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This last would have been too slight to bear his weight if he had not been almost suspended by the cords that bound him to the stake. Rosco was very pale. He felt that his doom was fixed; but his native courage did not forsake him.
When Zeppa, as related in a previous chapter, staggered up the mountain side with Richard Rosco in his arms, his great strength was all but exhausted, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he succeeded at last, before night-fall, in laying his burden on the couch in his cave. Then, for the first time, he seemed to have difficulty in deciding what to do.
"We have found him, thank God," said Orlando, seating himself on a bank; "and I would fain hope that the worst is over, for he sleeps. But, poor fellow, you seem to be in a bad case. Can I do aught to relieve you?" "Nothing," replied Rosco, with a weary sigh. "I have sent for a surgeon "
Out with it now, whatever it is." The negro had placed Rosco in such a position on a ledge of rock that he could see the lagoon and the ship at anchor. The ex-pirate had by that time recovered some of his former strength, and, although there rested on his countenance an air of profound sadness, there mingled with it a hue of returning health, which none who saw him land had expected to see again.
In speed the two men were at the time well matched, for any advantage that Zeppa had in point of size and strength was counterbalanced by the youth and superstitious terror of Rosco. At first, indeed, the madman gained on his foe, but as the impetuosity of his first dash abated, the pirate's courage returned, and, warming to the race, he held his ground.
"Now, Redford," said Rosco, throwing his rifle into the hollow of his left arm, so as to bring the muzzle full on the mate's chest, while, with the forefinger of his right hand, he lightly touched the triggers, "draw your pistols from your belt, and be very careful how you do it very careful for if, even by chance, you touch hammer or trigger, you are a dead man."
"Oh! nothing only sure that Captain Rosco understands his own intentions best." Rosco made no reply, and nothing further passed between the inharmonious pair at that time. Next day the gale abated, and, as Redford had predicted, Sugar-loaf Island was sighted in the afternoon. Running close in under the shelter of the mountain, the barque was hove-to and a boat lowered.
This Rosco seems to have had, all through his career, a strong tendency to mercy. So much so that his men have threatened his own life more than once. At the same time, he possesses great power over them, and has held them for many years under command.
Soon after the boat reached her, the sails of the stranger were spread, and she glided slowly out of the lagoon. Let us waft ourselves away, now, over the sea, in pursuit of the strange barque which had treated the good people of Ratinga so cavalierly. Richard Rosco sits in the cabin of the vessel, for it is he who commands her.
Ere long the sudden plash of a wave on the vessel's side recalled his mind to his bereavement; and a cry loud, long, and terrible arose from the vessel's hold, which caused even the stoutest and most reckless heart on board to quail. Richard Rosco now a pirate captain heard it as he sat alone in his cabin, his elbows resting on the table, and his white face buried in his hands.
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