our ears, and a crash somewhere
above us, which followed a second or two later, showed that the pirate
had opened fire and was within range.

This was immediately succeeded by a confused discharge from the _Santa
Catalina_ of all the main-deck guns of the larboard broadside, one after
the other.

"Don Luis," said I, "for Heaven's sake try to persuade Don Felix not to
return the pirate's fire. Those twelve-pounder carronades are of
comparatively little use except at close quarters, and Merlani is not
fool enough to give you the chance to use them to advantage; he will
simply heave to out of range and blaze away with his long gun until more
than half your crew are killed, when he will dash alongside and carry
the ship without an effort. Tell Don Felix to double-shot his guns and
to depress them as much as he can, but not to fire. Let the schooner
come alongside--haul down your ensign if you cannot