mockery he kissed the cross, evidently believing that he was doing a righteous action, and then sat down on a gun with folded arms, as if he had been an unconcerned spectator of the scene which was enacting. The rest of the dead man's property the pirates distributed among themselves, and then lifting the body to the side of the vessel, without an expression of regret threw it into the sea. The tragedy was over, but the countenance of the murdered man haunted us, while his murderer continued walking with an unconcerned look about the deck, as if his hands were perfectly innocent of blood. "Jerry," said I, "the sooner we are out of this, though even on a desert island, the better." "Oh yes, Harry; it is not safe to live with such wretches," was the answer. It would be better if men remembered at all times that it is not good to dwell with sinners. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. OUR PERILOUS VOYAGE. As we emerged from our cabin one morning, we found that the schooner was standing toward what appeared to be a fleet of vessels at anchor. "Why, we shall soon be among a whole squadron of buccaneers!" exclaimed Jerry, in a tone of despair. "We shall be separated, Harry--turned into cabin boys, and never have a chance of escape. O dear! O dear! My poor father!--what will he do?" "Why, Jerry, I am not quite so certain that those are vessels," I remarked; "just observe them attentively. Hillo! they have disappeared! Stay, we shall soon rise to the top of the swell again. There they are! They are as steady as church steeples. Those are not the masts of vessels. They are cocoa-nut and palm-trees, depend on that. They are growing on one of those coral islands which abound in these latitudes. Watch again. On we go." (Here I caught sight of the glittering, white, sandy beach.) "How the surf breaks on the reef outside it! How bright and clear it appears, rising out of the deep ocean! How green the ground looks under those tall trees, and how intensely blue the lagoon in the centre! It is a lovely-looking spot--quite a fairy land. I hope that we shall be put on shore there, though I would rather have a few hills and valleys to diversify the scene, if we are to remain there long."