"A privateer?"
"Yes. You don't think the word an ugly one, do you? Now listen to me; you can't go back to Villa Moraquitos, can you?"
"No."
"And you and Don Juan have parted company for a long spell?"
"We have."
"Very well, then, why not join us? I may have more reasons than one for taking an interest in you. You can't stay in New Orleans, for by eight o'clock this morning your escape will be discovered. I've a fancy that you'd make a smart mate on board yonder vessel. Will you come?"
"I will," answered Paul, grasping his new friend by the hand. "You at least trust me—you do not fear to take me on board your vessel, though the hand of suspicion is upon me, and men have called me thief. Providence seems to have raised you up, as if by a miracle, to preserve me from disgrace, despair and death. I am yours for good or evil; in weal or woe I will serve you faithfully."
CHAPTER XVII.
REVELATIONS OF GUILT.
Don Juan Moraquitos was one of the first to hear of the escape of Paul Lisimon. The reader must remember that the Spaniard knew nothing of the infamous plot devised by Silas Craig at the instigation of Augustus Horton. He believed his protege to be guilty of the crime imputed to him.