It required two hours before we could clear the decks of our vessels, for we had separated, and the Arrow had taken charge of the prize. Before I took the boat to go on board the Arrow, I went down into my cabin, where the French captain lay bound and watched by two of the men. "You are prepared to pay the penalty agreed upon, Monsieur?" said I. "I am, Sir," he replied. "I now understand what you meant when you said that I should meet with my match. I have no one to blame but myself. I urged you to the conditions, expecting an easy and certain conquest with my superior vessel. I have fallen into my own net, and there's an end of the matter--except that when things go wrong, a woman is certain to be at the bottom of it." "I am aware, Sir," I replied, "that your wife instigated you to act as you did, or you would never have so behaved. In attempting to revenge the death of one husband, she has lost two." "_C'est vrai_," replied the Frenchman, composedly, and I then quitted the cabin, and went on board of the Arrow. "Well, Elrington," said Captain Levee, "what do you intend to do with the French captain? Is he to pay the forfeit, and swing at the yard-arm?" "I don't like hanging a man, especially a brave man, in cold blood," I replied. "It was all his wife's doing, and he has confessed as much." "He would certainly have hanged you," replied Levee. "Yes, that I believe; but it would have been that he might have a quiet life at home--not from any resentment against me. Now I have no feeling of that kind to actuate me." "What will you do, then?" "Not hang him, certainly; and yet I should like to punish her." "She deserves it," replied Captain Levee. "Now, Elrington, will you approve of my suggestion?" "Let me hear it." "It is this: they do not know that I have assisted in taking the privateer, as they have no idea that I am here. As soon as we have refitted her and your vessel, I will remain where I am. You shall run into the mouth of the Garonne, with your colours flying, and the English Jack over the French flag on board of the prize. This will lead them to suppose that you have taken the vessel without assistance. When just out of gun-shot, heave-to, fire a gun, and then swing an effigy to the yard-arm, and remain there, to make them suppose that you have hung the French captain. At nightfall you can make sail and rejoin me. That will punish her, and annoy them generally." "I will do so; it is an excellent device, and she will never know the truth for a long time to come."