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diff --git a/26862.txt b/26862.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f0447f --- /dev/null +++ b/26862.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9705 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates, by Howard I. Pyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates + +Author: Howard I. Pyle + +Release Date: October 10, 2008 [EBook #26862] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOWARD PYLE'S BOOK OF PIRATES *** + + + + +Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, +some images courtesy of The Internet Archive, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + [Illustration: The Challenge + Studio April 7 1903. + H. Pyle. del.] + + + [Illustration: + + Howard Pyle's + Book of Pirates + + Ye Pirate Bold, as imagined by + a Quaker Gentleman in the-- + Farm Lands of Pennsylvania-- + + Howard Pyle--Chadds Ford + September 13th 1903--] + + + [Illustration: AN ATTACK ON A GALLEON] + + + Howard Pyle's + + Book of Pirates + + + + + Fiction, Fact & Fancy concerning + the Buccaneers & Marooners of + the Spanish Main: _From the_ + writing & Pictures _of_ Howard + Pyle: _Compiled by_ Merle Johnson + + + + + + Harper & Brothers _Publishers_ + + New York & London + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + FOREWORD BY MERLE JOHNSON xi + + PREFACE xiii + +I. BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN 3 + +II. THE GHOST OF CAPTAIN BRAND 39 + +III. WITH THE BUCCANEERS 75 + +IV. TOM CHIST AND THE TREASURE BOX 99 + +V. JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES 129 + +VI. BLUESKIN, THE PIRATE 150 + +VII. CAPTAIN SCARFIELD 187 + +VIII. THE RUBY OF KISHMOOR 210 + + +[Illustration] + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration] + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +AN ATTACK ON A GALLEON _Frontispiece_ + +ON THE TOTUGAS _Facing p._ 6 + +CAPTURE OF THE GALLEON " 10 + +HENRY MORGAN RECRUITING FOR THE ATTACK " 14 + +MORGAN AT PORTO BELLO " 16 + +THE SACKING OF PANAMA " 20 + +MAROONED " 26 + +BLACKBEARD BURIES HIS TREASURE " 32 + +WALKING THE PLANK " 36 + +"CAPTAIN MALYOE SHOT CAPTAIN BRAND THROUGH THE HEAD" " 40 + +"SHE WOULD SIT QUITE STILL, PERMITTING BARNABY TO GAZE" " 68 + +BURIED TREASURE " 76 + +KIDD ON THE DECK OF THE "ADVENTURE GALLEY" " 85 + +BURNING THE SHIP " 92 + +WHO SHALL BE CAPTAIN? " 104 + +KIDD AT GARDINER'S ISLAND " 108 + +EXTORTING TRIBUTE FROM THE CITIZENS " 116 + +"PIRATES USED TO DO THAT TO THEIR CAPTAINS NOW AND THEN" " 124 + +"JACK FOLLOWED THE CAPTAIN AND THE YOUNG LADY UP THE + CROOKED PATH TO THE HOUSE" " 132 + +"HE LED JACK UP TO A MAN WHO SAT UPON A BARREL" " 136 + +"THE BULLETS WERE HUMMING AND SINGING, CLIPPING ALONG THE + TOP OF THE WATER" " 142 + +"THE COMBATANTS CUT AND SLASHED WITH SAVAGE FURY" " 146 + +SO THE TREASURE WAS DIVIDED " 154 + +COLONEL RHETT AND THE PIRATE " 162 + +THE PIRATE'S CHRISTMAS " 174 + +"HE LAY SILENT AND STILL, WITH HIS FACE HALF BURIED IN + THE SAND" " 182 + +"THERE CAP'N GOLDSACK GOES, CREEPING, CREEPING, CREEPING, + LOOKING FOR HIS TREASURE DOWN BELOW!" " 186 + +"HE HAD FOUND THE CAPTAIN AGREEABLE AND COMPANIONABLE" " 190 + +THE BUCCANEER WAS A PICTURESQUE FELLOW " 196 + +THEN THE REAL FIGHT BEGAN " 200 + +"HE STRUCK ONCE AND AGAIN AT THE BALD, NARROW FOREHEAD + BENEATH HIM" " 206 + +CAPTAIN KEITT " 212 + +HOW THE BUCCANEERS KEPT CHRISTMAS " 224 + +THE BURNING SHIP " 236 + +DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES " 240 + +"I AM THE DAUGHTER OF THAT UNFORTUNATE CAPTAIN KEITT" " 244 + + * * * * * + + + + +FOREWORD + + +Pirates, Buccaneers, Marooners, those cruel but picturesque sea wolves +who once infested the Spanish Main, all live in present-day +conceptions in great degree as drawn by the pen and pencil of Howard +Pyle. + +Pyle, artist-author, living in the latter half of the nineteenth +century and the first decade of the twentieth, had the fine faculty of +transposing himself into any chosen period of history and making its +people flesh and blood again--not just historical puppets. His +characters were sketched with both words and picture; with both words +and picture he ranks as a master, with a rich personality which makes +his work individual and attractive in either medium. + +He was one of the founders of present-day American illustration, and +his pupils and grand-pupils pervade that field to-day. While he bore +no such important part in the world of letters, his stories are modern +in treatment, and yet widely read. His range included historical +treatises concerning his favorite Pirates (Quaker though he was); +fiction, with the same Pirates as principals; Americanized version of +Old World fairy tales; boy stories of the Middle Ages, still best +sellers to growing lads; stories of the occult, such as _In Tenebras_ +and _To the Soil of the Earth_, which, if newly published, would be +hailed as contributions to our latest cult. + +In all these fields Pyle's work may be equaled, surpassed, save in +one. It is improbable that anyone else will ever bring his combination +of interest and talent to the depiction of these old-time Pirates, any +more than there could be a second Remington to paint the now extinct +Indians and gun-fighters of the Great West. + +Important and interesting to the student of history, the +adventure-lover, and the artist, as they are, these Pirate stories and +pictures have been scattered through many magazines and books. Here, +in this volume, they are gathered together for the first time, perhaps +not just as Mr. Pyle would have done, but with a completeness and +appreciation of the real value of the material which the author's +modesty might not have permitted. + +MERLE JOHNSON. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + +PREFACE + + +Why is it that a little spice of deviltry lends not an unpleasantly +titillating twang to the great mass of respectable flour that goes to +make up the pudding of our modern civilization? And pertinent to this +question another--Why is it that the pirate has, and always has had, a +certain lurid glamour of the heroical enveloping him round about? Is +there, deep under the accumulated debris of culture, a hidden +groundwork of the old-time savage? Is there even in these +well-regulated times an unsubdued nature in the respectable mental +household of every one of us that still kicks against the pricks of +law and order? To make my meaning more clear, would not every boy, for +instance--that is, every boy of any account--rather be a pirate +captain than a Member of Parliament? And we ourselves--would we not +rather read such a story as that of Captain Avery's capture of the +East Indian treasure ship, with its beautiful princess and load of +jewels (which gems he sold by the handful, history sayeth, to a +Bristol merchant), than, say, one of Bishop Atterbury's sermons, or +the goodly Master Robert Boyle's religious romance of "Theodora and +Didymus"? It is to be apprehended that to the unregenerate nature of +most of us there can be but one answer to such a query. + +In the pleasurable warmth the heart feels in answer to tales of +derring-do Nelson's battles are all mightily interesting, but, even +in spite of their romance of splendid courage, I fancy that the +majority of us would rather turn back over the leaves of history to +read how Drake captured the Spanish treasure ship in the South Sea, +and of how he divided such a quantity of booty in the Island of Plate +(so named because of the tremendous dividend there declared) that it +had to be measured in quart bowls, being too considerable to be +counted. + +Courage and daring, no matter how mad and ungodly, have always a +redundancy of _vim_ and life to recommend them to the nether man that +lies within us, and no doubt his desperate courage, his battle against +the tremendous odds of all the civilized world of law and order, have +had much to do in making a popular hero of our friend of the black +flag. But it is not altogether courage and daring that endear him to +our hearts. There is another and perhaps a greater kinship in that +lust for wealth that makes one's fancy revel more pleasantly in the +story of the division of treasure in the pirate's island retreat, the +hiding of his godless gains somewhere in the sandy stretch of tropic +beach, there to remain hidden until the time should come to rake the +doubloons up again and to spend them like a lord in polite society, +than in the most thrilling tales of his wonderful escapes from +commissioned cruisers through tortuous channels between the coral +reefs. + +And what a life of adventure is his, to be sure! A life of constant +alertness, constant danger, constant escape! An ocean Ishmaelite, he +wanders forever aimlessly, homelessly; now unheard of for months, now +careening his boat on some lonely uninhabited shore, now appearing +suddenly to swoop down on some merchant vessel with rattle of +musketry, shouting, yells, and a hell of unbridled passions let loose +to rend and tear. What a Carlislean hero! What a setting of blood and +lust and flame and rapine for such a hero! + +Piracy, such as was practiced in the flower of its days--that is, +during the early eighteenth century--was no sudden growth. It was an +evolution, from the semilawful buccaneering of the sixteenth century, +just as buccaneering was upon its part, in a certain sense, an +evolution from the unorganized, unauthorized warfare of the Tudor +period. + +For there was a deal of piratical smack in the anti-Spanish ventures +of Elizabethan days. Many of the adventurers--of the Sir Francis Drake +school, for instance--actually overstepped again and again the bounds +of international law, entering into the realms of _de facto_ piracy. +Nevertheless, while their doings were not recognized officially by the +government, the perpetrators were neither punished nor reprimanded for +their excursions against Spanish commerce at home or in the West +Indies; rather were they commended, and it was considered not +altogether a discreditable thing for men to get rich upon the spoils +taken from Spanish galleons in times of nominal peace. Many of the +most reputable citizens and merchants of London, when they felt that +the queen failed in her duty of pushing the fight against the great +Catholic Power, fitted out fleets upon their own account and sent them +to levy good Protestant war of a private nature upon the Pope's +anointed. + +Some of the treasures captured in such ventures were immense, +stupendous, unbelievable. For an example, one can hardly credit the +truth of the "purchase" gained by Drake in the famous capture of the +plate ship in the South Sea. + +One of the old buccaneer writers of a century later says: "The +Spaniards affirm to this day that he took at that time twelvescore +tons of plate and sixteen bowls of coined money a man (his number +being then forty-five men in all), insomuch that they were forced to +heave much of it overboard, because his ship could not carry it all." + +Maybe this was a very greatly exaggerated statement put by the author +and his Spanish authorities, nevertheless there was enough truth in it +to prove very conclusively to the bold minds of the age that +tremendous profits--"purchases" they called them--were to be made from +piracy. The Western World is filled with the names of daring mariners +of those old days, who came flitting across the great trackless ocean +in their little tublike boats of a few hundred tons burden, partly to +explore unknown seas, partly--largely, perhaps--in pursuit of Spanish +treasure: Frobisher, Davis, Drake, and a score of others. + +In this left-handed war against Catholic Spain many of the adventurers +were, no doubt, stirred and incited by a grim, Calvinistic, +puritanical zeal for Protestantism. But equally beyond doubt the gold +and silver and plate of the "Scarlet Woman" had much to do with the +persistent energy with which these hardy mariners braved the +mysterious, unknown terrors of the great unknown ocean that stretched +away to the sunset, there in far-away waters to attack the huge, +unwieldy, treasure-laden galleons that sailed up and down the +Caribbean Sea and through the Bahama Channel. + +Of all ghastly and terrible things old-time religious war was the most +ghastly and terrible. One can hardly credit nowadays the cold, callous +cruelty of those times. Generally death was the least penalty that +capture entailed. When the Spaniards made prisoners of the English, +the Inquisition took them in hand, and what that meant all the world +knows. When the English captured a Spanish vessel the prisoners were +tortured, either for the sake of revenge or to compel them to disclose +where treasure lay hidden. Cruelty begat cruelty, and it would be hard +to say whether the Anglo-Saxon or the Latin showed himself to be most +proficient in torturing his victim. + +When Cobham, for instance, captured the Spanish ship in the Bay of +Biscay, after all resistance was over and the heat of the battle had +cooled, he ordered his crew to bind the captain and all of the crew +and every Spaniard aboard--whether in arms or not--to sew them up in +the mainsail and to fling them overboard. There were some twenty dead +bodies in the sail when a few days later it was washed up on the +shore. + +Of course such acts were not likely to go unavenged, and many an +innocent life was sacrificed to pay the debt of Cobham's cruelty. + +Nothing could be more piratical than all this. Nevertheless, as was +said, it was winked at, condoned, if not sanctioned, by the law; and +it was not beneath people of family and respectability to take part in +it. But by and by Protestantism and Catholicism began to be at +somewhat less deadly enmity with each other; religious wars were still +far enough from being ended, but the scabbard of the sword was no +longer flung away when the blade was drawn. And so followed a time of +nominal peace, and a generation arose with whom it was no longer +respectable and worthy--one might say a matter of duty--to fight a +country with which one's own land was not at war. Nevertheless, the +seed had been sown; it had been demonstrated that it was feasible to +practice piracy against Spain and not to suffer therefor. Blood had +been shed and cruelty practiced, and, once indulged, no lust seems +stronger than that of shedding blood and practicing cruelty. + +Though Spain might be ever so well grounded in peace at home, in the +West Indies she was always at war with the whole world--English, +French, Dutch. It was almost a matter of life or death with her to +keep her hold upon the New World. At home she was bankrupt and, upon +the earthquake of the Reformation, her power was already beginning to +totter and to crumble to pieces. America was her treasure house, and +from it alone could she hope to keep her leaking purse full of gold +and silver. So it was that she strove strenuously, desperately, to +keep out the world from her American possessions--a bootless task, for +the old order upon which her power rested was broken and crumbled +forever. But still she strove, fighting against fate, and so it was +that in the tropical America it was one continual war between her and +all the world. Thus it came that, long after piracy ceased to be +allowed at home, it continued in those far-away seas with unabated +vigor, recruiting to its service all that lawless malign element which +gathers together in every newly opened country where the only law is +lawlessness, where might is right and where a living is to be gained +with no more trouble than cutting a throat. + +[Illustration: Howard Pyle, +His mark] + + + + + +Howard Pyle's +Book of Pirates + + +[Illustration] + +Ye Pirate Bold. + +It is not because of his life of adventure and daring that I admire +this one of my favorite heroes; nor is it because of blowing winds nor +blue ocean nor balmy islands which he knew so well; nor is it because +of gold he spent nor treasure he hid. He was a man who knew his own +mind and what he wanted. + +Howard Pyle + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chapter I + +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + + +Just above the northwestern shore of the old island of Hispaniola--the +Santo Domingo of our day--and separated from it only by a narrow +channel of some five or six miles in width, lies a queer little hunch +of an island, known, because of a distant resemblance to that animal, +as the Tortuga de Mar, or sea turtle. It is not more than twenty miles +in length by perhaps seven or eight in breadth; it is only a little +spot of land, and as you look at it upon the map a pin's head would +almost cover it; yet from that spot, as from a center of inflammation, +a burning fire of human wickedness and ruthlessness and lust overran +the world, and spread terror and death throughout the Spanish West +Indies, from St. Augustine to the island of Trinidad, and from Panama +to the coasts of Peru. + +About the middle of the seventeenth century certain French adventurers +set out from the fortified island of St. Christopher in longboats and +hoys, directing their course to the westward, there to discover new +islands. Sighting Hispaniola "with abundance of joy," they landed, and +went into the country, where they found great quantities of wild +cattle, horses, and swine. + +Now vessels on the return voyage to Europe from the West Indies needed +revictualing, and food, especially flesh, was at a premium in the +islands of the Spanish Main; wherefore a great profit was to be turned +in preserving beef and pork, and selling the flesh to homeward-bound +vessels. + +The northwestern shore of Hispaniola, lying as it does at the eastern +outlet of the old Bahama Channel, running between the island of Cuba +and the great Bahama Banks, lay almost in the very main stream of +travel. The pioneer Frenchmen were not slow to discover the double +advantage to be reaped from the wild cattle that cost them nothing to +procure, and a market for the flesh ready found for them. So down upon +Hispaniola they came by boatloads and shiploads, gathering like a +swarm of mosquitoes, and overrunning the whole western end of the +island. There they established themselves, spending the time +alternately in hunting the wild cattle and buccanning[1] the meat, and +squandering their hardly earned gains in wild debauchery, the +opportunities for which were never lacking in the Spanish West Indies. + +[Footnote 1: Buccanning, by which the "buccaneers" gained their name, +was a process of curing thin strips of meat by salting, smoking, and +drying in the sun.] + +At first the Spaniards thought nothing of the few travel-worn +Frenchmen who dragged their longboats and hoys up on the beach, and +shot a wild bullock or two to keep body and soul together; but when +the few grew to dozens, and the dozens to scores, and the scores to +hundreds, it was a very different matter, and wrathful grumblings and +mutterings began to be heard among the original settlers. + +But of this the careless buccaneers thought never a whit, the only +thing that troubled them being the lack of a more convenient shipping +point than the main island afforded them. + +This lack was at last filled by a party of hunters who ventured across +the narrow channel that separated the main island from Tortuga. Here +they found exactly what they needed--a good harbor, just at the +junction of the Windward Channel with the old Bahama Channel--a spot +where four-fifths of the Spanish-Indian trade would pass by their very +wharves. + +There were a few Spaniards upon the island, but they were a quiet +folk, and well disposed to make friends with the strangers; but when +more Frenchmen and still more Frenchmen crossed the narrow channel, +until they overran the Tortuga and turned it into one great curing +house for the beef which they shot upon the neighboring island, the +Spaniards grew restive over the matter, just as they had done upon the +larger island. + +Accordingly, one fine day there came half a dozen great boatloads of +armed Spaniards, who landed upon the Turtle's Back and sent the +Frenchmen flying to the woods and fastnesses of rocks as the chaff +flies before the thunder gust. That night the Spaniards drank +themselves mad and shouted themselves hoarse over their victory, while +the beaten Frenchmen sullenly paddled their canoes back to the main +island again, and the Sea Turtle was Spanish once more. + +But the Spaniards were not contented with such a petty triumph as that +of sweeping the island of Tortuga free from the obnoxious strangers; +down upon Hispaniola they came, flushed with their easy victory, and +determined to root out every Frenchman, until not one single buccaneer +remained. For a time they had an easy thing of it, for each French +hunter roamed the woods by himself, with no better company than his +half-wild dogs, so that when two or three Spaniards would meet such a +one, he seldom if ever came out of the woods again, for even his +resting place was lost. + +But the very success of the Spaniards brought their ruin along with +it, for the buccaneers began to combine together for self-protection, +and out of that combination arose a strange union of lawless man with +lawless man, so near, so close, that it can scarce be compared to any +other than that of husband and wife. When two entered upon this +comradeship, articles were drawn up and signed by both parties, a +common stock was made of all their possessions, and out into the woods +they went to seek their fortunes; thenceforth they were as one man; +they lived together by day, they slept together by night; what one +suffered, the other suffered; what one gained, the other gained. The +only separation that came betwixt them was death, and then the +survivor inherited all that the other left. And now it was another +thing with Spanish buccaneer hunting, for two buccaneers, reckless of +life, quick of eye, and true of aim, were worth any half dozen of +Spanish islanders. + +By and by, as the French became more strongly organized for mutual +self-protection, they assumed the offensive. Then down they came upon +Tortuga, and now it was the turn of the Spanish to be hunted off the +island like vermin, and the turn of the French to shout their victory. + +Having firmly established themselves, a governor was sent to the +French of Tortuga, one M. le Passeur, from the island of St. +Christopher; the Sea Turtle was fortified, and colonists, consisting +of men of doubtful character and women of whose character there could +be no doubt whatever, began pouring in upon the island, for it was +said that the buccaneers thought no more of a doubloon than of a Lima +bean, so that this was the place for the brothel and the brandy shop +to reap their golden harvest, and the island remained French. + +[Illustration: On the Tortugas + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September_, 1887] + +Hitherto the Tortugans had been content to gain as much as possible +from the homeward-bound vessels through the orderly channels of +legitimate trade. It was reserved for Pierre le Grand to introduce +piracy as a quicker and more easy road to wealth than the semihonest +exchange they had been used to practice. + +Gathering together eight-and-twenty other spirits as hardy and +reckless as himself, he put boldly out to sea in a boat hardly large +enough to hold his crew, and running down the Windward Channel and out +into the Caribbean Sea, he lay in wait for such a prize as might be +worth the risks of winning. + +For a while their luck was steadily against them; their provisions and +water began to fail, and they saw nothing before them but starvation +or a humiliating return. In this extremity they sighted a Spanish ship +belonging to a "flota" which had become separated from her consorts. + +The boat in which the buccaneers sailed might, perhaps, have served +for the great ship's longboat; the Spaniards outnumbered them three to +one, and Pierre and his men were armed only with pistols and +cutlasses; nevertheless this was their one and their only chance, and +they determined to take the Spanish ship or to die in the attempt. +Down upon the Spaniard they bore through the dusk of the night, and +giving orders to the "chirurgeon" to scuttle their craft under them as +they were leaving it, they swarmed up the side of the unsuspecting +ship and upon its decks in a torrent--pistol in one hand and cutlass +in the other. A part of them ran to the gun room and secured the arms +and ammunition, pistoling or cutting down all such as stood in their +way or offered opposition; the other party burst into the great cabin +at the heels of Pierre le Grand, found the captain and a party of his +friends at cards, set a pistol to his breast, and demanded him to +deliver up the ship. Nothing remained for the Spaniard but to yield, +for there was no alternative between surrender and death. And so the +great prize was won. + +It was not long before the news of this great exploit and of the vast +treasure gained reached the ears of the buccaneers of Tortuga and +Hispaniola. Then what a hubbub and an uproar and a tumult there was! +Hunting wild cattle and buccanning the meat was at a discount, and the +one and only thing to do was to go a-pirating; for where one such +prize had been won, others were to be had. + +In a short time freebooting assumed all of the routine of a regular +business. Articles were drawn up betwixt captain and crew, compacts +were sealed, and agreements entered into by the one party and the +other. + +In all professions there are those who make their mark, those who +succeed only moderately well, and those who fail more or less +entirely. Nor did pirating differ from this general rule, for in it +were men who rose to distinction, men whose names, something tarnished +and rusted by the lapse of years, have come down even to us of the +present day. + +Pierre Francois, who, with his boatload of six-and-twenty desperadoes, +ran boldly into the midst of the pearl fleet off the coast of South +America, attacked the vice admiral under the very guns of two +men-of-war, captured his ship, though she was armed with eight guns +and manned with threescore men, and would have got her safely away, +only that having to put on sail, their main-mast went by the board, +whereupon the men-of-war came up with them, and the prize was lost. + +But even though there were two men-of-war against all that remained of +six-and-twenty buccaneers, the Spaniards were glad enough to make +terms with them for the surrender of the vessel, whereby Pierre +Francois and his men came off scot-free. + +Bartholomew Portuguese was a worthy of even more note. In a boat +manned with thirty fellow adventurers he fell upon a great ship off +Cape Corrientes, manned with threescore and ten men, all told. + +Her he assaulted again and again, beaten off with the very pressure of +numbers only to renew the assault, until the Spaniards who survived, +some fifty in all, surrendered to twenty living pirates, who poured +upon their decks like a score of blood-stained, powder-grimed devils. + +They lost their vessel by recapture, and Bartholomew Portuguese barely +escaped with his life through a series of almost unbelievable +adventures. But no sooner had he fairly escaped from the clutches of +the Spaniards than, gathering together another band of adventurers, he +fell upon the very same vessel in the gloom of the night, recaptured +her when she rode at anchor in the harbor of Campeche under the guns +of the fort, slipped the cable, and was away without the loss of a +single man. He lost her in a hurricane soon afterward, just off the +Isle of Pines; but the deed was none the less daring for all that. + +Another notable no less famous than these two worthies was Roch +Braziliano, the truculent Dutchman who came up from the coast of +Brazil to the Spanish Main with a name ready-made for him. Upon the +very first adventure which he undertook he captured a plate ship of +fabulous value, and brought her safely into Jamaica; and when at last +captured by the Spaniards, he fairly frightened them into letting him +go by truculent threats of vengeance from his followers. + +Such were three of the pirate buccaneers who infested the Spanish +Main. There were hundreds no less desperate, no less reckless, no less +insatiate in their lust for plunder, than they. + +The effects of this freebooting soon became apparent. The risks to be +assumed by the owners of vessels and the shippers of merchandise +became so enormous that Spanish commerce was practically swept away +from these waters. No vessel dared to venture out of port excepting +under escort of powerful men-of-war, and even then they were not +always secure from molestation. Exports from Central and South America +were sent to Europe by way of the Strait of Magellan, and little or +none went through the passes between the Bahamas and the Caribbees. + +So at last "buccaneering," as it had come to be generically called, +ceased to pay the vast dividends that it had done at first. The cream +was skimmed off, and only very thin milk was left in the dish. +Fabulous fortunes were no longer earned in a ten days' cruise, but +what money was won hardly paid for the risks of the winning. There +must be a new departure, or buccaneering would cease to exist. + +Then arose one who showed the buccaneers a new way to squeeze money +out of the Spaniards. This man was an Englishman--Lewis Scot. + +The stoppage of commerce on the Spanish Main had naturally tended to +accumulate all the wealth gathered and produced into the chief +fortified cities and towns of the West Indies. As there no longer +existed prizes upon the sea, they must be gained upon the land, if +they were to be gained at all. Lewis Scot was the first to appreciate +this fact. + +Gathering together a large and powerful body of men as hungry for +plunder and as desperate as himself, he descended upon the town of +Campeche, which he captured and sacked, stripping it of everything +that could possibly be carried away. + +When the town was cleared to the bare walls Scot threatened to set the +torch to every house in the place if it was not ransomed by a large +sum of money which he demanded. With this booty he set sail for +Tortuga, where he arrived safely--and the problem was solved. + +After him came one Mansvelt, a buccaneer of lesser note, who first +made a descent upon the isle of Saint Catharine, now Old Providence, +which he took, and, with this as a base, made an unsuccessful descent +upon Neuva Granada and Cartagena. His name might not have been handed +down to us along with others of greater fame had he not been the +master of that most apt of pupils, the great Captain Henry Morgan, +most famous of all the buccaneers, one time governor of Jamaica, and +knighted by King Charles II. + +[Illustration: Capture of the Galleon + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September_, 1887] + +After Mansvelt followed the bold John Davis, native of Jamaica, where +he sucked in the lust of piracy with his mother's milk. With only +fourscore men, he swooped down upon the great city of Nicaragua in the +darkness of the night, silenced the sentry with the thrust of a knife, +and then fell to pillaging the churches and houses "without any +respect or veneration." + +Of course it was but a short time until the whole town was in an +uproar of alarm, and there was nothing left for the little handful of +men to do but to make the best of their way to their boats. They were +in the town but a short time, but in that time they were able to +gather together and to carry away money and jewels to the value of +fifty thousand pieces of eight, besides dragging off with them a dozen +or more notable prisoners, whom they held for ransom. + +And now one appeared upon the scene who reached a far greater height +than any had arisen to before. This was Francois l'Olonoise, who +sacked the great city of Maracaibo and the town of Gibraltar. Cold, +unimpassioned, pitiless, his sluggish blood was never moved by one +single pulse of human warmth, his icy heart was never touched by one +ray of mercy or one spark of pity for the hapless wretches who chanced +to fall into his bloody hands. + +Against him the governor of Havana sent out a great war vessel, and +with it a negro executioner, so that there might be no inconvenient +delays of law after the pirates had been captured. But l'Olonoise did +not wait for the coming of the war vessel; he went out to meet it, and +he found it where it lay riding at anchor in the mouth of the river +Estra. At the dawn of the morning he made his attack--sharp, +unexpected, decisive. In a little while the Spaniards were forced +below the hatches, and the vessel was taken. Then came the end. One by +one the poor shrieking wretches were dragged up from below, and one by +one they were butchered in cold blood, while l'Olonoise stood upon the +poop deck and looked coldly down upon what was being done. Among the +rest the negro was dragged upon the deck. He begged and implored that +his life might be spared, promising to tell all that might be asked of +him. L'Olonoise questioned him, and when he had squeezed him dry, +waved his hand coldly, and the poor black went with the rest. Only one +man was spared; him he sent to the governor of Havana with a message +that henceforth he would give no quarter to any Spaniard whom he might +meet in arms--a message which was not an empty threat. + +The rise of l'Olonoise was by no means rapid. He worked his way up by +dint of hard labor and through much ill fortune. But by and by, after +many reverses, the tide turned, and carried him with it from one +success to another, without let or stay, to the bitter end. + +Cruising off Maracaibo, he captured a rich prize laden with a vast +amount of plate and ready money, and there conceived the design of +descending upon the powerful town of Maracaibo itself. Without loss of +time he gathered together five hundred picked scoundrels from Tortuga, +and taking with him one Michael de Basco as land captain, and two +hundred more buccaneers whom he commanded, down he came into the Gulf +of Venezuela and upon the doomed city like a blast of the plague. +Leaving their vessels, the buccaneers made a land attack upon the fort +that stood at the mouth of the inlet that led into Lake Maracaibo and +guarded the city. + +The Spaniards held out well, and fought with all the might that +Spaniards possess; but after a fight of three hours all was given up +and the garrison fled, spreading terror and confusion before them. As +many of the inhabitants of the city as could do so escaped in boats to +Gibraltar, which lies to the southward, on the shores of Lake +Maracaibo, at the distance of some forty leagues or more. + +Then the pirates marched into the town, and what followed may be +conceived. It was a holocaust of lust, of passion, and of blood such +as even the Spanish West Indies had never seen before. Houses and +churches were sacked until nothing was left but the bare walls; men +and women were tortured to compel them to disclose where more treasure +lay hidden. + +Then, having wrenched all that they could from Maracaibo, they entered +the lake and descended upon Gibraltar, where the rest of the +panic-stricken inhabitants were huddled together in a blind terror. + +The governor of Merida, a brave soldier who had served his king in +Flanders, had gathered together a troop of eight hundred men, had +fortified the town, and now lay in wait for the coming of the pirates. +The pirates came all in good time, and then, in spite of the brave +defense, Gibraltar also fell. Then followed a repetition of the scenes +that had been enacted in Maracaibo for the past fifteen days, only +here they remained for four horrible weeks, extorting money--money! +ever money!--from the poor poverty-stricken, pest-ridden souls crowded +into that fever hole of a town. + +Then they left, but before they went they demanded still more +money--ten thousand pieces of eight--as a ransom for the town, which +otherwise should be given to the flames. There was some hesitation on +the part of the Spaniards, some disposition to haggle, but there was +no hesitation on the part of l'Olonoise. The torch was set to the town +as he had promised, whereupon the money was promptly paid, and the +pirates were piteously begged to help quench the spreading flames. +This they were pleased to do, but in spite of all their efforts nearly +half of the town was consumed. + +After that they returned to Maracaibo again, where they demanded a +ransom of thirty thousand pieces of eight for the city. There was no +haggling here, thanks to the fate of Gibraltar; only it was utterly +impossible to raise that much money in all of the poverty-stricken +region. But at last the matter was compromised, and the town was +redeemed for twenty thousand pieces of eight and five hundred head of +cattle, and tortured Maracaibo was quit of them. + +In the Ile de la Vache the buccaneers shared among themselves two +hundred and sixty thousand pieces of eight, besides jewels and bales +of silk and linen and miscellaneous plunder to a vast amount. + +Such was the one great deed of l'Olonoise; from that time his star +steadily declined--for even nature seemed fighting against such a +monster--until at last he died a miserable, nameless death at the +hands of an unknown tribe of Indians upon the Isthmus of Darien. + + * * * * * + +And now we come to the greatest of all the buccaneers, he who stands +pre-eminent among them, and whose name even to this day is a charm to +call up his deeds of daring, his dauntless courage, his truculent +cruelty, and his insatiate and unappeasable lust for gold--Capt. Henry +Morgan, the bold Welshman, who brought buccaneering to the height and +flower of its glory. + +Having sold himself, after the manner of the times, for his passage +across the seas, he worked out his time of servitude at the Barbados. +As soon as he had regained his liberty he entered upon the trade of +piracy, wherein he soon reached a position of considerable prominence. +He was associated with Mansvelt at the time of the latter's descent +upon Saint Catharine's Isle, the importance of which spot, as a center +of operations against the neighboring coasts, Morgan never lost sight +of. + +The first attempt that Capt. Henry Morgan ever made against any town +in the Spanish Indies was the bold descent upon the city of Puerto del +Principe in the island of Cuba, with a mere handful of men. It was a +deed the boldness of which has never been outdone by any of a like +nature--not even the famous attack upon Panama itself. Thence they +returned to their boats in the very face of the whole island of Cuba, +aroused and determined upon their extermination. Not only did they +make good their escape, but they brought away with them a vast +amount of plunder, computed at three hundred thousand pieces of eight, +besides five hundred head of cattle and many prisoners held for +ransom. + +[Illustration: Henry Morgan Recruiting for the Attack + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September_, 1887] + +But when the division of all this wealth came to be made, lo! there +were only fifty thousand pieces of eight to be found. What had become +of the rest no man could tell but Capt. Henry Morgan himself. Honesty +among thieves was never an axiom with him. + +Rude, truculent, and dishonest as Captain Morgan was, he seems to have +had a wonderful power of persuading the wild buccaneers under him to +submit everything to his judgment, and to rely entirely upon his word. +In spite of the vast sum of money that he had very evidently made away +with, recruits poured in upon him, until his band was larger and +better equipped than ever. + +And now it was determined that the plunder harvest was ripe at Porto +Bello, and that city's doom was sealed. The town was defended by two +strong castles thoroughly manned, and officered by as gallant a +soldier as ever carried Toledo steel at his side. But strong castles +and gallant soldiers weighed not a barleycorn with the buccaneers when +their blood was stirred by the lust of gold. + +Landing at Puerto Naso, a town some ten leagues westward of Porto +Bello, they marched to the latter town, and coming before the castle, +boldly demanded its surrender. It was refused, whereupon Morgan +threatened that no quarter should be given. Still surrender was +refused; and then the castle was attacked, and after a bitter struggle +was captured. Morgan was as good as his word: every man in the castle +was shut in the guard room, the match was set to the powder magazine, +and soldiers, castle, and all were blown into the air, while through +all the smoke and the dust the buccaneers poured into the town. Still +the governor held out in the other castle, and might have made good +his defense, but that he was betrayed by the soldiers under him. Into +the castle poured the howling buccaneers. But still the governor +fought on, with his wife and daughter clinging to his knees and +beseeching him to surrender, and the blood from his wounded forehead +trickling down over his white collar, until a merciful bullet put an +end to the vain struggle. + +Here were enacted the old scenes. Everything plundered that could be +taken, and then a ransom set upon the town itself. + +This time an honest, or an apparently honest, division was made of the +spoils, which amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand pieces of +eight, besides merchandise and jewels. + +The next towns to suffer were poor Maracaibo and Gibraltar, now just +beginning to recover from the desolation wrought by l'Olonoise. Once +more both towns were plundered of every bale of merchandise and of +every piaster, and once more both were ransomed until everything was +squeezed from the wretched inhabitants. + +Here affairs were like to have taken a turn, for when Captain Morgan +came up from Gibraltar he found three great men-of-war lying in the +entrance to the lake awaiting his coming. Seeing that he was hemmed in +in the narrow sheet of water, Captain Morgan was inclined to +compromise matters, even offering to relinquish all the plunder he had +gained if he were allowed to depart in peace. But no; the Spanish +admiral would hear nothing of this. Having the pirates, as he thought, +securely in his grasp, he would relinquish nothing, but would sweep +them from the face of the sea once and forever. + +That was an unlucky determination for the Spaniards to reach, for +instead of paralyzing the pirates with fear, as he expected it would +do, it simply turned their mad courage into as mad desperation. + +A great vessel that they had taken with the town of Maracaibo was +converted into a fire ship, manned with logs of wood in montera caps +and sailor jackets, and filled with brimstone, pitch, and palm leaves +soaked in oil. Then out of the lake the pirates sailed to meet the +Spaniards, the fire ship leading the way, and bearing down directly +upon the admiral's vessel. At the helm stood volunteers, the most +desperate and the bravest of all the pirate gang, and at the ports +stood the logs of wood in montera caps. So they came up with the +admiral, and grappled with his ship in spite of the thunder of all his +great guns, and then the Spaniard saw, all too late, what his opponent +really was. + +[Illustration: Morgan at Porto Bello + +_Illustration from_ +MORGAN + +_by_ E. C. Stedman + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _December, 1888_] + +He tried to swing loose, but clouds of smoke and almost instantly a +mass of roaring flames enveloped both vessels, and the admiral was +lost. The second vessel, not wishing to wait for the coming of the +pirates, bore down upon the fort, under the guns of which the cowardly +crew sank her, and made the best of their way to the shore. The third +vessel, not having an opportunity to escape, was taken by the pirates +without the slightest resistance, and the passage from the lake was +cleared. So the buccaneers sailed away, leaving Maracaibo and +Gibraltar prostrate a second time. + +And now Captain Morgan determined to undertake another venture, the +like of which had never been equaled in all of the annals of +buccaneering. This was nothing less than the descent upon and the +capture of Panama, which was, next to Cartagena, perhaps, the most +powerful and the most strongly fortified city in the West Indies. + +In preparation for this venture he obtained letters of marque from the +governor of Jamaica, by virtue of which elastic commission he began +immediately to gather around him all material necessary for the +undertaking. + +When it became known abroad that the great Captain Morgan was about +undertaking an adventure that was to eclipse all that was ever done +before, great numbers came flocking to his standard, until he had +gathered together an army of two thousand or more desperadoes and +pirates wherewith to prosecute his adventure, albeit the venture +itself was kept a total secret from everyone. Port Couillon, in the +island of Hispaniola, over against the Ile de la Vache, was the place +of muster, and thither the motley band gathered from all quarters. +Provisions had been plundered from the mainland wherever they could be +obtained, and by the 24th of October, 1670 (O. S.), everything was in +readiness. + +The island of Saint Catharine, as it may be remembered, was at one +time captured by Mansvelt, Morgan's master in his trade of piracy. It +had been retaken by the Spaniards, and was now thoroughly fortified by +them. Almost the first attempt that Morgan had made as a master pirate +was the retaking of Saint Catharine's Isle. In that undertaking he had +failed; but now, as there was an absolute need of some such place as a +base of operations, he determined that the place _must_ be taken. And +it was taken. + +The Spaniards, during the time of their possession, had fortified it +most thoroughly and completely, and had the governor thereof been as +brave as he who met his death in the castle of Porto Bello, there +might have been a different tale to tell. As it was, he surrendered it +in a most cowardly fashion, merely stipulating that there should be a +sham attack by the buccaneers, whereby his credit might be saved. And +so Saint Catharine was won. + +The next step to be taken was the capture of the castle of Chagres, +which guarded the mouth of the river of that name, up which river the +buccaneers would be compelled to transport their troops and provisions +for the attack upon the city of Panama. This adventure was undertaken +by four hundred picked men under command of Captain Morgan himself. + +The castle of Chagres, known as San Lorenzo by the Spaniards, stood +upon the top of an abrupt rock at the mouth of the river, and was one +of the strongest fortresses for its size in all of the West Indies. +This stronghold Morgan must have if he ever hoped to win Panama. + +The attack of the castle and the defense of it were equally fierce, +bloody, and desperate. Again and again the buccaneers assaulted, and +again and again they were beaten back. So the morning came, and it +seemed as though the pirates had been baffled this time. But just at +this juncture the thatch of palm leaves on the roofs of some of the +buildings inside the fortifications