Sergeant Gonzales turned away abruptly to nurse his wrath, and Fray Felipe smiled and his eyes twinkled. He waited a moment, then touched the sergeant on the shoulder.
“Soldiers and frailes alike are needed in the world,” Fray Felipe said. “There are times when a hardy soldier should be gentle—and even there are times when a fray should fight. Let us be friends!”
“Fray,” Sergeant Gonzales declared, “you are a noble fellow, after all! I forgive you for what you said about drinking wine. When the muss commences, fray, get you behind me. My sword shall shield you, fray!”
“I thank you,” Fray Felipe said. “And I shall shield you in turn with my prayers.”
“Prayers may have power,” Sergeant Gonzales told him, “but when it comes to fighting pirates give me my trusty blade! Fray, a pirate has not sense enough to know when a prayer is directed against him!”
Soon they came alongside the schooner and mounted to the deck by the light of torches. The boats were swung aboard, and the captain and Don Audre Ruiz held a long conference. Then there came a volley of orders, the anchor came up and the sails filled, and the schooner crept off the shore and away from the land through the black night.
Straight out to sea they went, gathering headway, and in time a faint streak of light showed across the land and the dawn came. Caballeros and crew strained their eyes and swept the sea in every direction. And finally the sharp eyes of one of the men aloft discovered a sail.
The course of the trading schooner was changed, and the chase began. Nearer their quarry they crept as the sun came up and bathed the sea and the land, glistening through the haze. Glasses were leveled at the distant craft.
“She is the pirate!” the schooner’s captain declared. “Her flag of iniquity flies from her mast!”
He bellowed another volley of orders to his crew, and they crowded on all sail. They rushed about the schooner, preparing her for the battle. The eager caballeros looked to their blades, the crew to their cutlasses.