Parkington looked on, for an instant, then, seeing Constable come from the library with a gun, he hastened in, took one from the rack, and returned to the front of the house. Old Marbury was standing in the doorway. The main body of the freebooters had halted a hundred yards away, while the leaders were taking council and observing the place. There could be no doubt, even at that distance, what they were--their variegated costumes and strange headgear proclaimed the riffraff of all lands. Cutlasses, daggers, swords, and pistols, were their weapons--none of them appeared to have a gun; they were wont to come quickly to close quarters, and, then, to show no mercy. "Are pirates plentiful along this coast, Mr. Marbury?" inquired Sir Edward. "Plentiful! I've never heard of a pirate on the inner Chesapeake." "Well, they appear to be there, now!" Parkington laughed. Marbury stared at him, "Man alive!" he said. "You don't seem to appreciate your danger." "My danger is nothing," remarked Parkington, measuring the powder and ramming home the charge. "We men can only die; but the women!--God! I have seen one pirate crew at work, I want never to see another." "They may not know the peril," said Marbury. "Promise me, Sir Edward, that, if the worst come, you will not let my daughter fall alive into their hands." "I promise," Parkington answered. "Neither her nor any other, so long as I can wield a dagger." The old man nodded. "Thank you," he said. Then:--"We have an abundance of rifles and ammunition, the house cannot be set on fire, save at the doors--and they can be defended--and the roof. We should hold out until help arrives." He turned and raised his voice: "Let every man to a window, and defend it with his life. We can expect no mercy, therefore show none." Parkington took a window on the front, Constable the one beside him, Plater and Snowden similar ones across the hall, George and the others, were at the rear. The women were gathered in the drawing-room. They were very quiet--though, occasionally, a sob, half suppressed, gave evidence of the strain. Five minutes before they had only the breakfast in mind--now, death had replaced breakfast. Marbury stood at the open door, waiting. There was a chance, the demands would be such that he could grant. All the cash and silver, in the house, he would gladly give them, if they would take it and go. The leaders of the pirates still held council together. They could rate the possible strength of a ship, whether it was a likely prey, and what, if any, was its armament, and the number of its crew, but here was a new proposition: A house, with every window closed, and a man in the open doorway--a rifle in his hand. "What do you make of it, Captain," said his second in command, a tall, red-bearded, heavy featured man, in a red silk shirt and breeches, and tall jackboots. He wore no head dress, other than his flaming hair. "It may be easy, and then again it may not."