"I will die first!" returned Mercedes.

Alvarado, meanwhile, had been struggling desperately to free himself. By the exercise of superhuman strength, just as Morgan again menaced the woman he loved, he succeeded in freeing himself from his loosely-tied bonds. His guards for the moment had their attention distracted from him by the group on horseback. He wrenched a sword from the hand of one, striking him a blow with his naked fist that sent him reeling as he did so, and then flung out his other arm so that the heavy pommel of the sword struck the second guard in the face, and the way was clear for the moment. He sprang forward instantly, seized Morgan's horse, forced him away from Mercedes by a wrench of his powerful arm, and stood at bay in front of the woman he loved. He said no word but stood with his sword up on guard, panting heavily from his fierce exertions.

"Alvarado, you will be killed!" screamed the girl, seeing the others make for him.

"Here we have it," sneered Morgan. "This is the secret of your refusal.

He is your lover."

"Seize him!" cried Teach, raising his sword, as followed by the others he made at Alvarado, who awaited them undaunted.

"Stay!" shouted de Lussan, "there is a better way."

Rudely shoving Senora Agapida aside, he seized Mercedes from behind.

"Do not move, mademoiselle," he said in French, in his excitement, which fortunately she understood.

"That's well done!" cried Morgan, "Captain Alvarado, if that be your name, throw down your sword if you would save the lady's life."

"Mind me not, Alvarado," cried Mercedes, but Alvarado, perceiving the situation, instantly dropped his weapon.

"Now seize him and bind him again! And you, dogs!" Morgan added, turning to the men who had allowed the prisoner to slip before, "if he escape you again you shall be hanged to the nearest tree!"

"Hadst not better bind the woman, too?" queried the Frenchman gently, still holding her fast in his fierce grasp.

"Ay, the wench as well. Oh, I'll break your spirit, my pretty one,"

answered Morgan savagely, flipping the young woman's cheek. "Wilt pay me blows for kisses? Scuttle me, you shall crawl at my feet before I've finished with you!"

"Why not kill this caballero out of hand, captain?" asked Hornigold, savage from a slight wound, as he limped up to Morgan.

"No, I have use for him. Are the rest silent?"

"They will tell no tales," laughed L'Ollonois grimly.

"Did none escape back up the road?"

"None, Sir Henry," answered the other. "My men closed in after them and drove them forward. They are all gone."

"That's well. Now, for La Guayra. What force is there, Senor Capitan?"

Alvarado remained obstinately silent. He did not speak even when Morgan ruthlessly cut him across the cheek with his dagger. He did not utter a sound, although Mercedes groaned in anguish at the sight of his torture.

"You'd best kill him, captain," said L'Ollonois.

"No, I have need for him, I say," answered Morgan, giving over the attempt to make him speak. "Is any one here who has been at La Guayra recently?" he asked of the others.

"I was there last year on a trading ship of France," answered Sawkins.

"What garrison then?"

"About two hundred and fifty."

"Was it well fortified?"

"As of old, sir, by the forts on either side and a rampart along the sea wall."

"Were the forts in good repair?"

"Well kept indeed, but most of the guns bore seaward."

"Have you the ladders ready?" cried Morgan to Braziliano, who had been charged to convey the rude scaling ladders by which they hoped to get over the walls.

"All ready, captain," answered that worthy.

"Let us go forward then. We'll halt just out of musket-shot and concert our further plans. We have the Governor in our hands, lads. The rest will be easy. There is plenty of plunder in La Guayra, and when we have made it our own we'll over the mountains and into Caracas. Hornigold, you are lame from a wound, look to the prisoners."

"To La Guayra! To La Guayra!" enthusiastically shouted the men, taking up the line of march.

The rising moon flooding the white strand made the scene as light as day. They kept good watch on the walls of La Guayra, for the sound of the shots in the night air had been heard by some keen-eared sentry, and as a result the garrison had been called to arms. The firing had been too heavy to be accounted for by any ordinary circ.u.mstances, and officers and soldiers had been at a loss to understand it. However, to take precautions were wise, and every preparation was made as if against an immediate attack. The drums were beaten; the ramparts were manned; the guns were primed, and such of the townspeople as were not too timid to bear arms were a.s.sembled under their militia officers.

The watchers on the west wall of the fort were soon aware of the approach of the buccaneers. Indeed, they made no concealment whatever about their motions. Who they were and what they were the garrison had not discovered and could not imagine. A prompt and well-aimed volley, however, as soon as the buccaneers came within range apprised them that they were dealing with enemies, and determined enemies at that. Under cover of the confusion caused by this unexpected discharge, Morgan deployed his men.

"Lads," he said, "we'll board yon fort with a rush and a cheer. The ladders will be placed on the walls, and under cover of a heavy fire from our musketry we'll go over them. Use only the cutla.s.s when you gain the parapet and ply like men. Remember what's on the other side!"

"Ay, but who'll plant the ladders?" asked one.

"The priests and women," said Morgan grimly. "I saved them for that."

A roar of laughter and cheers broke from the ruffianly gang as they appreciated the neatness of the old buccaneer's scheme.

"'Tis an old trick," he continued; "we did the same thing thirty years since at Porto Bello. Eh, Hornigold? How's that leg of yours?"

"Stiff and sore."

"Bide here then with the musketeers. Teach, you shall take the walls under the cliff yonder. L'Ollonois, lead your men straight at the fort.

De Lussan, let the curtain between be your point. I shall be with the first to get over. Now, charge your pieces all, and Hornigold, after we have started, by slow and careful fire do you keep the Spaniards down until you hear us cheer. After that, hold your fire."

"But I should like to be in the first rank myself, master," growled the old boatswain.

"Ha, ha!" laughed Morgan, "that's a right spirit, lad, but that cut leg holds you back, for which you have to thank this gentleman," bowing toward Alvarado with a hideous countenance. "You can be of service here.

Watch the musketeers. We would have no firing into our backs. Now bring up the women and priests. And, Hornigold, watch Senorita de Lara. See that she does not escape. On your life, man; I'd rather hold her safe,"

he muttered under his breath, "than take the whole city of Caracas."

With shouts of fiendish glee the buccaneers drove the hapless nuns and priests, who had been dragged along in the rear, to the front. The Spaniards were firing at them now, but with no effect so far. The distance was great and the moonlight made aim uncertain, and every time a head showed itself over the battlement it became a target for the fire of the musketeers, who, by Hornigold's orders, ran forward under the black shadow cast by the high cliff, where they could not be seen, and from this point of concealment, taking deliberate aim, made havoc among the defenders.

"Now, good fathers and sisters," began Morgan, "you have doubtless been curious to know why you were not put to death. I saved you--not because I loved you, but because I needed you. I had a purpose in view; that purpose is now apparent."

"What would you with us, senor?" asked Sister Maria Christina, the abbess, stepping out in front of her sisters.