pistols in the sash.

"One autumn, after Black Pedro the Third had been captain for
about a dozen or fifteen years, 'The Angel of Death' had a
terrible fight with the biggest galleon she had ever tackled,--
'The Santa Maria Sanctissima,' a ship so huge that she towered far
above the pirate vessel. While the great guns were roaring, and
the cannon-balls flying, Black Pedro stood amid the smoke, in his
velvet suit, his black beard bristling with rage, and his face
bearing an expression ten times more ferocious than his grand-
father's at its worst. He noted carefully the precise moment when
the scuppers were running with blood, and then gave the signal for
boarding. 'The Santa Maria Sanctissima' was so high that they had
to use scaling-ladders to reach her deck, but the pirates soon
swarmed on board, the captain was slain by Black Pedro, the rest
of the crew walked The Plank, and 'The Angel of Death' sailed back
to Rum Island with her booty.

"It was the richest she had ever captured. 'The Santa Maria
Sanctissima' carried an enormous cargo of gold, intended for a
great castle in Spain, and it took four days to unload the
treasure at the pirates' lair, and six more days to bury it in the
ground. Think how they felt when the last shovelful of earth was
put in, how the sense of work well done filled their breasts with
satisfaction! But on that very day disaster of the most terrible
kind was hanging over them, and less than twenty-four hours lay
between them and dire calamity.

"Early in the evening, on the day after they had buried the last
gold bar, Black Pedro sat on the veranda of his cottage, smoking