"I am not alone," he said, quietly. "I never am without someone to protect me. But there, you shall be answered. Why have I had you tended as I have? Well, suppose I have said to myself, `Here is a brave man who should be one of us.'" "One of you!" cried Humphrey, with a scornful laugh. "Suppose," continued the buccaneer, with his nether lip quivering slightly, "I had said to myself, `You are alone here. Your men obey you, but you have no friends among them--no companions whom you can trust. Why not make this man your friend?'" Humphrey smiled, and the buccaneer's lip twitched slightly as he continued-- "You are fevered and disappointed now, and I shall not heed your words. I tell you once for all that you must accept your fate here as others have accepted theirs. I need not tell you that for one to escape from here would be to bring ruin upon all. Hence every one is his brother's guardian; and the Indians for hundreds of miles around, at first our enemies till they felt my power, are now my faithful friends." Humphrey laughed mockingly. "You laugh, sir. Well it is the laugh of ignorance, as you will find. It is no idle boast when I say that I am king here over my people, and the tribes to north and south." "The Indians too?" said Humphrey. "Yes, the Indians too, as you found to your cost." "To my cost?" "To your cost. Your ship was in my way. You troubled me; and your people had to be removed. Well, they were removed." "The treacherous hounds!" cried Humphrey, grinding his teeth as he recalled the action of the two Indians, and their escape. "Treacherous! No. You would have employed men to betray me; it was but fighting you with your own weapons, sir; and these you call treacherous hounds were true, brave fellows who risked their lives to save me and mine." Humphrey was silent. "Come, Captain Armstrong; you will suffer bitterly for this. There are chills and fevers in the depths of this forest which seize upon strangers like you, especially upon those weakened by their wounds, and I do not want to lose the officer and gentleman who is to be my friend and help here, where I am, as it were, alone." "Your friend and help!" said Humphrey, haughtily. "I am your prisoner, sir; but you forget to whom you are speaking. How dare you ask me to link my fate with that of your cut-throat band--to share with you a life of plunder and disgrace, with the noose at the yard-arm of every ship in His Majesty's Navy waiting to end your miserable career? I tell you--I tell you--"