RECITATIVE: Now for the pirates' lair!
FREDERIC: Now for the pirates' lair! Oh, joy unbounded! 
Oh, sweet relief! Oh, rapture unexampled! 
At last I may atone, in some slight measure, 
For the repeated acts of theft and pillage 
Which, at a sense of duty's stern dictation, 
I, circumstance's victim, have been guilty!
(PIRATE KING and RUTH appear at the window, armed.)
KING: Young Frederic! (Covering him with pistol)
FREDERIC: Who calls?
KING: Your late commander!
RUTH: And I, your little Ruth! (Covering him with pistol)
FREDERIC: Oh, mad intruders, 
How dare ye face me? Know ye not, oh rash ones, 
That I have doomed you to extermination? (KING and RUTH 
hold a pistol to each ear)
KING: Have mercy on us! hear us, ere you slaughter!
FREDERIC: I do not think I ought to listen to you. 
Yet, mercy should alloy our stern resentment, 
And so I will be merciful-- say on!