Even the women begged for weapons. There were boys and girls who were fiercely handling firearms, and swords, and pikes. Numerous as might be the buccaneers, they were likely to win a costly victory upon the deck of the Santa Teresa.
"There goes our mizzenmast," called out her mate to the captain. "We've no chance left, now!"
"We never had any, Roderigo," replied the captain. "O God! Here they come!"
"Ho! Captain Velasquez!" came from the man at the wheel. "A sail to larboard! A schooner!"
"A Yankee flag!" said Mate Roderigo. "Captain! She's heading this way!"
"Alas!" mourned the captain. "What can a Yankee sugar-boat do for us?"
A mournful wail went up from his women passengers as they heard him, but a tall gentleman near him touched his elbow.
"Captain!" he said, "look again. That American does not seem to fear the black flag. See! She is coming on full sail. What can it mean?"
"Perhaps she does not yet know what they are, Señor Alvarez," sadly responded the captain. "She will be as hopelessly lost as we are."
So thought the buccaneer captain himself, at that moment, for he and his hideous crew were already rejoicing over two triumphs to come instead of one, and a second feast of bloodshed after taking the Spaniard.