Then, as quartermaster, he ran up that emblem of his
dreadful trade himself; became captain once more, and, with folded arms
and corrugated brow surveyed it gloomily. Then he went down to the
engine-room, put the yacht on half-speed, and, as well as he could,
stoked the fires.
For the next three hours the _Petrel_ forgot all the innocent
traditions of her youth as a pleasure boat, and traversed the Gulf of
Arcachon a shameless, ravening pirate, while Captain Hildebrand, the
Scourge of the Spanish Main, issued curt, sanguinary orders to an
imaginary but as blood-dyed a gang of villains as ever scuttled an
Indiaman. The Jolly Roger and three or four blank shots from the
little signal gun drove three panic-stricken fishing boats from their
fishing-ground as fast as oars and sails could carry them, to spread
abroad a legend of piracy in the Gulf which would last a generation.
It was nearly sunset before Captain Hildebrand returned to the serious
consideration of his business as Cupid's ally. Then he set the
_Petrel_ going dead slow, ran her gently on to a sandbank, and let fall
the anchor, which was hanging from her bows. This done, again a
pirate, he looked at the recumbent and still stertorous Alphonse and
Adolphe with cold, cruel eyes, and said, "It's time these lubbers
walked the plank.
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