man from
his piece of wreckage, and had hard work to make the ship again, for the
sea was running hard and high. The rescued man crouched in the stern,
hiding his head in his hands, so that I did not see his face until he
came aboard. Then it seemed familiar, but I could not bethink me where I
had seen it before.

"And who art thou, friend?" asked Nunez.

"A mariner of Plymouth, good sir," answered the man, "and sole survivor
of the ship Hawthorn. Lost she is, and all hands, save only me."

Then I suddenly recognized him. It was the Cornish sailor, Pharaoh
Nanjulian. So the sea had given me a friend in need.

CHAPTER VI.

SCHEMES AND STRATAGEMS.

I was not minded to let Captain Nunez and the crew--every man of which
was either Spaniard or Portugee--see that I had any knowledge of the man
whom they had rescued, and therefore I presently went below and kept out
of the way for a while. Somehow I felt a considerable sense of
gratification at the thought of the Cornishman's presence on board. He
seemed to me a man of resource and of courage, and I no sooner set eyes
on him in this remarkable fashion, than I began to think how he might
aid me in making my escape from my present position.

After a time Nunez came down into the cabin where I sat, and began to
talk with me.

"We have fallen in with a countryman of yours, Master Salkeld," said
he, regarding me closely, as if he wished to see how I took the news.

"Indeed!" said I. "The man just come aboard?"

"The same. A native of Cornwall, with an outlandish name, and an
appetite as large as his body, judging by the way he eats."

"He is no doubt hungry, Senor," I said. "Perhaps he has been tossing
about for a while."

"A day and a night. One additional mouth, Master Salkeld, is what I did
not bargain for."

"But you would not have allowed the man to drift away to starvation and
death?" I said.

"His life was no concern of mine, Master Salkeld. But I can make him
useful; therefore he was worth saving. I shall enroll him as one of my
crew, and carry him to the Indies."

"And then?"

"Then he will go ashore with you, unless he prefers to go back with me
to Cadiz--which he probably will not do."

He left me then, and I sat wondering what he meant by saying that the
English sailor would probably not care to go back to Spain with him.
There seemed something sinister in his meaning. But I gave over thinking
about it, for I was by that time firmly convin