st. Want to help me?" and he leaned across
the table, looking straight into Ned's eyes.

"I'd rather ship with you as master than any man I know, Sir,"
answered Allison, gravely.

Less than a week later, Uriah Levy succeeded in convincing several
wealthy friends of the sanity of his plan. They advanced the necessary
funds and with a carefully picked crew he started out on a vessel of
his own with Allison as first mate in pursuit of the sailors who had
cast him afloat near the Carolina shores.

Of all the tales Ned Allison loved to tell his grandchildren when he
had grown to be an old man, they clamored most for the story of the
sea fight in which Uriah Levy conquered the pirate crew of the "George
Washington." It was a short battle, but a terrible one, which he
fought a year after the mutiny; and before the mutineers finally
lowered their black flag in token of surrender, a third of the crew
lay dead or wounded upon the slippery decks. Old Martin, his pipe
still between his teeth, lay among the dead, but Sam Jones, his right
arm hanging limp and useless at his side, was among the survivors who
were put into irons when their vessel was taken in tow and Levy turned
his face homeward. Like the other mutineers Jones never doubted what
his fate would be, for those days were hard days and the men who lived
by the sword knew only too well that at any moment death by the sword
might be their portion. Hourly they waited for Levy to pass judgment
upon them, to hang them from the yard arm of the ship which they had
sailed under the flag of piracy. While Levy's own crew grew impatient
until the first mate, Allison, ventured to speak to him of the matter
as they sat in Levy's cabin the night after the battle.

"I can't help wondering, sir," Allison began, doubtfully, "why you
have said nothing so far concerning the fate of our prisoners, since
it is practically in your hands."

Levy shook his head as he puffed thoughtfully at his pipe. Perhaps he
was thinking of the night when Jones had threatened him with death and
laughed at his helplessness. "According to the 'unwritten law' which
is made to cover so many lawless acts, I have the power to deal with
them as I think fit," he answered. "And I must confess I was sorely
tempted to take the law into my own hands when I knew the mutineers
were in my power. But," smiling a little, "it is much better to leave
it to the law courts when we reach port."

"And if they should be acquitt