"De Foe," said Johnson "that ought to be a lesson to you.This realism that you tie up to is all right when you are alone with your conscience; but when there are great things afoot, an imagination and a broad view as to the limitations of truth aren't at all bad.You or I might now be drinking that cocktail with Holmes if we'd only risen to the opportunity the way Munchausen did.""That is true," said De Foe, sadly."But I didn't suppose he wanted that kind of information.I could have spun a better yarn than that of Munchausen's with my eyes shut.I supposed he wanted truth, and Igave it."
"I'd like to know what has become of the House-boat," said Raleigh, anxiously gazing through the glass at the island."I can see old Henry Morgan sitting down there on the rocks with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, and Kidd and Abeuchapeta are standing back of him, yelling like mad, but there isn't a boat in sight.""Who is that man, off to the right, dancing a fandango?" asked Johnson.
"It looks like Conrad, but I can't tell.He appears to have gone crazy.He's got that wild look on his face which betokens insanity.
We'll have to be careful in our parleyings with these people," said Raleigh.
"Anything new?" asked Holmes, returning to the deck, smacking his lips in enjoyment of the cocktail.
"No--except that we are almost within hailing distance," said Cook.
"Then give orders to cast anchor," observed Holmes."Bonaparte, take a crew of picked men ashore and bring those pirates aboard.Take the three musketeers with you, and don't let Kidd or Morgan give you any back talk.If they try any funny business, exorcise them.""Aye, aye, sir," replied Bonaparte, and in a moment a boat had been lowered and a sturdy crew of sailors were pulling for the shore.As they came within ten feet of it the pirates made a mad dash down the rough, rocky hillside and clamored to be saved.
"What's happened to you?" cried Bonaparte, ordering the sailors to back water lest the pirates should too hastily board the boat and swamp her.
"We are marooned," replied Kidd, "and on an island of a volcanic nature.There isn't a square inch of it that isn't heated up to 125degrees, and seventeen of us have already evaporated.Conrad has lost his reason; Abeuchapeta has become so tenuous that a child can see through him.As for myself, I am growing iridescent with anxiety, and unless I get off this infernal furnace I'll disappear like a soap-bubble.For Heaven's sake, then, General, take us off, on your own terms.We'll accept anything."As if in confirmation of Kidd's words, six of the pirate crew collapsed and disappeared into thin air, and a glance at Abeuchapeta was proof enough of his condition.He had become as clear as crystal, and had it not been for his rugged outlines he would hardly have been visible even to his fellow-spirits.As for Kidd, he had taken on the aspect of a rainbow, and it was patent that his fears for himself were all too well founded.
Bonaparte embarked the leaders of the band first, returning subsequently for the others, and repaired with them at once to the Gehenna, where they were ushered into the presence of Sherlock Holmes.The first question he asked was as to the whereabouts of the House-boat.
"That we do not know," replied Kidd, mournfully, gazing downward at the wreck of his former self."We came ashore, sir, early yesterday morning, in search of food.It appears that when--acting in a wholly inexcusable fashion, and influenced, I confess it, by motives of revenge--I made off with your club-house, I neglected to ascertain if it were well stocked with provisions, a fatal error; for when we endeavored to get supper we discovered that the larder contained but half a bottle of farcie olives, two salted almonds, and a soda cracker--not a luxurious feast for sixty-nine pirates and a hundred and eighty-three women to sit down to.""That's all nonsense," said Demosthenes."The House Committee had provided enough supper for six hundred people, in anticipation of the appetite of the members on their return from the fight.""Of course they did," said Confucius; "and it was a good one, too--salads, salmon glace, lobsters--every blessed thing a man can't get at home we had; and what is more, they'd been delivered on board.Isaw to that before I went up the river."
"Then," moaned Kidd, "it is as I suspected.We were the victims of base treachery on the part of those women.""Treachery? Well, I like that.Call it reciprocity," said Hamlet, dryly.