There was
an old man and woman inside, and a boy of about seventeen.
Dominique took off his hat as he entered, and said in French:
"Excuse me for disturbing you so late. I am the pilot of a vessel
now in the bay, and have been sent by the captain to carry an
important message to a gentleman who landed with another and two
ladies and some armed men. He did not give me sufficient directions
to find him, and I thought that if they passed along here you might
be able to put me in the way."
"They came along here between eleven and twelve, I think. We saw
them," the old man said, "and we heard afterwards that the ladies
were being taken away because the ship was, they thought, going to
be attacked by a pirate that had followed them. The people from the
villages went to help fight, for the gentleman had bought many
things and had paid well for them, and each man was promised a
dollar if there was no fighting, and four dollars if they helped
beat off the pirate."
"Yes, that was so," Dominique said, "but it seems that it was a
mistake. Still we had cause for alarm, for the other vessel
followed us strangely. However, it is all explained now, and I have
been sent with this message, because the captain thought that if he
sent a white sailor they would not give him the information.
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