took fire, a conflagration +followed, which caused the explosion of one of the magazines, and in +the paralysis of terror that followed, the pirates forced their way +into the fortifications, and the castle was won. Most of the Spaniards +flung themselves from the castle walls into the river or upon the +rocks beneath, preferring death to capture and possible torture; many +who were left were put to the sword, and some few were spared and held +as prisoners. + +So fell the castle of Chagres, and nothing now lay between the +buccaneers and the city of Panama but the intervening and trackless +forests. + +And now the name of the town whose doom was sealed was no secret. + +Up the river of Chagres went Capt. Henry Morgan and twelve hundred +men, packed closely in their canoes; they never stopped, saving now +and then to rest their stiffened legs, until they had come to a place +known as Cruz de San Juan Gallego, where they were compelled to leave +their boats on account of the shallowness of the water. + +Leaving a guard of one hundred and sixty men to protect their boats as +a place of refuge in case they should be worsted before Panama, they +turned and plunged into the wilderness before them. + +There a more powerful foe awaited them than a host of Spaniards with +match, powder, and lead--starvation. They met but little or no +opposition in their progress; but wherever they turned they found +every fiber of meat, every grain of maize, every ounce of bread or +meal, swept away or destroyed utterly before them. Even when the +buccaneers had successfully overcome an ambuscade or an attack, and +had sent the Spaniards flying, the fugitives took the time to strip +their dead comrades of every grain of food in their leathern sacks, +leaving nothing but the empty bags. + +Says the narrator of these events, himself one of the expedition, +"They afterward fell to eating those leathern bags, as affording +something to the ferment of their stomachs." + +Ten days they struggled through this bitter privation, doggedly +forcing their way onward, faint with hunger and haggard with weakness +and fever. Then, from the high hill and over the tops of the forest +trees, they saw the steeples of Panama, and nothing remained between +them and their goal but the fighting of four Spaniards to every one of +them--a simple thing which they had done over and over again. + +Down they poured upon Panama, and out came the Spaniards to meet them; +four hundred horse, two thousand five hundred foot, and two thousand +wild bulls which had been herded together to be driven over the +buccaneers so that their ranks might be disordered and broken. The +buccaneers were only eight hundred strong; the others had either +fallen in battle or had dropped along the dreary pathway through the +wilderness; but in the space of two hours the Spaniards were flying +madly over the plain, minus six hundred who lay dead or dying behind +them. + +As for the bulls, as many of them as were shot served as food there +and then for the half-famished pirates, for the buccaneers were never +more at home than in the slaughter of cattle. + +Then they marched toward the city. Three hours' more fighting and they +were in the streets, howling, yelling, plundering, gorging, +dram-drinking, and giving full vent to all the vile and nameless lusts +that burned in their hearts like a hell of fire. And now followed the +usual sequence of events--rapine, cruelty, and extortion; only this +time there was no town to ransom, for Morgan had given orders that it +should be destroyed. The torch was set to it, and Panama, one of the +greatest cities in the New World, was swept from the face of the +earth. Why the deed was done, no man but Morgan could tell. Perhaps +it was that all the secret hiding places for treasure might be brought +to light; but whatever the reason was, it lay hidden in the breast of +the great buccaneer himself. For three weeks Morgan and his men abode +in this dreadful place; and they marched away with _one hundred and +seventy-five_ beasts of burden loaded with treasures of gold and +silver and jewels, besides great quantities of merchandise, and six +hundred prisoners held for ransom. + +[Illustration: The Sacking of Panama + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September, 1887_] + +Whatever became of all that vast wealth, and what it amounted to, no +man but Morgan ever knew, for when a division was made it was found +that there was only _two hundred pieces of eight to each man_. + +When this dividend was declared, a howl of execration went up, under +which even Capt. Henry Morgan quailed. At night he and four other +commanders slipped their cables and ran out to sea, and it was said +that these divided the greater part of the booty among themselves. But +the wealth plundered at Panama could hardly have fallen short of a +million and a half of dollars. Computing it at this reasonable figure, +the various prizes won by Henry Morgan in the West Indies would stand +as follows: Panama, $1,500,000; Porto Bello, $800,000; Puerto del +Principe, $700,000; Maracaibo and Gibraltar, $400,000; various +piracies, $250,000--making a grand total of $3,650,000 as the vast +harvest of plunder. With this fabulous wealth, wrenched from the +Spaniards by means of the rack and the cord, and pilfered from his +companions by the meanest of thieving, Capt. Henry Morgan retired from +business, honored of all, rendered famous by his deeds, knighted by +the good King Charles II, and finally appointed governor of the rich +island of Jamaica. + +Other buccaneers followed him. Campeche was taken and sacked, and even +Cartagena itself fell; but with Henry Morgan culminated the glory of +the buccaneers, and from that time they declined in power and wealth +and wickedness until they were finally swept away. + +The buccaneers became bolder and bolder. In fact, so daring were their +crimes that the home governments, stirred at last by these outrageous +barbarities, seriously undertook the suppression of the freebooters, +lopping and trimming the main trunk until its members were scattered +hither and thither, and it was thought that the organization was +exterminated. But, so far from being exterminated, the individual +members were merely scattered north, south, east, and west, each +forming a nucleus around which gathered and clustered the very worst +of the offscouring of humanity. + +The result was that when the seventeenth century was fairly packed +away with its lavender in the store chest of the past, a score or more +bands of freebooters were cruising along the Atlantic seaboard in +armed vessels, each with a black flag with its skull and crossbones at +the fore, and with a nondescript crew made up of the tags and remnants +of civilized and semicivilized humanity (white, black, red, and +yellow), known generally as marooners, swarming upon the decks below. + +Nor did these offshoots from the old buccaneer stem confine their +depredations to the American seas alone; the East Indies and the +African coast also witnessed their doings, and suffered from them, and +even the Bay of Biscay had good cause to remember more than one visit +from them. + +Worthy sprigs from so worthy a stem improved variously upon the parent +methods; for while the buccaneers were content to prey upon the +Spaniards alone, the marooners reaped the harvest from the commerce of +all nations. + +So up and down the Atlantic seaboard they cruised, and for the fifty +years that marooning was in the flower of its glory it was a sorrowful +time for the coasters of New England, the middle provinces, and the +Virginias, sailing to the West Indies with their cargoes of salt fish, +grain, and tobacco. Trading became almost as dangerous as +privateering, and sea captains were chosen as much for their +knowledge of the flintlock and the cutlass as for their seamanship. + +As by far the largest part of the trading in American waters was +conducted by these Yankee coasters, so by far the heaviest blows, and +those most keenly felt, fell upon them. Bulletin after bulletin came +to port with its doleful tale of this vessel burned or that vessel +scuttled, this one held by the pirates for their own use or that one +stripped of its goods and sent into port as empty as an eggshell from +which the yolk had been sucked. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and +Charleston suffered alike, and worthy ship owners had to leave off +counting their losses upon their fingers and take to the slate to keep +the dismal record. + +"Maroon--to put ashore on a desert isle, as a sailor, under pretense +of having committed some great crime." Thus our good Noah Webster +gives us the dry bones, the anatomy, upon which the imagination may +construct a specimen to suit itself. + +It is thence that the marooners took their name, for marooning was one +of their most effective instruments of punishment or revenge. If a +pirate broke one of the many rules which governed the particular band +to which he belonged, he was marooned; did a captain defend his ship +to such a degree as to be unpleasant to the pirates attacking it, he +was marooned; even the pirate captain himself, if he displeased his +followers by the severity of his rule, was in danger of having the +same punishment visited upon him which he had perhaps more than once +visited upon another. + +The process of marooning was as simple as terrible. A suitable place +was chosen (generally some desert isle as far removed as possible from +the pathway of commerce), and the condemned man was rowed from the +ship to the beach. Out he was bundled upon the sand spit; a gun, a +half dozen bullets, a few pinches of powder, and a bottle of water +were chucked ashore after him, and away rowed the boat's crew back to +the ship, leaving the poor wretch alone to rave away his life in +madness, or to sit sunken in his gloomy despair till death mercifully +released him from torment. It rarely if ever happened that anything +was known of him after having been marooned. A boat's crew from some +vessel, sailing by chance that way, might perhaps find a few chalky +bones bleaching upon the white sand in the garish glare of the +sunlight, but that was all. And such were marooners. + +By far the largest number of pirate captains were Englishmen, for, +from the days of good Queen Bess, English sea captains seemed to have +a natural turn for any species of venture that had a smack of piracy +in it, and from the great Admiral Drake of the old, old days, to the +truculent Morgan of buccaneering times, the Englishman did the boldest +and wickedest deeds, and wrought the most damage. + +First of all upon the list of pirates stands the bold Captain Avary, +one of the institutors of marooning. Him we see but dimly, half hidden +by the glamouring mists of legends and tradition. Others who came +afterward outstripped him far enough in their doings, but he stands +pre-eminent as the first of marooners of whom actual history has been +handed down to us of the present day. + +When the English, Dutch, and Spanish entered into an alliance to +suppress buccaneering in the West Indies, certain worthies of Bristol, +in old England, fitted out two vessels to assist in this laudable +project; for doubtless Bristol trade suffered smartly from the Morgans +and the l'Olonoises of that old time. One of these vessels was named +the _Duke_, of which a certain Captain Gibson was the commander and +Avary the mate. + +Away they sailed to the West Indies, and there Avary became impressed +by the advantages offered by piracy, and by the amount of good things +that were to be gained by very little striving. + +One night the captain (who was one of those fellows mightily addicted +to punch), instead of going ashore to saturate himself with rum at the +ordinary, had his drink in his cabin in private. While he lay snoring +away the effects of his rum in the cabin, Avary and a few other +conspirators heaved the anchor very leisurely, and sailed out of the +harbor of Corunna, and through the midst of the allied fleet riding at +anchor in the darkness. + +By and by, when the morning came, the captain was awakened by the +pitching and tossing of the vessel, the rattle and clatter of the +tackle overhead, and the noise of footsteps passing and repassing +hither and thither across the deck. Perhaps he lay for a while turning +the matter over and over in his muddled head, but he presently rang +the bell, and Avary and another fellow answered the call. + +"What's the matter?" bawls the captain from his berth. + +"Nothing," says Avary, coolly. + +"Something's the matter with the ship," says the captain. "Does she +drive? What weather is it?" + +"Oh no," says Avary; "we are at sea." + +"At sea?" + +"Come, come!" says Avary: "I'll tell you; you must know that I'm the +captain of the ship now, and you must be packing from this here cabin. +We are bound to Madagascar, to make all of our fortunes, and if you're +a mind to ship for the cruise, why, we'll be glad to have you, if you +will be sober and mind your own business; if not, there is a boat +alongside, and I'll have you set ashore." + +The poor half-tipsy captain had no relish to go a-pirating under the +command of his backsliding mate, so out of the ship he bundled, and +away he rowed with four or five of the crew, who, like him, refused to +join with their jolly shipmates. + +The rest of them sailed away to the East Indies, to try their fortunes +in those waters, for our Captain Avary was of a high spirit, and had +no mind to fritter away his time in the West Indies, squeezed dry by +buccaneer Morgan and others of lesser note. No, he would make a bold +stroke for it at once, and make or lose at a single cast. + +On his way he picked up a couple of like kind with himself--two +sloops off Madagascar. With these he sailed away to the coast of +India, and for a time his name was lost in the obscurity of uncertain +history. But only for a time, for suddenly it flamed out in a blaze of +glory. It was reported that a vessel belonging to the Great Mogul, +laden with treasure and bearing the monarch's own daughter upon a holy +pilgrimage to Mecca (they being Mohammedans), had fallen in with the +pirates, and after a short resistance had been surrendered, with the +damsel, her court, and all the diamonds, pearls, silk, silver, and +gold aboard. It was rumored that the Great Mogul, raging at the insult +offered to him through his own flesh and blood, had threatened to wipe +out of existence the few English settlements scattered along the +coast; whereat the honorable East India Company was in a pretty state +of fuss and feathers. Rumor, growing with the telling, has it that +Avary is going to marry the Indian princess, willy-nilly, and will +turn rajah, and eschew piracy as indecent. As for the treasure itself, +there was no end to the extent to which it grew as it passed from +mouth to mouth. + +Cracking the nut of romance and exaggeration, we come to the kernel of +the story--that Avary did fall in with an Indian vessel laden with +great treasure (and possibly with the Mogul's daughter), which he +captured, and thereby gained a vast prize. + +Having concluded that he had earned enough money by the trade he had +undertaken, he determined to retire and live decently for the rest of +his life upon what he already had. As a step toward this object, he +set about cheating his Madagascar partners out of their share of what +had been gained. He persuaded them to store all the treasure in his +vessel, it being the largest of the three; and so, having it safely in +hand, he altered the course of his ship one fine night, and when the +morning came the Madagascar sloops found themselves floating upon a +wide ocean without a farthing of the treasure for which they had +fought so hard, and for which they might whistle for all the good it +would do them. + +[Illustration: Marooned + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September, 1887_] + +At first Avary had a great part of a mind to settle at Boston, in +Massachusetts, and had that little town been one whit less bleak and +forbidding, it might have had the honor of being the home of this +famous man. As it was, he did not like the looks of it, so he sailed +away to the eastward, to Ireland, where he settled himself at +Biddeford, in hopes of an easy life of it for the rest of his days. + +Here he found himself the possessor of a plentiful stock of jewels, +such as pearls, diamonds, rubies, etc., but with hardly a score of +honest farthings to jingle in his breeches pocket. He consulted with a +certain merchant of Bristol concerning the disposal of the stones--a +fellow not much more cleanly in his habits of honesty than Avary +himself. This worthy undertook to act as Avary's broker. Off he +marched with the jewels, and that was the last that the pirate saw of +his Indian treasure. + +Perhaps the most famous of all the piratical names to American ears +are those of Capt. Robert Kidd and Capt. Edward Teach, or +"Blackbeard." + +Nothing will be ventured in regard to Kidd at this time, nor in regard +to the pros and cons as to whether he really was or was not a pirate, +after all. For many years he was the very hero of heroes of piratical +fame; there was hardly a creek or stream or point of land along our +coast, hardly a convenient bit of good sandy beach, or hump of rock, +or water-washed cave, where fabulous treasures were not said to have +been hidden by this worthy marooner. Now we are assured that he never +was a pirate, and never did bury any treasure, excepting a certain +chest, which he was compelled to hide upon Gardiner's Island--and +perhaps even it was mythical. + +So poor Kidd must be relegated to the dull ranks of simply respectable +people, or semirespectable people at best. + +But with "Blackbeard" it is different, for in him we have a real, +ranting, raging, roaring pirate _per se_--one who really did bury +treasure, who made more than one captain walk the plank, and who +committed more private murders than he could number on the fingers of +both hands; one who fills, and will continue to fill, the place to +which he has been assigned for generations, and who may be depended +upon to hold his place in the confidence of others for generations to +come. + +Captain Teach was a Bristol man born, and learned his trade on board +of sundry privateers in the East Indies during the old French +war--that of 1702--and a better apprenticeship could no man serve. At +last, somewhere about the latter part of the year 1716, a privateering +captain, one Benjamin Hornigold, raised him from the ranks and put him +in command of a sloop--a lately captured prize--and Blackbeard's +fortune was made. It was a very slight step, and but the change of a +few letters, to convert "privateer" into "pirate," and it was a very +short time before Teach made that change. Not only did he make it +himself, but he persuaded his old captain to join with him. + +And now fairly began that series of bold and lawless depredations +which have made his name so justly famous, and which placed him among +the very greatest of marooning freebooters. + +"Our hero," says the old historian who sings of the arms and bravery +of this great man--"our hero assumed the cognomen of Blackbeard from +that large quantity of hair which, like a frightful meteor, covered +his whole face, and frightened America more than any comet that +appeared there in a long time. He was accustomed to twist it with +ribbons into small tails, after the manner of our Ramillies wig, and +turn them about his ears. In time of action he wore a sling over his +shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like +bandoleers; he stuck lighted matches under his hat, which, appearing +on each side of his face, and his eyes naturally looking fierce and +wild, made him altogether such a figure that imagination cannot form +an idea of a Fury from hell to look more frightful." + +The night before the day of the action in which he was killed he sat +up drinking with some congenial company until broad daylight. One of +them asked him if his poor young wife knew where his treasure was +hidden. "No," says Blackbeard; "nobody but the devil and I knows where +it is, and the longest liver shall have all." + +As for that poor young wife of his, the life that he and his rum-crazy +shipmates led her was too terrible to be told. + +For a time Blackbeard worked at his trade down on the Spanish Main, +gathering, in the few years he was there, a very neat little fortune +in the booty captured from sundry vessels; but by and by he took it +into his head to try his luck along the coast of the Carolinas; so off +he sailed to the northward, with quite a respectable little fleet, +consisting of his own vessel and two captured sloops. From that time +he was actively engaged in the making of American history in his small +way. + +He first appeared off the bar of Charleston Harbor, to the no small +excitement of the worthy town of that ilk, and there he lay for five +or six days, blockading the port, and stopping incoming and outgoing +vessels at his pleasure, so that, for the time, the commerce of the +province was entirely paralyzed. All the vessels so stopped he held as +prizes, and all the crews and passengers (among the latter of whom was +more than one provincial worthy of the day) he retained as though they +were prisoners of war. + +And it was a mightily awkward thing for the good folk of Charleston to +behold day after day a black flag with its white skull and crossbones +fluttering at the fore of the pirate captain's craft, over across the +level stretch of green salt marshes; and it was mightily unpleasant, +too, to know that this or that prominent citizen was crowded down with +the other prisoners under the hatches. + +One morning Captain Blackbeard finds that his stock of medicine is +low. "Tut!" says he, "we'll turn no hair gray for that." So up he +calls the bold Captain Richards, the commander of his consort the +_Revenge_ sloop, and bids him take Mr. Marks (one of his prisoners), +and go up to Charleston and get the medicine. There was no task that +suited our Captain Richards better than that. Up to the town he rowed, +as bold as brass. "Look ye," says he to the governor, rolling his quid +of tobacco from one cheek to another--"look ye, we're after this and +that, and if we don't get it, why, I'll tell you plain, we'll burn +them bloody crafts of yours that we've took over yonder, and cut the +weasand of every clodpoll aboard of 'em." + +There was no answering an argument of such force as this, and the +worshipful governor and the good folk of Charleston knew very well +that Blackbeard and his crew were the men to do as they promised. So +Blackbeard got his medicine, and though it cost the colony two +thousand dollars, it was worth that much to the town to be quit of +him. + +They say that while Captain Richards was conducting his negotiations +with the governor his boat's crew were stumping around the streets of +the town, having a glorious time of it, while the good folk glowered +wrathfully at them, but dared venture nothing in speech or act. + +Having gained a booty of between seven and eight thousand dollars from +the prizes captured, the pirates sailed away from Charleston Harbor to +the coast of North Carolina. + +And now Blackbeard, following the plan adopted by so many others of +his kind, began to cudgel his brains for means to cheat his fellows +out of their share of the booty. + +At Topsail Inlet he ran his own vessel aground, as though by accident. +Hands, the captain of one of the consorts, pretending to come to his +assistance, also grounded _his_ sloop. Nothing now remained but for +those who were able to get away in the other craft, which was all that +was now left of the little fleet. This did Blackbeard with some forty +of his favorites. The rest of the pirates were left on the sand spit +to await the return of their companions--which never happened. + +As for Blackbeard and those who were with him, they were that much +richer, for there were so many the fewer pockets to fill. But even yet +there were too many to share the booty, in Blackbeard's opinion, and +so he marooned a parcel more of them--some eighteen or twenty--upon a +naked sand bank, from which they were afterward mercifully rescued by +another freebooter who chanced that way--a certain Major Stede Bonnet, +of whom more will presently be said. About that time a royal +proclamation had been issued offering pardon to all pirates in arms +who would surrender to the king's authority before a given date. So up +goes Master Blackbeard to the Governor of North Carolina and makes his +neck safe by surrendering to the proclamation--albeit he kept tight +clutch upon what he had already gained. + +And now we find our bold Captain Blackbeard established in the good +province of North Carolina, where he and His Worship the Governor +struck up a vast deal of intimacy, as profitable as it was pleasant. +There is something very pretty in the thought of the bold sea rover +giving up his adventurous life (excepting now and then an excursion +against a trader or two in the neighboring sound, when the need of +money was pressing); settling quietly down into the routine of old +colonial life, with a young wife of sixteen at his side, who made the +fourteenth that he had in various ports here and there in the world. + +Becoming tired of an inactive life, Blackbeard afterward resumed his +piratical career. He cruised around in the rivers and inlets and +sounds of North Carolina for a while, ruling the roost and with never +a one to say him nay, until there was no bearing with such a pest any +longer. So they sent a deputation up to the Governor of Virginia +asking if he would be pleased to help them in their trouble. + +There were two men-of-war lying at Kicquetan, in the James River, at +the time. To them the Governor of Virginia applies, and plucky +Lieutenant Maynard, of the _Pearl_, was sent to Ocracoke Inlet to +fight this pirate who ruled it down there so like the cock of a walk. +There he found Blackbeard waiting for him, and as ready for a fight as +ever the lieutenant himself could be. Fight they did, and while it +lasted it was as pretty a piece of business of its kind as one could +wish to see. Blackbeard drained a glass of grog, wishing the +lieutenant luck in getting aboard of him, fired a broadside, blew some +twenty of the lieutenant's men out of existence, and totally crippled +one of his little sloops for the balance of the fight. After that, and +under cover of the smoke, the pirate and his men boarded the other +sloop, and then followed a fine old-fashioned hand-to-hand conflict +betwixt him and the lieutenant. First they fired their pistols, and +then they took to it with cutlasses--right, left, up and down, cut and +slash--until the lieutenant's cutlass broke short off at the hilt. +Then Blackbeard would have finished him off handsomely, only up steps +one of the lieutenant's men and fetches him a great slash over the +neck, so that the lieutenant came off with no more hurt than a cut +across the knuckles. + +At the very first discharge of their pistols Blackbeard had been shot +through the body, but he was not for giving up for that--not he. As +said before, he was of the true roaring, raging breed of pirates, and +stood up to it until he received twenty more cutlass cuts and five +additional shots, and then fell dead while trying to fire off an empty +pistol. After that the lieutenant cut off the pirate's head, and +sailed away in triumph, with the bloody trophy nailed to the bow of +his battered sloop. + +Those of Blackbeard's men who were not killed were carried off to +Virginia, and all of them tried and hanged but one or two, their +names, no doubt, still standing in a row in the provincial records. + +But did Blackbeard really bury treasures, as tradition says, along the +sandy shores he haunted? + +[Illustration: Blackbeard Buries His Treasure + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September, 1887_] + +Master Clement Downing, midshipman aboard the _Salisbury_, wrote a +book after his return from the cruise to Madagascar, whither the +_Salisbury_ had been ordered, to put an end to the piracy with which +those waters were infested. He says: + + "At Guzarat I met with a Portuguese named Anthony de + Sylvestre; he came with two other Portuguese and two + Dutchmen to take on in the Moor's service, as many Europeans + do. This Anthony told me he had been among the pirates, and + that he belonged to one of the sloops in Virginia when + Blackbeard was taken. He informed me that if it should be my + lot ever to go to York River or Maryland, near an island + called Mulberry Island, provided we went on shore at the + watering place, where the shipping used most commonly to + ride, that there the pirates had buried considerable sums of + money in great chests well clamped with iron plates. As to + my part, I never was that way, nor much acquainted with any + that ever used those parts; but I have made inquiry, and am + informed that there is such a place as Mulberry Island. If + any person who uses those parts should think it worth while + to dig a little way at the upper end of a small cove, where + it is convenient to land, he would soon find whether the + information I had was well grounded. Fronting the landing + place are five trees, among which, he said, the money was + hid. I cannot warrant the truth of this account; but if I + was ever to go there, I should find some means or other to + satisfy myself, as it could not be a great deal out of my + way. If anybody should obtain the benefit of this account, + if it please God that they ever come to England, 'tis hoped + they will remember whence they had this information." + +Another worthy was Capt. Edward Low, who learned his trade of +sail-making at good old Boston town, and piracy at Honduras. No one +stood higher in the trade than he, and no one mounted to more lofty +altitudes of bloodthirsty and unscrupulous wickedness. 'Tis strange +that so little has been written and sung of this man of might, for he +was as worthy of story and of song as was Blackbeard. + +It was under a Yankee captain that he made his first cruise--down to +Honduras, for a cargo of logwood, which in those times was no better +than stolen from the Spanish folk. + +One day, lying off the shore, in the Gulf of Honduras, comes Master +Low and the crew of the whaleboat rowing across from the beach, where +they had been all morning chopping logwood. + +"What are you after?" says the captain, for they were coming back with +nothing but themselves in the boat. + +"We're after our dinner," says Low, as spokesman of the party. + +"You'll have no dinner," says the captain, "until you fetch off +another load." + +"Dinner or no dinner, we'll pay for it," says Low, wherewith he up +with a musket, squinted along the barrel, and pulled the trigger. + +Luckily the gun hung fire, and the Yankee captain was spared to steal +logwood a while longer. + +All the same, that was no place for Ned Low to make a longer stay, so +off he and his messmates rowed in a whaleboat, captured a brig out at +sea, and turned pirates. + +He presently fell in with the notorious Captain Lowther, a fellow +after his own kidney, who put the finishing touches to his education +and taught him what wickedness he did not already know. + +And so he became a master pirate, and a famous hand at his craft, and +thereafter forever bore an inveterate hatred of all Yankees because of +the dinner he had lost, and never failed to smite whatever one of them +luck put within his reach. Once he fell in with a ship off South +Carolina--the _Amsterdam Merchant_, Captain Williamson, commander--a +Yankee craft and a Yankee master. He slit the nose and cropped the +ears of the captain, and then sailed merrily away, feeling the better +for having marred a Yankee. + +New York and New England had more than one visit from the doughty +captain, each of which visits they had good cause to remember, for he +made them smart for it. + +Along in the year 1722 thirteen vessels were riding at anchor in front +of the good town of Marblehead. Into the harbor sailed a strange +craft. "Who is she?" say the townsfolk, for the coming of a new vessel +was no small matter in those days. + +Who the strangers were was not long a matter of doubt. Up goes the +black flag, and the skull and crossbones to the fore. + +"'Tis the bloody Low," say one and all; and straightway all was +flutter and commotion, as in a duck pond when a hawk pitches and +strikes in the midst. + +It was a glorious thing for our captain, for here were thirteen Yankee +crafts at one and the same time. So he took what he wanted, and then +sailed away, and it was many a day before Marblehead forgot that +visit. + +Some time after this he and his consort fell foul of an English sloop +of war, the _Greyhound_, whereby they were so roughly handled that Low +was glad enough to slip away, leaving his consort and her crew behind +him, as a sop to the powers of law and order. And lucky for them if no +worse fate awaited them than to walk the dreadful plank with a bandage +around the blinded eyes and a rope around the elbows. So the consort +was taken, and the crew tried and hanged in chains, and Low sailed off +in as pretty a bit of rage as ever a pirate fell into. + +The end of this worthy is lost in the fogs of the past: some say that +he died of a yellow fever down in New Orleans; it was not at the end +of a hempen cord, more's the pity. + +Here fittingly with our strictly American pirates should stand Major +Stede Bonnet along with the rest. But in truth he was only a poor +half-and-half fellow of his kind, and even after his hand was fairly +turned to the business he had undertaken, a qualm of conscience would +now and then come across him, and he would make vast promises to +forswear his evil courses. + +However, he jogged along in his course of piracy snugly enough until +he fell foul of the gallant Colonel Rhett, off Charleston Harbor, +whereupon his luck and his courage both were suddenly snuffed out with +a puff of powder smoke and a good rattling broadside. Down came the +"Black Roger" with its skull and crossbones from the fore, and Colonel +Rhett had the glory of fetching back as pretty a cargo of scoundrels +and cutthroats as the town ever saw. + +After the next assizes they were strung up, all in a row--evil apples +ready for the roasting. + +"Ned" England was a fellow of different blood--only he snapped his +whip across the back of society over in the East Indies and along the +hot shores of Hindustan. + +The name of Capt. Howel Davis stands high among his fellows. He was +the Ulysses of pirates, the beloved not only of Mercury, but of +Minerva. + +He it was who hoodwinked the captain of a French ship of double the +size and strength of his own, and fairly cheated him into the +surrender of his craft without the firing of a single pistol or the +striking of a single blow; he it was who sailed boldly into the port +of Gambia, on the coast of Guinea, and under the guns of the castle, +proclaiming himself as a merchant trading for slaves. + +The cheat was kept up until the fruit of mischief was ripe for the +picking; then, when the governor and the guards of the castle were +lulled into entire security, and when Davis's band was scattered about +wherever each man could do the most good, it was out pistol, up +cutlass, and death if a finger moved. They tied the soldiers back to +back, and the governor to his own armchair, and then rifled wherever +it pleased them. After that they sailed away, and though they had not +made the fortune they had hoped to glean, it was a good snug round sum +that they shared among them. + +[Illustration: Walking the Plank + +_Illustration from_ +BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _August and September, 1887_] + +Their courage growing high with success, they determined to attempt +the island of Del Principe--a prosperous Portuguese settlement on the +coast. The plan for taking the place was cleverly laid, and would have +succeeded, only that a Portuguese negro among the pirate crew turned +traitor and carried the news ashore to the governor of the fort. +Accordingly, the next day, when Captain Davis came ashore, he found +there a good strong guard drawn up as though to honor his coming. But +after he and those with him were fairly out of their boat, and well +away from the water side, there was a sudden rattle of musketry, a +cloud of smoke, and a dull groan or two. Only one man ran out from +under that pungent cloud, jumped into the boat, and rowed away; and +when it lifted, there lay Captain Davis and his companions all of a +heap, like a pile of old clothes. + +Capt. Bartholomew Roberts was the particular and especial pupil of +Davis, and when that worthy met his death so suddenly and so +unexpectedly in the unfortunate manner above narrated, he was chosen +unanimously as the captain of the fleet, and he was a worthy pupil of +a worthy master. Many were the poor fluttering merchant ducks that +this sea hawk swooped upon and struck; and cleanly and cleverly were +they plucked before his savage clutch loosened its hold upon them. + +"He made a gallant figure," says the old narrator, "being dressed in a +rich crimson waistcoat and breeches and red feather in his hat, a gold +chain around his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in +his hand, and two pair of pistols hanging at the end of a silk sling +flung over his shoulders according to the fashion of the pyrates." +Thus he appeared in the last engagement which he fought--that with the +_Swallow_--a royal sloop of war. A gallant fight they made of it, +those bulldog pirates, for, finding themselves caught in a trap +betwixt the man-of-war and the shore, they determined to bear down +upon the king's vessel, fire a slapping broadside into her, and then +try to get away, trusting to luck in the doing, and hoping that their +enemy might be crippled by their fire. + +Captain Roberts himself was the first to fall at the return fire of +the _Swallow_; a grapeshot struck him in the neck, and he fell forward +across the gun near to which he was standing at the time. A certain +fellow named Stevenson, who was at the helm, saw him fall, and +thought he was wounded. At the lifting of the arm the body rolled over +upon the deck, and the man saw that the captain was dead. "Whereupon," +says the old history, "he" [Stevenson] "gushed into tears, and wished +that the next shot might be his portion." After their captain's death +the pirate crew had no stomach for more fighting; the "Black Roger" +was struck, and one and all surrendered to justice and the gallows. + + * * * * * + +Such is a brief and bald account of the most famous of these pirates. +But they are only a few of a long list of notables, such as Captain +Martel, Capt. Charles Vane (who led the gallant Colonel Rhett, of +South Carolina, such a wild-goose chase in and out among the sluggish +creeks and inlets along the coast), Capt. John Rackam, and Captain +Anstis, Captain Worley, and Evans, and Philips, and others--a score or +more of wild fellows whose very names made ship captains tremble in +their shoes in those good old times. + +And such is that black chapter of history of the past--an evil +chapter, lurid with cruelty and suffering, stained with blood and +smoke. Yet it is a written chapter, and it must be read. He who +chooses may read betwixt the lines of history this great truth: Evil +itself is an instrument toward the shaping of good. Therefore the +history of evil as well as the history of good should be read, +considered, and digested. + + + + +Chapter II + +THE GHOST OF CAPTAIN BRAND + +[Illustration] + + +It is not so easy to tell why discredit should be cast upon a man +because of something that his grandfather may have done amiss, but the +world, which is never overnice in its discrimination as to where to +lay the blame, is often pleased to make the innocent suffer in the +place of the guilty. + +Barnaby True was a good, honest, biddable lad, as boys go, but yet he +was not ever allowed altogether to forget that his grandfather had +been that very famous pirate, Capt. William Brand, who, after so many +marvelous adventures (if one may believe the catchpenny stories and +ballads that were written about him), was murdered in Jamaica by Capt. +John Malyoe, the commander of his own consort, the _Adventure_ galley. + +It has never been denied, that ever I heard, that up to the time of +Captain Brand's being commissioned against the South Sea pirates he +had always been esteemed as honest, reputable a sea captain as could +be. + +When he started out upon that adventure it was with a ship, the +_Royal Sovereign_, fitted out by some of the most decent merchants of +New York. The governor himself had subscribed to the adventure, and +had himself signed Captain Brand's commission. So, if the unfortunate +man went astray, he must have had great temptation to do so, many +others behaving no better when the opportunity offered in those +far-away seas where so many rich purchases might very easily be taken +and no one the wiser. + +To be sure, those stories and ballads made our captain to be a most +wicked, profane wretch; and if he were, why, God knows he suffered and +paid for it, for he laid his bones in Jamaica, and never saw his home +or his wife and daughter again after he had sailed away on the _Royal +Sovereign_ on that long misfortunate voyage, leaving them in New York +to the care of strangers. + +At the time when he met his fate in Port Royal Harbor he had obtained +two vessels under his command--the _Royal Sovereign_, which was the +boat fitted out for him in New York, and the _Adventure_ galley, which +he was said to have taken somewhere in the South Seas. With these he +lay in those waters of Jamaica for over a month after his return from +the coasts of Africa, waiting for news from home, which, when it came, +was of the very blackest; for the colonial authorities were at that +time stirred up very hot against him to take him and hang him for a +pirate, so as to clear their own skirts for having to do with such a +fellow. So maybe it seemed better to our captain to hide his +ill-gotten treasure there in those far-away parts, and afterward to +try and bargain with it for his life when he should reach New York, +rather than to sail straight for the Americas with what he had earned +by his piracies, and so risk losing life and money both. + +[Illustration: "Captain Malyoe Shot Captain Brand Through the Head" + +_Illustration from_ +THE GHOST OF CAPTAIN BRAND + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S WEEKLY, _December 19, 1896_] + +However that might be, the story was that Captain Brand and his +gunner, and Captain Malyoe of the _Adventure_ and the sailing master +of the _Adventure_ all went ashore together with a chest of money (no +one of them choosing to trust the other three in so nice an affair), +and buried the treasure somewhere on the beach of Port Royal +Harbor. The story then has it that they fell a-quarreling about a +future division of the money, and that, as a wind-up to the affair, +Captain Malyoe shot Captain Brand through the head, while the sailing +master of the _Adventure_ served the gunner of the _Royal Sovereign_ +after the same fashion through the body, and that the murderers then +went away, leaving the two stretched out in their own blood on the +sand in the staring sun, with no one to know where the money was hid +but they two who had served their comrades so. + +It is a mighty great pity that anyone should have a grandfather who +ended his days in such a sort as this, but it was no fault of Barnaby +True's, nor could he have done anything to prevent it, seeing that he +was not even born into the world at the time that his grandfather +turned pirate, and was only one year old when he so met his tragical +end. Nevertheless, the boys with whom he went to school never tired of +calling him "Pirate," and would sometimes sing for his benefit that +famous catchpenny song beginning thus: + + Oh, my name was Captain Brand, + A-sailing, + And a-sailing; + Oh, my name was Captain Brand, + A-sailing free. + Oh, my name was Captain Brand, + And I sinned by sea and land, + For I broke God's just command, + A-sailing free. + +'Twas a vile thing to sing at the grandson of so misfortunate a man, +and oftentimes little Barnaby True would double up his fists and would +fight his tormentors at great odds, and would sometimes go back home +with a bloody nose to have his poor mother cry over him and grieve for +him. + +Not that his days were all of teasing and torment, neither; for if his +comrades did treat him so, why, then, there were other times when he +and they were as great friends as could be, and would go in swimming +together where there was a bit of sandy strand along the East River +above Fort George, and that in the most amicable fashion. Or, maybe +the very next day after he had fought so with his fellows, he would go +a-rambling with them up the Bowerie Road, perhaps to help them steal +cherries from some old Dutch farmer, forgetting in such adventure what +a thief his own grandfather had been. + +Well, when Barnaby True was between sixteen and seventeen years old he +was taken into employment in the countinghouse of Mr. Roger Hartright, +the well-known West India merchant, and Barnaby's own stepfather. + +It was the kindness of this good man that not only found a place for +Barnaby in the countinghouse, but advanced him so fast that against +our hero was twenty-one years old he had made four voyages as +supercargo to the West Indies in Mr. Hartright's ship, the _Belle +Helen_, and soon after he was twenty-one undertook a fifth. Nor was it +in any such subordinate position as mere supercargo that he acted, but +rather as the confidential agent of Mr. Hartright, who, having no +children of his own, was very jealous to advance our hero into a +position of trust and responsibility in the countinghouse, as though +he were indeed a son, so that even the captain of the ship had +scarcely more consideration aboard than he, young as he was in years. + +As for the agents and correspondents of Mr. Hartright throughout these +parts, they also, knowing how the good man had adopted his interests, +were very polite and obliging to Master Barnaby--especially, be it +mentioned, Mr. Ambrose Greenfield, of Kingston, Jamaica, who, upon the +occasions of his visits to those parts, did all that he could to make +Barnaby's stay in that town agreeable and pleasant to him. + +So much for the history of our hero to the time of the beginning of +this story, without which you shall hardly be able to understand the +purport of those most extraordinary adventures that befell him shortly +after he came of age, nor the logic of their consequence after they +had occurred. + +For it was during his fifth voyage to the West Indies that the first +of those extraordinary adventures happened of which I shall have +presently to tell. + +At that time he had been in Kingston for the best part of four weeks, +lodging at the house of a very decent, respectable widow, by name Mrs. +Anne Bolles, who, with three pleasant and agreeable daughters, kept a +very clean and well-served lodging