--"Front to front,
Bring thou this fiend----
Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape,
Heaven forgive him too!"--_Macbeth._
"You have brought the grateful submission of the pirate to my offers!"
exclaimed the sanguine Commander of the "Dart" to his messenger, as the
foot of the latter once more touched his deck.
"I bring nothing but defiance!" was the unexpected reply.
"Did you exhibit my statement? Surely, Mr Ark so material a document was
not forgotten!"
"Nothing was forgotten that the warmest interest in his safety could
suggest, Captain Bignall. Still the chief of yonder lawless ship refuses
to hearken to your conditions."
"Perhaps, sir, he imagines that the 'Dart' is defective in some of her
spars," returned the hasty old seaman, compressing his lips, with a look
