"Throw him a rope," said the captain; and Guert quickly had the help of Vine and another sailor. "Quick!" said Guert. "Don't let the sharks get him. I'd give anything to save a man from them!" "He's caught the rope," replied Vine. "Haul him in! We've got him." Close behind him, or rather under him, as he came dripping over the rail, was a huge pair of snapping jaws that barely missed him. He fell, at first, and then his rescuers themselves were astonished. He did not say a word to them, but dropped at once upon his knees, and began to pour out thanks to the Virgin Mary, like a good Catholic. [Illustration: A NARROW ESCAPE. "As he came over the rail, a huge pair of jaws barely missed him.] "Let him," said Sam Prentice. "Some o' these cutthroats are awful pious." "Yes," said Guert, "but he is praying in Dutch, and he mixes it up with English. I can't tell what he is." "There she goes!" shouted a dozen voices at that moment, and all turned to look. It was only a last lurch and a plunge, and all that was left of the pirate _Leon_ sank forever out of sight. The heads of her crew had also disappeared from the surface of the water, and the career of one of the terrors of the sea was ended. CHAPTER X. THE BLACK TRANSPORT. "You don't mean to say it's all over!" exclaimed Guert, staring at the place from which the pirate schooner had vanished. "Seems to me it doesn't take long to fight a battle at sea." "Yes, it does," said one of the older sailors, "if there's chasin' and manoeuvrin' and long range firin'. I've been in some that took all day and the next day, too. But we were too heavy guns for that feller." "It's awful!" remarked Vine Avery, very thoughtfully. "I was trying to make out if we could have saved any more of 'em." "No," said the captain, "I don't see how we could, considerin' where we were and the time it took us to come about. They grappled each other in the water, too." "The fact is, boys," said Sam Prentice, "the savin' o' those fellers wouldn't ha' been of any use, anyhow. Spanish law isn't as slow and careful as ours is. It wouldn't ha' called for any trial by a court, you know. The nearest army or navy commander of any consequence would ha' taken hold of 'em. They'd all ha' been shot within a day after he seized 'em." "Leastwise," said Vine, "'twasn't any fault of ours. I'm glad Guert made out to haul in one of 'em." Guert had turned somewhat quickly away, while they were speaking, for his rescued man had been allowed to come and speak with him. "Hullo!" said the captain. "They are talkin' Dutch. That's it! Guert's a New Yorker. He learned it at home." "What sort is he, Guert?" asked the mate. "He isn't any pirate, at all," eagerly responded Guert. "He's a Hollander that was on a ship they took. One of 'em knew him and saved him, and they 'pressed him in. He had to make believe he was one of 'em, but he never was."