house in the outskirts of the town. + +One morning, as our hero sat sipping his coffee, clad only in loose +cotton drawers, a shirt, and a jacket, and with slippers upon his +feet, as is the custom in that country, where everyone endeavors to +keep as cool as may be--while he sat thus sipping his coffee Miss +Eliza, the youngest of the three daughters, came and gave him a note, +which, she said, a stranger had just handed in at the door, going away +again without waiting for a reply. You may judge of Barnaby's surprise +when he opened the note and read as follows: + + MR. BARNABY TRUE. + + SIR,--Though you don't know me, I know you, and I tell you + this: if you will be at Pratt's Ordinary on Harbor Street on + Friday next at eight o'clock of the evening, and will + accompany the man who shall say to you, "The _Royal + Sovereign_ is come in," you shall learn something the most + to your advantage that ever befell you. Sir, keep this note, + and show it to him who shall address these words to you, so + to certify that you are the man he seeks. + +Such was the wording of the note, which was without address, and +without any superscription whatever. + +The first emotion that stirred Barnaby was one of extreme and profound +amazement. Then the thought came into his mind that some witty fellow, +of whom he knew a good many in that town--and wild, waggish pranks +they were--was attempting to play off some smart jest upon him. But +all that Miss Eliza could tell him when he questioned her concerning +the messenger was that the bearer of the note was a tall, stout man, +with a red neckerchief around his neck and copper buckles to his +shoes, and that he had the appearance of a sailorman, having a great +big queue hanging down his back. But, Lord! what was such a +description as that in a busy seaport town, full of scores of men to +fit such a likeness? Accordingly, our hero put away the note into his +wallet, determining to show it to his good friend Mr. Greenfield that +evening, and to ask his advice upon it. So he did show it, and that +gentleman's opinion was the same as his--that some wag was minded to +play off a hoax upon him, and that the matter of the letter was all +nothing but smoke. + +Nevertheless, though Barnaby was thus confirmed in his opinion as to +the nature of the communication he had received, he yet determined in +his own mind that he would see the business through to the end, and +would be at Pratt's Ordinary, as the note demanded, upon the day and +at the time specified therein. + +Pratt's Ordinary was at that time a very fine and well-known place of +its sort, with good tobacco and the best rum that ever I tasted, and +had a garden behind it that, sloping down to the harbor front, was +planted pretty thick with palms and ferns grouped into clusters with +flowers and plants. Here were a number of little tables, some in +little grottoes, like our Vauxhall in New York, and with red and blue +and white paper lanterns hung among the foliage, whither gentlemen and +ladies used sometimes to go of an evening to sit and drink lime juice +and sugar and water (and sometimes a taste of something stronger), and +to look out across the water at the shipping in the cool of the night. + +Thither, accordingly, our hero went, a little before the time +appointed in the note, and passing directly through the Ordinary and +the garden beyond, chose a table at the lower end of the garden and +close to the water's edge, where he would not be easily seen by +anyone coming into the place. Then, ordering some rum and water and a +pipe of tobacco, he composed himself to watch for the appearance of +those witty fellows whom he suspected would presently come thither to +see the end of their prank and to enjoy his confusion. + +The spot was pleasant enough; for the land breeze, blowing strong and +full, set the leaves of the palm tree above his head to rattling and +clattering continually against the sky, where, the moon then being +about full, they shone every now and then like blades of steel. The +waves also were splashing up against the little landing place at the +foot of the garden, sounding very cool in the night, and sparkling all +over the harbor where the moon caught the edges of the water. A great +many vessels were lying at anchor in their ridings, with the dark, +prodigious form of a man-of-war looming up above them in the +moonlight. + +There our hero sat for the best part of an hour, smoking his pipe of +tobacco and sipping his grog, and seeing not so much as a single thing +that might concern the note he had received. + +It was not far from half an hour after the time appointed in the note, +when a rowboat came suddenly out of the night and pulled up to the +landing place at the foot of the garden above mentioned, and three or +four men came ashore in the darkness. Without saying a word among +themselves they chose a near-by table and, sitting down, ordered rum +and water, and began drinking their grog in silence. They might have +sat there about five minutes, when, by and by, Barnaby True became +aware that they were observing him very curiously; and then almost +immediately one, who was plainly the leader of the party, called out +to him: + +"How now, messmate! Won't you come and drink a dram of rum with us?" + +"Why, no," says Barnaby, answering very civilly; "I have drunk enough +already, and more would only heat my blood." + +"All the same," quoth the stranger, "I think you will come and drink +with us; for, unless I am mistook, you are Mr. Barnaby True, and I am +come here to tell you that the _Royal Sovereign is come in_." + +Now I may honestly say that Barnaby True was never more struck aback +in all his life than he was at hearing these words uttered in so +unexpected a manner. He had been looking to hear them under such +different circumstances that, now that his ears heard them addressed +to him, and that so seriously, by a perfect stranger, who, with +others, had thus mysteriously come ashore out of the darkness, he +could scarce believe that his ears heard aright. His heart suddenly +began beating at a tremendous rate, and had he been an older and wiser +man, I do believe he would have declined the adventure, instead of +leaping blindly, as he did, into that of which he could see neither +the beginning nor the ending. But being barely one-and-twenty years of +age, and having an adventurous disposition that would have carried him +into almost anything that possessed a smack of uncertainty or danger +about it, he contrived to say, in a pretty easy tone (though God knows +how it was put on for the occasion): + +"Well, then, if that be so, and if the _Royal Sovereign_ is indeed +come in, why, I'll join you, since you are so kind as to ask me." And +therewith he went across to the other table, carrying his pipe with +him, and sat down and began smoking, with all the appearance of ease +he could assume upon the occasion. + +"Well, Mr. Barnaby True," said the man who had before addressed him, +so soon as Barnaby had settled himself, speaking in a low tone of +voice, so there would be no danger of any others hearing the +words--"Well, Mr. Barnaby True--for I shall call you by your name, to +show you that though I know you, you don't know me--I am glad to see +that you are man enough to enter thus into an affair, though you can't +see to the bottom of it. For it shows me that you are a man of mettle, +and are deserving of the fortune that is to befall you to-night. +Nevertheless, first of all, I am bid to say that you must show me a +piece of paper that you have about you before we go a step farther." + +"Very well," said Barnaby; "I have it here safe and sound, and see it +you shall." And thereupon and without more ado he fetched out his +wallet, opened it, and handed his interlocutor the mysterious note he +had received the day or two before. Whereupon the other, drawing to +him the candle, burning there for the convenience of those who would +smoke tobacco, began immediately reading it. + +This gave Barnaby True a moment or two to look at him. He was a tall, +stout man, with a red handkerchief tied around his neck, and with +copper buckles on his shoes, so that Barnaby True could not but wonder +whether he was not the very same man who had given the note to Miss +Eliza Bolles at the door of his lodging house. + +"'Tis all right and straight as it should be," the other said, after +he had so glanced his eyes over the note. "And now that the paper is +read" (suiting his action to his words), "I'll just burn it, for +safety's sake." + +And so he did, twisting it up and setting it to the flame of the +candle. + +"And now," he said, continuing his address, "I'll tell you what I am +here for. I was sent to ask you if you're man enough to take your life +in your own hands and to go with me in that boat down there? Say +'Yes,' and we'll start away without wasting more time, for the devil +is ashore here at Jamaica--though you don't know what that means--and +if he gets ahead of us, why, then we may whistle for what we are +after. Say 'No,' and I go away again, and I promise you you shall +never be troubled again in this sort. So now speak up plain, young +gentleman, and tell us what is your mind in this business, and whether +you will adventure any farther or not." + +If our hero hesitated it was not for long. I cannot say that his +courage did not waver for a moment; but if it did, it was, I say, not +for long, and when he spoke up it was with a voice as steady as could +be. + +"To be sure I'm man enough to go with you," he said; "and if you mean +me any harm I can look out for myself; and if I can't, why, here is +something can look out for me," and therewith he lifted up the flap of +his coat pocket and showed the butt of a pistol he had fetched with +him when he had set out from his lodging house that evening. + +At this the other burst out a-laughing. "Come," says he, "you are +indeed of right mettle, and I like your spirit. All the same, no one +in all the world means you less ill than I, and so, if you have to use +that barker, 'twill not be upon us who are your friends, but only upon +one who is more wicked than the devil himself. So come, and let us get +away." + +Thereupon he and the others, who had not spoken a single word for all +this time, rose from the table, and he having paid the scores of all, +they all went down together to the boat that still lay at the landing +place at the bottom of the garden. + +Thus coming to it, our hero could see that it was a large yawl boat +manned with half a score of black men for rowers, and there were two +lanterns in the stern sheets, and three or four iron shovels. + +The man who had conducted the conversation with Barnaby True for all +this time, and who was, as has been said, plainly the captain of the +party, stepped immediately down into the boat; our hero followed, and +the others followed after him; and instantly they were seated the boat +was shoved off and the black men began pulling straight out into the +harbor, and so, at some distance away, around under the stern of the +man-of-war. + +Not a word was spoken after they had thus left the shore, and +presently they might all have been ghosts, for the silence of the +party. Barnaby True was too full of his own thoughts to talk--and +serious enough thoughts they were by this time, with crimps to trepan +a man at every turn, and press gangs to carry a man off so that he +might never be heard of again. As for the others, they did not seem to +choose to say anything now that they had him fairly embarked upon +their enterprise. + +And so the crew pulled on in perfect silence for the best part of an +hour, the leader of the expedition directing the course of the boat +straight across the harbor, as though toward the mouth of the Rio +Cobra River. Indeed, this was their destination, as Barnaby could +after a while see, by the low point of land with a great long row of +coconut palms upon it (the appearance of which he knew very well), +which by and by began to loom up out of the milky dimness of the +moonlight. As they approached the river they found the tide was +running strong out of it, so that some distance away from the stream +it gurgled and rippled alongside the boat as the crew of black men +pulled strongly against it. Thus they came up under what was either a +point of land or an islet covered with a thick growth of mangrove +trees. But still no one spoke a single word as to their destination, +or what was the business they had in hand. + +The night, now that they were close to the shore, was loud with the +noise of running tide-water, and the air was heavy with the smell of +mud and marsh, and over all the whiteness of the moonlight, with a few +stars pricking out here and there in the sky; and all so strange and +silent and mysterious that Barnaby could not divest himself of the +feeling that it was all a dream. + +So, the rowers bending to the oars, the boat came slowly around from +under the clump of mangrove bushes and out into the open water again. + +Instantly it did so the leader of the expedition called out in a sharp +voice, and the black men instantly lay on their oars. + +Almost at the same instant Barnaby True became aware that there was +another boat coming down the river toward where they lay, now drifting +with the strong tide out into the harbor again, and he knew that it +was because of the approach of that boat that the other had called +upon his men to cease rowing. + +The other boat, as well as he could see in the distance, was full of +men, some of whom appeared to be armed, for even in the dusk of the +darkness the shine of the moonlight glimmered sharply now and then on +the barrels of muskets or pistols, and in the silence that followed +after their own rowing had ceased Barnaby True could hear the chug! +chug! of the oars sounding louder and louder through the watery +stillness of the night as the boat drew nearer and nearer. But he knew +nothing of what it all meant, nor whether these others were friends or +enemies, or what was to happen next. + +The oarsmen of the approaching boat did not for a moment cease their +rowing, not till they had come pretty close to Barnaby and his +companions. Then a man who sat in the stern ordered them to cease +rowing, and as they lay on their oars he stood up. As they passed by, +Barnaby True could see him very plain, the moonlight shining full upon +him--a large, stout gentleman with a round red face, and clad in a +fine laced coat of red cloth. Amidship of the boat was a box or chest +about the bigness of a middle-sized traveling trunk, but covered all +over with cakes of sand and dirt. In the act of passing, the +gentleman, still standing, pointed at it with an elegant gold-headed +cane which he held in his hand. "Are you come after this, Abraham +Dawling?" says he, and thereat his countenance broke into as evil, +malignant a grin as ever Barnaby True saw in all of his life. + +The other did not immediately reply so much as a single word, but sat +as still as any stone. Then, at last, the other boat having gone by, +he suddenly appeared to regain his wits, for he bawled out after it, +"Very well, Jack Malyoe! Very well, Jack Malyoe! you've got ahead of +us this time again, but next time is the third, and then it shall be +our turn, even if William Brand must come back from hell to settle +with you." + +This he shouted out as the other boat passed farther and farther +away, but to it my fine gentleman made no reply except to burst out +into a great roaring fit of laughter. + +There was another man among the armed men in the stern of the passing +boat--a villainous, lean man with lantern jaws, and the top of his +head as bald as the palm of my hand. As the boat went away into the +night with the tide and the headway the oars had given it, he grinned +so that the moonlight shone white on his big teeth. Then, flourishing +a great big pistol, he said, and Barnaby could hear every word he +spoke, "Do but give me the word, Your Honor, and I'll put another +bullet through the son of a sea cook." + +But the gentleman said some words to forbid him, and therewith the +boat was gone away into the night, and presently Barnaby could hear +that the men at the oars had begun rowing again, leaving them lying +there, without a single word being said for a long time. + +By and by one of those in Barnaby's boat spoke up. "Where shall you go +now?" he said. + +At this the leader of the expedition appeared suddenly to come back to +himself, and to find his voice again. "Go?" he roared out. "Go to the +devil! Go? Go where you choose! Go? Go back again--that's where we'll +go!" and therewith he fell a-cursing and swearing until he foamed at +the lips, as though he had gone clean crazy, while the black men began +rowing back again across the harbor as fast as ever they could lay +oars into the water. + +They put Barnaby True ashore below the old custom house; but so +bewildered and shaken was he by all that had happened, and by what he +had seen, and by the names that he heard spoken, that he was scarcely +conscious of any of the familiar things among which he found himself +thus standing. And so he walked up the moonlit street toward his +lodging like one drunk or bewildered; for "John Malyoe" was the name +of the captain of the _Adventure_ galley--he who had shot Barnaby's +own grandfather--and "Abraham Dawling" was the name of the gunner of +the _Royal Sovereign_ who had been shot at the same time with the +pirate captain, and who, with him, had been left stretched out in the +staring sun by the murderers. + +The whole business had occupied hardly two hours, but it was as though +that time was no part of Barnaby's life, but all a part of some other +life, so dark and strange and mysterious that it in no wise belonged +to him. + +As for that box covered all over with mud, he could only guess at that +time what it contained and what the finding of it signified. + +But of this our hero said nothing to anyone, nor did he tell a single +living soul what he had seen that night, but nursed it in his own +mind, where it lay so big for a while that he could think of little or +nothing else for days after. + +Mr. Greenfield, Mr. Hartright's correspondent and agent in these +parts, lived in a fine brick house just out of the town, on the Mona +Road, his family consisting of a wife and two daughters--brisk, lively +young ladies with black hair and eyes, and very fine bright teeth that +shone whenever they laughed, and with a plenty to say for themselves. +Thither Barnaby True was often asked to a family dinner; and, indeed, +it was a pleasant home to visit, and to sit upon the veranda and smoke +a cigarro with the good old gentleman and look out toward the +mountains, while the young ladies laughed and talked, or played upon +the guitar and sang. And oftentimes so it was strongly upon Barnaby's +mind to speak to the good gentleman and tell him what he had beheld +that night out in the harbor; but always he would think better of it +and hold his peace, falling to thinking, and smoking away upon his +cigarro at a great rate. + +A day or two before the _Belle Helen_ sailed from Kingston Mr. +Greenfield stopped Barnaby True as he was going through the office to +bid him to come to dinner that night (for there within the tropics +they breakfast at eleven o'clock and take dinner in the cool of the +evening, because of the heat, and not at midday, as we do in more +temperate latitudes). "I would have you meet," says Mr. Greenfield, +"your chief passenger for New York, and his granddaughter, for whom +the state cabin and the two staterooms are to be fitted as here +ordered [showing a letter]--Sir John Malyoe and Miss Marjorie Malyoe. +Did you ever hear tell of Capt. Jack Malyoe, Master Barnaby?" + +Now I do believe that Mr. Greenfield had no notion at all that old +Captain Brand was Barnaby True's own grandfather and Capt. John Malyoe +his murderer, but when he so thrust at him the name of that man, what +with that in itself and the late adventure through which he himself +had just passed, and with his brooding upon it until it was so +prodigiously big in his mind, it was like hitting him a blow to so +fling the questions at him. Nevertheless, he was able to reply, with a +pretty straight face, that he had heard of Captain Malyoe and who he +was. + +"Well," says Mr. Greenfield, "if Jack Malyoe was a desperate pirate +and a wild, reckless blade twenty years ago, why, he is Sir John +Malyoe now and the owner of a fine estate in Devonshire. Well, Master +Barnaby, when one is a baronet and come into the inheritance of a fine +estate (though I do hear it is vastly cumbered with debts), the world +will wink its eye to much that he may have done twenty years ago. I do +hear say, though, that his own kin still turn the cold shoulder to +him." + +To this address Barnaby answered nothing, but sat smoking away at his +cigarro at a great rate. + +And so that night Barnaby True came face to face for the first time +with the man who murdered his own grandfather--the greatest beast of a +man that ever he met in all of his life. + +That time in the harbor he had seen Sir John Malyoe at a distance and +in the darkness; now that he beheld him near by it seemed to him that +he had never looked at a more evil face in all his life. Not that the +man was altogether ugly, for he had a good nose and a fine double +chin; but his eyes stood out like balls and were red and watery, and +he winked them continually, as though they were always smarting; and +his lips were thick and purple-red, and his fat, red cheeks were +mottled here and there with little clots of purple veins; and when he +spoke his voice rattled so in his throat that it made one wish to +clear one's own throat to listen to him. So, what with a pair of fat, +white hands, and that hoarse voice, and his swollen face, and his +thick lips sticking out, it seemed to Barnaby True he had never seen a +countenance so distasteful to him as that one into which he then +looked. + +But if Sir John Malyoe was so displeasing to our hero's taste, why, +the granddaughter, even this first time he beheld her, seemed to him +to be the most beautiful, lovely young lady that ever he saw. She had +a thin, fair skin, red lips, and yellow hair--though it was then +powdered pretty white for the occasion--and the bluest eyes that +Barnaby beheld in all of his life. A sweet, timid creature, who seemed +not to dare so much as to speak a word for herself without looking to +Sir John for leave to do so, and would shrink and shudder whenever he +would speak of a sudden to her or direct a sudden glance upon her. +When she did speak, it was in so low a voice that one had to bend his +head to hear her, and even if she smiled would catch herself and look +up as though to see if she had leave to be cheerful. + +As for Sir John, he sat at dinner like a pig, and gobbled and ate and +drank, smacking his lips all the while, but with hardly a word to +either her or Mrs. Greenfield or to Barnaby True; but with a sour, +sullen air, as though he would say, "Your damned victuals and drink +are no better than they should be, but I must eat 'em or nothing." A +great bloated beast of a man! + +Only after dinner was over and the young lady and the two misses sat +off in a corner together did Barnaby hear her talk with any ease. +Then, to be sure, her tongue became loose, and she prattled away at a +great rate, though hardly above her breath, until of a sudden her +grandfather called out, in his hoarse, rattling voice, that it was +time to go. Whereupon she stopped short in what she was saying and +jumped up from her chair, looking as frightened as though she had been +caught in something amiss, and was to be punished for it. + +Barnaby True and Mr. Greenfield both went out to see the two into +their coach, where Sir John's man stood holding the lantern. And who +should he be, to be sure, but that same lean villain with bald head +who had offered to shoot the leader of our hero's expedition out on +the harbor that night! For, one of the circles of light from the +lantern shining up into his face, Barnaby True knew him the moment he +clapped eyes upon him. Though he could not have recognized our hero, +he grinned at him in the most impudent, familiar fashion, and never so +much as touched his hat either to him or to Mr. Greenfield; but as +soon as his master and his young mistress had entered the coach, +banged to the door and scrambled up on the seat alongside the driver, +and so away without a word, but with another impudent grin, this time +favoring both Barnaby and the old gentleman. + +Such were these two, master and man, and what Barnaby saw of them then +was only confirmed by further observation--the most hateful couple he +ever knew; though, God knows, what they afterward suffered should wipe +out all complaint against them. + +The next day Sir John Malyoe's belongings began to come aboard the +_Belle Helen_, and in the afternoon that same lean, villainous +manservant comes skipping across the gangplank as nimble as a goat, +with two black men behind him lugging a great sea chest. "What!" he +cried out, "and so you is the supercargo, is you? Why, I thought you +was more account when I saw you last night a-sitting talking with His +Honor like his equal. Well, no matter; 'tis something to have a brisk, +genteel young fellow for a supercargo. So come, my hearty, lend a +hand, will you, and help me set His Honor's cabin to rights." + +What a speech was this to endure from such a fellow, to be sure! and +Barnaby so high in his own esteem, and holding himself a gentleman! +Well, what with his distaste for the villain, and what with such +odious familiarity, you can guess into what temper so impudent an +address must have cast him. "You'll find the steward in yonder," he +said, "and he'll show you the cabin," and therewith turned and walked +away with prodigious dignity, leaving the other standing where he was. + +As he entered his own cabin he could not but see, out of the tail of +his eye, that the fellow was still standing where he had left him, +regarding him with a most evil, malevolent countenance, so that he had +the satisfaction of knowing that he had made one enemy during that +voyage who was not very likely to forgive or forget what he must +regard as a slight put upon him. + +The next day Sir John Malyoe himself came aboard, accompanied by his +granddaughter, and followed by this man, and he followed again by four +black men, who carried among them two trunks, not large in size, but +prodigious heavy in weight, and toward which Sir John and his follower +devoted the utmost solicitude and care to see that they were properly +carried into the state cabin he was to occupy. Barnaby True was +standing in the great cabin as they passed close by him; but though +Sir John Malyoe looked hard at him and straight in the face, he never +so much as spoke a single word, or showed by a look or a sign that he +knew who our hero was. At this the serving man, who saw it all with +eyes as quick as a cat's, fell to grinning and chuckling to see +Barnaby in his turn so slighted. + +The young lady, who also saw it all, flushed up red, then in the +instant of passing looked straight at our hero, and bowed and smiled +at him with a most sweet and gracious affability, then the next moment +recovering herself, as though mightily frightened at what she had +done. + +The same day the _Belle Helen_ sailed, with as beautiful, sweet +weather as ever a body could wish for. + +There were only two other passengers aboard, the Rev. Simon Styles, +the master of a flourishing academy in Spanish Town, and his wife, a +good, worthy old couple, but very quiet, and would sit in the great +cabin by the hour together reading, so that, what with Sir John Malyoe +staying all the time in his own cabin with those two trunks he held so +precious, it fell upon Barnaby True in great part to show attention to +the young lady; and glad enough he was of the opportunity, as anyone +may guess. For when you consider a brisk, lively young man of +one-and-twenty and a sweet, beautiful miss of seventeen so thrown +together day after day for two weeks, the weather being very fair, as +I have said, and the ship tossing and bowling along before a fine +humming breeze that sent white caps all over the sea, and with nothing +to do but sit and look at that blue sea and the bright sky overhead, +it is not hard to suppose what was to befall, and what pleasure it was +to Barnaby True to show attention to her. + +But, oh! those days when a man is young, and, whether wisely or no, +fallen in love! How often during that voyage did our hero lie awake in +his berth at night, tossing this way and that without sleep--not that +he wanted to sleep if he could, but would rather lie so awake thinking +about her and staring into the darkness! + +Poor fool! He might have known that the end must come to such a fool's +paradise before very long. For who was he to look up to Sir John +Malyoe's granddaughter, he, the supercargo of a merchant ship, and she +the granddaughter of a baronet. + +Nevertheless, things went along very smooth and pleasant, until one +evening, when all came of a sudden to an end. At that time he and the +young lady had been standing for a long while together, leaning over +the rail and looking out across the water through the dusk toward the +westward, where the sky was still of a lingering brightness. She had +been mightily quiet and dull all that evening, but now of a sudden she +began, without any preface whatever, to tell Barnaby about herself and +her affairs. She said that she and her grandfather were going to New +York that they might take passage thence to Boston town, there to meet +her cousin Captain Malyoe, who was stationed in garrison at that +place. Then she went on to say that Captain Malyoe was the next heir +to the Devonshire estate, and that she and he were to be married in +the fall. + +But, poor Barnaby! what a fool was he, to be sure! Methinks when she +first began to speak about Captain Malyoe he knew what was coming. But +now that she had told him, he could say nothing, but stood there +staring across the ocean, his breath coming hot and dry as ashes in +his throat. She, poor thing, went on to say, in a very low voice, that +she had liked him from the very first moment she had seen him, and had +been very happy for these days, and would always think of him as a +dear friend who had been very kind to her, who had so little pleasure +in life, and so would always remember him. + +Then they were both silent, until at last Barnaby made shift to say, +though in a hoarse and croaking voice, that Captain Malyoe must be a +very happy man, and that if he were in Captain Malyoe's place he would +be the happiest man in the world. Thus, having spoken, and so found +his tongue, he went on to tell her, with his head all in a whirl, that +he, too, loved her, and that what she had told him struck him to the +heart, and made him the most miserable, unhappy wretch in the whole +world. + +She was not angry at what he said, nor did she turn to look at him, +but only said, in a low voice, he should not talk so, for that it +could only be a pain to them both to speak of such things, and that +whether she would or no, she must do everything as her grandfather +bade her, for that he was indeed a terrible man. + +To this poor Barnaby could only repeat that he loved her with all his +heart, that he had hoped for nothing in his love, but that he was now +the most miserable man in the world. + +It was at this moment, so tragic for him, that some one who had been +hiding nigh them all the while suddenly moved away, and Barnaby True +could see in the gathering darkness that it was that villain +manservant of Sir John Malyoe's and knew that he must have overheard +all that had been said. + +The man went straight to the great cabin, and poor Barnaby, his brain +all atingle, stood looking after him, feeling that now indeed the last +drop of bitterness had been added to his trouble to have such a wretch +overhear what he had said. + +The young lady could not have seen the fellow, for she continued +leaning over the rail, and Barnaby True, standing at her side, not +moving, but in such a tumult of many passions that he was like one +bewildered, and his heart beating as though to smother him. + +So they stood for I know not how long when, of a sudden, Sir John +Malyoe comes running out of the cabin, without his hat, but carrying +his gold-headed cane, and so straight across the deck to where Barnaby +and the young lady stood, that spying wretch close at his heels, +grinning like an imp. + +"You hussy!" bawled out Sir John, so soon as he had come pretty near +them, and in so loud a voice that all on deck might have heard the +words; and as he spoke he waved his cane back and forth as though he +would have struck the young lady, who, shrinking back almost upon the +deck, crouched as though to escape such a blow. "You hussy!" he bawled +out with vile oaths, too horrible here to be set down. "What do you do +here with this Yankee supercargo, not fit for a gentlewoman to wipe +her feet upon? Get to your cabin, you hussy" (only it was something +worse he called her this time), "before I lay this cane across your +shoulders!" + +What with the whirling of Barnaby's brains and the passion into which +he was already melted, what with his despair and his love, and his +anger at this address, a man gone mad could scarcely be less +accountable for his actions than was he at that moment. Hardly knowing +what he did, he put his hand against Sir John Malyoe's breast and +thrust him violently back, crying out upon him in a great, loud, +hoarse voice for threatening a young lady, and saying that for a +farthing he would wrench the stick out of his hand and throw it +overboard. + +Sir John went staggering back with the push Barnaby gave him, and then +caught himself up again. Then, with a great bellow, ran roaring at our +hero, whirling his cane about, and I do believe would have struck him +(and God knows then what might have happened) had not his manservant +caught him and held him back. + +"Keep back!" cried out our hero, still mighty hoarse. "Keep back! If +you strike me with that stick I'll fling you overboard!" + +By this time, what with the sound of loud voices and the stamping of +feet, some of the crew and others aboard were hurrying up, and the +next moment Captain Manly and the first mate, Mr. Freesden, came +running out of the cabin. But Barnaby, who was by this fairly set +agoing, could not now stop himself. + +"And who are you, anyhow," he cried out, "to threaten to strike me and +to insult me, who am as good as you? You dare not strike me! You may +shoot a man from behind, as you shot poor Captain Brand on the Rio +Cobra River, but you won't dare strike me face to face. I know who you +are and what you are!" + +By this time Sir John Malyoe had ceased to endeavor to strike him, but +stood stock-still, his great bulging eyes staring as though they would +pop out of his head. + +"What's all this?" cries Captain Manly, bustling up to them with Mr. +Freesden. "What does all this mean?" + +But, as I have said, our hero was too far gone now to contain himself +until all that he had to say was out. + +"The damned villain insulted me and insulted the young lady," he +cried out, panting in the extremity of his passion, "and then he +threatened to strike me with his cane. But I know who he is and what +he is. I know what he's got in his cabin in those two trunks, and +where he found it, and whom it belongs to. He found it on the shores +of the Rio Cobra River, and I have only to open my mouth and tell what +I know about it." + +At this Captain Manly clapped his hand upon our hero's shoulder and +fell to shaking him so that he could scarcely stand, calling out to +him the while to be silent. "What do you mean?" he cried. "An officer +of this ship to quarrel with a passenger of mine! Go straight to your +cabin, and stay there till I give you leave to come out again." + +At this Master Barnaby came somewhat back to himself and into his wits +again with a jump. "But he threatened to strike me with his cane, +Captain," he cried out, "and that I won't stand from any man!" + +"No matter what he did," said Captain Manly, very sternly. "Go to your +cabin, as I bid you, and stay there till I tell you to come out again, +and when we get to New York I'll take pains to tell your stepfather of +how you have behaved. I'll have no such rioting as this aboard my +ship." + +Barnaby True looked around him, but the young lady was gone. Nor, in +the blindness of his frenzy, had he seen when she had gone nor whither +she went. As for Sir John Malyoe, he stood in the light of a lantern, +his face gone as white as ashes, and I do believe if a look could +kill, the dreadful malevolent stare he fixed upon Barnaby True would +have slain him where he stood. + +After Captain Manly had so shaken some wits into poor Barnaby he, +unhappy wretch, went to his cabin, as he was bidden to do, and there, +shutting the door upon himself, and flinging himself down, all dressed +as he was, upon his berth, yielded himself over to the profoundest +passion of humiliation and despair. + +There he lay for I know not how long, staring into the darkness, +until by and by, in spite of his suffering and his despair, he dozed +off into a loose sleep, that was more like waking than sleep, being +possessed continually by the most vivid and distasteful dreams, from +which he would awaken only to doze off and to dream again. + +It was from the midst of one of these extravagant dreams that he was +suddenly aroused by the noise of a pistol shot, and then the noise of +another and another, and then a great bump and a grinding jar, and +then the sound of many footsteps running across the deck and down into +the great cabin. Then came a tremendous uproar of voices in the great +cabin, the struggling as of men's bodies being tossed about, striking +violently against the partitions and bulkheads. At the same instant +arose a screaming of women's voices, and one voice, and that Sir John +Malyoe's, crying out as in the greatest extremity: "You villains! You +damned villains!" and with the sudden detonation of a pistol fired +into the close space of the great cabin. + +Barnaby was out in the middle of his cabin in a moment, and taking +only time enough to snatch down one of the pistols that hung at the +head of his berth, flung out into the great cabin, to find it as black +as night, the lantern slung there having been either blown out or +dashed out into darkness. The prodigiously dark space was full of +uproar, the hubbub and confusion pierced through and through by that +keen sound of women's voices screaming, one in the cabin and the other +in the stateroom beyond. Almost immediately Barnaby pitched headlong +over two or three struggling men scuffling together upon the deck, +falling with a great clatter and the loss of his pistol, which, +however, he regained almost immediately. + +What all the uproar meant he could not tell, but he presently heard +Captain Manly's voice from somewhere suddenly calling out, "You bloody +pirate, would you choke me to death?" wherewith some notion of what +had happened came to him like a flash, and that they had been attacked +in the night by pirates. + +Looking toward the companionway, he saw, outlined against the darkness +of the night without, the blacker form of a man's figure, standing +still and motionless as a statue in the midst of all this hubbub, and +so by some instinct he knew in a moment that that must be the master +maker of all this devil's brew. Therewith, still kneeling upon the +deck, he covered the bosom of that shadowy figure point-blank, as he +thought, with his pistol, and instantly pulled the trigger. + +In the flash of red light, and in the instant stunning report of the +pistol shot, Barnaby saw, as stamped upon the blackness, a broad, flat +face with fishy eyes, a lean, bony forehead with what appeared to be a +great blotch of blood upon the side, a cocked hat trimmed with gold +lace, a red scarf across the breast, and the gleam of brass buttons. +Then the darkness, very thick and black, swallowed everything again. + +But in the instant Sir John Malyoe called out, in a great loud voice: +"My God! 