“Serviteur!” said he.

M. de Cussy returned the bow and accepted a seat on the locker under the stem windows.

“You have a good force here under your command, my Captain,” said he.

“Some eight hundred men.”

“And I understand they grow restive in idleness.”

“They may go to the devil when they please.”

M. de Cussy took snuff delicately.  “I have something better than that to propose,” said he.

“Propose it, then,” said Blood, without interest.

M. de Cussy looked at M. d’Ogeron, and raised his eyebrows a little.  He did not find Captain Blood encouraging.  But M. d’Ogeron nodded vigorously with pursed lips, and the Governor of Hispaniola propounded his business.

“News has reached us from France that there is war with Spain.”

“That is news, is it?” growled Blood.

“I am speaking officially, my Captain.  I am not alluding to unofficial skirmishes, and unofficial predatory measures which we have condoned out here.  There is war — formally war — between France and Spain in Europe.  It is the intention of France that this war shall be carried into the New World.  A fleet is coming out from Brest under the command of M. le Baron de Rivarol for that purpose.  I have letters from him desiring me to equip a supplementary squadron and raise a body of not less than a thousand men to reenforce him on his arrival.  What I have come to propose to you, my Captain, at the suggestion of our good friend M. d’Ogeron, is, in brief, that you enroll your ships and your force under M. de Rivarol’s flag.”

Blood looked at him with a faint kindling of interest.  “You are offering to take us into the French service?” he asked.  “On what terms, monsieur?”

“With the rank of Capitaine de Vaisseau for yourself, and suitable ranks for the officers serving under you.  You will enjoy the pay of that rank, and you will be entitled, together with your men, to one-tenth share in all prizes taken.”

“My men will hardly account it generous.  They will tell you that they can sail out of here to-morrow, disembowel a Spanish settlement, and keep the whole of the plunder.”

“Ah, yes, but with the risks attaching to acts of piracy.  With us your position will be regular and official, and considering the powerful fleet by which M. de Rivarol is backed, the enterprises to be undertaken will be on a much vaster scale than anything you could attempt on your own account.  So that the one tenth in this case may be equal to more than the whole in the other.”

Captain Blood considered.  This, after all, was not piracy that was being proposed.  It was honourable employment in the service of the King of France.

“I will consult my officers,” he said; and he sent for them.