Lancelot asked, 'what is to happen
then?'

'In that case,' said Mr. Ebrow, 'they declare war against you; they will
give you no quarter----'

'Let them wait till they are asked!' I broke in; but Lancelot rested his
hand restrainingly upon my arm.

'As for the matter of quarter,' he said, 'it may prove in the end more
our business to give it than to seek for it. Quarter we may indeed give
in this sense, that even those villains shall not be killed in cold
blood if they are willing to surrender. But every man that we take
prisoner shall most assuredly be tried for his life for piracy and
murder upon the high seas. Will you be so good as to tell those men from
me that if they at once surrender the person of Cornelys Jensen and
their own weapons they shall be treated humanely, kept in decent
confinement, and shall have the benefit of their conduct when the time
for trial comes? But this offer will not hold good after to-day, and if
they attempt again to approach the island they shall be fired upon.'

'Well and good, sir,' said Mr. Ebrow. 'Have you anything more to say,
for my masters did but give me a quarter of an hour, and I feel sure
that my time must be expired by now?'

'Only this,' answered Lancelot, 'that if they want to fly their black
flag over this island they must come and take it from us.'

I never saw Lancelot look more gallant, with courage and hope in his
mien, and the soft wind fretting his hair. But the brightness faded away
from his face a moment after as he added:

'It grieves me to heart, sir, that you have to return to those
ruffians.'

Mr. Ebrow extended his hand to Lancelot with a wintry smile.

'It is my duty. I do but follow my Master's orders, to do all in His
Name and for His glory.'

He wrung Lancelot's hand and mine, and the hand of every man in our
troop. He gave us his blessing, and then, turning, walked with erect
head to the sea.

As soon as the pirates saw him coming they rowed their boat a little
nearer in, when they rested on their oars, while we stood to our guns
and the parson waded steadily out into the deeper water.

When he reached their boat they dragged him on board roughly, and we
could see from their gestures and his that he was telling them the
result of the interview with us.

The telling did not seem to give any great satisfaction to the villains,
and least of all to Jensen, for he struck the parson a heavy blow in the
face with his clenched hand that felled