Page:The Ruby of Kishmoor (1908).djvu/96

 none other than Captain Keitt’s Portuguese sailing-master, who must have been spying upon Hunt! Tell me what happened next!”

“He would have taken my life,” said Jonathan, “but in the struggle that followed he shot himself accidentally with his own pistol, and died at my very feet. I do not know what would have happened to me if a sea-captain had not come and proffered his assistance.”

“A sea-captain!” she exclaimed; “and had he a flat face and a broken nose?”

“Indeed he had,” replied Jonathan.

“That,” said the lady, “must have been Captain Keitt’s pirate partner—Captain Willitts, of The Bloody Hand. He was doubtless spying upon the Portuguese.”

“He induced me,” said Jonathan, “to carry the two bodies down to the wharf. Having inveigled me there—where, I suppose, he thought no one could interfere—he assaulted me, and endeavored to take the ivory ball away from me. In my efforts to escape we both fell into the water, and