A few ship-lengths distant there lay another vessel, long, low, with the hull painted a dull black. Many culverins protruded their frowning mouths from her dark sides; her decks were crowded with men. From her mast there flew a black flag, and as I gazed at it the folds opened wide to the wind, and I saw upon its face the skull and crossbones of the sea rover.
From the vessel was putting out a boat filled with men, which was making for the ship on which I stood.
The voice of DeNortier fell upon my ears at this moment.
"Well, honored sir, I trust that thou hast had a pleasant trip."
I turned to him as he stood beside me looking at my face, with a sinister smile on his own.
"Pleasant trip!" I cried. "Yes—as the sufferings of the damned are pleasant, such pleasure have I had."
He shrugged his shoulders, then came close to me, and spoke in a lower tone:
"Thou hast in thy power to change it. Would it not be better to be a leader among those merry men yonder—to have the treasure of the world at thy command—than to languish out a miserable existence in some foul prison, shut out from the world; or perhaps to die by the thumbscrew and the torture?"
"Better," I replied, "perhaps—but answer one question."
"What is it?" he asked.