'I feel none, Francisco; nor would I have suffered you to have been put on shore as you were, had I known of it. Even now that our expedition has failed through your means, I feel no anger towards you, although I shall have some difficulty in preserving you from the enmity of others. Indeed, Francisco, I am glad to find that you are alive, and I have bitterly mourned your loss;' and Cain extended his hand. But Francisco folded his arms, and was silent. 'Are you then so unforgiving?' said the captain. 'You know that I tell the truth.' 'I believe that you state the truth, Captain Cain, for you are too bold to lie; and, as far as I am concerned, you have all the forgiveness you may wish: but I cannot take that hand; nor are our accounts yet settled.' 'What would you more? Cannot we be friends again? I do not ask you to remain on board. You are free to go where you please. Come, Francisco, take my hand, and let us forget what is past.' 'The hand that is imbrued with my mother's blood, perhaps!' exclaimed Francisco. 'Never!' 'Not so, by G--d!' exclaimed Cain. 'No, no; not quite so bad as that. In my mood I struck your mother; I grant it. I did not intend to injure her, but I did, and she died. I will not lie--that is the fact. And it is also the fact that I wept over her, Francisco; for I loved her as I do you.' ('It was a hasty, bitter blow, that,' continued Cain, soliloquising, with his hand to his forehead, and unconscious of Francisco's presence at the moment. 'It made me what I am, for it made me reckless.') 'Francisco,' said Cain, raising his head, 'I was bad, but I was no pirate when your mother lived. There is a curse upon me; that which I love most I treat the worst. Of all the world, I loved your mother most; yet did she from me receive much injury, and at last I caused her death. Next to your mother, whose memory I at once revere and love, and tremble when I think of (and each night does she appear to me), I have loved you, Francisco, for you, like her, have an angel's feelings; yet have I treated you as ill. You thwarted me, and you were right. Had you been wrong, I had not cared; but you were right, and it maddened me. Your appeals by day--your mother's in my dreams----' Francisco's heart was softened; if not repentance, there was at least contrition. 'Indeed I pity you,' replied Francisco. 'You must do more, Francisco; you must be friends with me,' said Cain, again extending his hand. 'I cannot take that hand, it is too deeply dyed in blood,' replied Francisco. 'Well, well, so would have said your mother. But hear me, Francisco,' said Cain, lowering his voice to a whisper, lest he should be overheard; 'I am tired of this life--perhaps sorry for what I have done--I wish to leave it--have wealth in plenty concealed where others know not. Tell me, Francisco, shall we both quit this vessel, and live together happily and without doing wrong? You shall share all, Francisco. Say, now, does that please you?'