In fact, he had at one time been master of a brig, but grog had been his ruin, and he was reduced to the ranks, and as man before the mast earned his living.
Luiga, for such was the name he chose to go by, more, perhaps, because so few could pronounce it correctly, took a great fancy to Bob, and told him such yarns of the Southern seas as fairly turned his head.
"When this war is over, I shall turn pirate," said Bob, "for I want to be rich."
In Bob's experience, which was all obtained second-hand from yarns spun by the seamen, pirates were all wealthy.
The prizes they captured were all rich ones, and the dangers of a pirate's life were but few.
Luiga loved a wild life, and so stirred Bob's blood that the two became, not only fast friends, but prospective partners in a piratical cruise to be undertaken when the war with England was at an end.
Every leisure hour of the day and night the two were together, and Luiga gained such power over the powder-monkey that he felt he could do as he liked with him.
"How are we to get a fast schooner?" asked Bob one evening.
Luiga looked mysteriously wise as he whispered: