“Not if I follow you down the river, I presume?” he said with a sort of sneer.
“Follow me, if you dare,” I cried; “you will meet with your master, depend upon it.”
“Sacre!” replied he, in a passion, “I will blow you out of the water; and if I take you I will hang you for a pirate.”
“Not the last, certainly,” I said coolly.
“Look you, Sir,” he cried, shutting his fist upon the palm of his other hand, “if I take you, I will hang you; and if you take me, you may serve me in the same way. Is it a bargain, or are you a coward?”
“Gentlemen,” I said to the officers present, “you must feel that your countryman is not behaving well. He has insulted me grossly. I will, however, consent to his terms on one condition, which is, that he will permit one of you, after he has sailed, to make known the conditions upon which we fight to his wife; and that one of you will pledge me his honour that he will impart these conditions as soon as we are gone.”
“Agree to do so—pledge yourself to do so, Xavier,” cried the French captain to one of the officers present.
“Since you wish it, certainly,” he said.
“You pledge yourself to make the conditions known to Madam, as soon as we have sailed?”
“I do, upon the honour of an officer and a gentleman,” replied he, “painful as it will be to me.”