o
get into the boat, and jumped in himself. "What means this?" he
thundered.

Black Paul answered quietly: "I was getting the men on board," he said,
"so as to save time, and I was coming back for you."

Bonnet glared at his sailing-master, but he did not swear at him, he was
too useful a man, but in his heart he vowed that he would never trust
Paul Bittern again, and that as soon as he could he would get rid of
him.

But when he reached the ship, three men out of each boat's crew,
selected at random to represent the rest, were tied up and flogged, the
blows being well laid on by scoundrels very eager to be brutal, even to
their own shipmates.

"Ah! Dickory, Dickory," cried Ben Greenway, as they were sailing down
the bay, "ye have loaded your soul wi' sin this day; I fear ye'll never
rise from under it. Whatever vile deeds that Major Bonnet may henceforth
be guilty o' ye'll be responsible for them a', Dickory, for every ane o'
them."

"He's bad enough, Ben," said the other, "and it's many a wicked deed he
may do yet, but I am going to carry news of him to his daughter if I
can; and what's more, I am not going to stay behind and be hanged, even
if it is in such good company as Major Bonnet and you, Ben Greenway."

Whatever should happen on the rest of that voyage; whether the
well-intentioned treachery of Ben Greenway, or the secret villainies of
the crew, should prevail; whether disaster or success should come to the
planter pirate, Dickory Charter resolved in his soul that a message from
her father should go to Kate Bonnet, and that he should carry it.

* * * * *

The spirits of Dickory rose very much as the bow of the Revenge was
pointed southward. Every mile that the pirate vessel sailed brought him
nearer to the delivery of his message--a message which, while it told of
her father's wicked career, still told her of his safety and of his
steadfast affection for her. Indirectly, the bringing of such a message,
and the story of how the bearer brought it, might have another effect,
which, although he had no right to expect, was never absent from
Dickory's soul. This ardent young lover did not believe in Master Martin
Newcombe. He had no good reason for not believing in him, but his want
of faith did not depend upon reason. If lovers reasoned too much, it
would be a sad world for many of them.

When the Revenge stopped in her progress towards the heavenly Island of
Jamaica, or a