strict orders that on no account was any one to take it away from the English captain. Smith now took a final farewell of his old messmates, but lest he should take advantage of the indulgence which had been just granted him, the pirate captain instantly ordered him back to the schooner, and even impelled him forward at the point of his murderous knife. All this time the two ships had been lying alongside lashed together by warps. Being at last content with the ample cargo which he had extracted from the _Zephyr_, and being convinced that there was nothing else aboard of much value, the pirate now ordered the warps to be cast loose and informed Lumsden that he might consider himself free to resume his voyage. But, he insisted, on no account was he to steer for Havannah. Should he do so, the schooner would pursue him, and on being overtaken Lumsden and his ship should be destroyed without further consideration. So at last the brig _Zephyr_, robbed of most of her valuables, lacking some of her gear and minus her mate, and with a tortured skipper, hove up her anchor, let loose her canvas and cleared out into the open sea. FOOTNOTES [1] See _Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean_, by Commander E. Hamilton Currey, R.N., to which I am indebted for certain information regarding these corsairs and their Christian foes. [2] I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness for some of the facts here mentioned to an interesting article by Mr. Winfield M. Thompson in the _Rudder_ for the year 1909. [3] The British Ambassador. _Printed by MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, Edinburgh, 1917_