'Tis William Brand!" Therewith came the sound of some one +falling heavily down. + +The next moment, Barnaby's sight coming back to him again in the +darkness, he beheld that dark and motionless figure still standing +exactly where it had stood before, and so knew either that he had +missed it or else that it was of so supernatural a sort that a leaden +bullet might do it no harm. Though if it was indeed an apparition that +Barnaby beheld in that moment, there is this to say, that he saw it as +plain as ever he saw a living man in all of his life. + +This was the last our hero knew, for the next moment somebody--whether +by accident or design he never knew--struck him such a terrible +violent blow upon the side of the head that he saw forty thousand +stars flash before his eyeballs, and then, with a great humming in his +head, swooned dead away. + +When Barnaby True came back to his senses again it was to find himself +being cared for with great skill and nicety, his head bathed with +cold water, and a bandage being bound about it as carefully as though +a chirurgeon was attending to him. + +He could not immediately recall what had happened to him, nor until he +had opened his eyes to find himself in a strange cabin, extremely well +fitted and painted with white and gold, the light of a lantern shining +in his eyes, together with the gray of the early daylight through the +dead-eye. Two men were bending over him--one, a negro in a striped +shirt, with a yellow handkerchief around his head and silver earrings +in his ears; the other, a white man, clad in a strange outlandish +dress of a foreign make, and with great mustachios hanging down, and +with gold earrings in his ears. + +It was the latter who was attending to Barnaby's hurt with such +extreme care and gentleness. + +All this Barnaby saw with his first clear consciousness after his +swoon. Then remembering what had befallen him, and his head beating as +though it would split asunder, he shut his eyes again, contriving with +great effort to keep himself from groaning aloud, and wondering as to +what sort of pirates these could be who would first knock a man in the +head so terrible a blow as that which he had suffered, and then take +such care to fetch him back to life again, and to make him easy and +comfortable. + +Nor did he open his eyes again, but lay there gathering his wits +together and wondering thus until the bandage was properly tied about +his head and sewed together. Then once more he opened his eyes, and +looked up to ask where he was. + +Either they who were attending to him did not choose to reply, or else +they could not speak English, for they made no answer, excepting by +signs; for the white man, seeing that he was now able to speak, and so +was come back into his senses again, nodded his head three or four +times, and smiled with a grin of his white teeth, and then pointed, as +though toward a saloon beyond. At the same time the negro held up our +hero's coat and beckoned for him to put it on, so that Barnaby, +seeing that it was required of him to meet some one without, arose, +though with a good deal of effort, and permitted the negro to help him +on with his coat, still feeling mightily dizzy and uncertain upon his +legs, his head beating fit to split, and the vessel rolling and +pitching at a great rate, as though upon a heavy ground swell. + +So, still sick and dizzy, he went out into what was indeed a fine +saloon beyond, painted in white and gilt like the cabin he had just +quitted, and fitted in the nicest fashion, a mahogany table, polished +very bright, extending the length of the room, and a quantity of +bottles, together with glasses of clear crystal, arranged in a hanging +rack above. + +Here at the table a man was sitting with his back to our hero, clad in +a rough pea-jacket, and with a red handkerchief tied around his +throat, his feet stretched out before him, and he smoking a pipe of +tobacco with all the ease and comfort in the world. + +As Barnaby came in he turned round, and, to the profound astonishment +of our hero, presented toward him in the light of the lantern, the +dawn shining pretty strong through the skylight, the face of that very +man who had conducted the mysterious expedition that night across +Kingston Harbor to the Rio Cobra River. + +This man looked steadily at Barnaby True for a moment or two, and then +burst out laughing; and, indeed, Barnaby, standing there with the +bandage about his head, must have looked a very droll picture of that +astonishment he felt so profoundly at finding who was this pirate into +whose hands he had fallen. + +"Well," says the other, "and so you be up at last, and no great harm +done, I'll be bound. And how does your head feel by now, my young +master?" + +To this Barnaby made no reply, but, what with wonder and the dizziness +of his head, seated himself at the table over against the speaker, who +pushed a bottle of rum toward him, together with a glass from the +swinging shelf above. + +He watched Barnaby fill his glass, and so soon as he had done so began +immediately by saying: "I do suppose you think you were treated +mightily ill to be so handled last night. Well, so you were treated +ill enough--though who hit you that crack upon the head I know no more +than a child unborn. Well, I am sorry for the way you were handled, +but there is this much to say, and of that you may believe me, that +nothing was meant to you but kindness, and before you are through with +us all you will believe that well enough." + +Here he helped himself to a taste of grog, and sucking in his lips, +went on again with what he had to say. "Do you remember," said he, +"that expedition of ours in Kingston Harbor, and how we were all of us +balked that night?" + +"Why, yes," said Barnaby True, "nor am I likely to forget it." + +"And do you remember what I said to that villain, Jack Malyoe, that +night as his boat went by us?" + +"As to that," said Barnaby True, "I do not know that I can say yes or +no, but if you will tell me, I will maybe answer you in kind." + +"Why, I mean this," said the other. "I said that the villain had got +the better of us once again, but that next time it would be our turn, +even if William Brand himself had to come back from hell to put the +business through." + +"I remember something of the sort," said Barnaby, "now that you speak +of it, but still I am all in the dark as to what you are driving at." + +The other looked at him very cunningly for a little while, his head on +one side, and his eyes half shut. Then, as if satisfied, he suddenly +burst out laughing. "Look hither," said he, "and I'll show you +something," and therewith, moving to one side, disclosed a couple of +traveling cases or small trunks with brass studs, so exactly like +those that Sir John Malyoe had fetched aboard at Jamaica that +Barnaby, putting this and that together, knew that they must be the +same. + +Our hero had a strong enough suspicion as to what those two cases +contained, and his suspicions had become a certainty when he saw Sir +John Malyoe struck all white at being threatened about them, and his +face lowering so malevolently as to look murder had he dared do it. +But, Lord! what were suspicions or even certainty to what Barnaby +True's two eyes beheld when that man lifted the lids of the two +cases--the locks thereof having already been forced--and, flinging +back first one lid and then the other, displayed to Barnaby's +astonished sight a great treasure of gold and silver! Most of it tied +up in leathern bags, to be sure, but many of the coins, big and +little, yellow and white, lying loose and scattered about like so many +beans, brimming the cases to the very top. + +Barnaby sat dumb-struck at what he beheld; as to whether he breathed +or no, I cannot tell; but this I know, that he sat staring at that +marvelous treasure like a man in a trance, until, after a few seconds +of this golden display, the other banged down the lids again and burst +out laughing, whereupon he came back to himself with a jump. + +"Well, and what do you think of that?" said the other. "Is it not +enough for a man to turn pirate for? But," he continued, "it is not +for the sake of showing you this that I have been waiting for you here +so long a while, but to tell you that you are not the only passenger +aboard, but that there is another, whom I am to confide to your care +and attention, according to orders I have received; so, if you are +ready, Master Barnaby, I'll fetch her in directly." He waited for a +moment, as though for Barnaby to speak, but our hero not replying, he +arose and, putting away the bottle of rum and the glasses, crossed the +saloon to a door like that from which Barnaby had come a little while +before. This he opened, and after a moment's delay and a few words +spoken to some one within, ushered thence a young lady, who came out +very slowly into the saloon where Barnaby still sat at the table. + +It was Miss Marjorie Malyoe, very white, and looking as though stunned +or bewildered by all that had befallen her. + +Barnaby True could never tell whether the amazing strange voyage that +followed was of long or of short duration; whether it occupied three +days or ten days. For conceive, if you choose, two people of flesh and +blood moving and living continually in all the circumstances and +surroundings as of a nightmare dream, yet they two so happy together +that all the universe beside was of no moment to them! How was anyone +to tell whether in such circumstances any time appeared to be long or +short? Does a dream appear to be long or to be short? + +The vessel in which they sailed was a brigantine of good size and +build, but manned by a considerable crew, the most strange and +outlandish in their appearance that Barnaby had ever beheld--some +white, some yellow, some black, and all tricked out with gay colors, +and gold earrings in their ears, and some with great long mustachios, +and others with handkerchiefs tied around their heads, and all talking +a language together of which Barnaby True could understand not a +single word, but which might have been Portuguese from one or two +phrases he caught. Nor did this strange, mysterious crew, of God knows +what sort of men, seem to pay any attention whatever to Barnaby or to +the young lady. They might now and then have looked at him and her out +of the corners of their yellow eyes, but that was all; otherwise they +were indeed like the creatures of a nightmare dream. Only he who was +the captain of this outlandish crew would maybe speak to Barnaby a few +words as to the weather or what not when he would come down into the +saloon to mix a glass of grog or to light a pipe of tobacco, and then +to go on deck again about his business. Otherwise our hero and the +young lady were left to themselves, to do as they pleased, with no one +to interfere with them. + +[Illustration: "She Would Sit Quite Still, Permitting Barnaby to Gaze" + +_Illustration from_ +THE GHOST OF CAPTAIN BRAND + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S WEEKLY, _December 19, 1896_] + +As for her, she at no time showed any great sign of terror or of fear, +only for a little while was singularly numb and quiet, as though dazed +with what had happened to her. Indeed, methinks that wild beast, her +grandfather, had so crushed her spirit by his tyranny and his violence +that nothing that happened to her might seem sharp and keen, as it +does to others of an ordinary sort. + +But this was only at first, for afterward her face began to grow +singularly clear, as with a white light, and she would sit quite +still, permitting Barnaby to gaze, I know not how long, into her eyes, +her face so transfigured and her lips smiling, and they, as it were, +neither of them breathing, but hearing, as in another far-distant +place, the outlandish jargon of the crew talking together in the warm, +bright sunlight, or the sound of creaking block and tackle as they +hauled upon the sheets. + +Is it, then, any wonder that Barnaby True could never remember whether +such a voyage as this was long or short? + +It was as though they might have sailed so upon that wonderful voyage +forever. You may guess how amazed was Barnaby True when, coming upon +deck one morning, he found the brigantine riding upon an even keel, at +anchor off Staten Island, a small village on the shore, and the +well-known roofs and chimneys of New York town in plain sight across +the water. + +'Twas the last place in the world he had expected to see. + +And, indeed, it did seem strange to lie there alongside Staten Island +all that day, with New York town so nigh at hand and yet so impossible +to reach. For whether he desired to escape or no, Barnaby True could +not but observe that both he and the young lady were so closely +watched that they might as well have been prisoners, tied hand and +foot and laid in the hold, so far as any hope of getting away was +concerned. + +All that day there was a deal of mysterious coming and going aboard +the brigantine, and in the afternoon a sailboat went up to the town, +carrying the captain, and a great load covered over with a tarpaulin +in the stern. What was so taken up to the town Barnaby did not then +guess, but the boat did not return again till about sundown. + +For the sun was just dropping below the water when the captain came +aboard once more and, finding Barnaby on deck, bade him come down into +the saloon, where they found the young lady sitting, the broad light +of the evening shining in through the skylight, and making it all +pretty bright within. + +The captain commanded Barnaby to be seated, for he had something of +moment to say to him; whereupon, as soon as Barnaby had taken his +place alongside the young lady, he began very seriously, with a +preface somewhat thus: "Though you may think me the captain of this +brigantine, young gentleman, I am not really so, but am under orders, +and so have only carried out those orders of a superior in all these +things that I have done." Having so begun, he went on to say that +there was one thing yet remaining for him to do, and that the greatest +thing of all. He said that Barnaby and the young lady had not been +fetched away from the _Belle Helen_ as they were by any mere chance of +accident, but that 'twas all a plan laid by a head wiser than his, and +carried out by one whom he must obey in all things. He said that he +hoped that both Barnaby and the young lady would perform willingly +what they would be now called upon to do, but that whether they did it +willingly or no, they must, for that those were the orders of one who +was not to be disobeyed. + +You may guess how our hero held his breath at all this; but whatever +might have been his expectations, the very wildest of them all did not +reach to that which was demanded of him. "My orders are these," said +the other, continuing: "I am to take you and the young lady ashore, +and to see that you are married before I quit you; and to that end a +very good, decent, honest minister who lives ashore yonder in the +village was chosen and hath been spoken to and is now, no doubt, +waiting for you to come. Such are my orders, and this is the last +thing I am set to do; so now I will leave you alone together for five +minutes to talk it over, but be quick about it, for whether willing or +not, this thing must be done." + +Thereupon he went away, as he had promised, leaving those two alone +together, Barnaby like one turned into stone, and the young lady, her +face turned away, flaming as red as fire in the fading light. + +Nor can I tell what Barnaby said to her, nor what words he used, but +only, all in a tumult, with neither beginning nor end he told her that +God knew he loved her, and that with all his heart and soul, and that +there was nothing in all the world for him but her; but, nevertheless, +if she would not have it as had been ordered, and if she were not +willing to marry him as she was bidden to do, he would rather die than +lend himself to forcing her to do such a thing against her will. +Nevertheless, he told her she must speak up and tell him yes or no, +and that God knew he would give all the world if she would say "yes." + +All this and more he said in such a tumult of words that there was no +order in their speaking, and she sitting there, her bosom rising and +falling as though her breath stifled her. Nor may I tell what she +replied to him, only this, that she said she would marry him. At this +he took her into his arms and set his lips to hers, his heart all +melting away in his bosom. + +So presently came the captain back into the saloon again, to find +Barnaby sitting there holding her hand, she with her face turned away, +and his heart beating like a trip hammer, and so saw that all was +settled as he would have it. Wherewith he wished them both joy, and +gave Barnaby his hand. + +The yawlboat belonging to the brigantine was ready and waiting +alongside when they came upon deck, and immediately they descended to +it and took their seats. So they landed, and in a little while were +walking up the village street in the darkness, she clinging to his +arm as though she would swoon, and the captain of the brigantine and +two other men from aboard following after them. And so to the +minister's house, finding him waiting for them, smoking his pipe in +the warm evening, and walking up and down in front of his own door. He +immediately conducted them into the house, where, his wife having +fetched a candle, and two others of the village folk being present, +the good man having asked several questions as to their names and +their age and where they were from, the ceremony was performed, and +the certificate duly signed by those present--excepting the men who +had come ashore from the brigantine, and who refused to set their +hands to any paper. + +The same sailboat that had taken the captain up to the town in the +afternoon was waiting for them at the landing place, whence, the +captain, having wished them Godspeed, and having shaken Barnaby very +heartily by the hand, they pushed off, and, coming about, ran away +with the slant of the wind, dropping the shore and those strange +beings alike behind them into the night. + +As they sped away through the darkness they could hear the creaking of +the sails being hoisted aboard of the brigantine, and so knew that she +was about to put to sea once more. Nor did Barnaby True ever set eyes +upon those beings again, nor did anyone else that I ever heard tell +of. + +It was nigh midnight when they made Mr. Hartright's wharf at the foot +of Wall Street, and so the streets were all dark and silent and +deserted as they walked up to Barnaby's home. + +You may conceive of the wonder and amazement of Barnaby's dear +stepfather when, clad in a dressing gown and carrying a lighted candle +in his hand, he unlocked and unbarred the door, and so saw who it was +had aroused him at such an hour of the night, and the young and +beautiful lady whom Barnaby had fetched with him. + +The first thought of the good man was that the _Belle Helen_ had come +into port; nor did Barnaby undeceive him as he led the way into the +house, but waited until they were all safe and sound in privity +together before he should unfold his strange and wonderful story. + +"This was left for you by two foreign sailors this afternoon, +Barnaby," the good old man said, as he led the way through the hall, +holding up the candle at the same time, so that Barnaby might see an +object that stood against the wainscoting by the door of the dining +room. + +Nor could Barnaby refrain from crying out with amazement when he saw +that it was one of the two chests of treasure that Sir John Malyoe had +fetched from Jamaica, and which the pirates had taken from the _Belle +Helen_. As for Mr. Hartright, he guessed no more what was in it than +the man in the moon. + +The next day but one brought the _Belle Helen_ herself into port, with +the terrible news not only of having been attacked at night by +pirates, but also that Sir John Malyoe was dead. For whether it was +the sudden shock of the sight of his old captain's face--whom he +himself had murdered and thought dead and buried--flashing so out +against the darkness, or whether it was the strain of passion that +overset his brains, certain it is that when the pirates left the +_Belle Helen_, carrying with them the young lady and Barnaby and the +traveling trunks, those left aboard the _Belle Helen_ found Sir John +Malyoe lying in a fit upon the floor, frothing at the mouth and black +in the face, as though he had been choked, and so took him away to his +berth, where, the next morning about ten o'clock, he died, without +once having opened his eyes or spoken a single word. + +As for the villain manservant, no one ever saw him afterward; though +whether he jumped overboard, or whether the pirates who so attacked +the ship had carried him away bodily, who shall say? + +Mr. Hartright, after he had heard Barnaby's story, had been very +uncertain as to the ownership of the chest of treasure that had been +left by those men for Barnaby, but the news of the death of Sir John +Malyoe made the matter very easy for him to decide. For surely if +that treasure did not belong to Barnaby, there could be no doubt that +it must belong to his wife, she being Sir John Malyoe's legal heir. +And so it was that that great fortune (in actual computation amounting +to upward of sixty-three thousand pounds) came to Barnaby True, the +grandson of that famous pirate, William Brand; the English estate in +Devonshire, in default of male issue of Sir John Malyoe, descended to +Captain Malyoe, whom the young lady was to have married. + +As for the other case of treasure, it was never heard of again, nor +could Barnaby ever guess whether it was divided as booty among the +pirates, or whether they had carried it away with them to some strange +and foreign land, there to share it among themselves. + +And so the ending of the story, with only this to observe, that +whether that strange appearance of Captain Brand's face by the light +of the pistol was a ghostly and spiritual appearance, or whether he +was present in flesh and blood, there is only to say that he was never +heard of again; nor had he ever been heard of till that time since the +day he was so shot from behind by Capt. John Malyoe on the banks of +the Rio Cobra River in the year 1733. + + + + +Chapter III + +WITH THE BUCCANEERS + +_Being an Account of Certain Adventures that Befell Henry Mostyn Under +Capt. H. Morgan in the Year 1665-66_ + +[Illustration] + + +I + +Although this narration has more particularly to do with the taking of +the Spanish vice admiral in the harbor of Porto Bello, and of the +rescue therefrom of Le Sieur Simon, his wife and daughter (the +adventure of which was successfully achieved by Captain Morgan, the +famous buccaneer), we shall, nevertheless, premise something of the +earlier history of Master Harry Mostyn, whom you may, if you please, +consider as the hero of the several circumstances recounted in these +pages. + +In the year 1664 our hero's father embarked from Portsmouth, in +England, for the Barbados, where he owned a considerable sugar +plantation. Thither to those parts of America he transported with +himself his whole family, of whom our Master Harry was the fifth of +eight children--a great lusty fellow as little fitted for the Church +(for which he was designed) as could be. At the time of this story, +though not above sixteen years old, Master Harry Mostyn was as big and +well-grown as many a man of twenty, and of such a reckless and +dare-devil spirit that no adventure was too dangerous or too +mischievous for him to embark upon. + +At this time there was a deal of talk in those parts of the Americas +concerning Captain Morgan, and the prodigious successes he was having +pirating against the Spaniards. + +This man had once been an indentured servant with Mr. Rolls, a sugar +factor at the Barbados. Having served out his time, and being of +lawless disposition, possessing also a prodigious appetite for +adventure, he joined with others of his kidney, and, purchasing a +caravel of three guns, embarked fairly upon that career of piracy the +most successful that ever was heard of in the world. + +Master Harry had known this man very well while he was still with Mr. +Rolls, serving as a clerk at that gentleman's sugar wharf, a tall, +broad-shouldered, strapping fellow, with red cheeks, and thick red +lips, and rolling blue eyes, and hair as red as any chestnut. Many +knew him for a bold, gruff-spoken man, but no one at that time +suspected that he had it in him to become so famous and renowned as he +afterward grew to be. + +The fame of his exploits had been the talk of those parts for above a +twelvemonth, when, in the latter part of the year 1665, Captain +Morgan, having made a very successful expedition against the Spaniards +into the Gulf of Campeche--where he took several important purchases +from the plate fleet--came to the Barbados, there to fit out another +such venture, and to enlist recruits. + +He and certain other adventurers had purchased a vessel of some five +hundred tons, which they proposed to convert into a pirate by cutting +portholes for cannon, and running three or four carronades across her +main deck. The name of this ship, be it mentioned, was the _Good +Samaritan_, as ill-fitting a name as could be for such a craft, which, +instead of being designed for the healing of wounds, was intended +to inflict such devastation as those wicked men proposed. + +[Illustration: BURIED TREASURE] + +Here was a piece of mischief exactly fitted to our hero's tastes; +wherefore, having made up a bundle of clothes, and with not above a +shilling in his pocket, he made an excursion into the town to seek for +Captain Morgan. There he found the great pirate established at an +ordinary, with a little court of ragamuffins and swashbucklers +gathered about him, all talking very loud, and drinking healths in raw +rum as though it were sugared water. + +And what a fine figure our buccaneer had grown, to be sure! How +different from the poor, humble clerk upon the sugar wharf! What a +deal of gold braid! What a fine, silver-hilted Spanish sword! What a +gay velvet sling, hung with three silver-mounted pistols! If Master +Harry's mind had not been made up before, to be sure such a spectacle +of glory would have determined it. + +This figure of war our hero asked to step aside with him, and when +they had come into a corner, proposed to the other what he intended, +and that he had a mind to enlist as a gentleman adventurer upon this +expedition. Upon this our rogue of a buccaneer captain burst out +a-laughing, and fetching Master Harry a great thump upon the back, +swore roundly that he would make a man of him, and that it was a pity +to make a parson out of so good a piece of stuff. + +Nor was Captain Morgan less good than his word, for when the _Good +Samaritan_ set sail with a favoring wind for the island of Jamaica, +Master Harry found himself established as one of the adventurers +aboard. + + +II + +Could you but have seen the town of Port Royal as it appeared in the +year 1665 you would have beheld a sight very well worth while looking +upon. There were no fine houses at that time, and no great counting +houses built of brick, such as you may find nowadays, but a crowd of +board and wattled huts huddled along the streets, and all so gay with +flags and bits of color that Vanity Fair itself could not have been +gayer. To this place came all the pirates and buccaneers that infested +those parts, and men shouted and swore and gambled, and poured out +money like water, and then maybe wound up their merrymaking by dying +of fever. For the sky in these torrid latitudes is all full of clouds +overhead, and as hot as any blanket, and when the sun shone forth it +streamed down upon the smoking sands so that the houses were ovens and +the streets were furnaces; so it was little wonder that men died like +rats in a hole. But little they appeared to care for that; so that +everywhere you might behold a multitude of painted women and Jews and +merchants and pirates, gaudy with red scarfs and gold braid and all +sorts of odds and ends of foolish finery, all fighting and gambling +and bartering for that ill-gotten treasure of the be-robbed Spaniard. + +Here, arriving, Captain Morgan found a hearty welcome, and a message +from the governor awaiting him, the message bidding him attend His +Excellency upon the earliest occasion that offered. Whereupon, taking +our hero (of whom he had grown prodigiously fond) along with him, our +pirate went, without any loss of time, to visit Sir Thomas Modiford, +who was then the royal governor of all this devil's brew of +wickedness. + +They found His Excellency seated in a great easy-chair, under the +shadow of a slatted veranda, the floor whereof was paved with brick. +He was clad, for the sake of coolness, only in his shirt, breeches, +and stockings, and he wore slippers on his feet. He was smoking a +great cigarro of tobacco, and a goblet of lime juice and water and rum +stood at his elbow on a table. Here, out of the glare of the heat, it +was all very cool and pleasant, with a sea breeze blowing violently in +through the slats, setting them a-rattling now and then, and stirring +Sir Thomas's long hair, which he had pushed back for the sake of +coolness. + +The purport of this interview, I may tell you, concerned the rescue of +one Le Sieur Simon, who, together with his wife and daughter, was held +captive by the Spaniards. + +[Illustration] + +This gentleman adventurer (Le Sieur Simon) had, a few years before, +been set up by the buccaneers as governor of the island of Santa +Catharina. This place, though well fortified by the Spaniards, the +buccaneers had seized upon, establishing themselves thereon, and so +infesting the commerce of those seas that no Spanish fleet was safe +from them. At last the Spaniards, no longer able to endure these +assaults against their commerce, sent a great force against the +freebooters to drive them out of their island stronghold. This they +did, retaking Santa Catharina, together with its governor, his wife, +and daughter, as well as the whole garrison of buccaneers. + +This garrison was sent by their conquerors, some to the galleys, some +to the mines, some to no man knows where. The governor himself--Le +Sieur Simon--was to be sent to Spain, there to stand his trial for +piracy. + +The news of all this, I may tell you, had only just been received in +Jamaica, having been brought thither by a Spanish captain, one Don +Roderiguez Sylvia, who was, besides, the bearer of dispatches to the +Spanish authorities relating the whole affair. + +Such, in fine, was the purport of this interview, and as our hero and +his captain walked back together from the governor's house to the +ordinary where they had taken up their inn, the buccaneer assured his +companion that he purposed to obtain those dispatches from the Spanish +captain that very afternoon, even if he had to use force to seize +them. + +All this, you are to understand, was undertaken only because of the +friendship that the governor and Captain Morgan entertained for Le +Sieur Simon. And, indeed, it was wonderful how honest and how faithful +were these wicked men in their dealings with one another. For you must +know that Governor Modiford and Le Sieur Simon and the buccaneers were +all of one kidney--all taking a share in the piracies of those times, +and all holding by one another as though they were the honestest men +in the world. Hence it was they were all so determined to rescue Le +Sieur Simon from the Spaniards. + + +III + +Having reached his ordinary after his interview with the governor, +Captain Morgan found there a number of his companions, such as usually +gathered at that place to be in attendance upon him--some, those +belonging to the _Good Samaritan_; others, those who hoped to obtain +benefits from him; others, those ragamuffins who gathered around him +because he was famous, and because it pleased them to be of his court +and to be called his followers. For nearly always your successful +pirate had such a little court surrounding him. + +Finding a dozen or more of these rascals gathered there, Captain +Morgan informed them of his present purpose--that he was going to find +the Spanish captain to demand his papers of him, and calling upon them +to accompany him. + +With this following at his heels, our buccaneer started off down the +street, his lieutenant, a Cornishman named Bartholomew Davis, upon one +hand and our hero upon the other. So they paraded the streets for the +best part of an hour before they found the Spanish captain. For +whether he had got wind that Captain Morgan was searching for him, or +whether, finding himself in a place so full of his enemies, he had +buried himself in some place of hiding, it is certain that the +buccaneers had traversed pretty nearly the whole town before they +discovered that he was lying at a certain auberge kept by a Portuguese +Jew. Thither they went, and thither Captain Morgan entered with the +utmost coolness and composure of demeanor, his followers crowding +noisily in at his heels. + +The space within was very dark, being lighted only by the doorway and +by two large slatted windows or openings in the front. + +In this dark, hot place--not over-roomy at the best--were gathered +twelve or fifteen villainous-appearing men, sitting at tables and +drinking together, waited upon by the Jew and his wife. Our hero had +no trouble in discovering which of this lot of men was Captain Sylvia, +for not only did Captain Morgan direct his glance full of war upon +him, but the Spaniard was clad with more particularity and with more +show of finery than any of the others who were there. + +Him Captain Morgan approached and demanded his papers, whereunto the +other replied with such a jabber of Spanish and English that no man +could have understood what he said. To this Captain Morgan in turn +replied that he must have those papers, no matter what it might cost +him to obtain them, and thereupon drew a pistol from his sling and +presented it at the other's head. + +At this threatening action the innkeeper's wife fell a-screaming, and +the Jew, as in a frenzy, besought them not to tear the house down +about his ears. + +Our hero could hardly tell what followed, only that all of a sudden +there was a prodigious uproar of combat. Knives flashed everywhere, +and then a pistol was fired so close to his head that he stood like +one stunned, hearing some one crying out in a loud voice, but not +knowing whether it was a friend or a foe who had been shot. Then +another pistol shot so deafened what was left of Master Harry's +hearing that his ears rang for above an hour afterward. By this time +the whole place was full of gunpowder smoke, and there was the sound +of blows and oaths and outcrying and the clashing of knives. + +As Master Harry, who had no great stomach for such a combat, and no +very particular interest in the quarrel, was making for the door, a +little Portuguese, as withered and as nimble as an ape, came ducking +under the table and plunged at his stomach with a great long knife, +which, had it effected its object, would surely have ended his +adventures then and there. Finding himself in such danger, Master +Harry snatched up a heavy chair, and, flinging it at his enemy, who +was preparing for another attack, he fairly ran for it out of the +door, expecting every instant to feel the thrust of the blade betwixt +his ribs. + +A considerable crowd had gathered outside, and others, hearing the +uproar, were coming running to join them. With these our hero stood, +trembling like a leaf, and with cold chills running up and down his +back like water at the narrow escape from the danger that had +threatened him. + +Nor shall you think him a coward, for you must remember he was hardly +sixteen years old at the time, and that this was the first affair of +the sort he had encountered. Afterward, as you shall learn, he showed +that he could exhibit courage enough at a pinch. + +While he stood there, endeavoring to recover his composure, the while +the tumult continued within, suddenly two men came running almost +together out of the door, a crowd of the combatants at their heels. +The first of these men was Captain Sylvia; the other, who was pursuing +him, was Captain Morgan. + +As the crowd about the door parted before the sudden appearing of +these, the Spanish captain, perceiving, as he supposed, a way of +escape opened to him, darted across the street with incredible +swiftness toward an alleyway upon the other side. Upon this, seeing +his prey like to get away from him, Captain Morgan snatched a pistol +out of his sling, and resting it for an instant across his arm, fired +at the flying Spaniard, and that with so true an aim that, though the +street was now full of people, the other went tumbling over and over +all of a heap in the kennel, where he lay, after a twitch or two, as +still as a log. + +At the sound of the shot and the fall of the man the crowd scattered +upon all sides, yelling and screaming, and the street being thus +pretty clear, Captain Morgan ran across the way to where his victim +lay, his smoking pistol still in his hand, and our hero following +close at his heels. + +Our poor Harry had never before beheld a man killed thus in an instant +who a moment before had been so full of life and activity, for when +Captain Morgan turned the body over upon its back he could perceive at +a glance, little as he knew of such matters, that the man was +stone-dead. And, indeed, it was a dreadful sight for him who was +hardly more than a child. He stood rooted for he knew not how long, +staring down at the dead face with twitching fingers and shuddering +limbs. Meantime a great crowd was gathering about them again. + +[Illustration] + +As for Captain Morgan, he went about his work with the utmost coolness +and deliberation imaginable, unbuttoning the waistcoat and the shirt +of the man he had murdered with fingers that neither twitched nor +shook. There were a gold cross and a bunch of silver medals hung by a +whipcord about the neck of the dead man. This Captain Morgan broke +away with a snap, reaching the jingling baubles to Harry, who took +them in his nerveless hand and fingers that he could hardly close upon +what they held. + +The papers Captain Morgan found in a wallet in an inner breast pocket +of the Spaniard's waistcoat. These he examined one by one, and finding +them to his satisfaction, tied them up again, and slipped the wallet +and its contents into his own pocket. + +Then for the first time he appeared to observe Master Harry, who, +indeed, must have been standing, the perfect picture of horror and +dismay. Whereupon, bursting out a-laughing, and slipping the pistol he +had used back into its sling again, he fetched poor Harry a great slap +upon the back, bidding him be a man, for that he would see many such +sights as this. + +But indeed, it was no laughing matter for poor Master Harry, for it +was many a day before his imagination could rid itself of the image of +the dead Spaniard's face; and as he walked away down the street with +his companions, leaving the crowd behind them, and the dead body where +it lay for its friends to look after, his ears humming and ringing +from the deafening noise of the pistol shots fired in the close room, +and the sweat trickling down his face in drops, he knew not whether +all that had passed had been real, or whether it was a dream from +which he might presently awaken. + + +IV + +The papers Captain Morgan had thus seized upon as the fruit of the +murder he had committed must have been as perfectly satisfactory to +him as could be, for having paid a second visit that evening to +Governor Modiford, the pirate lifted anchor the next morning and made +sail toward the Gulf of Darien. There, after cruising about in those +waters for about a fortnight without falling in with a vessel of +any sort, at the end of that time they overhauled a caravel bound from +Porto Bello to Cartagena, which vessel they took, and finding her +loaded with nothing better than raw hides, scuttled and sank her, +being then about twenty leagues from the main of Cartagena. From the +captain of this vessel they learned that the plate fleet was then +lying in the harbor of Porto Bello, not yet having set sail thence, +but waiting for the change of the winds before embarking for Spain. +Besides this, which was a good deal more to their purpose, the +Spaniards told the pirates that the Sieur Simon, his wife, and +daughter were confined aboard the vice admiral of that fleet, and that +the name of the vice admiral was the _Santa Maria y Valladolid_. + +[Illustration: KIDD ON THE DECK OF THE _Adventure Galley_] + +So soon as Captain Morgan had obtained the information he desired he +directed his course straight for the Bay of Santo Blaso, where he +might lie safely within the cape of that name without any danger of +discovery (that part of the mainland being entirely uninhabited) and +yet be within twenty or twenty-five leagues of Porto Bello. + +Having come safely to this anchorage, he at once declared his +intentions to his companions, which were as follows: + +That it was entirely impossible for them to hope to sail their vessel +into the harbor of Porto Bello, and to attack the Spanish vice admiral +where he lay in the midst of the armed flota; wherefore, if anything +was to be accomplished, it must be undertaken by some subtle design +rather than by open-handed boldness. Having so prefaced what he had to +say, he now declared that it was his purpose to take one of the ship's +boats and to go in that to Porto Bello, trusting for some opportunity +to occur to aid him either in the accomplishment of his aims or in the +gaining of some further information. Having thus delivered himself, he +invited any who dared to do so to volunteer for the expedition, +telling them plainly that he would constrain no man to go against his +will, for that at best it was a desperate enterprise, possessing only +the recommendation that in its achievement the few who undertook it +would gain great renown, and perhaps a very considerable booty. + +And such was the incredible influence of this bold man over his +companions, and such was their confidence in his skill and cunning, +that not above a dozen of all those aboard hung back from the +undertaking, but nearly every man desired to be taken. + +Of these volunteers Captain Morgan chose twenty--among others our +Master Harry--and having arranged with his lieutenant that if nothing +was heard from the expedition at the end of three days he should sail +for Jamaica to await news, he embarked upon that enterprise, which, +though never heretofore published, was perhaps the boldest and the +most desperate of all those that have since made his name so famous. +For what could be a more unparalleled undertaking than for a little +open boat, containing but twenty men, to enter the harbor of the third +strongest fortress of the Spanish mainland with the intention of +cutting out the Spanish vice admiral from the midst of a whole fleet +of powerfully armed vessels, and how many men in all the world do you +suppose would venture such a thing? + +But there is this to be said of that great buccaneer: that if he +undertook enterprises so desperate as this, he yet laid his plans so +well that they never went altogether amiss. Moreover, the very +desperation of his successes was of such a nature that no man could +suspect that he would dare to undertake such things, and accordingly +his enemies were never prepared to guard against his attacks. Aye, had +he but worn the king's colors and served under the rules of honest +war, he might have become as great and as renowned as Admiral Blake +himself. + +But all that is neither here nor there; what I have to tell you now is +that Captain Morgan in this open boat with his twenty mates reached +the Cape of Salmedina toward the fall of day. Arriving within view of +the harbor they discovered the plate fleet at anchor, with two +men-of-war and an armed galley riding as a guard at the mouth of the +harbor, scarce half a league distant from the other ships. Having +spied the fleet in this posture, the pirates presently pulled down +their sails and rowed along the coast, feigning to be a Spanish vessel +from Nombre de Dios. So hugging the shore, they came boldly within the +harbor, upon the opposite side of which you might see the fortress a +considerable distance away. + +Being now come so near to the consummation of their adventure, Captain +Morgan required every man to make an oath to stand by him to the last, +whereunto our hero swore as heartily as any man aboard, although his +heart, I must needs confess, was beating at a great rate at the +approach of what was to happen. Having thus received the oaths of all +his followers, Captain Morgan commanded the surgeon of the expedition +that, when the order was given, he, the medico, was to bore six holes +in the boat, so that, it sinking under them, they might all be +compelled to push forward, with no chance of retreat. And such was the +ascendancy of this man over his followers, and such was their awe of +him, that not one of them uttered even so much as a murmur, though +what he had commanded the surgeon to do pledged them either to victory +or to death, with no chance to choose between. Nor did the surgeon +question the orders he had received, much less did he dream of +disobeying them. + +By now it had fallen pretty dusk, whereupon, spying two fishermen in a +canoe at a little distance, Captain Morgan demanded of them in Spanish +which vessel of those at anchor in the harbor was the vice admiral, +for that he had dispatches for the captain thereof. Whereupon the +fishermen, suspecting nothing, pointed to them a galleon of great size +riding at anchor not half a league distant. + +[Illustration] + +Toward this vessel accordingly the pirates directed their course, and +when they had come pretty nigh, Captain Morgan called upon the surgeon +that now it was time for him to perform the duty that had been laid +upon him. Whereupon the other did as he was ordered, and that so +thoroughly that the water presently came gushing into the boat in +great streams, whereat all hands pulled for the galleon as though +every next moment was to be their last. + +And what do you suppose were our hero's emotions at this time? Like +all in the boat, his awe of Captain Morgan was so great that I do +believe he would rather have gone to the bottom than have questioned +his command, even when it was to scuttle the boat. Nevertheless, when +he felt the cold water gushing about his feet (for he had taken off +his shoes and stockings) he became possessed with such a fear of being +drowned that even the Spanish galleon had no terrors for him if he +could only feel the solid planks thereof beneath his feet. + +Indeed, all the crew appeared to be possessed of a like dismay, for +they pulled at the oars with such an incredible force that they were +under the quarter of the galleon before the boat was half filled with +water. + +Here, as they approached, it then being pretty dark and the moon not +yet having risen, the watch upon the deck hailed them, whereupon +Captain Morgan called out in Spanish that he was Capt. Alvarez +Mendazo, and that he brought dispatches for the vice admiral. + +But at that moment, the boat being now so full of water as to be +logged, it suddenly tilted upon one side as though to sink beneath +them, whereupon all hands, without further orders, went scrambling up +the side, as nimble as so many monkeys, each armed with a pistol in +one hand and a cutlass in the other, and so were upon deck before the +watch could collect his wits to utter any outcry or to give any other +alarm than to cry out, "Jesu bless us! who are these?" at which words +somebody knocked him down with the butt of a pistol, though who it was +our hero could not tell in the darkness and the hurry. + +Before any of those upon deck could recover from their alarm or those +from below come up upon deck, a part of the pirates, under the +carpenter and the surgeon, had run to the gun room and had taken +possession of the arms, while Captain Morgan, with Master Harry and a +Portuguese called Murillo Braziliano, had flown with the speed of the +wind into the great cabin. + +Here they found the captain of the vice admiral playing at cards with +the Sieur Simon and a friend, Madam Simon and her daughter being +present. + +Captain Morgan instantly set his pistol at the breast of the Spanish +captain, swearing with a most horrible fierce countenance that if he +spake a word or made any outcry he was a dead man. As for our hero, +having now got his hand into the game, he performed the same service +for the Spaniard's friend, declaring he would shoot him dead if he +opened his lips or lifted so much as a single finger. + +All this while the ladies, not comprehending what had occurred, had +sat as mute as stones; but now having so far recovered themselves as +to find a voice, the younger of the two fell to screaming, at which +the Sieur Simon called out to her to be still, for these were friends +who had come to help them, and not enemies who had come to harm them. + +All this, you are to understand, occupied only a little while, for in +less than a minute three or four of the pirates had come into the +cabin, who, together with the Portuguese, proceeded at once to bind +the two Spaniards hand and foot, and to gag them. This being done to +our buccaneer's satisfaction, and the Spanish captain being stretched +out in the corner of the cabin, he instantly cleared his countenance +of its terrors, and bursting forth into a great loud laugh, clapped +his hand to the Sieur Simon's, which he wrung with the best will in +the world. Having done this, and being in a fine humor after this his +first success, he turned to the two ladies. "And this, ladies," said +he, taking our hero by the hand and presenting him, "is a young +gentleman who has embarked with me to learn the trade of piracy. I +recommend him to your politeness." + +Think what a confusion this threw our Master Harry into, to be sure, +who at his best was never easy in the company of strange ladies! You +may suppose what must have been his emotions to find himself thus +introduced to the attention of Madam Simon and her daughter, being at +the time in his bare feet, clad only in his shirt and breeches, and +with no hat upon his head, a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the +other. However, he was not left for long to his embarrassments, for +almost immediately after he had thus far relaxed, Captain Morgan fell +of a sudden serious again, and bidding the Sieur Simon to get his +ladies away into some place of safety, for the most hazardous part of +this adventure was yet to occur, he quitted the cabin with Master +Harry and the other pirates (for you may call him a pirate now) at his +heels. + +Having come upon deck, our hero beheld that a part of the Spanish crew +were huddled forward in a flock like so many sheep (the others being +crowded below with the hatches fastened upon them), and such was the +terror of the pirates, and so dreadful the name of Henry Morgan, that +not one of those poor wretches dared to lift up his voice to give any +alarm, nor even to attempt an escape by jumping overboard. + +At Captain Morgan's orders, these men, together with certain of his +own company, ran nimbly aloft and began setting the sails, which, the +night now having fallen pretty thick, was not for a good while +observed by any of the vessels riding at anchor about them. + +Indeed, the pirates might have made good their escape, with at most +only a shot or two from the men-of-war, had it not then been about the +full of the moon, which, having arisen, presently discovered to those +of the fleet that lay closest about them what was being done aboard +the vice admiral. + +At this one of the vessels hailed them, and then after a while, having +no reply, hailed them again. Even then the Spaniards might not +immediately have suspected anything was amiss but only that the vice +admiral for some reason best known to himself was shifting his +anchorage, had not one of the Spaniards aloft--but who it was Captain +Morgan was never able to discover--answered the hail by crying out +that the vice admiral had been seized by the pirates. + +At this the alarm was instantly given and the mischief done, for +presently there was a tremendous bustle through that part of the fleet +lying nighest the vice admiral--a deal of shouting of orders, a +beating of drums, and the running hither and thither of the crews. + +But by this time the sails of the vice admiral had filled with a +strong land breeze that was blowing up the harbor, whereupon the +carpenter, at Captain Morgan's orders, having cut away both anchors, +the galleon presently bore away up the harbor, gathering headway every +moment with the wind nearly dead astern. The nearest vessel was the +only one that for the moment was able to offer any hindrance. This +ship, having by this time cleared away one of its guns, was able to +fire a parting shot against the vice-admiral, striking her somewhere +forward, as our hero could see by a great shower of splinters that +flew up in the moonlight. + +At the sound of the shot all the vessels of the flota not yet +disturbed by the alarm were aroused at once, so that the pirates had +the satisfaction of knowing that they would have to run the gantlet of +all the ships between them and the open sea before they could reckon +themselves escaped. + +And, indeed, to our hero's mind it seemed that the battle which +followed must have been the most terrific cannonade that was ever +heard in the world. It was not so ill at first, for it was some while +before the Spaniards could get their guns clear for action, they being +not the least in the world prepared for such an occasion as this. But +by and by first one and then another ship opened fire upon the +galleon, until it seemed to our hero that all the thunders of heaven +let loose upon them could not have created a more prodigious uproar, +and that it was not possible that they could any