ts proving that on
the islands near Surinam the highest officials vied with one another in
their hospitality to the pirates.

True the corsairs, in a single fortnight, spent eight thousand gold
moidores, and the women of the city, from the highest lady to the lowest
servant wench, were clad in silks and cashmeres, while the costly pearls
destined for the fair neck of Her Majesty the Queen of Portugal clasped
that of the Regent's wife; indeed there were gala entertainments from
the halls of the governor's residence to the lowest hut, and the pirates
went from one to another, here a gentleman and there a lout, carousing,
dancing, fighting, and love-making all day long. For an entire fortnight
there was neither night nor day, only one continuous revel, a sea of
pleasure whose depths no man could sound.

Then, when all joys were exhausted, that is, when the last moidore had
slipped through their fingers, the pirates went back to their ships,
rubbed their eyes, and looked about for more work.

They received tidings of a richly laden brigantine which was approaching
the coast. Towards evening the helmsman saw the ship on the horizon.

"Caution!" warned Barthelemy. "If they see us, they will have time to
escape. Let the two ships remain here under Lieutenant Kennedy's
command, while forty picked men go on board the sloop with me. Then we
can approach the brigantine unsuspected."

He himself chose his men, among them Skyrme, Scudamore, the mate Henry
Glasby, Asphlant, Moody, and Simpson, and felt so sure of capturing the
brigantine before morning that, contrary to his custom, he did not see
that the sloop was provided with a sufficient supply of provisions.

The night was dark and all through the long hours the sloop fairly flew
in the direction where they expected to find the brigantine. According
to Barthelemy's calculation, they would be within gunshot of her at
dawn.

And lo, when the sun rose and they gazed around the horizon, the
brigantine was nowhere in sight. They tacked right and left, but not a
sail was visible anywhere on the horizon.

The brigantine had doubtless discovered them and vanished under cover of
the darkness.

Barthelemy was furious, and, unwilling to return defeated, sought the
brigantine by altering his course hither and thither. For a week he
sailed the seas, constantly struggling with head winds and currents; on
the eighth day his supply of provisions was exhausted and he was forced
to anc