260 THE LIVERPOOL BUCCANEERS'. 



you have had your revenge of the Liverpool sharks, if not directly, 

 at least, by proxy." 



" I I ; why do you and the others always refer to me, as if 

 none but I were engaged in it ? when, if the truth be told, I was 

 the least active." 



" The least disposed to dare, I grant ye/' answered Thompson ; 

 " but whose were the long-continued persuasions, and eternal sug- 

 gestions, eh ? whose the chief share of what the goods sold for in 

 Sardinia, and at Malta ? whose the oath by which we are bound to 

 secrecy ?" 



" Well, well, Thompson, do not let us quarrel about it ; you have 

 no right to complain. We shall shortly be quit of the Mediteranean, 

 and on our course for Haiti, or ready to join any country at war with 

 Great Britain ; and we have but anticipated the rights of war : 

 besides, there there," he exclaimed, with a forced and savage smile, 

 as he pointed to the water ; " there is our surety. The language of 

 the waves, if loud, is not intelligible ; and until the sea gives up 

 her dead ." 



"Hush hush, Delano speak not so," said Thompson, shuddering; 

 " they were our countrymen known to us by name and person ; 

 they were on their way in peace and honesty ; they offended, resisted 

 not. There was, too, a child among them ; and the eye of God alone 

 looked on them as they sank ; innocent and ." 



" Coward !" exclaimed Delano, sneeringly, while the livid hue of 

 his features bespoke fear, if not remorse. 



" Coward ! Would that occasion offered," said Thompson, warmly, 

 " to cast away my life, but as a man to lose it. Coward ! Who was 

 it that held back, grew pale, and trembled, after having, by threat, 

 promise, prayer, and persuasion provoked vis into crime ? Coward ! 

 Should ever that day arrive, that we be called upon to answer for 

 that dark deed, \re shall see who will first prove traitor to his fel- 

 lows. And, my mind misgives me," he added, in a calmer tone, 

 tf and I fear that the hour is not far distant." 



" Pho ! Let us be but true to ourselves," said Delano, with a 

 smile of contempt, " and we have nought to fear. If that drunken 

 rascal Atkinson, do not blab, some day in his cups. Had not Walker 

 been in the boat, on Sunday night, when we brought him from the 

 shore, so beastly intoxicated, Webb and I would have done it." 



"Done what?" demanded Thompson, falteringly. 



" Why, as he is so fond of drinking, he should have had his fill. 

 I should have sent him coral fishing down there. But Look ! what 

 is that at the entrance of the bay !" 



" As well as I can make out," observed the mate, after regarding 

 attentively in the direction pointed out by Delano, " it is a brigan- 

 tine, entering the harbour. A merchantman evidently : but, there, 

 she has let go her anchor." Delano and Thompson remained some- 

 time longer in observation of the new comer, until midnight having 

 struck, they retired. 



On the succeeding morning, as the sun arose, the crew of the 

 William were all on deck preparing for the labour of the day : while 

 the captain and the mate were engaged, at the stern, examining, 



