ly fired off the biggest gun aboard of her, to let
the pirates know what I was doing."

Corrie's spirit was in a tumultuous and very rebellious state. He was
half inclined to indulge in hysterical weeping, and more than half
disposed to give way to a burst of savage glee. He spoke with the
mantling blood blazing in his fat cheeks, and his two eyes glittering
like those of a basilisk. Montague could not repress a smile and a look
of admiration as he said to our little hero--

"Why, Corrie, if you were a giant it would be much easier to go to the
other side of the island, wring off the heads of all the pirates, and,
carrying me on your shoulders, and Alice and Poopy in your coat-pockets,
get safely aboard of the _Foam_, and ho! for Sandy Cove."

"So it would," said Corrie, gravely. "I did not think of that, and it
would be a far pleasanter way than the other."

"Ah! Corrie, I fear that you are a very bloodthirsty fellow."

"Of course I am when I've pirates to deal with. I would kill them every
man, without a thought."

"No you wouldn't, my boy. You couldn't do it in cold blood, even
although they are bad men."

"I don't know that," said Corrie, dubiously. "I would do it without
more feeling than I would have in killing a cat."

"Did you ever kill a cat?" asked Montague.

"Never," answered Corrie.

"Then how can you tell what your feelings would be if you were to
attempt to do it. I remember once, when I was a boy, going out to hunt
cats."

"O Captain Montague, surely _you_ never hunted cats," exclaimed Alice,
who came out of the tent with a very pale face, and uncommonly red eyes.

"Yes, indeed, I did _once_--but I never did it again. I caught one, a
kitten, and set off with a number of boys to kill it; but as we went
along it began to play with my neck-tie and to _purr_! Our hearts were
softened, so we let it go. Ah! Corrie, my boy, never go hunting cats,"
said Montague, earnestly.

"Did I say I was going to?" replied Corrie, indignantly.

Montague laughed, and so did Alice, at the fierce look the boy put on.

"Corrie," said the former, "I'm sure that you would not kill a pirate in
cold blood, any more than you would kill a kitten--would you?"

"I'm not sure o' that," said Corrie, half laughing, but still looking
fierce. "In the first place, my blood is never cold when I've to do
with pirates; and, in the second place, pirates are not innocent
creatures covered with soft hair--and they do