fireside and made him sit.

"Listen," he said, as he dropped into the chair opposite. "There is a
fine ship standing in the road below, off Smithick. You'll have seen
her. Her master is a desperate adventurer named Jasper Leigh, who is to
be found any afternoon in the alehouse at Penycumwick. I know him of
old, and he and his ship are to be acquired. He is ripe for any
venture, from scuttling Spaniards to trading in slaves, and so that the
price be high enough we may buy him body and soul. His is a stomach
that refuses nothing, so there be money in the venture. So here is ship
and master ready found; the rest I will provide--the crew, the
munitions, the armament, and by the end of March we shall see the Lizard
dropping astern. What do you say, Lal? 'Tis surely better than to sit,
moping here in this place of gloom."

"I'll...I'll think of it," said Lionel, but so listlessly that all Sir
Oliver's quickening enthusiasm perished again at once and no more was
said of the venture.

But Lionel did not altogether reject the notion. If on the one hand he
was repelled by it, on the other he was attracted almost despite
himself. He went so far as to acquire the habit of riding daily over to
Penycumwick, and there he made the acquaintance of that hardy and
scarred adventurer of whom Sir Oliver had spoken, and listened to the
marvels the fellow had to tell--many of them too marvellous to be true--
of hazards upon distant seas.

But one day in early March Master Jasper Leigh had a tale of another
kind for him, news that dispelled from Lionel's mind all interest in the
captain's ventures on the Spanish Main. The seaman had followed the