When he saw it his eyes shone like coals and his fingers began to twitch. "Hand it over," says he, "and I'll take ye straight."
"No, no," said I; "avast there, shipmate. You get your money when I see Captain Edward England, and not before."
"So be it," says he. "Lay your course straight ahead yonder, and I'll follow after and tell you how to go."
I looked coolly into the fellow's face, and could not help grinning. "Why," says I, "to tell the truth, shipmate" (here I drew my pistol out of my belt and cocked it), "I have no appetite for a knife betwixt the ribs; so you'll just march ahead, and if you try any of your tricks I'll put a brace of bullets through your head as sure as you're alive."
The fellow looked at me for a while in a puzzled sort of way; then he grinned, and swinging on his heel strode away, I following close behind him with the pistol ready cocked in my hand. We went onward in this way for about half a mile, until we came to a little hut that stood by itself beyond the rest of the town. My guide stopped short about fifty paces away from the hut. "There's where you'll find Ned England," said he, "and I'll go no farther for ten guineas, for I've no notion of catching the black tongue; and if you'll hearken to a bit of advice, shipmate, you'll give it a wide berth yourself."
I felt assured the fellow was telling me the truth, so I paid him his guinea, and then turned away and left him standing where he was, and as I stopped in front of the hut and looked back I saw that the man was yet standing in the very same spot, staring after me.
I may confess that I myself was somewhat overcome with fear of the dreadful disease, wherefore I stood for a moment before I knocked upon the door. But I presently rallied myself, calling to mind that this was the only means of recovering the Rose of Paradise, even if it was at the risk of my own life; therefore I knocked loudly on the door with the butt of my pistol.
My guide, who stood still in the same place, called out to me that there was no one to hear my knocking; so I pushed open the door and entered the hut.
For a while I saw nothing, for it was very dark within. But I heard a hoarse and chattering voice, scarce above a whisper, crying continually, "Hard a-lee!—hard a-lee!—hard a-lee!"
Presently mine eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and I might see the things around more clearly. There, in the corner of the room, lying upon a mat of filthy rags, his body almost a skeleton, his bloodshot eyes glaring out from under his matted hair, I beheld the famous pirate, Captain Edward England.