and start the carpenter upon the task of getting new spars ready for
sending aloft. I had been informed by the Spanish surgeon, when we all
sat down to luncheon together, that Don Luis' hurt was not of a serious
character, and that he was likely to do well enough if the fever
resulting from his wound could be kept under; but with regard to the
pirate captain the case was different: his wound, I was assured, was
mortal, and whilst the man might possibly linger for several days, he
might, on the other hand, expire at any moment. The surgeon further
informed me that Merlani--for he it really proved to be--had manifested
quite an extraordinary inquisitiveness respecting me, and had at last
requested that I might be informed he would like to speak to me.

As soon, therefore, as I found myself at liberty, I, without delaying
even to wait upon Don Luis and Inez, made my way below to the sick-bay,
where, in a little corner which had been separated by a screen from the
part occupied by the other injured men, lay Merlani in a hammock, with
one of my men to attend upon and at the same time stand sentry over him.

He was ghastly pale, and evidently suffering great pain, as I could see
by the occasional twitching of his facial muscles, as well as by the
perspiration which bedewed his forehead and trickled down upon the
pillow; but he seemed to be quite free from fever, and he was perfectly
steady and collected in his mind.

He looked long and eagerly in my face as I stood beside his hammock, and
his countenance brightened up with pleasure. At length he said in
Spanish:

"This is kind of you, Senor Lascelles. I wanted to see you, because in
the moment that I first looked upon your face I was reminded of one who
in my younger days I almost worshipped; and when, during the dressing of
my wound, I learned your name, I could not resist the temptation of
believing that you must be related to her--that you must, in fact, be
her son. Tell me, am I not right? Are you not the son of Maria
Bisaccia?"

"That was indeed my mother's name," I said, greatly disconcerted. "But
I find it difficult to understand how it could possibly have happened
that you and my mother should have--"

"Known anything of each other?" he interrupted. "Yes; and well you may.
But it is easily explained. I have not always been the blood-stained
villain that I now am; when I knew your mother I was, I need scarcely
say, wholly innocent of crime. Idle, perh