A sharp odour instantly filled the air; so sharp that it brought tears to the eyes of everyone. Captain Lingo and his men stepped quickly backward, but it was too late. A look of pained surprise crept over their faces, and remained fixed there. Their feet stood rooted to the floor, and the hands which held the cutlasses and pistols stiffened and became rigid. Not one of them could move an eye-lash. Their outlines began to waver; their faces began to be dim and vague, as if covered with close white veils; from their outsides inward they slowly faded, melted, dissolved; nothing remained of any of them but a wraith, a vapor, a puff of smoke, remotely in the shape of a human being; and then that also vanished; nothing remained; the place where they had been was empty. All eyes turned to the table where the thirteen murdered pirates had been sitting. They were gone. Their chairs were vacant. The Churchwarden calmly put the stopper in his bottle and restored it to his pocket. "Humph!" said he. "Nothing like Odour of Sanctity. Never knew it to fail. No harm to human persons, but no wicked spirit as ever lived can stand against it; and a blessed good thing the bottle didn't break as we came down the water-fall. No perfumery in this world like Odour of Sanctity!" CHAPTER XIX A KNOCK AT THE DOOR The Third Vice-President and his fellow-members of the Daft Committee seated themselves in the chairs just vacated by the thirteen murdered pirates. Nothing could have persuaded any of the others to sit in those dreadful seats; but no feeling of this sort appeared to disturb the Committee, and they evidently saw no reason why they should not be comfortable. The Third Vice-President drummed on the table with his fingers, and frowned to himself in silence. One of the Committee, taking his skull-cap from his head and smoothing it thoughtfully with his hand, glanced up at the Chairman and said: "I fear, Professor, that our hopes are dashed. It is nothing less than disastrous." "You are right, my dear sir," said the Chairman. "It is a terrible misfortune; terrible indeed. And just when we were on the point of--" "What!" exclaimed Toby in astonishment. "Do you mean to say you are sorry those rascally pirates are gone?" "My dear sir," said the Chairman, very patiently, "I am finding no fault. I do not wish to blame anyone. The loss of these pirates to science is one that can never be compensated. The Society for Piratical Research is now at an end. There are no other pirates on this island, and you must see for yourselves that without pirates our society must perish. It is a woful--" "Well, I never!" said Aunt Amanda. "Of all things! Do you dare to sit there and tell me you'd rather see us all murdered by pirates than--"