'Halter,' interrupted Blackbeard. 'Well, if it is, I shall not have to swing alone—there is some consolation in that—there is nothing like plenty of company, whichever road we may be travelling.'
'Ha! ha! ha!' laughed Rowland. 'You're a sad dog, Herbert, and well worthy the lineage from which you have descended. Now you will go and order the men to get their arms in readiness for a desperate fight, and despatch two of them to the brig with orders for her crew to hasten to our assistance.'
'But what shall be done with the passengers and crew of the Indiaman,' asked Blackbeard.
'There are none there of any great consequence to us,' answered Rowland, 'and as there is no room for us to be cumbered with them here, we shall be obliged to let them run a chance of escape. You can also tell Pepper to bring the prisoners now in the cavern immediately into my presence.'
Having received the above orders, Blackbeard departed upon his errand, and soon after, Pepper entered Rowland's presence, followed by Henry Huntington and his faithful servant, Mr. Patrick O'Leary.
After surveying the two prisoners for some moments in silence, Rowland spoke to Huntingdon in the following manner:
'You are undoubtedly much surprised at meeting me in this place, are you not, Mr. Huntington?'
'Since the mysterious events of this morning I have ceased to be surprised at anything,' answered Henry.
This reply was apparently unheeded by Rowland, who thus continued:
'I have sent for you here in order to inform you that to-morrow will be the last day of your existence. You have forfeited your life in two several and different ways to the laws of the free sons of the ocean.'