of them escape +destruction. + +By now the moon had risen full and round, so that the clouds of smoke +that rose in the air appeared as white as snow. The air seemed full of +the hiss and screaming of shot, each one of which, when it struck the +galleon, was magnified by our hero's imagination into ten times its +magnitude from the crash which it delivered and from the cloud of +splinters it would cast up into the moonlight. At last he suddenly +beheld one poor man knocked sprawling across the deck, who, as he +raised his arm from behind the mast, disclosed that the hand was gone +from it, and that the shirt sleeve was red with blood in the +moonlight. At this sight all the strength fell away from poor Harry, +and he felt sure that a like fate or even a worse must be in store for +him. + +But, after all, this was nothing to what it might have been in broad +daylight, for what with the darkness of night, and the little +preparation the Spaniards could make for such a business, and the +extreme haste with which they discharged their guns (many not +understanding what was the occasion of all this uproar), nearly all +the shot flew so wide of the mark that not above one in twenty struck +that at which it was aimed. + +Meantime Captain Morgan, with the Sieur Simon, who had followed him +upon deck, stood just above where our hero lay behind the shelter of +the bulwark. The captain had lit a pipe of tobacco, and he stood now +in the bright moonlight close to the rail, with his hands behind him, +looking out ahead with the utmost coolness imaginable, and paying no +more attention to the din of battle than though it were twenty leagues +away. Now and then he would take his pipe from his lips to utter an +order to the man at the wheel. Excepting this he stood there hardly +moving at all, the wind blowing his long red hair over his shoulders. + +[Illustration: BURNING THE SHIP] + +Had it not been for the armed galley the pirates might have got the +galleon away with no great harm done in spite of all this +cannonading, for the man-of-war which rode at anchor nighest to them +at the mouth of the harbor was still so far away that they might have +passed it by hugging pretty close to the shore, and that without any +great harm being done to them in the darkness. But just at this +moment, when the open water lay in sight, came this galley pulling out +from behind the point of the shore in such a manner as either to head +our pirates off entirely or else to compel them to approach so near to +the man-of-war that that latter vessel could bring its guns to bear +with more effect. + +This galley, I must tell you, was like others of its kind such as you +may find in these waters, the hull being long and cut low to the water +so as to allow the oars to dip freely. The bow was sharp and projected +far out ahead, mounting a swivel upon it, while at the stern a number +of galleries built one above another into a castle gave shelter to +several companies of musketeers as well as the officers commanding +them. + +Our hero could behold the approach of this galley from above the +starboard bulwarks, and it appeared to him impossible for them to hope +to escape either it or the man-of-war. But still Captain Morgan +maintained the same composure that he had exhibited all the while, +only now and then delivering an order to the man at the wheel, who, +putting the helm over, threw the bows of the galleon around more to +the larboard, as though to escape the bow of the galley and get into +the open water beyond. This course brought the pirates ever closer and +closer to the man-of-war, which now began to add its thunder to the +din of the battle, and with so much more effect that at every +discharge you might hear the crashing and crackling of splintered +wood, and now and then the outcry or groaning of some man who was +hurt. Indeed, had it been daylight, they must at this juncture all +have perished, though, as was said, what with the night and the +confusion and the hurry, they escaped entire destruction, though more +by a miracle than through any policy upon their own part. + +Meantime the galley, steering as though to come aboard of them, had +now come so near that it, too, presently began to open its musketry +fire upon them, so that the humming and rattling of bullets were +presently added to the din of cannonading. + +In two minutes more it would have been aboard of them, when in a +moment Captain Morgan roared out of a sudden to the man at the helm to +put it hard a starboard. In response the man ran the wheel over with +the utmost quickness, and the galleon, obeying her helm very readily, +came around upon a course which, if continued, would certainly bring +them into collision with their enemy. + +It is possible at first the Spaniards imagined the pirates intended to +escape past their stern, for they instantly began backing oars to keep +them from getting past, so that the water was all of a foam about +them; at the same time they did this they poured in such a fire of +musketry that it was a miracle that no more execution was accomplished +than happened. + +As for our hero, methinks for the moment he forgot all about +everything else than as to whether or no his captain's maneuver would +succeed, for in the very first moment he divined, as by some instinct, +what Captain Morgan purposed doing. + +At this moment, so particular in the execution of this nice design, a +bullet suddenly struck down the man at the wheel. Hearing the sharp +outcry, our Harry turned to see him fall forward, and then to his +hands and knees upon the deck, the blood running in a black pool +beneath him, while the wheel, escaping from his hands, spun over until +the spokes were all of a mist. + +In a moment the ship would have fallen off before the wind had not our +hero, leaping to the wheel (even as Captain Morgan shouted an order +for some one to do so), seized the flying spokes, whirling them back +again, and so bringing the bow of the galleon up to its former course. + +In the first moment of this effort he had reckoned of nothing but of +carrying out his captain's designs. He neither thought of cannon balls +nor of bullets. But now that his task was accomplished, he came +suddenly back to himself to find the galleries of the galley aflame +with musket shots, and to become aware with a most horrible sinking of +the spirits that all the shots therefrom were intended for him. He +cast his eyes about him with despair, but no one came to ease him of +his task, which, having undertaken, he had too much spirit to resign +from carrying through to the end, though he was well aware that the +very next instant might mean his sudden and violent death. His ears +hummed and rang, and his brain swam as light as a feather. I know not +whether he breathed, but he shut his eyes tight as though that might +save him from the bullets that were raining about him. + +[Illustration] + +At this moment the Spaniards must have discovered for the first time +the pirates' design, for of a sudden they ceased firing, and began to +shout out a multitude of orders, while the oars lashed the water all +about with a foam. But it was too late then for them to escape, for +within a couple of seconds the galleon struck her enemy a blow so +violent upon the larboard quarter as nearly to hurl our Harry upon the +deck, and then with a dreadful, horrible crackling of wood, commingled +with a yelling of men's voices, the galley was swung around upon her +side, and the galleon, sailing into the open sea, left nothing of her +immediate enemy but a sinking wreck, and the water dotted all over +with bobbing heads and waving hands in the moonlight. + +And now, indeed, that all danger was past and gone, there were plenty +to come running to help our hero at the wheel. As for Captain Morgan, +having come down upon the main deck, he fetches the young helmsman a +clap upon the back. "Well, Master Harry," says he, "and did I not tell +you I would make a man of you?" Whereat our poor Harry fell +a-laughing, but with a sad catch in his voice, for his hands trembled +as with an ague, and were as cold as ice. As for his emotions, God +knows he was nearer crying than laughing, if Captain Morgan had but +known it. + +Nevertheless, though undertaken under the spur of the moment, I +protest it was indeed a brave deed, and I cannot but wonder how many +young gentlemen of sixteen there are to-day who, upon a like occasion, +would act as well as our Harry. + + +V + +The balance of our hero's adventures were of a lighter sort than those +already recounted, for the next morning the Spanish captain (a very +polite and well-bred gentleman) having fitted him out with a shift of +his own clothes, Master Harry was presented in a proper form to the +ladies. For Captain Morgan, if he had felt a liking for the young man +before, could not now show sufficient regard for him. He ate in the +great cabin and was petted by all. Madam Simon, who was a fat and +red-faced lady, was forever praising him, and the young miss, who was +extremely well-looking, was as continually making eyes at him. + +She and Master Harry, I must tell you, would spend hours together, she +making pretense of teaching him French, although he was so possessed +with a passion of love that he was nigh suffocated with it. She, upon +her part, perceiving his emotions, responded with extreme good nature +and complacency, so that had our hero been older, and the voyage +proved longer, he might have become entirely enmeshed in the toils of +his fair siren. For all this while, you are to understand, the pirates +were making sail straight for Jamaica, which they reached upon the +third day in perfect safety. + +In that time, however, the pirates had well-nigh gone crazy for joy; +for when they came to examine their purchase they discovered her cargo +to consist of plate to the prodigious sum of L130,000 in value. 'Twas +a wonder they did not all make themselves drunk for joy. No doubt they +would have done so had not Captain Morgan, knowing they were still in +the exact track of the Spanish fleets, threatened them that the first +man among them who touched a drop of rum without his permission he +would shoot him dead upon the deck. This threat had such effect that +they all remained entirely sober until they had reached Port Royal +Harbor, which they did about nine o'clock in the morning. + +[Illustration] + +And now it was that our hero's romance came all tumbling down about +his ears with a run. For they had hardly come to anchor in the harbor +when a boat came from a man-of-war, and who should come stepping +aboard but Lieutenant Grantley (a particular friend of our hero's +father) and his own eldest brother Thomas, who, putting on a very +stern face, informed Master Harry that he was a desperate and hardened +villain who was sure to end at the gallows, and that he was to go +immediately back to his home again. He told our embryo pirate that +his family had nigh gone distracted because of his wicked and +ungrateful conduct. Nor could our hero move him from his inflexible +purpose. "What," says our Harry, "and will you not then let me wait +until our prize is divided and I get my share?" + +"Prize, indeed!" says his brother. "And do you then really think that +your father would consent to your having a share in this terrible +bloody and murthering business?" + +And so, after a good deal of argument, our hero was constrained to go; +nor did he even have an opportunity to bid adieu to his inamorata. Nor +did he see her any more, except from a distance, she standing on the +poop deck as he was rowed away from her, her face all stained with +crying. For himself, he felt that there was no more joy in life; +nevertheless, standing up in the stern of the boat, he made shift, +though with an aching heart, to deliver her a fine bow with the hat he +had borrowed from the Spanish captain, before his brother bade him sit +down again. + +And so to the ending of this story, with only this to relate, that our +Master Harry, so far from going to the gallows, became in good time a +respectable and wealthy sugar merchant with an English wife and a fine +family of children, whereunto, when the mood was upon him, he has +sometimes told these adventures (and sundry others not here +recounted), as I have told them unto you. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chapter IV + +TOM CHIST AND THE TREASURE BOX + +_An Old-time Story of the Days of Captain Kidd_ + + +I + +To tell about Tom Chist, and how he got his name, and how he came to +be living at the little settlement of Henlopen, just inside the mouth +of the Delaware Bay, the story must begin as far back as 1686, when a +great storm swept the Atlantic coast from end to end. During the +heaviest part of the hurricane a bark went ashore on the +Hen-and-Chicken Shoals, just below Cape Henlopen and at the mouth of +the Delaware Bay, and Tom Chist was the only soul of all those on +board the ill-fated vessel who escaped alive. + +This story must first be told, because it was on account of the +strange and miraculous escape that happened to him at that time that +he gained the name that was given to him. + +Even as late as that time of the American colonies, the little +scattered settlement at Henlopen, made up of English, with a few Dutch +and Swedish people, was still only a spot upon the face of the great +American wilderness that spread away, with swamp and forest, no man +knew how far to the westward. That wilderness was not only full of +wild beasts, but of Indian savages, who every fall would come in +wandering tribes to spend the winter along the shores of the +fresh-water lakes below Henlopen. There for four or five months they +would live upon fish and clams and wild ducks and geese, chipping +their arrowheads, and making their earthenware pots and pans under the +lee of the sand hills and pine woods below the Capes. + +Sometimes on Sundays, when the Rev. Hillary Jones would be preaching +in the little log church back in the woods, these half-clad red +savages would come in from the cold, and sit squatting in the back +part of the church, listening stolidly to the words that had no +meaning for them. + +But about the wreck of the bark in 1686. Such a wreck as that which +then went ashore on the Hen-and-Chicken Shoals was a godsend to the +poor and needy settlers in the wilderness where so few good things +ever came. For the vessel went to pieces during the night, and the +next morning the beach was strewn with wreckage--boxes and barrels, +chests and spars, timbers and planks, a plentiful and bountiful +harvest to be gathered up by the settlers as they chose, with no one +to forbid or prevent them. + +The name of the bark, as found painted on some of the water barrels +and sea chests, was the _Bristol Merchant_, and she no doubt hailed +from England. + +As was said, the only soul who escaped alive off the wreck was Tom +Chist. + +A settler, a fisherman named Matt Abrahamson, and his daughter Molly, +found Tom. He was washed up on the beach among the wreckage, in a +great wooden box which had been securely tied around with a rope and +lashed between two spars--apparently for better protection in beating +through the surf. Matt Abrahamson thought he had found something of +more than usual value when he came upon this chest; but when he cut +the cords and broke open the box with his broadax, he could not have +been more astonished had he beheld a salamander instead of a baby of +nine or ten months old lying half smothered in the blankets that +covered the bottom of the chest. + +Matt Abrahamson's daughter Molly had had a baby who had died a month +or so before. So when she saw the little one lying there in the bottom +of the chest, she cried out in a great loud voice that the Good Man +had sent her another baby in place of her own. + +The rain was driving before the hurricane storm in dim, slanting +sheets, and so she wrapped up the baby in the man's coat she wore and +ran off home without waiting to gather up any more of the wreckage. + +It was Parson Jones who gave the foundling his name. When the news +came to his ears of what Matt Abrahamson had found he went over to the +fisherman's cabin to see the child. He examined the clothes in which +the baby was dressed. They were of fine linen and handsomely stitched, +and the reverend gentleman opined that the foundling's parents must +have been of quality. A kerchief had been wrapped around the baby's +neck and under its arms and tied behind, and in the corner, marked +with very fine needlework, were the initials T. C. + +"What d'ye call him, Molly?" said Parson Jones. He was standing, as he +spoke, with his back to the fire, warming his palms before the blaze. +The pocket of the greatcoat he wore bulged out with a big case bottle +of spirits which he had gathered up out of the wreck that afternoon. +"What d'ye call him, Molly?" + +"I'll call him Tom, after my own baby." + +"That goes very well with the initial on the kerchief," said Parson +Jones. "But what other name d'ye give him? Let it be something to go +with the C." + +"I don't know," said Molly. + +"Why not call him 'Chist,' since he was born in a chist out of the +sea? 'Tom Chist'--the name goes off like a flash in the pan." And so +"Tom Chist" he was called and "Tom Chist" he was christened. + +So much for the beginning of the history of Tom Chist. The story of +Captain Kidd's treasure box does not begin until the late spring of +1699. + +That was the year that the famous pirate captain, coming up from the +West Indies, sailed his sloop into the Delaware Bay, where he lay for +over a month waiting for news from his friends in New York. + +For he had sent word to that town asking if the coast was clear for +him to return home with the rich prize he had brought from the Indian +seas and the coast of Africa, and meantime he lay there in the +Delaware Bay waiting for a reply. Before he left he turned the whole +of Tom Chist's life topsy-turvy with something that he brought ashore. + +By that time Tom Chist had grown into a strong-limbed, thick-jointed +boy of fourteen or fifteen years of age. It was a miserable dog's life +he lived with old Matt Abrahamson, for the old fisherman was in his +cups more than half the time, and when he was so there was hardly a +day passed that he did not give Tom a curse or a buffet or, as like as +not, an actual beating. One would have thought that such treatment +would have broken the spirit of the poor little foundling, but it had +just the opposite effect upon Tom Chist, who was one of your stubborn, +sturdy, stiff-willed fellows who only grow harder and more tough the +more they are ill-treated. It had been a long time now since he had +made any outcry or complaint at the hard usage he suffered from old +Matt. At such times he would shut his teeth and bear whatever came to +him, until sometimes the half-drunken old man would be driven almost +mad by his stubborn silence. Maybe he would stop in the midst of the +beating he was administering, and, grinding his teeth, would cry out: +"Won't ye say naught? Won't ye say naught? Well, then, I'll see if I +can't make ye say naught." When things had reached such a pass as +this Molly would generally interfere to protect her foster son, and +then she and Tom would together fight the old man until they had +wrenched the stick or the strap out of his hand. Then old Matt would +chase them out of doors and around and around the house for maybe half +an hour, until his anger was cool, when he would go back again, and +for a time the storm would be over. + +Besides his foster mother, Tom Chist had a very good friend in Parson +Jones, who used to come over every now and then to Abrahamson's hut +upon the chance of getting a half dozen fish for breakfast. He always +had a kind word or two for Tom, who during the winter evenings would +go over to the good man's house to learn his letters, and to read and +write and cipher a little, so that by now he was able to spell the +words out of the Bible and the almanac, and knew enough to change +tuppence into four ha'pennies. + +This is the sort of boy Tom Chist was, and this is the sort of life he +led. + +In the late spring or early summer of 1699 Captain Kidd's sloop sailed +into the mouth of the Delaware Bay and changed the whole fortune of +his life. + +And this is how you come to the story of Captain Kidd's treasure box. + + +II + +Old Matt Abrahamson kept the flat-bottomed boat in which he went +fishing some distance down the shore, and in the neighborhood of the +old wreck that had been sunk on the Shoals. This was the usual fishing +ground of the settlers, and here old Matt's boat generally lay drawn +up on the sand. + +There had been a thunderstorm that afternoon, and Tom had gone down +the beach to bale out the boat in readiness for the morning's fishing. + +It was full moonlight now, as he was returning, and the night sky was +full of floating clouds. Now and then there was a dull flash to the +westward, and once a muttering growl of thunder, promising another +storm to come. + +All that day the pirate sloop had been lying just off the shore back +of the Capes, and now Tom Chist could see the sails glimmering +pallidly in the moonlight, spread for drying after the storm. He was +walking up the shore homeward when he became aware that at some +distance ahead of him there was a ship's boat drawn up on the little +narrow beach, and a group of men clustered about it. He hurried +forward with a good deal of curiosity to see who had landed, but it +was not until he had come close to them that he could distinguish who +and what they were. Then he knew that it must be a party who had come +off the pirate sloop. They had evidently just landed, and two men were +lifting out a chest from the boat. One of them was a negro, naked to +the waist, and the other was a white man in his shirt sleeves, wearing +petticoat breeches, a Monterey cap upon his head, a red bandanna +handkerchief around his neck, and gold earrings in his ears. He had a +long, plaited queue hanging down his back, and a great sheath knife +dangling from his side. Another man, evidently the captain of the +party, stood at a little distance as they lifted the chest out of the +boat. He had a cane in one hand and a lighted lantern in the other, +although the moon was shining as bright as day. He wore jack boots and +a handsome laced coat, and he had a long, drooping mustache that +curled down below his chin. He wore a fine, feathered hat, and his +long black hair hung down upon his shoulders. + +All this Tom Chist could see in the moonlight that glinted and +twinkled upon the gilt buttons of his coat. + +They were so busy lifting the chest from the boat that at first they +did not observe that Tom Chist had come up and was standing there. It +was the white man with the long, plaited queue and the gold earrings +that spoke to him. "Boy, what do you want here, boy?" he said, in a +rough, hoarse voice. "Where d'ye come from?" And then dropping his end +of the chest, and without giving Tom time to answer, he pointed off +down the beach, and said, "You'd better be going about your own +business, if you know what's good for you; and don't you come back, or +you'll find what you don't want waiting for you." + +[Illustration: WHO SHALL BE CAPTAIN?] + +Tom saw in a glance that the pirates were all looking at him, and +then, without saying a word, he turned and walked away. The man who +had spoken to him followed him threateningly for some little distance, +as though to see that he had gone away as he was bidden to do. But +presently he stopped, and Tom hurried on alone, until the boat and the +crew and all were dropped away behind and lost in the moonlight night. +Then he himself stopped also, turned, and looked back whence he had +come. + +There had been something very strange in the appearance of the men he +had just seen, something very mysterious in their actions, and he +wondered what it all meant, and what they were going to do. He stood +for a little while thus looking and listening. He could see nothing, +and could hear only the sound of distant talking. What were they doing +on the lonely shore thus at night? Then, following a sudden impulse, +he turned and cut off across the sand hummocks, skirting around +inland, but keeping pretty close to the shore, his object being to spy +upon them, and to watch what they were about from the back of the low +sand hills that fronted the beach. + +He had gone along some distance in his circuitous return when he +became aware of the sound of voices that seemed to be drawing closer +to him as he came toward the speakers. He stopped and stood listening, +and instantly, as he stopped, the voices stopped also. He crouched +there silently in the bright, glimmering moonlight, surrounded by the +silent stretches of sand, and the stillness seemed to press upon him +like a heavy hand. Then suddenly the sound of a man's voice began +again, and as Tom listened he could hear some one slowly counting. +"Ninety-one," the voice began, "ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four, +ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one +hundred, one hundred and one"--the slow, monotonous count coming +nearer and nearer; "one hundred and two, one hundred and three, one +hundred and four," and so on in its monotonous reckoning. + +Suddenly he saw three heads appear above the sand hill, so close to +him that he crouched down quickly with a keen thrill, close beside the +hummock near which he stood. His first fear was that they might have +seen him in the moonlight; but they had not, and his heart rose again +as the counting voice went steadily on. "One hundred and twenty," it +was saying--"and twenty-one, and twenty-two, and twenty-three, and +twenty-four," and then he who was counting came out from behind the +little sandy rise into the white and open level of shimmering +brightness. + +It was the man with the cane whom Tom had seen some time before--the +captain of the party who had landed. He carried his cane under his arm +now, and was holding his lantern close to something that he held in +his hand, and upon which he looked narrowly as he walked with a slow +and measured tread in a perfectly straight line across the sand, +counting each step as he took it. "And twenty-five, and twenty-six, +and twenty-seven, and twenty-eight, and twenty-nine, and thirty." + +[Illustration] + +Behind him walked two other figures; one was the half-naked negro, the +other the man with the plaited queue and the earrings, whom Tom had +seen lifting the chest out of the boat. Now they were carrying the +heavy box between them, laboring through the sand with shuffling tread +as they bore it onward. + +As he who was counting pronounced the word "thirty," the two men set +the chest down on the sand with a grunt, the white man panting and +blowing and wiping his sleeve across his forehead. And immediately he +who counted took out a slip of paper and marked something down upon +it. They stood there for a long time, during which Tom lay behind the +sand hummock watching them, and for a while the silence was +uninterrupted. In the perfect stillness Tom could hear the washing of +the little waves beating upon the distant beach, and once the far-away +sound of a laugh from one of those who stood by the ship's boat. + +One, two, three minutes passed, and then the men picked up the chest +and started on again; and then again the other man began his counting. +"Thirty and one, and thirty and two, and thirty and three, and thirty +and four"--he walked straight across the level open, still looking +intently at that which he held in his hand--"and thirty and five, and +thirty and six, and thirty and seven," and so on, until the three +figures disappeared in the little hollow between the two sand hills on +the opposite side of the open, and still Tom could hear the sound of +the counting voice in the distance. + +Just as they disappeared behind the hill there was a sudden faint +flash of light; and by and by, as Tom lay still listening to the +counting, he heard, after a long interval, a far-away muffled rumble +of distant thunder. He waited for a while, and then arose and stepped +to the top of the sand hummock behind which he had been lying. He +looked all about him, but there was no one else to be seen. Then he +stepped down from the hummock and followed in the direction which the +pirate captain and the two men carrying the chest had gone. He crept +along cautiously, stopping now and then to make sure that he still +heard the counting voice, and when it ceased he lay down upon the sand +and waited until it began again. + +Presently, so following the pirates, he saw the three figures again in +the distance, and, skirting around back of a hill of sand covered with +coarse sedge grass, he came to where he overlooked a little open level +space gleaming white in the moonlight. + +The three had been crossing the level of sand, and were now not more +than twenty-five paces from him. They had again set down the chest, +upon which the white man with the long queue and the gold earrings had +seated to rest himself, the negro standing close beside him. The moon +shone as bright as day and full upon his face. It was looking directly +at Tom Chist, every line as keen cut with white lights and black +shadows as though it had been carved in ivory and jet. He sat +perfectly motionless, and Tom drew back with a start, almost thinking +he had been discovered. He lay silent, his heart beating heavily in +his throat; but there was no alarm, and presently he heard the +counting begin again, and when he looked once more he saw they were +going away straight across the little open. A soft, sliding hillock of +sand lay directly in front of them. They did not turn aside, but went +straight over it, the leader helping himself up the sandy slope with +his cane, still counting and still keeping his eyes fixed upon that +which he held in his hand. Then they disappeared again behind the +white crest on the other side. + +So Tom followed them cautiously until they had gone almost half a mile +inland. When next he saw them clearly it was from a little sandy rise +which looked down like the crest of a bowl upon the floor of sand +below. Upon this smooth, white floor the moon beat with almost +dazzling brightness. + +The white man who had helped to carry the chest was now kneeling, +busied at some work, though what it was Tom at first could not see. He +was whittling the point of a stick into a long wooden peg, and when, +by and by, he had finished what he was about, he arose and stepped to +where he who seemed to be the captain had stuck his cane upright into +the ground as though to mark some particular spot. He drew the cane +out of the sand, thrusting the stick down in its stead. Then he drove +the long peg down with a wooden mallet which the negro handed to him. +The sharp rapping of the mallet upon the top of the peg sounded loud +in the perfect stillness, and Tom lay watching and wondering what +it all meant. The man, with quick-repeated blows, drove the peg +farther and farther down into the sand until it showed only two or +three inches above the surface. As he finished his work there was +another faint flash of light, and by and by another smothered rumble +of thunder, and Tom, as he looked out toward the westward, saw the +silver rim of the round and sharply outlined thundercloud rising +slowly up into the sky and pushing the other and broken drifting +clouds before it. + +[Illustration: Kidd at Gardiner's Island + +_Illustration from_ +SEA ROBBERS OF NEW YORK + +_by_ Thomas A. Janvier + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _November, 1894_] + +The two white men were now stooping over the peg, the negro man +watching them. Then presently the man with the cane started straight +away from the peg, carrying the end of a measuring line with him, the +other end of which the man with the plaited queue held against the top +of the peg. When the pirate captain had reached the end of the +measuring line he marked a cross upon the sand, and then again they +measured out another stretch of space. + +So they measured a distance five times over, and then, from where Tom +lay, he could see the man with the queue drive another peg just at the +foot of a sloping rise of sand that swept up beyond into a tall white +dune marked sharp and clear against the night sky behind. As soon as +the man with the plaited queue had driven the second peg into the +ground they began measuring again, and so, still measuring, +disappeared in another direction which took them in behind the sand +dune where Tom no longer could see what they were doing. + +The negro still sat by the chest where the two had left him, and so +bright was the moonlight that from where he lay Tom could see the +glint of it twinkling in the whites of his eyeballs. + +Presently from behind the hill there came, for the third time, the +sharp rapping sound of the mallet driving still another peg, and then +after a while the two pirates emerged from behind the sloping +whiteness into the space of moonlight again. + +They came direct to where the chest lay, and the white man and the +black man lifting it once more, they walked away across the level of +open sand, and so on behind the edge of the hill and out of Tom's +sight. + + +III + +Tom Chist could no longer see what the pirates were doing, neither did +he dare to cross over the open space of sand that now lay between them +and him. He lay there speculating as to what they were about, and +meantime the storm cloud was rising higher and higher above the +horizon, with louder and louder mutterings of thunder following each +dull flash from out the cloudy, cavernous depths. In the silence he +could hear an occasional click as of some iron implement, and he +opined that the pirates were burying the chest, though just where they +were at work he could neither see nor tell. + +Still he lay there watching and listening, and by and by a puff of +warm air blew across the sand, and a thumping tumble of louder thunder +leaped from out the belly of the storm cloud, which every minute was +coming nearer and nearer. Still Tom Chist lay watching. + +Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, the three figures reappeared from +behind the sand hill, the pirate captain leading the way, and the +negro and white man following close behind him. They had gone about +halfway across the white, sandy level between the hill and the hummock +behind which Tom Chist lay, when the white man stopped and bent over +as though to tie his shoe. + +This brought the negro a few steps in front of his companion. + +That which then followed happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly, so +swiftly, that Tom Chist had hardly time to realize what it all meant +before it was over. As the negro passed him the white man arose +suddenly and silently erect, and Tom Chist saw the white moonlight +glint upon the blade of a great dirk knife which he now held in his +hand. He took one, two silent, catlike steps behind the unsuspecting +negro. Then there was a sweeping flash of the blade in the pallid +light, and a blow, the thump of which Tom could distinctly hear even +from where he lay stretched out upon the sand. There was an instant +echoing yell from the black man, who ran stumbling forward, who +stopped, who regained his footing, and then stood for an instant as +though rooted to the spot. + +Tom had distinctly seen the knife enter his back, and even thought +that he had seen the glint of the point as it came out from the +breast. + +Meantime the pirate captain had stopped, and now stood with his hand +resting upon his cane looking impassively on. + +Then the black man started to run. The white man stood for a while +glaring after him; then he, too, started after his victim upon the +run. The black man was not very far from Tom when he staggered and +fell. He tried to rise, then fell forward again, and lay at length. At +that instant the first edge of the cloud cut across the moon, and +there was a sudden darkness; but in the silence Tom heard the sound of +another blow and a groan, and then presently a voice calling to the +pirate captain that it was all over. + +He saw the dim form of the captain crossing the level sand, and then, +as the moon sailed out from behind the cloud, he saw the white man +standing over a black figure that lay motionless upon the sand. + +[Illustration] + +Then Tom Chist scrambled up and ran away, plunging down into the +hollow of sand that lay in the shadows below. Over the next rise he +ran, and down again into the next black hollow, and so on over the +sliding, shifting ground, panting and gasping. It seemed to him that +he could hear footsteps following, and in the terror that possessed +him he almost expected every instant to feel the cold knife blade +slide between his own ribs in such a thrust from behind as he had seen +given to the poor black man. + +[Illustration] + +So he ran on like one in a nightmare. His feet grew heavy like lead, +he panted and gasped, his breath came hot and dry in his throat. But +still he ran and ran until at last he found himself in front of old +Matt Abrahamson's cabin, gasping, panting, and sobbing for breath, his +knees relaxed and his thighs trembling with weakness. + +As he opened the door and dashed into the darkened cabin (for both +Matt and Molly were long ago asleep in bed) there was a flash of +light, and even as he slammed to the door behind him there was an +instant peal of thunder, heavy as though a great weight had been +dropped upon the roof of the sky, so that the doors and windows of the +cabin rattled. + + +IV + +Then Tom Chist crept to bed, trembling, shuddering, bathed in sweat, +his heart beating like a trip hammer, and his brain dizzy from that +long, terror-inspired race through the soft sand in which he had +striven to outstrip he knew not what pursuing horror. + +For a long, long time he lay awake, trembling and chattering with +nervous chills, and when he did fall asleep it was only to drop into +monstrous dreams in which he once again saw ever enacted, with various +grotesque variations, the tragic drama which his waking eyes had +beheld the night before. + +Then came the dawning of the broad, wet daylight, and before the +rising of the sun Tom was up and out of doors to find the young day +dripping with the rain of overnight. + +His first act was to climb the nearest sand hill and to gaze out +toward the offing where the pirate ship had been the day before. + +It was no longer there. + +Soon afterward Matt Abrahamson came out of the cabin and he called to +Tom to go get a bite to eat, for it was time for them to be away +fishing. + +All that morning the recollection of the night before hung over Tom +Chist like a great cloud of boding trouble. It filled the confined +area of the little boat and spread over the entire wide spaces of sky +and sea that surrounded them. Not for a moment was it lifted. Even +when he was hauling in his wet and dripping line with a struggling +fish at the end of it a recurrent memory of what he had seen would +suddenly come upon him, and he would groan in spirit at the +recollection. He looked at Matt Abrahamson's leathery face, at his +lantern jaws cavernously and stolidly chewing at a tobacco leaf, and +it seemed monstrous to him that the old man should be so unconscious +of the black cloud that wrapped them all about. + +When the boat reached the shore again he leaped scrambling to the +beach, and as soon as his dinner was eaten he hurried away to find the +Dominie Jones. + +He ran all the way from Abrahamson's hut to the parson's house, hardly +stopping once, and when he knocked at the door he was panting and +sobbing for breath. + +The good man was sitting on the back-kitchen doorstep smoking his long +pipe of tobacco out into the sunlight, while his wife within was +rattling about among the pans and dishes in preparation of their +supper, of which a strong, porky smell already filled the air. + +Then Tom Chist told his story, panting, hurrying, tumbling one word +over another in his haste, and Parson Jones listened, breaking every +now and then into an ejaculation of wonder. The light in his pipe went +out and the bowl turned cold. + +"And I don't see why they should have killed the poor black man," said +Tom, as he finished his narrative. + +"Why, that is very easy enough to understand," said the good reverend +man. "'Twas a treasure box they buried!" + +In his agitation Mr. Jones had risen from his seat and was now +stumping up and down, puffing at his empty tobacco pipe as though it +were still alight. + +"A treasure box!" cried out Tom. + +"Aye, a treasure box! And that was why they killed the poor black man. +He was the only one, d'ye see, besides they two who knew the place +where 'twas hid, and now that they've killed him out of the way, +there's nobody but themselves knows. The villains--Tut, tut, look at +that now!" In his excitement the dominie had snapped the stem of his +tobacco pipe in two. + +"Why, then," said Tom, "if that is so, 'tis indeed a wicked, bloody +treasure, and fit to bring a curse upon anybody who finds it!" + +"'Tis more like to bring a curse upon the soul who buried it," said +Parson Jones, "and it may be a blessing to him who finds it. But tell +me, Tom, do you think you could find the place again where 'twas hid?" + +"I can't tell that," said Tom, "'twas all in among the sand humps, +d'ye see, and it was at night into the bargain. Maybe we could find +the marks of their feet in the sand," he added. + +"'Tis not likely," said the reverend gentleman, "for the storm last +night would have washed all that away." + +"I could find the place," said Tom, "where the boat was drawn up on +the beach." + +"Why, then, that's something to start from, Tom," said his friend. "If +we can find that, then maybe we can find whither they went from +there." + +"If I was certain it was a treasure box," cried out Tom Chist, "I +would rake over every foot of sand betwixt here and Henlopen to find +it." + +"'Twould be like hunting for a pin in a haystack," said the Rev. +Hilary Jones. + +As Tom walked away home, it seemed as though a ton's weight of gloom +had been rolled away from his soul. The next day he and Parson Jones +were to go treasure-hunting together; it seemed to Tom as though he +could hardly wait for the time to come. + + +V + +The next afternoon Parson Jones and Tom Chist started off together +upon the expedition that made Tom's fortune forever. Tom carried a +spade over his shoulder and the reverend gentleman walked along beside +him with his cane. + +As they jogged along up the beach they talked together about the only +thing they could talk about--the treasure box. "And how big did you +say 'twas?" quoth the good gentleman. + +"About so long," said Tom Chist, measuring off upon the spade, "and +about so wide, and this deep." + +"And what if it should be full of money, Tom?" said the reverend +gentleman, swinging his cane around and around in wide circles in the +excitement of the thought, as he strode along briskly. "Suppose it +should be full of money, what then?" + +"By Moses!" said Tom Chist, hurrying to keep up with his friend, "I'd +buy a ship for myself, I would, and I'd trade to Injy and to Chiny to +my own boot, I would. Suppose the chist was all full of money, sir, +and suppose we should find it; would there be enough in it, d'ye +suppose, to buy a ship?" + +"To be sure there would be enough, Tom; enough and to spare, and a +good big lump over." + +"And if I find it 'tis mine to keep, is it, and no mistake?" + +"Why, to be sure it would be yours!" cried out the parson, in a loud +voice. "To be sure it would be yours!" He knew nothing of the law, but +the doubt of the question began at once to ferment in his brain, and +he strode along in silence for a while. "Whose else would it be but +yours if you find it?" he burst out. "Can you tell me that?" + +"If ever I have a ship of my own," said Tom Chist, "and if ever I sail +to Injy in her, I'll fetch ye back the best chist of tea, sir, that +ever was fetched from Cochin Chiny." + +Parson Jones burst out laughing. "Thankee, Tom," he said; "and I'll +thankee again when I get my chist of tea. But tell me, Tom, didst thou +ever hear of the farmer girl who counted her chickens before they were +hatched?" + +It was thus they talked as they hurried along up the beach together, +and so came to a place at last where Tom stopped short and stood +looking about him. "'Twas just here," he said, "I saw the boat last +night. I know 'twas here, for I mind me of that bit of wreck yonder, +and that there was a tall stake drove in the sand just where yon stake +stands." + +Parson Jones put on his spectacles and went over to the stake toward +which Tom pointed. As soon as he had looked at it carefully he called +out: "Why, Tom, this hath been just drove down into the sand. 'Tis a +brand-new stake of wood, and the pirates must have set it here +themselves as a mark, just as they drove the pegs you spoke about down +into the sand." + +Tom came over and looked at the stake. It was a stout piece of oak +nearly two inches thick; it had been shaped with some care, and the +top of it had been painted red. He shook the stake and tried to move +it, but it had been driven or planted so deeply into the sand that he +could not stir it. "Aye, sir," he said, "it must have been set here +for a mark, for I'm sure 'twas not here yesterday or the day before." +He stood looking about him to see if there were other signs of the +pirates' presence. At some little distance there was the corner of +something white sticking up out of the sand. He could see that it was +a scrap of paper, and he pointed to it, calling out: "Yonder is a +piece of paper, sir. I wonder if they left that behind them?" + +[Illustration: EXTORTING TRIBUTE FROM THE CITIZENS] + +It was a miraculous chance that placed that paper there. There was +only an inch of it showing, and if it had not been for Tom's sharp +eyes, it would certainly have been overlooked and passed by. The next +windstorm would have covered it up, and all that afterward happened +never would have occurred. "Look, sir," he said, as he struck the sand +from it, "it hath writing on it." + +"Let me see it," said Parson Jones. He adjusted the spectacles a +little more firmly astride of his nose as he took the paper in his +hand and began conning it. "What's all this?" he said; "a whole lot of +figures and nothing else." And then he read aloud, "'Mark--S. S. W. S. +by S.' What d'ye suppose that means, Tom?" + +"I don't know, sir," said Tom. "But maybe we can understand it better +if you read on." + +"'Tis all a great lot of figures," said Parson Jones, "without a grain +of meaning in them so far as I can see, unless they be sailing +directions." And then he began reading again: "'Mark--S. S. W. by S. +40, 72, 91, 130, 151, 177, 202, 232, 256, 271'--d'ye see, it must be +sailing directions--'299, 335, 362, 386, 415, 446, 469, 491, 522, 544, +571, 598'--what a lot of them there be--'626, 652, 676, 695, 724, 851, +876, 905, 940, 967. Peg. S. E. by E. 269 foot. Peg. S. S. W. by S. 427 +foot. Peg. Dig to the west of this six foot.'" + +"What's that about a peg?" exclaimed Tom. "What's that about a peg? +And then there's something about digging, too!" It was as though a +sudden light began shining into his brain. He felt himself growing +quickly very excited. "Read that over again, sir," he cried. "Why, +sir, you remember I told you they drove a peg into the sand. And don't +they say to dig close to it? Read it over again, sir--read it over +again!" + +"Peg?" said the good gentleman. "To be sure it was about a peg. Let's +look again. Yes, here it is. 