calmly and in a perfectly natural tone:

“‘I don’t suppose you wish needlessly to frighten the ladies, do you?’

“‘Well, no,’ I replied, ‘I can’t say that I do. They have retired, however, and we need not disturb them.’

“‘On the contrary, my friend,’ he said, ‘it will be necessary that they are disturbed. But I am fond of the ladies. I do not like to frighten them—needlessly. Then, again, sometimes they faint away, or scream, and that offends me.’

“‘Indeed?’ I said. ‘Have I by mistake been smoking on the deck of your yacht, instead of my own?’ I intended that for sarcasm, Nick, but it fell flat. He didn’t see the point at all, for he replied, calmly, that I would find things much more to my taste for a few moments if I would take that view of it. ‘You may consider the Goalong as my property for the next half-hour,’ he said.”

“Were they armed?” asked Nick.

“The pirate said they were, and I have no doubt that they were, although I saw no sign of weapons of any kind, save that the chief wore a short, straight sword at his side, and while he talked to me he let his hand rest upon it, as if to call my attention to the fact.”

[16]

[16]

“What happened next?”

“Well, when he said that I could look upon my yacht as his property for the next half-hour or so, I didn’t seem to have any fitting argument with which to reply to him, so I remained silent. His next question was rather more to the point.”

“What was it?”

“He asked me, plainly, how much money I happened to have aboard the yacht; and he added: ‘If you tell the truth about it, it will save both of us considerable trouble.’

“‘Oh, I suppose there are a couple of thousand dollars here, all told,’ I answered him.

“‘Very good,’ he said. ‘There is also some thousands of dollars’ worth of silverware, and goldware, isn’t there?’

“‘Yes,’ I admitted.

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