There was a breathless silence; one might have heard a pin drop upon the

deck; the very air seemed to listen within the furled sails. Jeromio's

pistol fell from his grasp; he clasped his hands in agony, and falling

before the Buccaneer, upon his knees, uttered a brief prayer, for well

he knew that Dalton never recalled a doom, and he felt that all had been

discovered! In another instant a flash passed along the ship, and danced

in garish light over the quiet sea! The bullet shattered a brain ever

ready to plot, but never powerful to execute. With unmoved aspect Dalton

replaced the weapon, and planting his foot upon the prostrate dead, drew

another from his belt. Springall was still by his side, ready to live or

die with his commander.

"Come on! come on!" said Dalton, after surveying the small and trembling

band of mutineers, as a lion of the Afric deserts gazes upon a herd of

hounds by whom he is beset. "Come on!" and the sentence sounded like the

tolling of a death-bell over the waters, so firmly yet solemnly was it

pronounced, as if the hearts of a thousand men were in it. "Come on! Are

ye afraid? We are but two. Or are ye still men; and do ye think upon the

time when I led ye on to victory, when I divided the spoil of many lands

among ye? Ye are friends--countrymen of this--that was a man; yet if ye

will, ye shall judge between us. Did I deserve this treachery at his

hands? Can one of ye accuse me of injustice?"

A loud, a reiterated "No," answered this appeal, and the mutineers

rushed forward, not to seize on, but to lay down their weapons at the

feet of their captain.

"Take up your arms," said Dalton, after casting his eye over them, and

perceiving at a single glance that they had truly delivered them all.

"Take up your arms: ye were only beguiled; ye are too true to be really

treacherous."

This most wise compliment operated as oil on the tumultuous sea: the

ship-mob fancied they were acting according to the dictates of reason,

when they were really under the influence of fear, and then they aroused

the tranquillity of the night, shouting long and loudly for the

Fire-fly and the brave Buccaneer!

Although Jeromio had cunningly despatched several of Dalton's most

approved friends in the long-boat to the shore on some pretended

business, yet others had been secured below; and, when they were

liberated, they created great and noisy jubilee at what they jestingly

called "the Restoration." Springall had orders to distribute among them,

and without distinction, abundance of rum, while Dalton retired to his

cabin, still unmoved, to pen some despatches, which he deemed necessary

to send to the main land that night.




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