It was not strange therefore that the two parties sat together silent.
Notwithstanding, however, the existence of this feeling on the part of the captain, his prudence suggested the necessity of saying something in order to enact with exactness the character of merchant-captain which he had for the time assumed.
“You seem to have much traffic in this island,” he said to the young merchant, in compliance with this suggestion of his reason.
“A great deal,” replied the young merchant, “we do business with all parts of the world. Never been here before? Not traded in these seas much I suppose? You do not seem to have been much exposed to the sun.”
The captain made no answer to the last observation.
“We have lately suffered much,” continued the merchant after a pause, “in our trade here from a rascally pirate that scours these seas. One vessel out of three is sure to fall into his hands. By the bye, you who are a stranger in this part of the world, have great reason to thank your stars that you have escaped him.”
“No doubt,” the captain coolly observed and drew a whiff of his cigar.
The merchant, also, drew two or three whiffs, and continued—
“It appears the captain of these pirates is a very remarkable fellow; he seems to care but little about the lives of those who fall into his hands, but contents himself with robbing them in a very gentlemanly and polite manner. Those that pass through his clutches, and put in here, tell such tales of him, that one would almost fancy they had been spell-bound during the time they were his captives.”
“Indeed!” interjected the captain.