"That you may not betray us by a signal to the other ships. No excuses. I must have the best cargo, unless you want me to content myself with yours. Forward!"
The captain yielded, threw on his clothes, and surrounded by the three pirates, without daring to attract the attention of his own men, he followed Barthelemy and his companions into the boat, which returned to the ship.
Meanwhile the men on board of the other vessels in the fleet quietly witnessed the strange vessel's intercourse with the Triton, without the slightest suspicion.
On reaching the Sea Devil, the abducted captain pointed out to Captain Barthelemy the vessel he desired, assuring him, on his word of honor, that it possessed the most valuable cargo, but withholding the fact that it had forty guns and a crew of one hundred and fifty men.
The Sea Devil instantly turned and steered toward the ship.
She was a huge three-master of clumsy build; her elaborately ornamented prow, the shape of her decks, and her rigging all marked her as an old-fashioned merchantman.
The pirate had come so near that one could shout from one ship to the other. The deepest silence reigned on board the former, the men stood motionless at their posts beside the ropes, oars, or guns. Suddenly, when every eye was fixed upon the approaching ship, whose mate watched the craft with drowsy indifference, not feeling the slightest suspicion, the captured captain perceived that no one was watching him and, springing on the bulwark, shouted: "To arms, men!" threw himself into the sea, and swam rapidly back to his own ship.
All this was done so quickly and unexpectedly that the pirates, in their surprise, did not know what course to pursue.
The attention of the crew had been instantly roused by the captain's warning shout, and the pirates saw with astonishment the superior force that opposed them.
Some looked doubtfully at each other, and all thought that instant flight was their only refuge.