before me, a Blessed Mary of plane-tree wood and parcel-gilt, and

thirteen pounds in gold and silver. Hey! what say ye? A man that fought

the French, too; for I have fought the French; I have cut more French

throats upon the high seas than ever a man that sails out of Dartmouth.

Come, a penny piece."

Neither Dick nor Lawless durst answer him a word, lest he should

recognise their voices; and they stood there as helpless as a ship

ashore, not knowing where to turn nor what to hope.

"Are ye dumb, boy?" inquired the skipper. "Mates," he added, with a

hiccup, "they be dumb. I like not this manner of discourtesy; for an a

man be dumb, so be as he's courteous, he will still speak when he was

spoken to, methinks."

By this time the sailor, Tom, who was a man of great personal strength,

seemed to have conceived some suspicion of these two speechless figures;

and being soberer than his captain, stepped suddenly before him, took

Lawless roughly by the shoulder, and asked him, with an oath, what ailed

him that he held his tongue. To this the outlaw, thinking all was over,

made answer by a wrestling feint that stretched the sailor on the sand,

and, calling upon Dick to follow him, took to his heels among the lumber.

The affair passed in a second. Before Dick could run at all, Arblaster

had him in his arms; Tom, crawling on his face, had caught him by one

foot, and the third man had a drawn cutlass brandishing above his head.

The Black Arrow