Читать книгу The Secret Chart; or, Treasure Hunting in Hayti онлайн

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It was a relief for all hands when the golden shafts of light which came over the water proclaimed the rising of the sun, and the revelers emerged from the cabin to complete their act of piracy.

The leader lost no time in acquainting his prisoners with the fate in store for them.

Coming toward the hatch with unsteady movements, which told only too well how his time had been occupied, he first ordered that the gags should be removed, and then said to Captain Mansfield:

“I ’low it seems kinder rough for us to turn you out, but that’s what we’ve decided to do, an’ there’s no use in kickin’ up rusty about it.”

“Do you mean that we’re to be set adrift after doing all we could to relieve your distress?” the captain asked, huskily, for the gag had been in his mouth so long that it was difficult to speak with sufficient distinctness to make himself understood.

“That’s about the size of it,” the man replied, with a drunken leer. “There’s jest a chance we might get into trouble at Nassau, because the Mary and Jane was lost——”