'Peg S. E. by E. 269 foot.'" + +"Aye!" cried out Tom Chist again, in great excitement. "Don't you +remember what I told you, sir, 269 foot? Sure that must be what I saw +'em measuring with the line." + +Parson Jones had now caught the flame of excitement that was blazing +up so strongly in Tom's breast. He felt as though some wonderful thing +was about to happen to them. "To be sure, to be sure!" he called out, +in a great big voice. "And then they measured out 427 foot +south-southwest by south, and they then drove another peg, and then +they buried the box six foot to the west of it. Why, Tom--why, Tom +Chist! if we've read this aright, thy fortune is made." + +Tom Chist stood staring straight at the old gentleman's excited face, +and seeing nothing but it in all the bright infinity of sunshine. Were +they, indeed, about to find the treasure chest? He felt the sun very +hot upon his shoulders, and he heard the harsh, insistent jarring of a +tern that hovered and circled with forked tail and sharp white wings +in the sunlight just above their heads; but all the time he stood +staring into the good old gentleman's face. + +It was Parson Jones who first spoke. "But what do all these figures +mean?" And Tom observed how the paper shook and rustled in the tremor +of excitement that shook his hand. He raised the paper to the focus of +his spectacles and began to read again. "'Mark 40, 72, 91--'" + +"Mark?" cried out Tom, almost screaming. "Why, that must mean the +stake yonder; that must be the mark." And he pointed to the oaken +stick with its red tip blazing against the white shimmer of sand +behind it. + +"And the 40 and 72 and 91," cried the old gentleman, in a voice +equally shrill--"why, that must mean the number of steps the pirate +was counting when you heard him." + +"To be sure that's what they mean!" cried Tom Chist. "That is it, and +it can be nothing else. Oh, come, sir--come, sir; let us make haste +and find it!" + +"Stay! stay!" said the good gentleman, holding up his hand; and again +Tom Chist noticed how it trembled and shook. His voice was steady +enough, though very hoarse, but his hand shook and trembled as though +with a palsy. "Stay! stay! First of all, we must follow these +measurements. And 'tis a marvelous thing," he croaked, after a little +pause, "how this paper ever came to be here." + +"Maybe it was blown here by the storm," suggested Tom Chist. + +"Like enough; like enough," said Parson Jones. "Like enough, after the +wretches had buried the chest and killed the poor black man, they were +so buffeted and bowsed about by the storm that it was shook out of the +man's pocket, and thus blew away from him without his knowing aught of +it." + +"But let us find the box!" cried out Tom Chist, flaming with his +excitement. + +"Aye, aye," said the good man; "only stay a little, my boy, until we +make sure what we're about. I've got my pocket compass here, but we +must have something to measure off the feet when we have found the +peg. You run across to Tom Brooke's house and fetch that measuring rod +he used to lay out his new byre. While you're gone I'll pace off the +distance marked on the paper with my pocket compass here." + + +VI + +Tom Chist was gone for almost an hour, though he ran nearly all the +way and back, upborne as on the wings of the wind. When he returned, +panting, Parson Jones was nowhere to be seen, but Tom saw his +footsteps leading away inland, and he followed the scuffling marks in +the smooth surface across the sand humps and down into the hollows, +and by and by found the good gentleman in a spot he at once knew as +soon as he laid his eyes upon it. + +It was the open space where the pirates had driven their first peg, +and where Tom Chist had afterward seen them kill the poor black man. +Tom Chist gazed around as though expecting to see some sign of the +tragedy, but the space was as smooth and as undisturbed as a floor, +excepting where, midway across it, Parson Jones, who was now stooping +over something on the ground, had trampled it all around about. + +When Tom Chist saw him he was still bending over, scraping away from +something he had found. + +It was the first peg! + +Inside of half an hour they had found the second and third pegs, and +Tom Chist stripped off his coat, and began digging like mad down into +the sand, Parson Jones standing over him watching him. The sun was +sloping well toward the west when the blade of Tom Chist's spade +struck upon something hard. + +If it had been his own heart that he had hit in the sand his breast +could hardly have thrilled more sharply. + +It was the treasure box! + +[Illustration] + +Parson Jones himself leaped down into the hole, and began scraping +away the sand with his hands as though he had gone crazy. At last, +with some difficulty, they tugged and hauled the chest up out of the +sand to the surface, where it lay covered all over with the grit that +clung to it. + +It was securely locked and fastened with a padlock, and it took a good +many blows with the blade of the spade to burst the bolt. Parson Jones +himself lifted the lid. + +Tom Chist leaned forward and gazed down into the open box. He would +not have been surprised to have seen it filled full of yellow gold and +bright jewels. It was filled half full of books and papers, and half +full of canvas bags tied safely and securely around and around with +cords of string. + +Parson Jones lifted out one of the bags, and it jingled as he did so. +It was full of money. + +He cut the string, and with trembling, shaking hands handed the bag to +Tom, who, in an ecstasy of wonder and dizzy with delight, poured out +with swimming sight upon the coat spread on the ground a cataract of +shining silver money that rang and twinkled and jingled as it fell in +a shining heap upon the coarse cloth. + +Parson Jones held up both hands into the air, and Tom stared at what +he saw, wondering whether it was all so, and whether he was really +awake. It seemed to him as though he was in a dream. + +There were two-and-twenty bags in all in the chest: ten of them full +of silver money, eight of them full of gold money, three of them full +of gold dust, and one small bag with jewels wrapped up in wad cotton +and paper. + +"'Tis enough," cried out Parson Jones, "to make us both rich men as +long as we live." + +The burning summer sun, though sloping in the sky, beat down upon them +as hot as fire; but neither of them noticed it. Neither did they +notice hunger nor thirst nor fatigue, but sat there as though in a +trance, with the bags of money scattered on the sand around them, a +great pile of money heaped upon the coat, and the open chest beside +them. It was an hour of sundown before Parson Jones had begun fairly +to examine the books and papers in the chest. + +Of the three books, two were evidently log books of the pirates who +had been lying off the mouth of the Delaware Bay all this time. The +other book was written in Spanish, and was evidently the log book of +some captured prize. + +It was then, sitting there upon the sand, the good old gentleman +reading in his high, cracking voice, that they first learned from the +bloody records in those two books who it was who had been lying inside +the Cape all this time, and that it was the famous Captain Kidd. Every +now and then the reverend gentleman would stop to exclaim, "Oh, the +bloody wretch!" or, "Oh, the desperate, cruel villains!" and then +would go on reading again a scrap here and a scrap there. + +And all the while Tom Chist sat and listened, every now and then +reaching out furtively and touching the heap of money still lying upon +the coat. + +One might be inclined to wonder why Captain Kidd had kept those bloody +records. He had probably laid them away because they so incriminated +many of the great people of the colony of New York that, with the +books in evidence, it would have been impossible to bring the pirate +to justice without dragging a dozen or more fine gentlemen into the +dock along with him. If he could have kept them in his own possession +they would doubtless have been a great weapon of defense to protect +him from the gallows. Indeed, when Captain Kidd was finally brought to +conviction and hung, he was not accused of his piracies, but of +striking a mutinous seaman upon the head with a bucket and +accidentally killing him. The authorities did not dare try him for +piracy. He was really hung because he was a pirate, and we know that +it was the log books that Tom Chist brought to New York that did the +business for him; he was accused and convicted of manslaughter for +killing of his own ship carpenter with a bucket. + +So Parson Jones, sitting there in the slanting light, read through +these terrible records of piracy, and Tom, with the pile of gold and +silver money beside him, sat and listened to him. + +What a spectacle, if anyone had come upon them! But they were alone, +with the vast arch of sky empty above them and the wide white stretch +of sand a desert around them. The sun sank lower and lower, until +there was only time to glance through the other papers in the chest. + +They were nearly all goldsmiths' bills of exchange drawn in favor of +certain of the most prominent merchants of New York. Parson Jones, as +he read over the names, knew of nearly all the gentlemen by hearsay. +Aye, here was this gentleman; he thought that name would be among 'em. +What? Here is Mr. So-and-so. Well, if all they say is true, the +villain has robbed one of his own best friends. "I wonder," he said, +"why the wretch should have hidden these papers so carefully away with +the other treasures, for they could do him no good?" Then, answering +his own question: "Like enough because these will give him a hold over +the gentlemen to whom they are drawn so that he can make a good +bargain for his own neck before he gives the bills back to their +owners. I tell you what it is, Tom," he continued, "it is you yourself +shall go to New York and bargain for the return of these papers. +'Twill be as good as another fortune to you." + +The majority of the bills were drawn in favor of one Richard +Chillingsworth, Esquire. "And he is," said Parson Jones, "one of the +richest men in the province of New York. You shall go to him with the +news of what we have found." + +"When shall I go?" said Tom Chist. + +"You shall go upon the very first boat we can catch," said the parson. +He had turned, still holding the bills in his hand, and was now +fingering over the pile of money that yet lay tumbled out upon the +coat. "I wonder, Tom," said he, "if you could spare me a score or so +of these doubloons?" + +"You shall have fifty score, if you choose," said Tom, bursting with +gratitude and with generosity in his newly found treasure. + +"You are as fine a lad as ever I saw, Tom," said the parson, "and I'll +thank you to the last day of my life." + +Tom scooped up a double handful of silver money. "Take it, sir," he +said, "and you may have as much more as you want of it." + +He poured it into the dish that the good man made of his hands, and +the parson made a motion as though to empty it into his pocket. Then +he stopped, as though a sudden doubt had occurred to him. "I don't +know that 'tis fit for me to take this pirate money, after all," he +said. + +"But you are welcome to it," said Tom. + +Still the parson hesitated. "Nay," he burst out, "I'll not take it; +'tis blood money." And as he spoke he chucked the whole double handful +into the now empty chest, then arose and dusted the sand from his +breeches. Then, with a great deal of bustling energy, he helped to tie +the bags again and put them all back into the chest. + +They reburied the chest in the place whence they had taken it, and +then the parson folded the precious paper of directions, placed it +carefully in his wallet, and his wallet in his pocket. "Tom," he said, +for the twentieth time, "your fortune has been made this day." + +And Tom Chist, as he rattled in his breeches pocket the half dozen +doubloons he had kept out of his treasure, felt that what his friend +had said was true. + + * * * * * + +As the two went back homeward across the level space of sand Tom Chist +suddenly stopped stock-still and stood looking about him. "'Twas just +here," he said, digging his heel down into the sand, "that they killed +the poor black man." + +[Illustration: "Pirates Used to Do That to Their Captains Now and +Then" + +_Illustration from_ +SEA ROBBERS OF NEW YORK + +_by_ Thomas A. Janvier + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _November, 1894_] + +"And here he lies buried for all time," said Parson Jones; and as he +spoke he dug his cane down into the sand. Tom Chist shuddered. He +would not have been surprised if the ferrule of the cane had struck +something soft beneath that level surface. But it did not, nor was any +sign of that tragedy ever seen again. For, whether the pirates had +carried away what they had done and buried it elsewhere, or whether +the storm in blowing the sand had completely leveled off and hidden +all sign of that tragedy where it was enacted, certain it is that +it never came to sight again--at least so far as Tom Chist and the +Rev. Hilary Jones ever knew. + + +VII + +This is the story of the treasure box. All that remains now is to +conclude the story of Tom Chist, and to tell of what came of him in +the end. + +He did not go back again to live with old Matt Abrahamson. Parson +Jones had now taken charge of him and his fortunes, and Tom did not +have to go back to the fisherman's hut. + +Old Abrahamson talked a great deal about it, and would come in his +cups and harangue good Parson Jones, making a vast protestation of +what he would do to Tom--if he ever caught him--for running away. But +Tom on all these occasions kept carefully out of his way, and nothing +came of the old man's threatenings. + +Tom used to go over to see his foster mother now and then, but always +when the old man was from home. And Molly Abrahamson used to warn him +to keep out of her father's way. "He's in as vile a humor as ever I +see, Tom," she said; "he sits sulking all day long, and 'tis my belief +he'd kill ye if he caught ye." + +Of course Tom said nothing, even to her, about the treasure, and he +and the reverend gentleman kept the knowledge thereof to themselves. +About three weeks later Parson Jones managed to get him shipped aboard +of a vessel bound for New York town, and a few days later Tom Chist +landed at that place. He had never been in such a town before, and he +could not sufficiently wonder and marvel at the number of brick +houses, at the multitude of people coming and going along the fine, +hard, earthen sidewalk, at the shops and the stores where goods hung +in the windows, and, most of all, the fortifications and the battery +at the point, at the rows of threatening cannon, and at the +scarlet-coated sentries pacing up and down the ramparts. All this was +very wonderful, and so were the clustered boats riding at anchor in +the harbor. It was like a new world, so different was it from the +sand hills and the sedgy levels of Henlopen. + +Tom Chist took up his lodgings at a coffee house near to the town +hall, and thence he sent by the postboy a letter written by Parson +Jones to Master Chillingsworth. In a little while the boy returned +with a message, asking Tom to come up to Mr. Chillingsworth's house +that afternoon at two o'clock. + +Tom went thither with a great deal of trepidation, and his heart fell +away altogether when he found it a fine, grand brick house, three +stories high, and with wrought-iron letters across the front. + +The counting house was in the same building; but Tom, because of Mr. +Jones's letter, was conducted directly into the parlor, where the +great rich man was awaiting his coming. He was sitting in a +leather-covered armchair, smoking a pipe of tobacco, and with a bottle +of fine old Madeira close to his elbow. + +Tom had not had a chance to buy a new suit of clothes yet, and so he +cut no very fine figure in the rough dress he had brought with him +from Henlopen. Nor did Mr. Chillingsworth seem to think very highly of +his appearance, for he sat looking sideways at Tom as he smoked. + +"Well, my lad," he said, "and what is this great thing you have to +tell me that is so mightily wonderful? I got what's-his-name--Mr. +Jones's--letter, and now I am ready to hear what you have to say." + +But if he thought but little of his visitor's appearance at first, he +soon changed his sentiments toward him, for Tom had not spoken twenty +words when Mr. Chillingsworth's whole aspect changed. He straightened +himself up in his seat, laid aside his pipe, pushed away his glass of +Madeira, and bade Tom take a chair. + +He listened without a word as Tom Chist told of the buried treasure, +of how he had seen the poor negro murdered, and of how he and Parson +Jones had recovered the chest again. Only once did Mr. Chillingsworth +interrupt the narrative. "And to think," he cried, "that the villain +this very day walks about New York town as though he were an honest +man, ruffling it with the best of us! But if we can only get hold of +these log books you speak of. Go on; tell me more of this." + +When Tom Chist's narrative was ended, Mr. Chillingsworth's bearing was +as different as daylight is from dark. He asked a thousand questions, +all in the most polite and gracious tone imaginable, and not only +urged a glass of his fine old Madeira upon Tom, but asked him to stay +to supper. There was nobody to be there, he said, but his wife and +daughter. + +Tom, all in a panic at the very thought of the two ladies, sturdily +refused to stay even for the dish of tea Mr. Chillingsworth offered +him. + +He did not know that he was destined to stay there as long as he +should live. + +"And now," said Mr. Chillingsworth, "tell me about yourself." + +"I have nothing to tell, Your Honor," said Tom, "except that I was +washed up out of the sea." + +"Washed up out of the sea!" exclaimed Mr. Chillingsworth. "Why, how +was that? Come, begin at the beginning, and tell me all." + +Thereupon Tom Chist did as he was bidden, beginning at the very +beginning and telling everything just as Molly Abrahamson had often +told it to him. As he continued, Mr. Chillingsworth's interest changed +into an appearance of stronger and stronger excitement. Suddenly he +jumped up out of his chair and began to walk up and down the room. + +[Illustration] + +"Stop! stop!" he cried out at last, in the midst of something Tom was +saying. "Stop! stop! Tell me; do you know the name of the vessel that +was wrecked, and from which you were washed ashore?" + +"I've heard it said," said Tom Chist, "'twas the _Bristol Merchant_." + +"I knew it! I knew it!" exclaimed the great man, in a loud voice, +flinging his hands up into the air. "I felt it was so the moment you +began the story. But tell me this, was there nothing found with you +with a mark or a name upon it?" + +"There was a kerchief," said Tom, "marked with a T and a C." + +"Theodosia Chillingsworth!" cried out the merchant. "I knew it! I knew +it! Heavens! to think of anything so wonderful happening as this! Boy! +boy! dost thou know who thou art? Thou art my own brother's son. His +name was Oliver Chillingsworth, and he was my partner in business, and +thou art his son." Then he ran out into the entryway, shouting and +calling for his wife and daughter to come. + + * * * * * + +So Tom Chist--or Thomas Chillingsworth, as he now was to be +called--did stay to supper, after all. + + * * * * * + +This is the story, and I hope you may like it. For Tom Chist became +rich and great, as was to be supposed, and he married his pretty +cousin Theodosia (who had been named for his own mother, drowned in +the _Bristol Merchant_). + +He did not forget his friends, but had Parson Jones brought to New +York to live. + +As to Molly and Matt Abrahamson, they both enjoyed a pension of ten +pounds a year for as long as they lived; for now that all was well +with him, Tom bore no grudge against the old fisherman for all the +drubbings he had suffered. + +The treasure box was brought on to New York, and if Tom Chist did not +get all the money there was in it (as Parson Jones had opined he +would) he got at least a good big lump of it. + +And it is my belief that those log books did more to get Captain Kidd +arrested in Boston town and hanged in London than anything else that +was brought up against him. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chapter V + +JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + + +I + +We, of these times, protected as we are by the laws and by the number +of people about us, can hardly comprehend such a life as that of the +American colonies in the early part of the eighteenth century, when it +was possible for a pirate like Capt. Teach, known as Blackbeard, to +exist, and for the governor and the secretary of the province in which +he lived perhaps to share his plunder, and to shelter and to protect +him against the law. + +At that time the American colonists were in general a rough, rugged +people, knowing nothing of the finer things of life. They lived mostly +in little settlements, separated by long distances from one another, +so that they could neither make nor enforce laws to protect +themselves. Each man or little group of men had to depend upon his or +their own strength to keep what belonged to them, and to prevent +fierce men or groups of men from seizing what did not belong to them. + +It is the natural disposition of everyone to get all that he can. +Little children, for instance, always try to take away from others +that which they want, and to keep it for their own. It is only by +constant teaching that they learn that they must not do so; that they +must not take by force what does not belong to them. So it is only by +teaching and training that people learn to be honest and not to take +what is not theirs. When this teaching is not sufficient to make a man +learn to be honest, or when there is something in the man's nature +that makes him not able to learn, then he only lacks the opportunity +to seize upon the things he wants, just as he would do if he were a +little child. + +In the colonies at that time, as was just said, men were too few and +scattered to protect themselves against those who had made up their +minds to take by force that which they wanted, and so it was that men +lived an unrestrained and lawless life, such as we of these times of +better government can hardly comprehend. + +The usual means of commerce between province and province was by water +in coasting vessels. These coasting vessels were so defenseless, and +the different colonial governments were so ill able to protect them, +that those who chose to rob them could do it almost without danger to +themselves. + +So it was that all the western world was, in those days, infested with +armed bands of cruising freebooters or pirates, who used to stop +merchant vessels and take from them what they chose. + +Each province in those days was ruled over by a royal governor +appointed by the king. Each governor, at one time, was free to do +almost as he pleased in his own province. He was accountable only to +the king and his government, and England was so distant that he was +really responsible almost to nobody but himself. + +The governors were naturally just as desirous to get rich quickly, +just as desirous of getting all that they could for themselves, as was +anybody else--only they had been taught and had been able to learn +that it was not right to be an actual pirate or robber. They wanted to +be rich easily and quickly, but the desire was not strong enough to +lead them to dishonor themselves in their own opinion and in the +opinion of others by gratifying their selfishness. They would even +have stopped the pirates from doing what they did if they could, but +their provincial governments were too weak to prevent the freebooters +from robbing merchant vessels, or to punish them when they came +ashore. The provinces had no navies, and they really had no armies; +neither were there enough people living within the community to +enforce the laws against those stronger and fiercer men who were not +honest. + +After the things the pirates seized from merchant vessels were once +stolen they were altogether lost. Almost never did any owner apply for +them, for it would be useless to do so. The stolen goods and +merchandise lay in the storehouses of the pirates, seemingly without +any owner excepting the pirates themselves. + +The governors and the secretaries of the colonies would not dishonor +themselves by pirating upon merchant vessels, but it did not seem so +wicked after the goods were stolen--and so altogether lost--to take a +part of that which seemed to have no owner. + +A child is taught that it is a very wicked thing to take, for +instance, by force, a lump of sugar from another child; but when a +wicked child has seized the sugar from another and taken it around the +corner, and that other child from whom he has seized it has gone home +crying, it does not seem so wicked for the third child to take a bite +of the sugar when it is offered to him, even if he thinks it has been +taken from some one else. + +It was just so, no doubt, that it did not seem so wicked to Governor +Eden and Secretary Knight of North Carolina, or to Governor Fletcher +of New York, or to other colonial governors, to take a part of the +booty that the pirates, such as Blackbeard, had stolen. It did not +even seem very wicked to compel such pirates to give up a part of what +was not theirs, and which seemed to have no owner. + +In Governor Eden's time, however, the colonies had begun to be more +thickly peopled, and the laws had gradually become stronger and +stronger to protect men in the possession of what was theirs. Governor +Eden was the last of the colonial governors who had dealings with the +pirates, and Blackbeard was almost the last of the pirates who, with +his banded men, was savage and powerful enough to come and go as he +chose among the people whom he plundered. + +Virginia, at that time, was the greatest and the richest of all the +American colonies, and upon the farther side of North Carolina was the +province of South Carolina, also strong and rich. It was these two +colonies that suffered the most from Blackbeard, and it began to be +that the honest men that lived in them could endure no longer to be +plundered. + +The merchants and traders and others who suffered cried out loudly for +protection, so loudly that the governors of these provinces could not +help hearing them. + +Governor Eden was petitioned to act against the pirates, but he would +do nothing, for he felt very friendly toward Blackbeard--just as a +child who has had a taste of the stolen sugar feels friendly toward +the child who gives it to him. + +At last, when Blackbeard sailed up into the very heart of Virginia, +and seized upon and carried away the daughter of that colony's +foremost people, the governor of Virginia, finding that the governor +of North Carolina would do nothing to punish the outrage, took the +matter into his own hands and issued a proclamation offering a reward +of one hundred pounds for Blackbeard, alive or dead, and different +sums for the other pirates who were his followers. + +Governor Spottiswood had the right to issue the proclamation, but he +had no right to commission Lieutenant Maynard, as he did, to take down +an armed force into the neighboring province and to attack the pirates +in the waters of the North Carolina sounds. It was all a part of the +rude and lawless condition of the colonies at the time that such a +thing could have been done. + +[Illustration: "Jack Followed the Captain and the Young Lady up the +Crooked Path to the House" + +_Illustration from_ +JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published by_ +The Century Company, 1894] + +The governor's proclamation against the pirates was issued upon the +eleventh day of November. It was read in the churches the Sunday +following and was posted upon the doors of all the government custom +offices in lower Virginia. Lieutenant Maynard, in the boats that +Colonel Parker had already fitted out to go against the pirates, set +sail upon the seventeenth of the month for Ocracoke. Five days later +the battle was fought. + + * * * * * + +Blackbeard's sloop was lying inside of Ocracoke Inlet among the shoals +and sand bars when he first heard of Governor Spottiswood's +proclamation. + +There had been a storm, and a good many vessels had run into the inlet +for shelter. Blackbeard knew nearly all of the captains of these +vessels, and it was from them that he first heard of the proclamation. + +He had gone aboard one of the vessels--a coaster from Boston. The wind +was still blowing pretty hard from the southeast. There were maybe a +dozen vessels lying within the inlet at that time, and the captain of +one of them was paying the Boston skipper a visit when Blackbeard came +aboard. The two captains had been talking together. They instantly +ceased when the pirate came down into the cabin, but he had heard +enough of their conversation to catch its drift. "Why d'ye stop?" he +said. "I heard what you said. Well, what then? D'ye think I mind it at +all? Spottiswood is going to send his bullies down here after me. +That's what you were saying. Well, what then? You don't think I'm +afraid of his bullies, do you?" + +"Why, no, Captain, I didn't say you was afraid," said the visiting +captain. + +"And what right has he got to send down here against me in North +Carolina, I should like to ask you?" + +"He's got none at all," said the Boston captain, soothingly. "Won't +you take a taste of Hollands, Captain?" + +"He's no more right to come blustering down here into Governor Eden's +province than I have to come aboard of your schooner here, Tom Burley, +and to carry off two or three kegs of this prime Hollands for my own +drinking." + +Captain Burley--the Boston man--laughed a loud, forced laugh. "Why, +Captain," he said, "as for two or three kegs of Hollands, you won't +find that aboard. But if you'd like to have a keg of it for your own +drinking, I'll send it to you and be glad enough to do so for old +acquaintance' sake." + +"But I tell you what 'tis, Captain," said the visiting skipper to +Blackbeard, "they're determined and set against you this time. I tell +you, Captain, Governor Spottiswood hath issued a hot proclamation +against you, and 't hath been read out in all the churches. I myself +saw it posted in Yorktown upon the customhouse door and read it there +myself. The governor offers one hundred pounds for you, and fifty +pounds for your officers, and twenty pounds each for your men." + +"Well, then," said Blackbeard, holding up his glass, "here, I wish 'em +good luck, and when they get their hundred pounds for me they'll be in +a poor way to spend it. As for the Hollands," said he, turning to +Captain Burley, "I know what you've got aboard here and what you +haven't. D'ye suppose ye can blind me? Very well, you send over two +kegs, and I'll let you go without search." The two captains were very +silent. "As for that Lieutenant Maynard you're all talking about," +said Blackbeard, "why, I know him very well. He was the one who was so +busy with the pirates down Madagascar way. I believe you'd all like to +see him blow me out of the water, but he can't do it. There's nobody +in His Majesty's service I'd rather meet than Lieutenant Maynard. I'd +teach him pretty briskly that North Carolina isn't Madagascar." + + * * * * * + +On the evening of the twenty-second the two vessels under command of +Lieutenant Maynard came into the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet and there +dropped anchor. Meantime the weather had cleared, and all the vessels +but one had gone from the inlet. The one vessel that remained was a +New Yorker. It had been there over a night and a day, and the captain +and Blackbeard had become very good friends. + +The same night that Maynard came into the inlet a wedding was held on +the shore. A number of men and women came up the beach in oxcarts and +sledges; others had come in boats from more distant points and across +the water. + +The captain of the New Yorker and Blackbeard went ashore together a +little after dark. The New Yorker had been aboard of the pirate's +sloop for all the latter part of the afternoon, and he and Blackbeard +had been drinking together in the cabin. The New York man was now a +little tipsy, and he laughed and talked foolishly as he and Blackbeard +were rowed ashore. The pirate sat grim and silent. + +It was nearly dark when they stepped ashore on the beach. The New York +captain stumbled and fell headlong, rolling over and over, and the +crew of the boat burst out laughing. + +The people had already begun to dance in an open shed fronting upon +the shore. There were fires of pine knots in front of the building, +lighting up the interior with a red glare. A negro was playing a +fiddle somewhere inside, and the shed was filled with a crowd of +grotesque dancing figures--men and women. Now and then they called +with loud voices as they danced, and the squeaking of the fiddle +sounded incessantly through the noise of outcries and the stamp and +shuffling of feet. + +Captain Teach and the New York captain stood looking on. The New York +man had tilted himself against a post and stood there holding one arm +around it, supporting himself. He waved the other hand foolishly in +time to the music, now and then snapping his thumb and finger. + +The young woman who had just been married approached the two. She had +been dancing, and she was warm and red, her hair blowzed about her +head. "Hi, Captain, won't you dance with me?" she said to Blackbeard. + +Blackbeard stared at her. "Who be you?" he said. + +She burst out laughing. "You look as if you'd eat a body," she cried. + +Blackbeard's face gradually relaxed. "Why, to be sure, you're a brazen +one, for all the world," he said. "Well, I'll dance with you, that I +will. I'll dance the heart out of you." + +He pushed forward, thrusting aside with his elbow the newly made +husband. The man, who saw that Blackbeard had been drinking, burst out +laughing, and the other men and women who had been standing around +drew away, so that in a little while the floor was pretty well +cleared. One could see the negro now; he sat on a barrel at the end of +the room. He grinned with his white teeth and, without stopping in his +fiddling, scraped his bow harshly across the strings, and then +instantly changed the tune to a lively jig. Blackbeard jumped up into +the air and clapped his heels together, giving, as he did so, a sharp, +short yell. Then he began instantly dancing grotesquely and violently. +The woman danced opposite to him, this way and that, with her knuckles +on her hips. Everybody burst out laughing at Blackbeard's grotesque +antics. They laughed again and again, clapping their hands, and the +negro scraped away on his fiddle like fury. The woman's hair came +tumbling down her back. She tucked it back, laughing and panting, and +the sweat ran down her face. She danced and danced. At last she burst +out laughing and stopped, panting. Blackbeard again jumped up in the +air and clapped his heels. Again he yelled, and as he did so, he +struck his heels upon the floor and spun around. Once more everybody +burst out laughing, clapping their hands, and the negro stopped +fiddling. + +[Illustration: "He Led Jack up to a Man Who Sat upon a Barrel" + +_Illustration from_ +JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published by_ +The Century Company. 1894] + +Near by was a shanty or cabin where they were selling spirits, and by +and by Blackbeard went there with the New York captain, and presently +they began drinking again. "Hi, Captain!" called one of the men, +"Maynard's out yonder in the inlet. Jack Bishop's just come across +from t'other side. He says Mr. Maynard hailed him and asked for a +pilot to fetch him in." + +"Well, here's luck to him, and he can't come in quick enough for me!" +cried out Blackbeard in his hoarse, husky voice. + +"Well, Captain," called a voice, "will ye fight him to-morrow?" + +"Aye," shouted the pirate, "if he can get in to me, I'll try to give +'em what they seek, and all they want of it into the bargain. As for a +pilot, I tell ye what 'tis--if any man hereabouts goes out there to +pilot that villain in 'twill be the worst day's work he ever did in +all of his life. 'Twon't be fit for him to live in these parts of +America if I am living here at the same time." There was a burst of +laughter. + +"Give us a toast, Captain! Give us something to drink to! Aye, +Captain, a toast! A toast!" a half dozen voices were calling out at +the same time. + +"Well," cried out the pirate captain, "here's to a good, hot fight +to-morrow, and the best dog on top! 'Twill be, Bang! bang!--this way!" + +He began pulling a pistol out of his pocket, but it stuck in the +lining, and he struggled and tugged at it. The men ducked and +scrambled away from before him, and then the next moment he had the +pistol out of his pocket. He swung it around and around. There was +perfect silence. Suddenly there was a flash and a stunning report, and +instantly a crash and tinkle of broken glass. One of the men cried +out, and began picking and jerking at the back of his neck. "He's +broken that bottle all down my neck," he called out. + +"That's the way 'twill be," said Blackbeard. + +"Lookee," said the owner of the place, "I won't serve out another drop +if 'tis going to be like that. If there's any more trouble I'll blow +out the lantern." + +The sound of the squeaking and scraping of the fiddle and the shouts +and the scuffling feet still came from the shed where the dancing was +going on. + +"Suppose you get your dose to-morrow, Captain," some one called out, +"what then?" + +"Why, if I do," said Blackbeard, "I get it, and that's all there is of +it." + +"Your wife 'll be a rich widdy then, won't she?" cried one of the men; +and there was a burst of laughter. + +"Why," said the New York captain,--"why, has a--a bloody p-pirate like +you a wife then--a--like any honest man?" + +"She'll be no richer than she is now," said Blackbeard. + +"She knows where you've hid your money, anyways. Don't she, Captain?" +called out a voice. + +"The divil knows where I've hid my money," said Blackbeard, "and I +know where I've hid it; and the longest liver of the twain will git it +all. And that's all there is of it." + +The gray of early day was beginning to show in the east when +Blackbeard and the New York captain came down to the landing together. +The New York captain swayed and toppled this way and that as he +walked, now falling against Blackbeard, and now staggering away from +him. + + +II + +Early in the morning--perhaps eight o'clock--Lieutenant Maynard sent a +boat from the schooner over to the settlement, which lay some four or +five miles distant. A number of men stood lounging on the landing, +watching the approach of the boat. The men rowed close up to the +wharf, and there lay upon their oars, while the boatswain of the +schooner, who was in command of the boat, stood up and asked if there +was any man there who could pilot them over the shoals. + +Nobody answered, but all stared stupidly at him. After a while one of +the men at last took his pipe out of his mouth. "There ben't any pilot +here, master," said he; "we ben't pilots." + +"Why, what a story you do tell!" roared the boatswain. "D'ye suppose +I've never been down here before, not to know that every man about +here knows the passes of the shoals?" + +The fellow still held his pipe in his hand. He looked at another one +of the men. "Do you know the passes in over the shoals, Jem?" said he. + +The man to whom he spoke was a young fellow with long, shaggy, +sunburnt hair hanging over his eyes in an unkempt mass. He shook his +head, grunting, "Na--I don't know naught about t' shoals." + +"'Tis Lieutenant Maynard of His Majesty's navy in command of them +vessels out there," said the boatswain. "He'll give any man five pound +to pilot him in." The men on the wharf looked at one another, but +still no one spoke, and the boatswain stood looking at them. He saw +that they did not choose to answer him. "Why," he said, "I believe +you've not got right wits--that's what I believe is the matter with +you. Pull me up to the landing, men, and I'll go ashore and see if I +can find anybody that's willing to make five pound for such a little +bit of piloting as that." + +After the boatswain had gone ashore the loungers still stood on the +wharf, looking down into the boat, and began talking to one another +for the men below to hear them. "They're coming in," said one, "to +blow poor Blackbeard out of the water." "Aye," said another, "he's so +peaceable, too, he is; he'll just lay still and let 'em blow and blow, +he will." "There's a young fellow there," said another of the men; "he +don't look fit to die yet, he don't. Why, I wouldn't be in his place +for a thousand pound." "I do suppose Blackbeard's so afraid he don't +know how to see," said the first speaker. + +At last one of the men in the boat spoke up. "Maybe he don't know how +to see," said he, "but maybe we'll blow some daylight into him afore +we get through with him." + +Some more of the settlers had come out from the shore to the end of +the wharf, and there was now quite a crowd gathering there, all +looking at the men in the boat. "What do them Virginny 'baccy-eaters +do down here in Caroliny, anyway?" said one of the newcomers. "They've +got no call to be down here in North Caroliny waters." + +"Maybe you can keep us away from coming, and maybe you can't," said a +voice from the boat. + +"Why," answered the man on the wharf, "we could keep you away easy +enough, but you ben't worth the trouble, and that's the truth." + +There was a heavy iron bolt lying near the edge of the landing. One of +the men upon the wharf slyly thrust it out with the end of his foot. +It hung for a moment and then fell into the boat below with a crash. +"What d'ye mean by that?" roared the man in charge of the boat. "What +d'ye mean, ye villains? D'ye mean to stave a hole in us?" + +"Why," said the man who had pushed it, "you saw 'twasn't done a +purpose, didn't you?" + +"Well, you try it again, and somebody 'll get hurt," said the man in +the boat, showing the butt end of his pistol. + +The men on the wharf began laughing. Just then the boatswain came down +from the settlement again, and out along the landing. The threatened +turbulence quieted as he approached, and the crowd moved sullenly +aside to let him pass. He did not bring any pilot with him, and he +jumped down into the stern of the boat, saying, briefly, "Push off." +The crowd of loungers stood looking after them as they rowed away, and +when the boat was some distance from the landing they burst out into a +volley of derisive yells. "The villains!" said the boatswain, "they +are all in league together. They wouldn't even let me go up into the +settlement to look for a pilot." + + * * * * * + +The lieutenant and his sailing master stood watching the boat as it +approached. "Couldn't you, then, get a pilot, Baldwin?" said Mr. +Maynard, as the boatswain scrambled aboard. + +"No, I couldn't, sir," said the man. "Either they're all banded +together, or else they're all afraid of the villains. They wouldn't +even let me go up into the settlement to find one." + +"Well, then," said Mr. Maynard, "we'll make shift to work in as best +we may by ourselves. 'Twill be high tide against one o'clock. We'll +run in then with sail as far as we can, and then we'll send you ahead +with the boat to sound for a pass, and we'll follow with the sweeps. +You know the waters pretty well, you say." + +"They were saying ashore that the villain hath forty men aboard," said +the boatswain.[2] + +[Footnote 2: The pirate captain had really only twenty-five men aboard +of his sloop at the time of the battle.] + +Lieutenant Maynard's force consisted of thirty-five men in the +schooner and twenty-five men in the sloop. He carried neither cannons +nor carronades, and neither of his vessels was very well fitted for +the purpose for which they were designed. The schooner, which he +himself commanded, offered almost no protection to the crew. The rail +was not more than a foot high in the waist, and the men on the deck +were almost entirely exposed. The rail of the sloop was perhaps a +little higher, but it, too, was hardly better adapted for fighting. +Indeed, the lieutenant depended more upon the moral force of official +authority to overawe the pirates than upon any real force of arms or +men. He never believed, until the very last moment, that the pirates +would show any real fight. It is very possible that they might not +have done so had they not thought that the lieutenant had actually no +legal right supporting him in his attack upon them in North Carolina +waters. + +It was about noon when anchor was hoisted, and, with the schooner +leading, both vessels ran slowly in before a light wind that had begun +to blow toward midday. In each vessel a man stood in the bows, +sounding continually with lead and line. As they slowly opened up the +harbor within the inlet, they could see the pirate sloop lying about +three miles away. There was a boat just putting off from it to the +shore. + +The lieutenant and his sailing master stood together on the roof of +the cabin deckhouse. The sailing master held a glass to his eye. "She +carries a long gun, sir," he said, "and four carronades. She'll be +hard to beat, sir, I do suppose, armed as we are with only light arms +for close fighting." + +The lieutenant laughed. "Why, Brookes," he said, "you seem to think +forever of these men showing fight. You don't know them as I know +them. They have a deal of bluster and make a deal of noise, but when +you seize them and hold them with a strong hand, there's naught of +fight left in them. 'Tis like enough there 'll not be so much as a +musket fired to-day. I've had to do with 'em often enough before to +know my gentlemen well by this time." Nor, as was said, was it until +the very last that the lieutenant could be brought to believe that the +pirates had any stomach for a fight. + +The two vessels had reached perhaps within a mile of the pirate sloop +before they found the water too shallow to venture any farther with +the sail. It was then that the boat was lowered as the lieutenant had +planned, and the boatswain went ahead to sound, the two vessels, with +their sails still hoisted but empty of wind, pulling in after with +sweeps. + +The pirate had also hoisted sail, but lay as though waiting for the +approach of the schooner and the sloop. + +[Illustration: "The Bullets Were Humming and Singing, Clipping Along +the Top of the Water" + +_Illustration from_ +JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published by_ +The Century Company, 1894] + +The boat in which the boatswain was sounding had run in a considerable +distance ahead of the two vessels, which were gradually creeping up +with the sweeps until they had reached to within less than half a +mile of the pirates--the boat with the boatswain maybe a quarter of a +mile closer. