.

THIEF AND PIRATE.
Captain Blood paced the poop of his ship alone in the tepid dusk, and the growing golden radiance of the great poop lantern in which a seaman had just lighted the three lamps.

About him all was peace.

The signs of the day's battle had been effaced, the decks had been swabbed, and order was restored above and below.

A group of men squatting about the main hatch were drowsily chanting, their hardened natures softened, perhaps, by the calm and beauty of the night.