THE SLOOP OF WAR Robert ate a light breakfast and went out to look at his domain, now unsullied.

What a fine, trim, clean island it was! And how desirable to be alone on it, when the Gulf and the Caribbean produced only such visitors as those who had come two nights before! He looked toward the little bay, fearing to see the topmast of the schooner showing its tip over the trees, but the sky there, an unbroken blue, was fouled by no such presence.

He was rid of the pirates--and forever he hoped.
It seemed to him that he had passed through an epic time, one of the great periods of his life.

He wondered now how he had been able to carry out such a plan, how he had managed to summon up courage and resources enough, and he felt that the good spirits of earth and air and water must have been on his side.

They had fought for him and they had won for him the victory.
He shouldered his rifle and strolled through the woods toward the beach.
He had never noticed before what a fine forest it was.