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke from the pirate sloop, +and then another and another, and the next moment there came the three +reports of muskets up the wind. + +"By zounds!" said the lieutenant. "I do believe they're firing on the +boat!" And then he saw the boat turn and begin pulling toward them. + +The boat with the boatswain aboard came rowing rapidly. Again there +were three or four puffs of smoke and three or four subsequent reports +from the distant vessel. Then, in a little while, the boat was +alongside, and the boatswain came scrambling aboard. "Never mind +hoisting the boat," said the lieutenant; "we'll just take her in tow. +Come aboard as quick as you can." Then, turning to the sailing master, +"Well, Brookes, you'll have to do the best you can to get in over the +shoals under half sail." + +"But, sir," said the master, "we'll be sure to run aground." + +"Very well, sir," said the lieutenant, "you heard my orders. If we run +aground we run aground, and that's all there is of it." + +"I sounded as far as maybe a little over a fathom," said the mate, +"but the villains would let me go no nearer. I think I was in the +channel, though. 'Tis more open inside, as I mind me of it. There's a +kind of a hole there, and if we get in over the shoals just beyond +where I was we'll be all right." + +"Very well, then, you take the wheel, Baldwin," said the lieutenant, +"and do the best you can for us." + +Lieutenant Maynard stood looking out forward at the pirate vessel, +which they were now steadily nearing under half sail. He could see +that there were signs of bustle aboard and of men running around upon +the deck. Then he walked aft and around the cabin. The sloop was some +distance astern. It appeared to have run aground, and they were trying +to push it off with the sweeps. The lieutenant looked down into the +water over the stern, and saw that the schooner was already raising +the mud in her wake. Then he went forward along the deck. His men +were crouching down along by the low rail, and there was a tense +quietness of expectation about them. The lieutenant looked them over +as he passed them. "Johnson," he said, "do you take the lead and line +and go forward and sound a bit." Then to the others: "Now, my men, the +moment we run her aboard, you get aboard of her as quick as you can, +do you understand? Don't wait for the sloop or think about her, but +just see that the grappling irons are fast, and then get aboard. If +any man offers to resist you, shoot him down. Are you ready, Mr. +Cringle?" + +"Aye, aye, sir," said the gunner. + +"Very well, then, be ready, men; we'll be aboard 'em in a minute or +two." + +"There's less than a fathom of water here, sir," sang out Johnson from +the bows. As he spoke there was a sudden soft jar and jerk, then the +schooner was still. They were aground. "Push her off to the lee there! +Let go your sheets!" roared the boatswain from the wheel. "Push her +off to the lee." He spun the wheel around as he spoke. A half a dozen +men sprang up, seized the sweeps, and plunged them into the water. +Others ran to help them, but the sweeps only sank into the mud without +moving the schooner. The sails had fallen off and they were flapping +and thumping and clapping in the wind. Others of the crew had +scrambled to their feet and ran to help those at the sweeps. The +lieutenant had walked quickly aft again. They were very close now to +the pirate sloop, and suddenly some one hailed him from aboard of her. +When he turned he saw that there was a man standing up on the rail of +the pirate sloop, holding by the back stays. "Who are you?" he called, +from the distance, "and whence come you? What do you seek here? What +d'ye mean, coming down on us this way?" + +The lieutenant heard somebody say, "That's Blackbeard his-self." And +he looked with great interest at the distant figure. + +The pirate stood out boldly against the cloudy sky. Somebody seemed to +speak to him from behind. He turned his head and then he turned round +again. "We're only peaceful merchantmen!" he called out. "What +authority have you got to come down upon us this way? If you'll come +aboard I'll show you my papers and that we're only peaceful +merchantmen." + +"The villains!" said the lieutenant to the master, who stood beside +him. "They're peaceful merchantmen, are they! They look like peaceful +merchantmen, with four carronades and a long gun aboard!" Then he +called out across the water, "I'll come aboard with my schooner as +soon as I can push her off here." + +"If you undertake to come aboard of me," called the pirate, "I'll +shoot into you. You've got no authority to board me, and I won't have +you do it. If you undertake it 'twill be at your own risk, for I'll +neither ask quarter of you nor give none." + +"Very well," said the lieutenant, "if you choose to try that, you may +do as you please; for I'm coming aboard of you as sure as heaven." + +"Push off the bow there!" called the boatswain at the wheel. "Look +alive! Why don't you push off the bow?" + +"She's hard aground!" answered the gunner. "We can't budge her an +inch." + +"If they was to fire into us now," said the sailing master, "they'd +smash us to pieces." + +"They won't fire into us," said the lieutenant. "They won't dare to." +He jumped down from the cabin deckhouse as he spoke, and went forward +to urge the men in pushing off the boat. It was already beginning to +move. + +At that moment the sailing master suddenly called out, "Mr. Maynard! +Mr. Maynard! they're going to give us a broadside!" + +Almost before the words were out of his mouth, before Lieutenant +Maynard could turn, there came a loud and deafening crash, and then +instantly another, and a third, and almost as instantly a crackling +and rending of broken wood. There were clean yellow splinters flying +everywhere. A man fell violently against the lieutenant, nearly +overturning him, but he caught at the stays and so saved himself. For +one tense moment he stood holding his breath. Then all about him arose +a sudden outcry of groans and shouts and oaths. The man who had fallen +against him was lying face down upon the deck. His thighs were +quivering, and a pool of blood was spreading and running out from +under him. There were other men down, all about the deck. Some were +rising; some were trying to rise; some only moved. + +There was a distant sound of yelling and cheering and shouting. It was +from the pirate sloop. The pirates were rushing about upon her decks. +They had pulled the cannon back, and, through the grunting sound of +the groans about him, the lieutenant could distinctly hear the thud +and punch of the rammers, and he knew they were going to shoot again. + +The low rail afforded almost no shelter against such a broadside, and +there was nothing for it but to order all hands below for the time +being. + +"Get below!" roared out the lieutenant. "All hands get below and lie +snug for further orders!" In obedience the men ran scrambling below +into the hold, and in a little while the decks were nearly clear +except for the three dead men and some three or four wounded. The +boatswain, crouching down close to the wheel, and the lieutenant +himself were the only others upon deck. Everywhere there were smears +and sprinkles of blood. "Where's Brookes?" the lieutenant called out. + +"He's hurt in the arm, sir, and he's gone below," said the boatswain. + +Thereupon the lieutenant himself walked over to the forecastle hatch, +and, hailing the gunner, ordered him to get up another ladder, so that +the men could be run up on deck if the pirates should undertake to +come aboard. At that moment the boatswain at the wheel called out +that the villains were going to shoot again, and the lieutenant, +turning, saw the gunner aboard of the pirate sloop in the act of +touching the iron to the touchhole. He stooped down. There was another +loud and deafening crash of cannon, one, two, three--four--the last +two almost together--and almost instantly the boatswain called out, +"'Tis the sloop, sir! look at the sloop!" + +[Illustration: "The Combatants Cut and Slashed with Savage Fury" + +_Illustration from_ +JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published by_ +The Century Company, 1894] + +The sloop had got afloat again, and had been coming up to the aid of +the schooner, when the pirates fired their second broadside now at +her. When the lieutenant looked at her she was quivering with the +impact of the shot, and the next moment she began falling off to the +wind, and he could see the wounded men rising and falling and +struggling upon her decks. + +At the same moment the boatswain called out that the enemy was coming +aboard, and even as he spoke the pirate sloop came drifting out from +the cloud of smoke that enveloped her, looming up larger and larger as +she came down upon them. The lieutenant still crouched down under the +rail, looking out at them. Suddenly, a little distance away, she came +about, broadside on, and then drifted. She was close aboard now. +Something came flying through the air--another and another. They were +bottles. One of them broke with a crash upon the deck. The others +rolled over to the farther rail. In each of them a quick-match was +smoking. Almost instantly there was a flash and a terrific report, and +the air was full of the whiz and singing of broken particles of glass +and iron. There was another report, and then the whole air seemed full +of gunpowder smoke. "They're aboard of us!" shouted the boatswain, and +even as he spoke the lieutenant roared out, "All hands to repel +boarders!" A second later there came the heavy, thumping bump of the +vessels coming together. + +Lieutenant Maynard, as he called out the order, ran forward through +the smoke, snatching one of his pistols out of his pocket and the +cutlass out of its sheath as he did so. Behind him the men were +coming, swarming up from below. There was a sudden stunning report of +a pistol, and then another and another, almost together. There was a +groan and the fall of a heavy body, and then a figure came jumping +over the rail, with two or three more directly following. The +lieutenant was in the midst of the gunpowder smoke, when suddenly +Blackbeard was before him. The pirate captain had stripped himself +naked to the waist. His shaggy black hair was falling over his eyes, +and he looked like a demon fresh from the pit, with his frantic face. +Almost with the blindness of instinct the lieutenant thrust out his +pistol, firing it as he did so. The pirate staggered back: he was +down--no; he was up again. He had a pistol in each hand; but there was +a stream of blood running down his naked ribs. Suddenly, the mouth of +a pistol was pointing straight at the lieutenant's head. He ducked +instinctively, striking upward with his cutlass as he did so. There +was a stunning, deafening report almost in his ear. He struck again +blindly with his cutlass. He saw the flash of a sword and flung up his +guard almost instinctively, meeting the crash of the descending blade. +Somebody shot from behind him, and at the same moment he saw some one +else strike the pirate. Blackbeard staggered again, and this time +there was a great gash upon his neck. Then one of Maynard's own men +tumbled headlong upon him. He fell with the man, but almost instantly +he had scrambled to his feet again, and as he did so he saw that the +pirate sloop had drifted a little away from them, and that their +grappling irons had evidently parted. His hand was smarting as though +struck with the lash of a whip. He looked around him; the pirate +captain was nowhere to be seen--yes, there he was, lying by the rail. +He raised himself upon his elbow, and the lieutenant saw that he was +trying to point a pistol at him, with an arm that wavered and swayed +blindly, the pistol nearly falling from his fingers. Suddenly his +other elbow gave way and he fell down upon his face. He tried to raise +himself--he fell down again. There was a report and a cloud of smoke, +and when it cleared away Blackbeard had staggered up again. He was a +terrible figure--his head nodding down upon his breast. Somebody shot +again, and then the swaying figure toppled and fell. It lay still for +a moment--then rolled over--then lay still again. + +There was a loud splash of men jumping overboard, and then, almost +instantly, the cry of "Quarter! quarter!" The lieutenant ran to the +edge of the vessel. It was as he had thought: the grappling irons of +the pirate sloop had parted, and it had drifted away. The few pirates +who had been left aboard of the schooner had jumped overboard and were +now holding up their hands. "Quarter!" they cried. "Don't +shoot!--quarter!" And the fight was over. + +The lieutenant looked down at his hand, and then he saw, for the first +time, that there was a great cutlass gash across the back of it, and +that his arm and shirt sleeve were wet with blood. He went aft, +holding the wrist of his wounded hand. The boatswain was still at the +wheel. "By zounds!" said the lieutenant, with a nervous, quavering +laugh, "I didn't know there was such fight in the villains." + +His wounded and shattered sloop was again coming up toward him under +sail, but the pirates had surrendered, and the fight was over. + + + + +Chapter VI + +BLUESKIN, THE PIRATE + + +I + +Cape May and Cape Henlopen form, as it were, the upper and lower jaws +of a gigantic mouth, which disgorges from its monstrous gullet the +cloudy waters of the Delaware Bay into the heaving, sparkling +blue-green of the Atlantic Ocean. From Cape Henlopen as the lower jaw +there juts out a long, curving fang of high, smooth-rolling sand +dunes, cutting sharp and clean against the still, blue sky +above--silent, naked, utterly deserted, excepting for the squat, +white-walled lighthouse standing upon the crest of the highest hill. +Within this curving, sheltering hook of sand hills lie the smooth +waters of Lewes Harbor, and, set a little back from the shore, the +quaint old town, with its dingy wooden houses of clapboard and +shingle, looks sleepily out through the masts of the shipping lying at +anchor in the harbor, to the purple, clean-cut, level thread of the +ocean horizon beyond. + +Lewes is a queer, odd, old-fashioned little town, smelling fragrant of +salt marsh and sea breeze. It is rarely visited by strangers. The +people who live there are the progeny of people who have lived there +for many generations, and it is the very place to nurse, and preserve, +and care for old legends and traditions of bygone times, until they +grow from bits of gossip and news into local history of considerable +size. As in the busier world men talk of last year's elections, here +these old bits, and scraps, and odds and ends of history are retailed +to the listener who cares to listen--traditions of the War of 1812, +when Beresford's fleet lay off the harbor threatening to bombard the +town; tales of the Revolution and of Earl Howe's warships, tarrying +for a while in the quiet harbor before they sailed up the river to +shake old Philadelphia town with the thunders of their guns at Red +Bank and Fort Mifflin. + +With these substantial and sober threads of real history, other and +more lurid colors are interwoven into the web of local lore--legends +of the dark doings of famous pirates, of their mysterious, sinister +comings and goings, of treasures buried in the sand dunes and pine +barrens back of the cape and along the Atlantic beach to the +southward. + +Of such is the story of Blueskin, the pirate. + + +II + +It was in the fall and the early winter of the year 1750, and again in +the summer of the year following, that the famous pirate, Blueskin, +became especially identified with Lewes as a part of its traditional +history. + +For some time--for three or four years--rumors and reports of +Blueskin's doings in the West Indies and off the Carolinas had been +brought in now and then by sea captains. There was no more cruel, +bloody, desperate, devilish pirate than he in all those +pirate-infested waters. All kinds of wild and bloody stories were +current concerning him, but it never occurred to the good folk of +Lewes that such stories were some time to be a part of their own +history. + +But one day a schooner came drifting into Lewes harbor--shattered, +wounded, her forecastle splintered, her foremast shot half away, and +three great tattered holes in her mainsail. The mate with one of the +crew came ashore in the boat for help and a doctor. He reported that +the captain and the cook were dead and there were three wounded men +aboard. The story he told to the gathering crowd brought a very +peculiar thrill to those who heard it. They had fallen in with +Blueskin, he said, off Fenwick's Island (some twenty or thirty miles +below the capes), and the pirates had come aboard of them; but, +finding that the cargo of the schooner consisted only of cypress +shingles and lumber, had soon quitted their prize. Perhaps Blueskin +was disappointed at not finding a more valuable capture; perhaps the +spirit of deviltry was hotter in him that morning than usual; anyhow, +as the pirate craft bore away she fired three broadsides at short +range into the helpless coaster. The captain had been killed at the +first fire, the cook had died on the way up, three of the crew were +wounded, and the vessel was leaking fast, betwixt wind and water. + +Such was the mate's story. It spread like wildfire, and in half an +hour all the town was in a ferment. Fenwick's Island was very near +home; Blueskin might come sailing into the harbor at any minute and +then--! In an hour Sheriff Jones had called together most of the +able-bodied men of the town, muskets and rifles were taken down from +the chimney places, and every preparation was made to defend the place +against the pirates, should they come into the harbor and attempt to +land. + +But Blueskin did not come that day, nor did he come the next or the +next. But on the afternoon of the third the news went suddenly flying +over the town that the pirates were inside the capes. As the report +spread the people came running--men, women, and children--to the green +before the tavern, where a little knot of old seamen were gathered +together, looking fixedly out toward the offing, talking in low +voices. Two vessels, one bark-rigged, the other and smaller a sloop, +were slowly creeping up the bay, a couple of miles or so away and just +inside the cape. There appeared nothing remarkable about the two +crafts, but the little crowd that continued gathering upon the green +stood looking out across the bay at them none the less anxiously for +that. They were sailing close-hauled to the wind, the sloop following +in the wake of her consort as the pilot fish follows in the wake of +the shark. + +But the course they held did not lie toward the harbor, but rather +bore away toward the Jersey shore, and by and by it began to be +apparent that Blueskin did not intend visiting the town. Nevertheless, +those who stood looking did not draw a free breath until, after +watching the two pirates for more than an hour and a half, they saw +them--then about six miles away--suddenly put about and sail with a +free wind out to sea again. + +"The bloody villains have gone!" said old Captain Wolfe, shutting his +telescope with a click. + +But Lewes was not yet quit of Blueskin. Two days later a half-breed +from Indian River bay came up, bringing the news that the pirates had +sailed into the inlet--some fifteen miles below Lewes--and had +careened the bark to clean her. + +Perhaps Blueskin did not care to stir up the country people against +him, for the half-breed reported that the pirates were doing no harm, +and that what they took from the farmers of Indian River and Rehoboth +they paid for with good hard money. + +It was while the excitement over the pirates was at its highest fever +heat that Levi West came home again. + + +III + +Even in the middle of the last century the grist mill, a couple of +miles from Lewes, although it was at most but fifty or sixty years +old, had all a look of weather-beaten age, for the cypress shingles, +of which it was built, ripen in a few years of wind and weather to a +silvery, hoary gray, and the white powdering of flour lent it a look +as though the dust of ages had settled upon it, making the shadows +within dim, soft, mysterious. A dozen willow trees shaded with +dappling, shivering ripples of shadow the road before the mill door, +and the mill itself, and the long, narrow, shingle-built, one-storied, +hip-roofed dwelling house. At the time of the story the mill had +descended in a direct line of succession to Hiram White, the grandson +of old Ephraim White, who had built it, it was said, in 1701. + +Hiram White was only twenty-seven years old, but he was already in +local repute as a "character." As a boy he was thought to be +half-witted or "natural," and, as is the case with such unfortunates +in small country towns where everybody knows everybody, he was made a +common sport and jest for the keener, crueler wits of the +neighborhood. Now that he was grown to the ripeness of manhood he was +still looked upon as being--to use a quaint expression--"slack," or +"not jest right." He was heavy, awkward, ungainly and loose-jointed, +and enormously, prodigiously strong. He had a lumpish, thick-featured +face, with lips heavy and loosely hanging, that gave him an air of +stupidity, half droll, half pathetic. His little eyes were set far +apart and flat with his face, his eyebrows were nearly white and his +hair was of a sandy, colorless kind. He was singularly taciturn, +lisping thickly when he did talk, and stuttering and hesitating in his +speech, as though his words moved faster than his mind could follow. +It was the custom for local wags to urge, or badger, or tempt him to +talk, for the sake of the ready laugh that always followed the few +thick, stammering words and the stupid drooping of the jaw at the end +of each short speech. Perhaps Squire Hall was the only one in Lewes +Hundred who mis-doubted that Hiram was half-witted. He had had +dealings with him and was wont to say that whoever bought Hiram White +for a fool made a fool's bargain. Certainly, whether he had common +wits or no, Hiram had managed his mill to pretty good purpose and was +fairly well off in the world as prosperity went in southern Delaware +and in those days. No doubt, had it come to the pinch, he might have +bought some of his tormentors out three times over. + +Hiram White had suffered quite a financial loss some six months +before, through that very Blueskin who was now lurking in Indian River +inlet. He had entered into a "venture" with Josiah Shippin, a +Philadelphia merchant, to the tune of seven hundred pounds sterling. +The money had been invested in a cargo of flour and corn meal which +had been shipped to Jamaica by the bark _Nancy Lee_. The _Nancy +Lee_ had been captured by the pirates off Currituck Sound, the crew +set adrift in the longboat, and the bark herself and all her cargo +burned to the water's edge. + +[Illustration: SO THE TREASURE WAS DIVIDED] + +Five hundred of the seven hundred pounds invested in the unfortunate +"venture" was money bequeathed by Hiram's father, seven years before, +to Levi West. + +Eleazer White had been twice married, the second time to the widow +West. She had brought with her to her new home a good-looking, +long-legged, black-eyed, black-haired ne'er-do-well of a son, a year +or so younger than Hiram. He was a shrewd, quick-witted lad, idle, +shiftless, willful, ill-trained perhaps, but as bright and keen as a +pin. He was the very opposite to poor, dull Hiram. Eleazer White had +never loved his son; he was ashamed of the poor, slack-witted oaf. +Upon the other hand, he was very fond of Levi West, whom he always +called "our Levi," and whom he treated in every way as though he were +his own son. He tried to train the lad to work in the mill, and was +patient beyond what the patience of most fathers would have been with +his stepson's idleness and shiftlessness. "Never mind," he was used to +say. "Levi 'll come all right. Levi's as bright as a button." + +It was one of the greatest blows of the old miller's life when Levi +ran away to sea. In his last sickness the old man's mind constantly +turned to his lost stepson. "Mebby he'll come back again," said he, +"and if he does I want you to be good to him, Hiram. I've done my duty +by you and have left you the house and mill, but I want you to promise +that if Levi comes back again you'll give him a home and a shelter +under this roof if he wants one." And Hiram had promised to do as his +father asked. + +After Eleazer died it was found that he had bequeathed five hundred +pounds to his "beloved stepson, Levi West," and had left Squire Hall +as trustee. + +Levi West had been gone nearly nine years and not a word had been +heard from him; there could be little or no doubt that he was dead. + +One day Hiram came into Squire Hall's office with a letter in his +hand. It was the time of the old French war, and flour and corn meal +were fetching fabulous prices in the British West Indies. The letter +Hiram brought with him was from a Philadelphia merchant, Josiah +Shippin, with whom he had had some dealings. Mr. Shippin proposed that +Hiram should join him in sending a "venture" of flour and corn meal to +Kingston, Jamaica. Hiram had slept upon the letter overnight and now +he brought it to the old Squire. Squire Hall read the letter, shaking +his head the while. "Too much risk, Hiram!" said he. "Mr Shippin +wouldn't have asked you to go into this venture if he could have got +anybody else to do so. My advice is that you let it alone. I reckon +you've come to me for advice?" Hiram shook his head. "Ye haven't? What +have ye come for, then?" + +"Seven hundred pounds," said Hiram. + +"Seven hundred pounds!" said Squire Hall. "I haven't got seven hundred +pounds to lend you, Hiram." + +"Five hundred been left to Levi--I got hundred--raise hundred more on +mortgage," said Hiram. + +"Tut, tut, Hiram," said Squire Hall, "that'll never do in the world. +Suppose Levi West should come back again, what then? I'm responsible +for that money. If you wanted to borrow it now for any reasonable +venture, you should have it and welcome, but for such a wildcat +scheme--" + +"Levi never come back," said Hiram--"nine years gone--Levi's dead." + +"Mebby he is," said Squire Hall, "but we don't know that." + +"I'll give bond for security," said Hiram. + +Squire Hall thought for a while in silence. "Very well, Hiram," said +he by and by, "if you'll do that. Your father left the money, and I +don't see that it's right for me to stay his son from using it. But +if it is lost, Hiram, and if Levi should come back, it will go well to +ruin ye." + +So Hiram White invested seven hundred pounds in the Jamaica venture +and every farthing of it was burned by Blueskin, off Currituck Sound. + + +IV + +Sally Martin was said to be the prettiest girl in Lewes Hundred, and +when the rumor began to leak out that Hiram White was courting her the +whole community took it as a monstrous joke. It was the common thing +to greet Hiram himself with, "Hey, Hiram; how's Sally?" Hiram never +made answer to such salutation, but went his way as heavily, as +impassively, as dully as ever. + +The joke was true. Twice a week, rain or shine, Hiram White never +failed to scrape his feet upon Billy Martin's doorstep. Twice a week, +on Sundays and Thursdays, he never failed to take his customary seat +by the kitchen fire. He rarely said anything by way of talk; he nodded +to the farmer, to his wife, to Sally and, when he chanced to be at +home, to her brother, but he ventured nothing further. There he would +sit from half past seven until nine o'clock, stolid, heavy, impassive, +his dull eyes following now one of the family and now another, but +always coming back again to Sally. It sometimes happened that she had +other company--some of the young men of the neighborhood. The presence +of such seemed to make no difference to Hiram; he bore whatever broad +jokes might be cracked upon him, whatever grins, whatever giggling +might follow those jokes, with the same patient impassiveness. There +he would sit, silent, unresponsive; then, at the first stroke of nine +o'clock, he would rise, shoulder his ungainly person into his +overcoat, twist his head into his three-cornered hat, and with a "Good +night, Sally, I be going now," would take his departure, shutting the +door carefully to behind him. + +Never, perhaps, was there a girl in the world had such a lover and +such a courtship as Sally Martin. + + +V + +It was one Thursday evening in the latter part of November, about a +week after Blueskin's appearance off the capes, and while the one +subject of talk was of the pirates being in Indian River inlet. The +air was still and wintry; a sudden cold snap had set in and skins of +ice had formed over puddles in the road; the smoke from the chimneys +rose straight in the quiet air and voices sounded loud, as they do in +frosty weather. + +Hiram White sat by the dim light of a tallow dip, poring laboriously +over some account books. It was not quite seven o'clock, and he never +started for Billy Martin's before that hour. As he ran his finger +slowly and hesitatingly down the column of figures, he heard the +kitchen door beyond open and shut, the noise of footsteps crossing the +floor and the scraping of a chair dragged forward to the hearth. Then +came the sound of a basket of corncobs being emptied on the smoldering +blaze and then the snapping and crackling of the reanimated fire. +Hiram thought nothing of all this, excepting, in a dim sort of way, +that it was Bob, the negro mill hand, or old black Dinah, the +housekeeper, and so went on with his calculations. + +At last he closed the books with a snap and, smoothing down his hair, +arose, took up the candle, and passed out of the room into the kitchen +beyond. + +A man was sitting in front of the corncob fire that flamed and blazed +in the great, gaping, sooty fireplace. A rough overcoat was flung over +the chair behind him and his hands were spread out to the roaring +warmth. At the sound of the lifted latch and of Hiram's entrance he +turned his head, and when Hiram saw his face he stood suddenly still +as though turned to stone. The face, marvelously altered and changed +as it was, was the face of his stepbrother, Levi West. He was not +dead; he had come home again. For a time not a sound broke the dead, +unbroken silence excepting the crackling of the blaze in the fireplace +and the sharp ticking of the tall clock in the corner. The one face, +dull and stolid, with the light of the candle shining upward over its +lumpy features, looked fixedly, immovably, stonily at the other, +sharp, shrewd, cunning--the red wavering light of the blaze shining +upon the high cheek bones, cutting sharp on the nose and twinkling in +the glassy turn of the black, ratlike eyes. Then suddenly that face +cracked, broadened, spread to a grin. "I have come back again, Hi," +said Levi, and at the sound of the words the speechless spell was +broken. + +Hiram answered never a word, but he walked to the fireplace, set the +candle down upon the dusty mantelshelf among the boxes and bottles, +and, drawing forward a chair upon the other side of the hearth, sat +down. + +His dull little eyes never moved from his stepbrother's face. There +was no curiosity in his expression, no surprise, no wonder. The heavy +under lip dropped a little farther open and there was more than usual +of dull, expressionless stupidity upon the lumpish face; but that was +all. + +As was said, the face upon which he looked was strangely, marvelously +changed from what it had been when he had last seen it nine years +before, and, though it was still the face of Levi West, it was a very +different Levi West than the shiftless ne'er-do-well who had run away +to sea in the Brazilian brig that long time ago. That Levi West had +been a rough, careless, happy-go-lucky fellow; thoughtless and +selfish, but with nothing essentially evil or sinister in his nature. +The Levi West that now sat in a rush-bottom chair at the other side of +the fireplace had that stamped upon his front that might be both evil +and sinister. His swart complexion was tanned to an Indian copper. On +one side of his face was a curious discoloration in the skin and a +long, crooked, cruel scar that ran diagonally across forehead and +temple and cheek in a white, jagged seam. This discoloration was of a +livid blue, about the tint of a tattoo mark. It made a patch the size +of a man's hand, lying across the cheek and the side of the neck. +Hiram could not keep his eyes from this mark and the white scar +cutting across it. + +There was an odd sort of incongruity in Levi's dress; a pair of heavy +gold earrings and a dirty red handkerchief knotted loosely around his +neck, beneath an open collar, displaying to its full length the lean, +sinewy throat with its bony "Adam's apple," gave to his costume +somewhat the smack of a sailor. He wore a coat that had once been of +fine plum color--now stained and faded--too small for his lean length, +and furbished with tarnished lace. Dirty cambric cuffs hung at his +wrists and on his fingers were half a dozen and more rings, set with +stones that shone, and glistened, and twinkled in the light of the +fire. The hair at either temple was twisted into a Spanish curl, +plastered flat to the cheek, and a plaited queue hung halfway down his +back. + +Hiram, speaking never a word, sat motionless, his dull little eyes +traveling slowly up and down and around and around his stepbrother's +person. + +Levi did not seem to notice his scrutiny, leaning forward, now with +his palms spread out to the grateful warmth, now rubbing them slowly +together. But at last he suddenly whirled his chair around, rasping on +the floor, and faced his stepbrother. He thrust his hand into his +capacious coat pocket and brought out a pipe which he proceeded to +fill from a skin of tobacco. "Well, Hi," said he, "d'ye see I've come +back home again?" + +"Thought you was dead," said Hiram, dully. + +Levi laughed, then he drew a red-hot coal out of the fire, put it upon +the bowl of the pipe and began puffing out clouds of pungent smoke. +"Nay, nay," said he; "not dead--not dead by odds. But [puff] by the +Eternal Holy, Hi, I played many a close game [puff] with old Davy +Jones, for all that." + +Hiram's look turned inquiringly toward the jagged scar and Levi caught +the slow glance. "You're lookin' at this," said he, running his finger +down the crooked seam. "That looks bad, but it wasn't so close as +this"--laying his hand for a moment upon the livid stain. "A cooly +devil off Singapore gave me that cut when we fell foul of an opium +junk in the China Sea four years ago last September. This," touching +the disfiguring blue patch again, "was a closer miss, Hi. A Spanish +captain fired a pistol at me down off Santa Catharina. He was so nigh +that the powder went under the skin and it'll never come out again. +---- his eyes--he had better have fired the pistol into his own head +that morning. But never mind that. I reckon I'm changed, ain't I, Hi?" + +He took his pipe out of his mouth and looked inquiringly at Hiram, who +nodded. + +Levi laughed. "Devil doubt it," said he, "but whether I'm changed or +no, I'll take my affidavy that you are the same old half-witted Hi +that you used to be. I remember dad used to say that you hadn't no +more than enough wits to keep you out of the rain. And, talking of +dad, Hi, I hearn tell he's been dead now these nine years gone. D'ye +know what I've come home for?" + +Hiram shook his head. + +"I've come for that five hundred pounds that dad left me when he died, +for I hearn tell of that, too." + +Hiram sat quite still for a second or two and then he said, "I put +that money out to venture and lost it all." + +Levi's face fell and he took his pipe out of his mouth, regarding +Hiram sharply and keenly. "What d'ye mean?" said he presently. + +"I thought you was dead--and I put--seven hundred pounds--into _Nancy +Lee_--and Blueskin burned her--off Currituck." + +"Burned her off Currituck!" repeated Levi. Then suddenly a light +seemed to break upon his comprehension. "Burned by Blueskin!" he +repeated, and thereupon flung himself back in his chair and burst into +a short, boisterous fit of laughter. "Well, by the Holy Eternal, Hi, +if that isn't a piece of your tarnal luck. Burned by Blueskin, was +it?" He paused for a moment, as though turning it over in his mind. +Then he laughed again. "All the same," said he presently, "d'ye see, I +can't suffer for Blueskin's doings. The money was willed to me, fair +and true, and you have got to pay it, Hiram White, burn or sink, +Blueskin or no Blueskin." Again he puffed for a moment or two in +reflective silence. "All the same, Hi," said he, once more resuming +the thread of talk, "I don't reckon to be too hard on you. You be only +half-witted, anyway, and I sha'n't be too hard on you. I give you a +month to raise that money, and while you're doing it I'll jest hang +around here. I've been in trouble, Hi, d'ye see. I'm under a cloud and +so I want to keep here, as quiet as may be. I'll tell ye how it came +about: I had a set-to with a land pirate in Philadelphia, and somebody +got hurt. That's the reason I'm here now, and don't you say anything +about it. Do you understand?" + +Hiram opened his lips as though it was his intent to answer, then +seemed to think better of it and contented himself by nodding his +head. + +That Thursday night was the first for a six-month that Hiram White did +not scrape his feet clean at Billy Martin's doorstep. + + +VI + +Within a week Levi West had pretty well established himself among his +old friends and acquaintances, though upon a different footing from +that of nine years before, for this was a very different Levi from +that other. Nevertheless, he was none the less popular in the barroom +of the tavern and at the country store, where he was always the center +of a group of loungers. His nine years seemed to have been crowded +full of the wildest of wild adventures and happenings, as well by land +as by sea, and, given an appreciative audience, he would reel off his +yarns by the hour, in a reckless, devil-may-care fashion that set +agape even old sea dogs who had sailed the western ocean since +boyhood. Then he seemed always to have plenty of money, and he loved +to spend it at the tavern taproom, with a lavishness that was at once +the wonder and admiration of gossips. + +[Illustration: Colonel Rhett and the Pirate + +_Illustration from_ +COLONIES AND NATION + +_by_ Woodrow Wilson + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _May_, 1901] + +At that time, as was said, Blueskin was the one engrossing topic of +talk, and it added not a little to Levi's prestige when it was found +that he had actually often seen that bloody, devilish pirate with his +own eyes. A great, heavy, burly fellow, Levi said he was, with a beard +as black as a hat--a devil with his sword and pistol afloat, but not +so black as he was painted when ashore. He told of many adventures in +which Blueskin figured and was then always listened to with more than +usual gaping interest. + +As for Blueskin, the quiet way in which the pirates conducted +themselves at Indian River almost made the Lewes folk forget what he +could do when the occasion called. They almost ceased to remember that +poor shattered schooner that had crawled with its ghastly dead and +groaning wounded into the harbor a couple of weeks since. But if for a +while they forgot who or what Blueskin was, it was not for long. + +One day a bark from Bristol, bound for Cuba and laden with a valuable +cargo of cloth stuffs and silks, put into Lewes harbor to take in +water. The captain himself came ashore and was at the tavern for two +or three hours. It happened that Levi was there and that the talk was +of Blueskin. The English captain, a grizzled old sea dog, listened to +Levi's yarns with not a little contempt. He had, he said, sailed in +the China Sea and the Indian Ocean too long to be afraid of any +hog-eating Yankee pirate such as this Blueskin. A junk full of coolies +armed with stink-pots was something to speak of, but who ever heard of +the likes of Blueskin falling afoul of anything more than a Spanish +canoe or a Yankee coaster? + +Levi grinned. "All the same, my hearty," said he, "if I was you I'd +give Blueskin a wide berth. I hear that he's cleaned the vessel that +was careened awhile ago, and mebby he'll give you a little trouble if +you come too nigh him." + +To this the Englishman only answered that Blueskin might be----, and +that the next afternoon, wind and weather permitting, he intended to +heave anchor and run out to sea. + +Levi laughed again. "I wish I might be here to see what'll happen," +said he, "but I'm going up the river to-night to see a gal and mebby +won't be back again for three or four days." + +The next afternoon the English bark set sail as the captain promised, +and that night Lewes town was awake until almost morning, gazing at a +broad red glare that lighted up the sky away toward the southeast. Two +days afterward a negro oysterman came up from Indian River with news +that the pirates were lying off the inlet, bringing ashore bales of +goods from their larger vessel and piling the same upon the beach +under tarpaulins. He said that it was known down at Indian River that +Blueskin had fallen afoul of an English bark, had burned her and had +murdered the captain and all but three of the crew, who had joined +with the pirates. + +The excitement over this terrible happening had only begun to subside +when another occurred to cap it. One afternoon a ship's boat, in which +were five men and two women, came rowing into Lewes harbor. It was the +longboat of the Charleston packet, bound for New York, and was +commanded by the first mate. The packet had been attacked and captured +by the pirates about ten leagues south by east of Cape Henlopen. The +pirates had come aboard of them at night and no resistance had been +offered. Perhaps it was that circumstance that saved the lives of all, +for no murder or violence had been done. Nevertheless, officers, +passengers and crew had been stripped of everything of value and set +adrift in the boats and the ship herself had been burned. The longboat +had become separated from the others during the night and had sighted +Henlopen a little after sunrise. + +It may be here said that Squire Hall made out a report of these two +occurrences and sent it up to Philadelphia by the mate of the packet. +But for some reason it was nearly four weeks before a sloop of war was +sent around from New York. In the meanwhile, the pirates had disposed +of the booty stored under the tarpaulins on the beach at Indian River +inlet, shipping some of it away in two small sloops and sending the +rest by wagons somewhere up the country. + + +VII + +Levi had told the English captain that he was going up-country to +visit one of his lady friends. He was gone nearly two weeks. Then once +more he appeared, as suddenly, as unexpectedly, as he had done when he +first returned to Lewes. Hiram was sitting at supper when the door +opened and Levi walked in, hanging up his hat behind the door as +unconcernedly as though he had only been gone an hour. He was in an +ugly, lowering humor and sat himself down at the table without +uttering a word, resting his chin upon his clenched fist and glowering +fixedly at the corn cake while Dinah fetched him a plate and knife and +fork. + +His coming seemed to have taken away all of Hiram's appetite. He +pushed away his plate and sat staring at his stepbrother, who +presently fell to at the bacon and eggs like a famished wolf. Not a +word was said until Levi had ended his meal and filled his pipe. +"Look'ee, Hiram," said he, as he stooped over the fire and raked out a +hot coal. "Look'ee, Hiram! I've been to Philadelphia, d'ye see, +a-settlin' up that trouble I told you about when I first come home. +D'ye understand? D'ye remember? D'ye get it through your skull?" He +looked around over his shoulder, waiting as though for an answer. But +getting none, he continued: "I expect two gentlemen here from +Philadelphia to-night. They're friends of mine and are coming to talk +over the business and ye needn't stay at home, Hi. You can go out +somewhere, d'ye understand?" And then he added with a grin, "Ye can go +to see Sally." + +Hiram pushed back his chair and arose. He leaned with his back against +the side of the fireplace. "I'll stay at home," said he presently. + +"But I don't want you to stay at home, Hi," said Levi. "We'll have to +talk business and I want you to go!" + +"I'll stay at home," said Hiram again. + +Levi's brow grew as black as thunder. He ground his teeth together and +for a moment or two it seemed as though an explosion was coming. But +he swallowed his passion with a gulp. "You're a----pig-headed, +half-witted fool," said he. Hiram never so much as moved his eyes. "As +for you," said Levi, whirling round upon Dinah, who was clearing the +table, and glowering balefully upon the old negress, "you put them +things down and git out of here. Don't you come nigh this kitchen +again till I tell ye to. If I catch you pryin' around may I be ----, +eyes and liver, if I don't cut your heart out." + + * * * * * + +In about half an hour Levi's friends came; the first a little, thin, +wizened man with a very foreign look. He was dressed in a rusty black +suit and wore gray yarn stockings and shoes with brass buckles. The +other was also plainly a foreigner. He was dressed in sailor fashion, +with petticoat breeches of duck, a heavy pea-jacket, and thick boots, +reaching to the knees. He wore a red sash tied around his waist, and +once, as he pushed back his coat, Hiram saw the glitter of a pistol +butt. He was a powerful, thickset man, low-browed and bull-necked, his +cheek, and chin, and throat closely covered with a stubble of +blue-black beard. He wore a red kerchief tied around his head and over +it a cocked hat, edged with tarnished gilt braid. + +Levi himself opened the door to them. He exchanged a few words outside +with his visitors, in a foreign language of which Hiram understood +nothing. Neither of the two strangers spoke a word to Hiram: the +little man shot him a sharp look out of the corners of his eyes and +the burly ruffian scowled blackly at him, but beyond that neither +vouchsafed him any regard. + +Levi drew to the shutters, shot the bolt in the outer door, and tilted +a chair against the latch of the one that led from the kitchen into +the adjoining room. Then the three worthies seated themselves at the +table which Dinah had half cleared of the supper china, and were +presently deeply engrossed over a packet of papers which the big, +burly man had brought with him in the pocket of his pea-jacket. The +confabulation was conducted throughout in the same foreign language +which Levi had used when first speaking to them--a language quite +unintelligible to Hiram's ears. Now and then the murmur of talk would +rise loud and harsh over some disputed point; now and then it would +sink away to whispers. + +Twice the tall clock in the corner whirred and sharply struck the +hour, but throughout the whole long consultation Hiram stood silent, +motionless as a stock, his eyes fixed almost unwinkingly upon the +three heads grouped close together around the dim, flickering light of +the candle and the papers scattered upon the table. + +Suddenly the talk came to an end, the three heads separated and the +three chairs were pushed back, grating harshly. Levi rose, went to the +closet and brought thence a bottle of Hiram's apple brandy, as coolly +as though it belonged to himself. He set three tumblers and a crock of +water upon the table and each helped himself liberally. + +As the two visitors departed down the road, Levi stood for a while at +the open door, looking after the dusky figures until they were +swallowed in the darkness. Then he turned, came in, shut the door, +shuddered, took a final dose of the apple brandy and went to bed, +without, since his first suppressed explosion, having said a single +word to Hiram. + +Hiram, left alone, stood for a while, silent, motionless as ever, then +he looked slowly about him, gave a shake of the shoulders as though to +arouse himself, and taking the candle, left the room, shutting the +door noiselessly behind him. + + +VIII + +This time of Levi West's unwelcome visitation was indeed a time of +bitter trouble and tribulation to poor Hiram White. Money was of very +different value in those days than it is now, and five hundred pounds +was in its way a good round lump--in Sussex County it was almost a +fortune. It was a desperate struggle for Hiram to raise the amount of +his father's bequest to his stepbrother. Squire Hall, as may have been +gathered, had a very warm and friendly feeling for Hiram, believing in +him when all others disbelieved; nevertheless, in the matter of money +the old man was as hard and as cold as adamant. He would, he said, do +all he could to help Hiram, but that five hundred pounds must and +should be raised--Hiram must release his security bond. He would loan +him, he said, three hundred pounds, taking a mortgage upon the mill. +He would have lent him four hundred but that there was already a first +mortgage of one hundred pounds upon it, and he would not dare to put +more than three hundred more atop of that. + +Hiram had a considerable quantity of wheat which he had bought upon +speculation and which was then lying idle in a Philadelphia +storehouse. This he had sold at public sale and at a very great +sacrifice; he realized barely one hundred pounds upon it. The +financial horizon looked very black to him; nevertheless, Levi's five +hundred pounds was raised, and paid into Squire Hall's hands, and +Squire Hall released Hiram's bond. + +The business was finally closed on one cold, gray afternoon in the +early part of December. As Hiram tore his bond across and then tore it +across again and again, Squire Hall pushed back the papers upon his +desk and cocked his feet upon its slanting top. "Hiram," said he, +abruptly, "Hiram, do you know that Levi West is forever hanging around +Billy Martin's house, after that pretty daughter of his?" + +So long a space of silence followed the speech that the Squire began +to think that Hiram might not have heard him. But Hiram had heard. +"No," said he, "I didn't know it." + +"Well, he is," said Squire Hall. "It's the talk of the whole +neighborhood. The talk's pretty bad, too. D'ye know that they say that +she was away from home three days last week, nobody knew where? The +fellow's turned her head with his sailor's yarns and his traveler's +lies." + +Hiram said not a word, but he sat looking at the other in stolid +silence. "That stepbrother of yours," continued the old Squire +presently, "is a rascal--he is a rascal, Hiram, and I mis-doubt he's +something worse. I hear he's been seen in some queer places and with +queer company of late." + +He stopped again, and still Hiram said nothing. "And look'ee, Hiram," +the old man resumed, suddenly, "I do hear that you be courtin' the +girl, too; is that so?" + +"Yes," said Hiram, "I'm courtin' her, too." + +"Tut! tut!" said the Squire, "that's a pity, Hiram. I'm afraid your +cakes are dough." + +After he had left the Squire's office, Hiram stood for a while in the +street, bareheaded, his hat in his hand, staring unwinkingly down at +the ground at his feet, with stupidly drooping lips and lackluster +eyes. Presently he raised his hand and began slowly smoothing down the +sandy shock of hair upon his forehead. At last he aroused himself with +a shake, looked dully up and down the street, and then, putting on his +hat, turned and walked slowly and heavily away. + +The early dusk of the cloudy winter evening was settling fast, for the +sky was leaden and threatening. At the outskirts of the town Hiram +stopped again and again stood for a while in brooding thought. Then, +finally, he turned slowly, not the way that led homeward, but taking +the road that led between the bare and withered fields and crooked +fences toward Billy Martin's. + +It would be hard to say just what it was that led Hiram to seek Billy +Martin's house at that time of day--whether it was fate or ill +fortune. He could not have chosen a more opportune time to confirm his +own undoing. What he saw was the very worst that his heart feared. + +Along the road, at a little distance from the house, was a mock-orange +hedge, now bare, naked, leafless. As Hiram drew near he heard +footsteps approaching and low voices. He drew back into the fence +corner and there stood, half sheltered by the stark network of twigs. +Two figures passed slowly along the gray of the roadway in the +gloaming. One was his stepbrother, the other was Sally Martin. Levi's +arm was around her, he was whispering into her ear, and her head +rested upon his shoulder. + +Hiram stood as still, as breathless, as cold as ice. They stopped upon +the side of the road just beyond where he stood. Hiram's eyes never +left them. There for some time they talked together in low voices, +their words now and then reaching the ears of that silent, breathless +listener. + +Suddenly there came the clattering of an opening door, and then Betty +Martin's voice broke the silence, harshly, shrilly: "Sal!