mble, I will
surrender to you, provided you accede to my terms, otherwise you cannot
take me alive!"

"Well, sir, what have you to offer?" said the English officer,
positively quailing before the stern and manly front of the young
commander.

"That you accept my word of honor to obey your directions as a prisoner,
but that you shall not bind my arms or confine me otherwise."

"Have your own way," replied the Englishman, doggedly; "but give up your
weapons."

"Do you promise me this, Captain Bramble?"

"I do."

"It is well, sir; there goes my weapon;" saying which he hurled it far
into the river's bed.

As soon as Maud saw him, she sprang to her feet, and with all the
bitterness of expression which her countenance was capable of, she
scowled upon his upright figure and handsome features. It was evident
she felt a bitter disappointment at his absence from the late affray,
and would only have rejoiced had she believed he was blown to atoms with
his vessel by the wild explosion which had so lately shaken the very
earth upon which she now stood. It was plain that up to this very
moment, however, that the young commander had never suspected her of
treachery, or even jealousy, towards himself; but now, he would have
been worse than blind not to have seen and realized, also, the deep
malignant feeling which was written on her dark, but handsome face.

"Maud," he said, in a low, but reproachful tone, "is it you who have
betrayed us?"

"Ay," said the girl, quickly, and with a shrill cadence of voice, "a
double heart should be dealt doubly with. It was I who led these people
hither, and I hoped the fate of so many of your ship's company might
have been yours!--but you are a prisoner now, and there's hope yet!"

"Maud, Maud! have I ever wronged you or your father?" asked Captain
Ratlin, reproachfully.

"Do you not love that white-faced girl you brought hither?"

"And if I did, Maud, what wrong is that to thee? Did I promise thee
love?"

"Nay; I asked it not of you," said the angry girl.

"But you have done me a great wrong, Maud; one that you do not yourself
understand. I forgive you though, poor girl; you are hardly to blame."

These kindly-intended words only aggravated the object to whom they were
addressed, and she turned away hastily to the shade of the thick
vegetable growth, where he lost sight of her figure among the branches
and leaves, while he walked on with the English officer and his people
over th