“Let me talk, now!” exclaimed Bessie. “I was the first one to reach the deck after you called us, Max.”

“All right. I’ve no objections. I feel like seven different kinds of a jay, anyhow, when I tell this story; and, by the great boot in Chatham Street, Nick, I’d willingly give up a million rather than go through with it again! All the same, I want those race cups back again, if I can get them.”

“So the pirate took them, did he? I thought he said it might be arranged so that you could keep them?”

“Oh, he took them, all right; and he did offer to make an arrangement; but I will tell you all about that when Bessie gets through.”

Nick turned so that he faced Miss Harlan.

“I was the first one to reach the deck,” she began, “and I saw a distinguished-looking man seated in that chair where the count is sitting. He wore a red mask over his face, as Max has described it, and his costume was strikingly like a Romeo get-up, only it was red. My first thought was that some of Max’s friends had discovered that we were at the anchorage, and had come aboard to treat us to an impromptu fancy-dress party. I really supposed that I would have known them, had they not been masked, and regarded the whole thing as a joke, so I went toward them, humming ‘Gaily the[21] Troubadour.’ But when I drew nearer, so that I could get a view of Max’s face, I was startled; he looked so savage, and he was chewing away at his mustache, just as if he had not spent hours and hours in training it ever since it sprouted.”

[21]

“That will do, Bessie. Just keep to your story, if you don’t mind,” said Kane.

“Well,” she continued, “I saw then that something was the matter. My first thought was that Max was annoyed because his friends had come; but when he rose in his place, and, in an icy tone, said: ‘Miss Harlan, I am compelled, much against my will, to introduce a gentleman thief to you,’ I didn’t know what to say, or think. But before I could do either, the pirate had turned toward Max, and I could see the flash of his eyes through the holes in his mask, while he said icily:

“‘Mr. Kane, if I hear a repetition of your present offense, the consequences to yourself and your ladies will be upon your own head! I beg that you will present me properly, sir!’

“I was nonplused, Mr. Carter, and I could see that Max was 

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