Anthony stood looking down at the man, and, what with his pale, drawn face and his swathed bandages, he made a grim figure enough. "It was only a moment ago that I learned your name," said he. "And the sound of it recalled a letter I once had of you at New Orleans." Blake wrinkled his brows good-humoredly. "A letter," said he. "Well, now! As I write very seldom, you must be a person of even more consequence than I thought." But Anthony paid no heed to this mockery. "I am the same Anthony Stevens who once spoiled your plundering of certain ships owned by Señor Montufars. The letter expressed a pious hope that chance would one day throw me in your way. And, as you see, it has." Blake leaned back in his chair, shaking with mirth. "Now," gasped he, "could anything be more like you? It's just what I'd have expected you to do--full of gallantry, open and anxious to come to grips with the immediate occasion." He gestured his appreciation. "Let me assure you, sir, now that I _have_ chanced upon you, I wouldn't have missed the meeting for the world." "In the seas I've sailed," said Anthony, "and the ports I've frequented, I found your name common talk; they said you were a bully who feared no one and only studied your own desire." He frowned down at the freebooter disbelievingly. "But, to say the truth, I haven't found you so. For all your written wish, I've yet to see you lift a hand." "Never fear," said Blake cheerily; "my day will come." "I promised you, that morning at the Brig Tavern, we'd meet again," said Anthony. "And if it wasn't for the work of the rats you urged on me out of the darkness," and he touched his wounded head, "I'd see to it that you had your chance to-day." "Time will show," said Blake smilingly. "Don't bother your mind. Time will show." "The forehanded spirit never leaves things to time," said Anthony. "A venturesome man would have been on _Le Mousquet_, knowing I was to be brought aboard." "God damn your soul!" said Blake. "I'd give my two thumbs to have been." But Anthony curled his lip. "Your captain had little bowels," said he. "And you've given me no proof that you have any more."