Tropical was a mild expression of what was to come, as was

shortly proved. It was about three bells in the next day's
forenoon watch when the look-out man first sighted the pirate

brigantine. I disliked the looks of her from the first, and,
after piping all hands to quarters, had the brass carronade on

the fore-deck crammed with grape to the muzzle.
This proved a wise precaution. For the flagitious pirate craft,

having crept up to us under the colours of the Swiss Republic, a
state with which we were just then on the best possible terms,

suddenly shook out the skull-and-cross-bones at her masthead, and
let fly with round-shot at close quarters, knocking into pieces

several of my crew, who could ill be spared. The sight of
their disconnected limbs aroused my ire to its utmostheight, and

I let them have the contents of the brass carronade, with ghastly
effect. Next moment the hulls of the two ships were grinding

together, the cold steel flashed from its scabbard, and the
death-grapple had begun.

In spite of the deadly work of my grape-gorged carronade, our foe
still outnumbered us, I reckoned, by three to one. Honour

forbade my fixing it at a lower figure--this was the minimum rate
at which one dared to do business with pirates. They were stark

veterans, too, every man seamed with ancient sabre-cuts, whereas
my crew had many of them hardly attained the maturity which is

the gift of ten long summers--and the whole thing was so sudden
that I had no time to invent a reinforcement of riper years. It

was not surprising, therefore, that my dauntless boarding-
party, axe in hand and cutlass between teeth, fought their way to

the pirates' deck only to be repulsed again and yet again, and
that our planks were soon slippery with our own ungrudged and

inexhaustible blood. At this critical point in the conflict, the
bo'sun, grasping me by the arm, drew my attention to a

magnificent British man-of-war, just hove to in the offing, while
the signalman, his glass at his eye, reported that she was

inquiring whether we wanted any assistance or preferred to go
through with the little job ourselves.

This veiled attempt to share our laurels with us, courteously as
it was worded, put me on my mettle. Wiping the blood out of my

eyes, I ordered the signalman to reply instantly, with the half-
dozen or so of flags that he had at his disposal, that much as we

appreciated the valour of the regular service, and the delicacy
of spirit that animated its commanders, still this was an

orthodox case of the young gentleman-adventurer versus the
unshaved pirate, and Her Majesty's Marine had nothing to do but

to form the usual admiring and applauding background. Then,
rallying round me the remnant of my faithful crew, I selected a

fresh cutlass (I had worn out three already) and plunged once
more into the pleasing carnage.

The result was not long doubtful. Indeed, I could not allow it
to be, as I was already getting somewhat bored with the pirate

business, and was wanting to get on to something more southern
and sensuous. All serious resistance came to an end as soon as I

had reached the quarter-deck and cut down the pirate chief--a
fine black-bearded fellow in his way, but hardly up to date in

his parry-and-thrust business. Those whom our cutlasses had
spared were marched out along their own plank, in the

approved old fashion; and in time the scuppers relieved the decks
of the blood that made traffictemporarily impossible. And all

the time the British-man-of-war admired and applauded in the
offing.

As soon as we had got through with the necessary throat-cutting
and swabbing-up all hands set to work to discover treasure; and

soon the deck shone bravely with ingots and Mexican dollars and
church plate. There were ropes of pearls, too, and big stacks of

nougat; and rubies, and gold watches, and Turkish Delight in
tubs. But I left these trifles to my crew, and continued the

search alone. For by this time I had determined that there
should be a Princess on board, carried off to be sold in

captivity to the bold bad Moors, and now with beating heart
awaiting her rescue by me, the Perseus of her dreams.

I came upon her at last in the big state-cabin in the stern; and
she wore a holland pinafore over her Princess-clothes, and

she had brown wavy hair, hanging down her back, just like--well,
never mind, she had brown wavy hair. When gentle-folk meet,

courtesies pass; and I will not weary other people with relating
all the compliments and counter-compliments that we exchanged,

all in the most approved manner. Occasions like this, when
tongues wagged smoothly and speech flowed free, were always

especially pleasing to me, who am naturally inclined to be
tongue-tied with women. But at last ceremony was over, and we

sat on the table and swung our legs and agreed to be fast
friends. And I showed her my latest knife--one-bladed, horn-

handled, terrific, hung round my neck with string; and she showed
me the chiefest treasures the ship contained, hidden away in a

most private and particular locker--a musical box with a glass
top that let you see the works, and a railway train with

real lines and a real tunnel, and a tin iron-clad that followed a
magnet, and was ever so much handier in many respects than the

real full-sized thing that still lay and applauded in the offing.
There was high feasting that night in my cabin. We invited the

captain of the man-of-war--one could hardly do less, it seemed to
me--and the Princess took one end of the table and I took the

other, and the captain was very kind and nice, and told us fairy-
stories, and asked us both to come and stay with him next

Christmas, and promised we should have some hunting, on real
ponies. When he left I gave him some ingots and things, and saw

him into his boat; and then I went round the ship and addressed
the crew in several set speeches, which moved them deeply, and

with my own hands loaded up the carronade with grape-shot till it
ran over at the mouth. This done, I retired" target="_blank" title="a.退休的；通职的">retired into the cabin

with the Princess, and locked the door. And first we started the
musical box, taking turns to wind it up; and then we made toffee

in the cabin-stove; and then we ran the train round and round the
room, and through and through the tunnel; and lastly we swam the

tin ironclad in the bath, with the soap-dish for a pirate.
Next morning the air was rich with spices, porpoises rolled and

gambolled round the bows, and the South Sea Islands lay full in
view (they were the REAL South Sea Islands, of course--not the

badly furnished journeymen-islands that are to be perceived on
the map). As for the pirate brigantine and the man-of-war, I

don't really know what became of them. They had played their
part very well, for the time, but I wasn't going to bother to

account for them, so I just let them evaporate quietly. The
islands provided plenty of fresh occupation. For here were

little bays of silvery sand, dotted with land-crabs; groves
of palm-trees wherein monkeys frisked and pelted each other with

cocoanuts; and caves, and sites for stockades, and hidden
treasures significantly indicated by skulls, in riotous plenty;

while birds and beasts of every colour and all latitudes made
pleasing noises which excited the sporting instinct.

The islands lay conveniently close together, which necessitated
careful steering as we threaded the devious and intricate

channels that separated them. Of course no one else could be
trusted at the wheel, so it is not surprising that for some time

I quite forgot that there was such a thing as a Princess on
board. This is too much the masculine way, whenever there's any

real business doing. However, I remembered her as soon as the
anchor was dropped, and I went below and consoled her, and we had

breakfast together, and she was allowed to "pour out," which
quite made up for everything. When breakfast was over we ordered

out the captain's gig, and rowed all about the islands, and
paddled, and explored, and hunted bisons and beetles and

butterflies, and found everything we wanted. And I gave her pink