ince then?" asked Captain
Fitzgerald.

"Never. I am almost forced to the conclusion that he must have been
murdered by the mutineers, for if he had escaped them, he would surely,
long ere now, have managed to find his way home. And yet I cannot help
feeling that perhaps God may have spared his life, and may yet restore
him to us."

"It is, perhaps, cruel to encourage hopes which may be doomed to bitter
disappointment," returned the captain, regarding Orlando's sad face with
a look of sympathy; "but it is by no means impossible that your father
may be alive. Listen. I, too, know something of this affair, and will
tell you all I know. Captain Daniel, of the schooner whose crew
mutinied, was not murdered. This Rosco seems to have had, all through
his career, a strong tendency to mercy. So much so that his men have
threatened his own life more than once. At the same time, he possesses
great power over them, and has held them for many years under command.
We have heard of him more than once from persons whom he has set free,
after taking their vessels; among others from Captain Daniel, who turned
up in Vancouver's Island. It seems that after you were thrown overboard
and supposed to be drowned, your poor father went--went--that is to say,
his mind was unhinged, owing, no doubt, to the combined effect of your
supposed murder and the two terrible blows by which he was felled during
the mutiny."

"My father--mad!" exclaimed Orlando, in a low, horrified tone, clasping
his hands, and gazing into Captain Fitzgerald's face.

"Nay, I did not say mad. It was a great shock, you know, and quite
sufficient to account for temporary derangement. Then Rosco sailed away
to a distant island, where he put your father ashore, and left him."

"What island--did you hear its name?" asked Orlando, quickly.

"It is an almost unknown island, not marked or named in any chart; but
it had been seen by one of the mutineers on one of his early voyages,
and named Sugar-loaf Island, from its shape. Well, after leaving the
island Rosco attacked, and easily captured, a large merchantman.
Finding it both good and new, he transhipped all that was worth
retaining, including arms and guns, into this barque, and took command;
then he assembled his men, asked who were willing to follow him, put
those who were unwilling into the old schooner with Captain Daniel at
their head, and left them to sail where they pleased. They landed, as I
have said,