I never saw Lancelot look more gallant, with courage and hope in his mien, and the soft wind fretting his hair. But the brightness faded away from his face a moment after as he added:
‘It grieves me to heart, sir, that you have to return to those ruffians.’
Mr. Ebrow extended his hand to Lancelot with a wintry smile.
‘It is my duty. I do but follow my Master’s orders, to do all in His Name and for His glory.’
He wrung Lancelot’s hand and mine, and the hand of every man in our troop. He gave us his blessing, and then, turning, walked with erect head to the sea.
As soon as the pirates saw him coming they rowed their boat a little nearer in, when they rested on their oars, while we stood to our guns and the parson waded steadily out into the deeper water.
When he reached their boat they dragged him on board roughly, and we could see from their gestures and his that he was telling them the result of the interview with us.
The telling did not seem to give any great satisfaction to the villains, and least of all to Jensen, for he struck the parson a heavy blow in the face with his clenched hand that felled him, tumbling down among the rowers. Then Jensen turned and shook his fist in our direction, and shouted out something that we could not hear because of the distance and the slight wind.
It seemed to me as if for a moment Jensen had a mind to order his boats to advance and try to effect a landing, and I wished this in my heart, for I was eager to come to blows with the villains, and confident that we should prove a match for them.
But it would seem as if discretion were to prevail with them, in which, indeed, they were wise, for to attempt to land even a more numerous force in the face of our well-armed men would have been rash and a rough business. We saw the boats sweep round and row rapidly away, and we watched those scarlet coats dwindle into red spots in the distance.