[I.][ Far over the Hills][9]
[II.][ A Hero in Humble Life][22]
[III.][ The Isles of the Beautiful West][35]
[IV.][ The Arch-Pirates Morgan and Mansvelt][48]
[V.][ Fighting on Land and at Sea][62]
[VI.][ Fever’s Dreams—Strange Adventure on Shore][75]
[VII.][ Aileen O’More—Hiding the Treasure][87]
[VIII.][ “A Deed of Dreadful Note”—All Sail for the Island of Gold][100]
[IX.][ In Search of Gold][112]
[X.][ An Anxious Time—The Chase and Battle—How all Ended][125]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[One fell dead, and another was shot through the shoulder][Frontispiece]
[After we had left there was a terrible explosion][48]
[The fellow went down like a shot, and lay there stunned and insensible][128]

THE PIRATE’S GOLD.

CHAPTER I.
FAR OVER THE HILLS.

“Oh, would I were a boy again,
When life seemed formed of sunny years,
And all the heart then knew of pain
Was wept away in transient tears.”
Sam. F. Smith.

IT was autumn—autumn, that is, as we reckon the seasons in the Scottish Highlands. For August was wellnigh at a close. The heather, it is true, still bloomed crimson and red on the mountain sides and the beautiful braes, but the days were now appreciably shorter, and hot though they might be during the day, soon after the sun went down,

“And left the red clouds to preside o’er the scene,”

the winds felt chilly, and sometimes a little raw.