"I, captain," replied Scudamore. "We need your judgment."
"Go until to-morrow. I will grant no favors to-day."
"I want no favors from you, only the execution of the law. Three members of the band took advantage of the time during which we were on shore to desert and take refuge in the interior of the island. But I sleep with my eyes open and, though I have but two of them, can watch the whole hundred men."
"And me also?"
"There can be no discrimination, captain, we need one another, whoever seeks to leave us is a traitor. We want no path for retreat, only for advance. Whoever has once sworn faith, is ours forever, belongs to hell, no power can free him, and if he will not live with us he must die."
"Have you captured the fugitives?"
"All three, they were only a mile from La Vega when we overtook them."
"Bring them before me singly."
Scudamore went in search of the prisoners, with fiendish delight, and returned dragging the first one by the ear.
He was a cowardly fellow whom the pirates had forced to join their band.