"Then he will resort to some other means to accomplish his purpose in coming to Cyprus. Do you wish me to surrender the Maud to him?" asked the captain.
"Certainly not."
The Fatimé let go her anchor as near the Maud as the depth of water would permit her to come.
CHAPTER VIII
THE LECTURE ON THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS
Captain Scott was ready to do anything the occasion might require. Possibly he would not have been sorry to come into collision with Captain Mazagan and his piratical craft, judging from what he had said to Louis Belgrave, and he had pluck enough to precipitate a conflict with the enemy; but sometimes it requires more courage to keep out of a fight than to plunge into one.
As he had admitted himself, Louis was his model; and he felt that no rashness, no braggadocio, no challenging, no casting down the gage of battle to the pirate who had already outlawed himself, no holding out of a temptation to cross swords with him, would be justified or palliated when he came to render an account of his conduct in what was yet to occur to the commander of the Guardian-Mother.
Whatever he did he was to do strictly in self-defence. The character of Captain Ringgold and of Louis would permit nothing more than this. The "Big Four" fully understood why the Fatimé was there. It was true that the Maud had held out the temptation for her to follow her; but it was as a man with a gold watch and plenty of money in his purse holds out a temptation to the robber; but it does not follow that he should throw away his valuables.