the alternation of these tints was the school of madness.

Everyone was affected by the contagion of this frenzy, save her
husband--and no one more than the pirate chief Barthelemy.

The husband, a stout, placid man, sat beside Barthelemy at the banquet,
opposite to the fair Creole. Barthelemy was drunk with wine and love.

"Look at that woman," he said to the husband, extolling his wife: "What
a face! What eyes! What a matchless figure! A goddess who has left her
temple to come to West India! See those eyes! How they sparkle! What
need have we of sun or stars so long as they shine upon us?"

The husband, on the contrary, paid no heed, but apparently deemed it
wiser to shut his eyes and nod sleepily.

Barthelemy shook him by the collar.

"Why are you not my foe, why don't I fling you into the sea, kill you at
once? I would make myself a king to call your wife my queen."

The husband neither saw nor heard; when Barthelemy loosed his hold he
fell back into his chair and snored.

Wild songs and the rattling of glasses echoed on all sides; each of the
buccaneers had found a sweetheart, and the voices and laughter of women
mingled with the oaths of the pirates; it seemed to be considered a
special token of tenderness--and many of the corsairs bestowed it,--to
fire their pistols in the room.

Barthelemy, with a trembling hand, held out his wine-glass to the Creole
who drained it to the health of the corsair king. When she set it down,
he was kneeling at her feet.

She had a fair round neck, and Barthelemy could not bear to see it
without an ornament, so snatching from his own a diamond chain worth ten
thousand dollars he clasped it round the beautiful woman's throat. Could
he do so without pressing her head against his breast, and when it
rested there, could he help kissing her?

All the buccaneers joined in such a thundering cheer that the walls
shook, pounded the tables with their fists, and fired salvos of shots.

The husband slept on like a drowsy bear. Barthelemy clasped the Creole's
slender waist.

"Come with me," he whispered beseechingly; "I'll buy you from your
husband, I'll give him a million of gold in exchange. If he wants a
fleet, I'll drive hundreds of ships here like a flock of sheep. Come
with me, I will rob Satan of Hades and transform it into a Paradise for
you. I will load you with treasures, overwhelm you with delights, come
with me!"

"Ay, ay, Captain," shouted Moody from the corner where