She started as she saw a stranger. "Well, sir?" "Miss Decatur, I am a stranger to you, but I would like permission to say a few words to you." "Proceed, sir; only, if you are here to plead his cause, your words will be in vain." "Whose cause?" There was a disdainful curve of the beauty's lips as Vernon asked the question. "Sir! there surely is no need of such assumed ignorance. I am a prisoner----" "A prisoner--yes, but your captors mean you well." Vernon misunderstood her meaning. She smiled. "Wish me well--ay, perhaps so. The bird taken from the wild freedom of the forest is cared for in its gilded cage, but it prefers freedom, even with all its dangers." "You are free, Miss Decatur--free as any one under our flag can be." "Under your flag, sir--yes! But your flag is one which covers traitors and oppressors. Its every fold is dyed in the blood of true patriots who have fought against it." "You do not know----" interrupted Vernon. "Do I not? Have I not a brother who maimed himself for life rather than fight under your flag?" "You are wrong. The Stars and Stripes float from the peak of this ship." "Since when?" she asked, contemptuously, and, before he could answer: "Since when have you learned to lie and cheat for your captain's sake?" "I am captain." Bertha turned her back on the captain for a moment. She was trying to quell the anger rising in her breast, for she fully believed that Vernon had been sent as an emissary from Carter. "I have already given my answer to the captain," she said. "Now leave me to my misery." "What is the captain's name?" asked Vernon. "Carter; if you insist on your catechetical insults." "He is dead." "Dead?" "Yes; do you not know that this ship was captured by the Americans, and is now on her way to the nearest port?" "Are you speaking the truth?" "As Heaven is my judge! Come on deck and you will see the Stars and Stripes floating from the peak." "If what you say is true, who are you?" "I am Harry Vernon of the _Lively Bee_, privateer, and this vessel is under the command of my first officer----" "Oh!" "You have met him before. He knows your brother well." "Does he?" Bertha was still incredulous, and Vernon was more than ever puzzled what to do with her. She saw that he hesitated, and all her doubts returned. "When shall we reach port?" she asked. "Within twenty hours, if the winds are favorable." "And how long would it take to reach Jamaica?" "Forty-eight hours, or even more." "Thank you." "Miss Decatur, I see you do not trust me. I will send for one who may perhaps have more influence with you than I have." "If you do I shall kill myself," she exclaimed angrily. "Shall you? We shall see." He hastily wrote a line on a slip of paper and gave it to a deckhand to deliver. "I have sent for him," said Vernon. "He will not see me alive." Vernon saw she was desperate, and to prevent her carrying out her threat he seized her hands.