“Come below with me, young fellow,” he said in French.  “Jacques Clery, I shall want you too.”

“I do not think there is much need of interpreting, captain,” the sailor said, as he followed the others into the cabin.  “The lad can get on very fairly in French now, and will certainly understand the sense of anything you may say to him.”

“Look here, my lad,” the captain began, “you have been fairly treated since you came on board this brig.”

“I have been very kindly treated,” Ralph said.  “I have nothing whatever to complain of.”

“And we saved your life did we not?”

“Yes, sir, after first nearly taking it,” Ralph said with a smile.

“Ah, that was just as much your fault as ours.  Little fish ought to get out of the way of great ones, and I don’t consider we were in any way to blame in that matter.  Still there is the fact in the first place we saved your life, and in the second we treated you kindly.”

“I acknowledge that, sir,” Ralph said earnestly; “and I feel very grateful.  You might have sent me with the crew of that bark to prison had you chosen, and I am thankful to you that you kept me on board and have treated me as one of the crew.”

“Now, what I have to say to you is this lad:  I know that you are comfortable enough on board, and I have noticed that Jacques here has taken you specially under his wing.  You work willingly and well and have the makings of a first-class seaman in you; still I can understand that you would much rather be with your own people, and would be rather aiding them in capturing us than in aiding us to capture them.  Consequently you will if you see an opportunity probably try to escape.  I shall take as good care as I can to prevent you from doing so, and shall shoot you without hesitation if I catch you at it.  Still you may escape, and I cannot run the risk of having this place discovered and our trade knocked on the head.  I therefore offer you an alternative.  You will either give me your solemn oath not in any case to reveal the existence of this place, or I will put you on shore in charge of the party who remain here, and you will stop with them a prisoner till we sail away from this cruising ground, which may be in three months or may be in a year.  What do you say?  Don’t answer me hastily, and do not take the oath unless you are convinced you can keep it however great the temptation held out to you to betray us.”

Ralph needed but a minute to consider the proposal.  The oath did not bind him in any way to abstain from making an attempt to escape, but simply to guard the secret of the privateer rendezvous.  If he remained here on shore he would have no chance whatever of escape, and might moreover meet with very rough treatment from those left in charge of him.  “I am quite ready to take the oath not to reveal the secret of this place, captain,” he said.  “I do not think that in any case after having been so kindly treated by you I should have been inclined to betray you.  However as you offer me the alternative I am ready to take any oath you like of silence, and that oath I will assuredly keep whatever pressure may be laid upon me, it being understood of course that the oath in no way prevents my taking any opportunity that may present itself of making my escape.”