aps it was the girl who won
him over. Anyhow this arrangement angered Sanchez, and we had words.
You know the rest, or, at least, the main facts. Sanchez and the boat
crew held rendezvous at the first landing up the Bay. It was
prearranged, but it was my fortune to meet the Captain alone on shore
in the dark, where we fought."

"It was you then who drove the knife in? God!" excitedly, "but I would
give ten years for such a chance. Ay, and, they say, you came within
an eighth of an inch of sending him to hell."

"I knew not where I struck; 'twas a death struggle in the dark. I
thought him dead when I left him, and ran to warn the others. But for
this I was too late. The moment I set foot on the sloop's deck it was
to close in battle with the big negro."

"Cochose? He saw you then?"

"No, only as a shape. He can have no better memory of me, than I of
him. We fought as demons, until his giant strength forced me over the
rail. He has no knowledge that I ever rose again."

"And then--what?"

"Oblivion; nothing. Only what I saw in the return of the boat tells me
what followed. I came back to consciousness in a small dory, afloat on
the Bay, with but one thought in my mind--to save the girl. How? It
was too late to return, even had I known the way; but I could come
here, to this ship. So here I came."

"But how, in advance of those in the long-boat?"

"By cutting across the point; the coast to the north is a wide circle.
Besides the discovery of Sanchez sorely wounded left the others
without a leader. Fairfax and his niece together with the treasure,
were in Travers' house, at top of the bluff. They had to carry out an
attack there, which probably meant more fighting. What really happened
there, of course, I do not know."

"It can be easily imagined," said Watkins soberly. "Estada has no
mercy; he is a born devil. I have seen him kill just for the pleasure
of it. With Sanchez to avenge he would be an unleashed demon. But it
is not the fate of those men to consider now; it is what will befall
this girl prisoner. You have no plan?"

"None; to become a member of the crew was my only thought. But I must
act, if at all, before the Captain recovers. He would recognize me at
sight. You will aid, advise me?"

The sailor sat silent; the former expression of humor in his face
vanished.

"That is easier to ask, than answer, mate," he admitted finally. "I am
an English seaman, and will do my duty, but, so far as I can see,