--Sal!--Sally +Martin! You, Sally Martin! Come in yere. Where be ye?" + +The girl flung her arms around Levi's neck and their lips met in one +quick kiss. The next moment she was gone, flying swiftly, silently, +down the road past where Hiram stood, stooping as she ran. Levi stood +looking after her until she was gone; then he turned and walked away +whistling. + +His whistling died shrilly into silence in the wintry distance, and +then at last Hiram came stumbling out from the hedge. His face had +never looked before as it looked then. + + +IX + +Hiram was standing in front of the fire with his hands clasped behind +his back. He had not touched the supper on the table. Levi was eating +with an appetite. Suddenly he looked over his plate at his +stepbrother. + +"How about that five hundred pounds, Hiram?" said he. "I gave ye a +month to raise it and the month ain't quite up yet, but I'm goin' to +leave this here place day after to-morrow--by next day at the +furd'st--and I want the money that's mine." + +"I paid it to Squire Hall to-day and he has it fer ye," said Hiram, +dully. + +Levi laid down his knife and fork with a clatter. "Squire Hall!" said +he, "what's Squire Hall got to do with it? Squire Hall didn't have the +use of that money. It was you had it and you have got to pay it back +to me, and if you don't do it, by G----, I'll have the law on you, +sure as you're born." + +"Squire Hall's trustee--I ain't your trustee," said Hiram, in the same +dull voice. + +"I don't know nothing about trustees," said Levi, "or anything about +lawyer business, either. What I want to know is, are you going to pay +me my money or no?" + +"No," said Hiram, "I ain't--Squire Hall 'll pay ye; you go to him." + +Levi West's face grew purple red. He pushed back, his chair grating +harshly. "You--bloody land pirate!" he said, grinding his teeth +together. "I see through your tricks. You're up to cheating me out of +my money. You know very well that Squire Hall is down on me, hard and +bitter--writin' his ---- reports to Philadelphia and doing all he can +to stir up everybody agin me and to bring the bluejackets down on me. +I see through your tricks as clear as glass, but ye sha'n't trick me. +I'll have my money if there's law in the land--ye bloody, unnatural +thief ye, who'd go agin your dead father's will!" + +Then--if the roof had fallen in upon him, Levi West could not have +been more amazed--Hiram suddenly strode forward, and, leaning half +across the table with his fists clenched, fairly glared into Levi's +eyes. His face, dull, stupid, wooden, was now fairly convulsed with +passion. The great veins stood out upon his temples like knotted +whipcords, and when he spoke his voice was more a breathless snarl +than the voice of a Christian man. + +"Ye'll have the law, will ye?" said he. "Ye'll--have the law, will ye? +You're afeared to go to law--Levi West--you try th' law--and see how +ye like it. Who 're you to call me thief--ye bloody, murderin' villain +ye! You're the thief--Levi West--you come here and stole my daddy from +me--ye did. You make me ruin--myself to pay what oughter to been +mine--then--ye--ye steal the gal I was courtin', to boot." He stopped +and his lips writhed for words to say. "I know ye," said he, grinding +his teeth. "I know ye! And only for what my daddy made me promise I'd +a-had you up to the magistrate's before this." + +Then, pointing with quivering finger: "There's the door--you see it! +Go out that there door and don't never come into it again--if ye +do--or if ye ever come where I can lay eyes on ye again--by th' Holy +Holy I'll hale ye up to the Squire's office and tell all I know and +all I've seen. Oh, I'll give ye your belly-fill of law if--ye want th' +law! Git out of the house, I say!" + +As Hiram spoke Levi seemed to shrink together. His face changed from +its copper color to a dull, waxy yellow. When the other ended he +answered never a word. But he pushed back his chair, rose, put on his +hat and, with a furtive, sidelong look, left the house, without +stopping to finish the supper which he had begun. He never entered +Hiram White's door again. + + +X + +Hiram had driven out the evil spirit from his home, but the mischief +that it had brewed was done and could not be undone. The next day it +was known that Sally Martin had run away from home, and that she had +run away with Levi West. Old Billy Martin had been in town in the +morning with his rifle, hunting for Levi and threatening if he caught +him to have his life for leading his daughter astray. + +And, as the evil spirit had left Hiram's house, so had another and a +greater evil spirit quitted its harborage. It was heard from Indian +River in a few days more that Blueskin had quitted the inlet and had +sailed away to the southeast; and it was reported, by those who seemed +to know, that he had finally quitted those parts. + +It was well for himself that Blueskin left when he did, for not three +days after he sailed away the _Scorpion_ sloop-of-war dropped anchor +in Lewes harbor. The New York agent of the unfortunate packet and a +government commissioner had also come aboard the _Scorpion_. + +Without loss of time, the officer in command instituted a keen and +searching examination that brought to light some singularly curious +facts. It was found that a very friendly understanding must have +existed for some time between the pirates and the people of Indian +River, for, in the houses throughout that section, many things--some +of considerable value--that had been taken by the pirates from the +packet, were discovered and seized by the commissioner. Valuables of a +suspicious nature had found their way even into the houses of Lewes +itself. + +The whole neighborhood seemed to have become more or less tainted by +the presence of the pirates. + +Even poor Hiram White did not escape the suspicions of having had +dealings with them. Of course the examiners were not slow in +discovering that Levi West had been deeply concerned with Blueskin's +doings. + +Old Dinah and black Bob were examined, and not only did the story of +Levi's two visitors come to light, but also the fact that Hiram was +present and with them while they were in the house disposing of the +captured goods to their agent. + +Of all that he had endured, nothing seemed to cut poor Hiram so deeply +and keenly as these unjust suspicions. They seemed to bring the last +bitter pang, hardest of all to bear. + +Levi had taken from him his father's love; he had driven him, if not +to ruin, at least perilously close to it. He had run away with the +girl he loved, and now, through him, even Hiram's good name was gone. + +Neither did the suspicions against him remain passive; they became +active. + +Goldsmiths' bills, to the amount of several thousand pounds, had been +taken in the packet and Hiram was examined with an almost +inquisitorial closeness and strictness as to whether he had or had not +knowledge of their whereabouts. + +Under his accumulated misfortunes, he grew not only more dull, more +taciturn, than ever, but gloomy, moody, brooding as well. For hours he +would sit staring straight before him into the fire, without moving so +much as a hair. + +One night--it was a bitterly cold night in February, with three inches +of dry and gritty snow upon the ground--while Hiram sat thus brooding, +there came, of a sudden, a soft tap upon the door. + +Low and hesitating as it was, Hiram started violently at the sound. He +sat for a while, looking from right to left. Then suddenly pushing +back his chair, he arose, strode to the door, and flung it wide open. + +It was Sally Martin. + +[Illustration: The Pirate's Christmas + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S WEEKLY, _Christmas, 1893_] + +Hiram stood for a while staring blankly at her. It was she who first +spoke. "Won't you let me come in, Hi?" said she. "I'm nigh starved +with the cold and I'm fit to die, I'm so hungry. For God's sake, let +me come in." + +"Yes," said Hiram, "I'll let you come in, but why don't you go home?" + +The poor girl was shivering and chattering with the cold; now she +began crying, wiping her eyes with the corner of a blanket in which +her head and shoulders were wrapped. "I have been home, Hiram," she +said, "but dad, he shut the door in my face. He cursed me just awful, +Hi--I wish I was dead!" + +"You better come in," said Hiram. "It's no good standing out there in +the cold." He stood aside and the girl entered, swiftly, gratefully. + +At Hiram's bidding black Dinah presently set some food before Sally +and she fell to eating ravenously, almost ferociously. Meantime, while +she ate, Hiram stood with his back to the fire, looking at her +face--that face once so round and rosy, now thin, pinched, haggard. + +"Are you sick, Sally?" said he presently. + +"No," said she, "but I've had pretty hard times since I left home, +Hi." The tears sprang to her eyes at the recollection of her troubles, +but she only wiped them hastily away with the back of her hand, +without stopping in her eating. + +A long pause of dead silence followed. Dinah sat crouched together on +a cricket at the other side of the hearth, listening with interest. +Hiram did not seem to see her. "Did you go off with Levi?" said he at +last, speaking abruptly. The girl looked up furtively under her brows. +"You needn't be afeared to tell," he added. + +"Yes," said she at last, "I did go off with him, Hi." + +"Where've you been?" + +At the question, she suddenly laid down her knife and fork. "Don't +you ask me that, Hi," said she, agitatedly, "I can't tell you that. +You don't know Levi, Hiram; I darsn't tell you anything he don't want +me to. If I told you where I been he'd hunt me out, no matter where I +was, and kill me. If you only knew what I know about him, Hiram, you +wouldn't ask anything about him." + +Hiram stood looking broodingly at her for a long time; then at last he +again spoke. "I thought a sight of you onc't, Sally," said he. + +Sally did not answer immediately, but, after a while, she suddenly +looked up. "Hiram," said she, "if I tell ye something will you promise +on your oath not to breathe a word to any living soul?" Hiram nodded. +"Then I'll tell you, but if Levi finds I've told he'll murder me as +sure as you're standin' there. Come nigher--I've got to whisper it." +He leaned forward close to her where she sat. She looked swiftly from +right to left; then raising her lips she breathed into his ear: "I'm +an honest woman, Hi. I was married to Levi West before I run away." + + +XI + +The winter had passed, spring had passed, and summer had come. +Whatever Hiram had felt, he had made no sign of suffering. +Nevertheless, his lumpy face had begun to look flabby, his cheeks +hollow, and his loose-jointed body shrunk more awkwardly together into +its clothes. He was often awake at night, sometimes walking up and +down his room until far into the small hours. + +It was through such a wakeful spell as this that he entered into the +greatest, the most terrible, happening of his life. + +It was a sulphurously hot night in July. The air was like the breath +of a furnace, and it was a hard matter to sleep with even the easiest +mind and under the most favorable circumstances. The full moon shone +in through the open window, laying a white square of light upon the +floor, and Hiram, as he paced up and down, up and down, walked +directly through it, his gaunt figure starting out at every turn into +sudden brightness as he entered the straight line of misty light. + +The clock in the kitchen whirred and rang out the hour of twelve, and +Hiram stopped in his walk to count the strokes. + +The last vibration died away into silence, and still he stood +motionless, now listening with a new and sudden intentness, for, even +as the clock rang the last stroke, he heard soft, heavy footsteps, +moving slowly and cautiously along the pathway before the house and +directly below the open window. A few seconds more and he heard the +creaking of rusty hinges. The mysterious visitor had entered the mill. +Hiram crept softly to the window and looked out. The moon shone full +on the dusty, shingled face of the old mill, not thirty steps away, +and he saw that the door was standing wide open. A second or two of +stillness followed, and then, as he still stood looking intently, he +saw the figure of a man suddenly appear, sharp and vivid, from the +gaping blackness of the open doorway. Hiram could see his face as +clear as day. It was Levi West, and he carried an empty meal bag over +his arm. + +Levi West stood looking from right to left for a second or two, and +then he took off his hat and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. +Then he softly closed the door behind him and left the mill as he had +come, and with the same cautious step. Hiram looked down upon him as +he passed close to the house and almost directly beneath. He could +have touched him with his hand. + +Fifty or sixty yards from the house Levi stopped and a second figure +arose from the black shadow in the angle of the worm fence and joined +him. They stood for a while talking together, Levi pointing now and +then toward the mill. Then the two turned, and, climbing over the +fence, cut across an open field and through the tall, shaggy grass +toward the southeast. + +Hiram straightened himself and drew a deep breath, and the moon, +shining full upon his face, showed it twisted, convulsed, as it had +been when he had fronted his stepbrother seven months before in the +kitchen. Great beads of sweat stood on his brow and he wiped them away +with his sleeve. Then, coatless, hatless as he was, he swung himself +out of the window, dropped upon the grass, and, without an instant of +hesitation, strode off down the road in the direction that Levi West +had taken. + +As he climbed the fence where the two men had climbed it he could see +them in the pallid light, far away across the level, scrubby meadow +land, walking toward a narrow strip of pine woods. + +A little later they entered the sharp-cut shadows beneath the trees +and were swallowed in the darkness. + +With fixed eyes and close-shut lips, as doggedly, as inexorably as +though he were a Nemesis hunting his enemy down, Hiram followed their +footsteps across the stretch of moonlit open. Then, by and by, he also +was in the shadow of the pines. Here, not a sound broke the midnight +hush. His feet made no noise upon the resinous softness of the ground +below. In that dead, pulseless silence he could distinctly hear the +distant voices of Levi and his companion, sounding loud and resonant +in the hollow of the woods. Beyond the woods was a cornfield, and +presently he heard the rattling of the harsh leaves as the two plunged +into the tasseled jungle. Here, as in the woods, he followed them, +step by step, guided by the noise of their progress through the canes. + +Beyond the cornfield ran a road that, skirting to the south of Lewes, +led across a wooden bridge to the wide salt marshes that stretched +between the town and the distant sand hills. Coming out upon this road +Hiram found that he had gained upon those he followed, and that they +now were not fifty paces away, and he could see that Levi's companion +carried over his shoulder what looked like a bundle of tools. + +He waited for a little while to let them gain their distance and for +the second time wiped his forehead with his shirt sleeve; then, +without ever once letting his eyes leave them, he climbed the fence to +the roadway. + +For a couple of miles or more he followed the two along the white, +level highway, past silent, sleeping houses, past barns, sheds, and +haystacks, looming big in the moonlight, past fields, and woods, and +clearings, past the dark and silent skirts of the town, and so, at +last, out upon the wide, misty salt marshes, which seemed to stretch +away interminably through the pallid light, yet were bounded in the +far distance by the long, white line of sand hills. + +Across the level salt marshes he followed them, through the rank sedge +and past the glassy pools in which his own inverted image stalked +beneath as he stalked above; on and on, until at last they had reached +a belt of scrub pines, gnarled and gray, that fringed the foot of the +white sand hills. + +Here Hiram kept within the black network of shadow. The two whom he +followed walked more in the open, with their shadows, as black as ink, +walking along in the sand beside them, and now, in the dead, +breathless stillness, might be heard, dull and heavy, the distant +thumping, pounding roar of the Atlantic surf, beating on the beach at +the other side of the sand hills, half a mile away. + +At last the two rounded the southern end of the white bluff, and when +Hiram, following, rounded it also, they were no longer to be seen. + +Before him the sand hill rose, smooth and steep, cutting in a sharp +ridge against the sky. Up this steep hill trailed the footsteps of +those he followed, disappearing over the crest. Beyond the ridge lay a +round, bowl-like hollow, perhaps fifty feet across and eighteen or +twenty feet deep, scooped out by the eddying of the winds into an +almost perfect circle. Hiram, slowly, cautiously, stealthily, +following their trailing line of footmarks, mounted to the top of the +hillock and peered down into the bowl beneath. The two men were +sitting upon the sand, not far from the tall, skeleton-like shaft of +a dead pine tree that rose, stark and gray, from the sand in which it +may once have been buried, centuries ago. + + +XII + +Levi had taken off his coat and waistcoat and was fanning himself with +his hat. He was sitting upon the bag he had brought from the mill and +which he had spread out upon the sand. His companion sat facing him. +The moon shone full upon him and Hiram knew him instantly--he was the +same burly, foreign-looking ruffian who had come with the little man +to the mill that night to see Levi. He also had his hat off and was +wiping his forehead and face with a red handkerchief. Beside him lay +the bundle of tools he had brought--a couple of shovels, a piece of +rope, and a long, sharp iron rod. + +The two men were talking together, but Hiram could not understand what +they said, for they spoke in the same foreign language that they had +before used. But he could see his stepbrother point with his finger, +now to the dead tree and now to the steep, white face of the opposite +side of the bowl-like hollow. + +At last, having apparently rested themselves, the conference, if +conference it was, came to an end, and Levi led the way, the other +following, to the dead pine tree. Here he stopped and began searching, +as though for some mark; then, having found that which he looked for, +he drew a tapeline and a large brass pocket compass from his pocket. +He gave one end of the tape line to his companion, holding the other +with his thumb pressed upon a particular part of the tree. Taking his +bearings by the compass, he gave now and then some orders to the +other, who moved a little to the left or the right as he bade. At last +he gave a word of command, and, thereupon, his companion drew a wooden +peg from his pocket and thrust it into the sand. From this peg as a +base they again measured, taking bearings by the compass, and again +drove a peg. For a third time they repeated their measurements and +then, at last, seemed to have reached the point which they aimed for. + +Here Levi marked a cross with his heel upon the sand. + +His companion brought him the pointed iron rod which lay beside the +shovels, and then stood watching as Levi thrust it deep into the sand, +again and again, as though sounding for some object below. It was some +while before he found that for which he was seeking, but at last the +rod struck with a jar upon some hard object below. After making sure +of success by one or two additional taps with the rod, Levi left it +remaining where it stood, brushing the sand from his hands. "Now fetch +the shovels, Pedro," said he, speaking for the first time in English. + +The two men were busy for a long while, shoveling away the sand. The +object for which they were seeking lay buried some six feet deep, and +the work was heavy and laborious, the shifting sand sliding back, +again and again, into the hole. But at last the blade of one of the +shovels struck upon some hard substance and Levi stooped and brushed +away the sand with the palm of his hand. + +Levi's companion climbed out of the hole which they had dug and tossed +the rope which he had brought with the shovels down to the other. Levi +made it fast to some object below and then himself mounted to the +level of the sand above. Pulling together, the two drew up from the +hole a heavy iron-bound box, nearly three feet long and a foot wide +and deep. + +Levi's companion stooped and began untying the rope which had been +lashed to a ring in the lid. + +What next happened happened suddenly, swiftly, terribly. Levi drew +back a single step, and shot one quick, keen look to right and to +left. He passed his hand rapidly behind his back, and the next moment +Hiram saw the moonlight gleam upon the long, sharp, keen blade of a +knife. Levi raised his arm. Then, just as the other arose from bending +over the chest, he struck, and struck again, two swift, powerful +blows. Hiram saw the blade drive, clean and sharp, into the back, and +heard the hilt strike with a dull thud against the ribs--once, twice. +The burly, black-bearded wretch gave a shrill, terrible cry and fell +staggering back. Then, in an instant, with another cry, he was up and +clutched Levi with a clutch of despair by the throat and by the arm. +Then followed a struggle, short, terrible, silent. Not a sound was +heard but the deep, panting breath and the scuffling of feet in the +sand, upon which there now poured and dabbled a dark-purple stream. +But it was a one-sided struggle and lasted only for a second or two. +Levi wrenched his arm loose from the wounded man's grasp, tearing his +shirt sleeve from the wrist to the shoulder as he did so. Again and +again the cruel knife was lifted, and again and again it fell, now no +longer bright, but stained with red. + +Then, suddenly, all was over. Levi's companion dropped to the sand +without a sound, like a bundle of rags. For a moment he lay limp and +inert; then one shuddering spasm passed over him and he lay silent and +still, with his face half buried in the sand. + +Levi, with the knife still gripped tight in his hand, stood leaning +over his victim, looking down upon his body. His shirt and hand, and +even his naked arm, were stained and blotched with blood. The moon lit +up his face and it was the face of a devil from hell. + +At last he gave himself a shake, stooped and wiped his knife and hand +and arm upon the loose petticoat breeches of the dead man. He thrust +his knife back into its sheath, drew a key from his pocket and +unlocked the chest. In the moonlight Hiram could see that it was +filled mostly with paper and leather bags, full, apparently of money. + +All through this awful struggle and its awful ending Hiram lay, dumb +and motionless, upon the crest of the sand hill, looking with a horrid +fascination upon the death struggle in the pit below. Now Hiram arose. +The sand slid whispering down from the crest as he did so, but Levi +was too intent in turning over the contents of the chest to notice the +slight sound. + +[Illustration: "He Lay Silent and Still, with His Face Half Buried in +the Sand" + +_Illustration from_ +BLUESKIN, THE PIRATE + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +THE NORTHWESTERN MILLER, _December, 1890_] + +Hiram's face was ghastly pale and drawn. For one moment he opened his +lips as though to speak, but no word came. So, white, silent, he stood +for a few seconds, rather like a statue than a living man, then, +suddenly, his eyes fell upon the bag, which Levi had brought with him, +no doubt, to carry back the treasure for which he and his companion +were in search, and which still lay spread out on the sand where it +had been flung. Then, as though a thought had suddenly flashed upon +him, his whole expression changed, his lips closed tightly together as +though fearing an involuntary sound might escape, and the haggard look +dissolved from his face. + +Cautiously, slowly, he stepped over the edge of the sand hill and down +the slanting face. His coming was as silent as death, for his feet +made no noise as he sank ankle-deep in the yielding surface. So, +stealthily, step by step, he descended, reached the bag, lifted it +silently. Levi, still bending over the chest and searching through the +papers within, was not four feet away. Hiram raised the bag in his +hands. He must have made some slight rustle as he did so, for suddenly +Levi half turned his head. But he was one instant too late. In a flash +the bag was over his head--shoulders--arms--body. + +Then came another struggle, as fierce, as silent, as desperate as that +other--and as short. Wiry, tough, and strong as he was, with a lean, +sinewy, nervous vigor, fighting desperately for his life as he was, +Levi had no chance against the ponderous strength of his stepbrother. +In any case, the struggle could not have lasted long; as it was, Levi +stumbled backward over the body of his dead mate and fell, with Hiram +upon him. Maybe he was stunned by the fall; maybe he felt the +hopelessness of resistance, for he lay quite still while Hiram, +kneeling upon him, drew the rope from the ring of the chest and, +without uttering a word, bound it tightly around both the bag and the +captive within, knotting it again and again and drawing it tight. Only +once was a word spoken. "If you'll lemme go," said a muffled voice +from the bag, "I'll give you five thousand pounds--it's in that there +box." Hiram answered never a word, but continued knotting the rope and +drawing it tight. + + +XIII + +The _Scorpion_ sloop-of-war lay in Lewes harbor all that winter and +spring, probably upon the slim chance of a return of the pirates. It +was about eight o'clock in the morning and Lieutenant Maynard was +sitting in Squire Hall's office, fanning himself with his hat and +talking in a desultory fashion. Suddenly the dim and distant noise of +a great crowd was heard from without, coming nearer and nearer. The +Squire and his visitor hurried to the door. The crowd was coming down +the street shouting, jostling, struggling, some on the footway, some +in the roadway. Heads were at the doors and windows, looking down upon +them. Nearer they came, and nearer; then at last they could see that +the press surrounded and accompanied one man. It was Hiram White, +hatless, coatless, the sweat running down his face in streams, but +stolid and silent as ever. Over his shoulder he carried a bag, tied +round and round with a rope. It was not until the crowd and the man it +surrounded had come quite near that the Squire and the lieutenant saw +that a pair of legs in gray-yarn stockings hung from the bag. It was a +man he was carrying. + +Hiram had lugged his burden five miles that morning without help and +with scarcely a rest on the way. + +He came directly toward the Squire's office and, still surrounded and +hustled by the crowd, up the steep steps to the office within. He +flung his burden heavily upon the floor without a word and wiped his +streaming forehead. + +The Squire stood with his knuckles on his desk, staring first at Hiram +and then at the strange burden he had brought. A sudden hush fell +upon all, though the voices of those without sounded as loud and +turbulent as ever. "What is it, Hiram?" said Squire Hall at last. + +Then for the first time Hiram spoke, panting thickly. "It's a bloody +murderer," said he, pointing a quivering finger at the motionless +figure. + +"Here, some of you!" called out the Squire. "Come! Untie this man! Who +is he?" A dozen willing fingers quickly unknotted the rope and the bag +was slipped from the head and body. + +Hair and face and eyebrows and clothes were powdered with meal, but, +in spite of all and through all the innocent whiteness, dark spots and +blotches and smears of blood showed upon head and arm and shirt. Levi +raised himself upon his elbow and looked scowlingly around at the +amazed, wonderstruck faces surrounding him. + +"Why, it's Levi West!" croaked the Squire, at last finding his voice. + +Then, suddenly, Lieutenant Maynard pushed forward, before the others +crowded around the figure on the floor, and, clutching Levi by the +hair, dragged his head backward so as to better see his face. "Levi +West!" said he in a loud voice. "Is this the Levi West you've been +telling me of? Look at that scar and the mark on his cheek! _This is +Blueskin himself._" + + +XIV + +In the chest which Blueskin had dug up out of the sand were found not +only the goldsmiths' bills taken from the packet, but also many other +valuables belonging to the officers and the passengers of the +unfortunate ship. + +The New York agents offered Hiram a handsome reward for his efforts in +recovering the lost bills, but Hiram declined it, positively and +finally. "All I want," said he, in his usual dull, stolid fashion, "is +to have folks know I'm honest." Nevertheless, though he did not +accept what the agents of the packet offered, fate took the matter +into its own hands and rewarded him not unsubstantially. Blueskin was +taken to England in the _Scorpion_. But he never came to trial. While +in Newgate he hanged himself to the cell window with his own +stockings. The news of his end was brought to Lewes in the early +autumn and Squire Hall took immediate measures to have the five +hundred pounds of his father's legacy duly transferred to Hiram. + +In November Hiram married the pirate's widow. + +[Illustration: "There Cap'n Goldsack goes, creeping, creeping, +creeping, Looking for his treasure down below!" + +_Illustration from_ +CAP'N GOLDSACK + +_by_ William Sharp + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _July_, 1902] + + + + +Chapter VII + +CAPTAIN SCARFIELD + +PREFACE + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN SCARFIELD] + + +_The author of this narrative cannot recall that, in any history of +the famous pirates, he has ever read a detailed and sufficient account +of the life and death of Capt. John Scarfield. Doubtless some data +concerning his death and the destruction of his schooner might be +gathered from the report of Lieutenant Mainwaring, now filed in the +archives of the Navy Department, but beyond such bald and bloodless +narrative the author knows of nothing, unless it be the little +chap-book history published by Isaiah Thomas in Newburyport about the +year 1821-22, entitled, "A True History of the Life and Death of +Captain Jack Scarfield." This lack of particularity in the history of +one so notable in his profession it is the design of the present +narrative in a measure to supply, and, if the author has seen fit to +cast it in the form of a fictional story, it is only that it may make +more easy reading for those who see fit to follow the tale from this +to its conclusion._ + + +CAPTAIN SCARFIELD + + +I + +Eleazer Cooper, or Captain Cooper, as was his better-known title in +Philadelphia, was a prominent member of the Society of Friends. He was +an overseer of the meeting and an occasional speaker upon particular +occasions. When at home from one of his many voyages he never failed +to occupy his seat in the meeting both on First Day and Fifth Day, and +he was regarded by his fellow townsmen as a model of business +integrity and of domestic responsibility. + +More incidental to this history, however, it is to be narrated that +Captain Cooper was one of those trading skippers who carried their own +merchandise in their own vessels which they sailed themselves, and on +whose decks they did their own bartering. His vessel was a swift, +large schooner, the _Eliza Cooper_, _of Philadelphia_, named for his +wife. His cruising grounds were the West India Islands, and his +merchandise was flour and corn meal ground at the Brandywine Mills at +Wilmington, Delaware. + +During the War of 1812 he had earned, as was very well known, an +extraordinary fortune in this trading; for flour and corn meal sold at +fabulous prices in the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Danish islands, cut +off, as they were, from the rest of the world by the British blockade. + +The running of this blockade was one of the most hazardous maritime +ventures possible, but Captain Cooper had met with such unvaried +success, and had sold his merchandise at such incredible profit that, +at the end of the war, he found himself to have become one of the +wealthiest merchants of his native city. + +It was known at one time that his balance in the Mechanics' Bank was +greater than that of any other individual depositor upon the books, +and it was told of him that he had once deposited in the bank a chest +of foreign silver coin, the exchanged value of which, when translated +into American currency, was upward of forty-two thousand dollars--a +prodigious sum of money in those days. + +In person, Captain Cooper was tall and angular of frame. His face was +thin and severe, wearing continually an unsmiling, mask-like +expression of continent and unruffled sobriety. His manner was dry and +taciturn, and his conduct and life were measured to the most absolute +accord with the teachings of his religious belief. + +He lived in an old-fashioned house on Front Street below Spruce--as +pleasant, cheerful a house as ever a trading captain could return to. +At the back of the house a lawn sloped steeply down toward the river. +To the south stood the wharf and storehouses; to the north an orchard +and kitchen garden bloomed with abundant verdure. Two large chestnut +trees sheltered the porch and the little space of lawn, and when you +sat under them in the shade you looked down the slope between two rows +of box bushes directly across the shining river to the Jersey shore. + +At the time of our story--that is, about the year 1820--this property +had increased very greatly in value, but it was the old home of the +Coopers, as Eleazer Cooper was entirely rich enough to indulge his +fancy in such matters. Accordingly, as he chose to live in the same +house where his father and his grandfather had dwelt before him, he +peremptorily, if quietly, refused all offers looking toward the +purchase of the lot of ground--though it was now worth five or six +times its former value. + +As was said, it was a cheerful, pleasant home, impressing you when you +entered it with the feeling of spotless and all-pervading +cleanliness--a cleanliness that greeted you in the shining brass +door-knocker; that entertained you in the sitting room with its +stiff, leather-covered furniture, the brass-headed tacks whereof +sparkled like so many stars--a cleanliness that bade you farewell in +the spotless stretch of sand-sprinkled hallway, the wooden floor of +which was worn into knobs around the nail heads by the countless +scourings and scrubbings to which it had been subjected and which left +behind them an all-pervading faint, fragrant odor of soap and warm +water. + +Eleazer Cooper and his wife were childless, but one inmate made the +great, silent, shady house bright with life. Lucinda Fairbanks, a +niece of Captain Cooper's by his only sister, was a handsome, +sprightly girl of eighteen or twenty, and a great favorite in the +Quaker society of the city. + +It remains only to introduce the final and, perhaps, the most +important actor of the narrative--Lieut. James Mainwaring. During the +past twelve months or so he had been a frequent visitor at the Cooper +house. At this time he was a broad-shouldered, red-cheeked, stalwart +fellow of twenty-six or twenty-eight. He was a great social favorite, +and possessed the added romantic interest of having been aboard the +_Constitution_ when she fought the _Guerriere_, and of having, with +his own hands, touched the match that fired the first gun of that +great battle. + +Mainwaring's mother and Eliza Cooper had always been intimate friends, +and the coming and going of the young man during his leave of absence +were looked upon in the house as quite a matter of course. Half a +dozen times a week he would drop in to execute some little commission +for the ladies, or, if Captain Cooper was at home, to smoke a pipe of +tobacco with him, to sip a dram of his famous old Jamaica rum, or to +play a rubber of checkers of an evening. It is not likely that either +of the older people was the least aware of the real cause of his +visits; still less did they suspect that any passages of sentiment had +passed between the young people. + +[Illustration: "He Had Found the Captain Agreeable and Companionable" + +_Illustration from_ +SEA ROBBERS OF NEW YORK + +_by_ Thomas A. Janvier + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S MAGAZINE, _November_, 1894] + +The truth was that Mainwaring and the young lady were very deeply in +love. It was a love that they were obliged to keep a profound secret, +for not only had Eleazer Cooper held the strictest sort of testimony +against the late war--a testimony so rigorous as to render it +altogether unlikely that one of so military a profession as Mainwaring +practiced could hope for his consent to a suit for marriage, but +Lucinda could not have married one not a member of the Society of +Friends without losing her own birthright membership therein. She +herself might not attach much weight to such a loss of membership in +the Society, but her fear of, and her respect for, her uncle led her +to walk very closely in her path of duty in this respect. Accordingly +she and Mainwaring met as they could--clandestinely--and the stolen +moments were very sweet. With equal secrecy Lucinda had, at the +request of her lover, sat for a miniature portrait to Mrs. Gregory, +which miniature, set in a gold medallion, Mainwaring, with a mild, +sentimental pleasure, wore hung around his neck and beneath his shirt +frill next his heart. + +In the month of April of the year 1820 Mainwaring received orders to +report at Washington. During the preceding autumn the West India +pirates, and notably Capt. Jack Scarfield, had been more than usually +active, and the loss of the packet _Marblehead_ (which, sailing from +Charleston, South Carolina, was never heard of more) was attributed to +them. Two other coasting vessels off the coast of Georgia had been +looted and burned by Scarfield, and the government had at last aroused +itself to the necessity of active measures for repressing these pests +of the West India waters. + +Mainwaring received orders to take command of the _Yankee_, a swift, +light-draught, heavily armed brig of war, and to cruise about the +Bahama Islands and to capture and destroy all the pirates' vessels he +could there discover. + +On his way from Washington to New York, where the _Yankee_ was then +waiting orders, Mainwaring stopped in Philadelphia to bid good-by to +his many friends in that city. He called at the old Cooper house. It +was on a Sunday afternoon. The spring was early and the weather +extremely pleasant that day, being filled with a warmth almost as of +summer. The apple trees were already in full bloom and filled all the +air with their fragrance. Everywhere there seemed to be the pervading +hum of bees, and the drowsy, tepid sunshine was very delightful. + +At that time Eleazer was just home from an unusually successful voyage +to Antigua. Mainwaring found the family sitting under one of the still +leafless chestnut trees, Captain Cooper smoking his long clay pipe and +lazily perusing a copy of the _National Gazette_. Eleazer listened +with a great deal of interest to what Mainwaring had to say of his +proposed cruise. He himself knew a great deal about the pirates, and, +singularly unbending from his normal, stiff taciturnity, he began +telling of what he knew, particularly of Captain Scarfield--in whom he +appeared to take an extraordinary interest. + +Vastly to Mainwaring's surprise, the old Quaker assumed the position +of a defendant of the pirates, protesting that the wickedness of the +accused was enormously exaggerated. He declared that he knew some of +the freebooters very well and that at the most they were poor, +misdirected wretches who had, by easy gradation, slid into their +present evil ways, from having been tempted by the government +authorities to enter into privateering in the days of the late war. He +conceded that Captain Scarfield had done many cruel and wicked deeds, +but he averred that he had also performed many kind and benevolent +actions. The world made no note of these latter, but took care only to +condemn the evil that had been done. He acknowledged that it was true +that the pirate had allowed his crew to cast lots for the wife and the +daughter of the skipper of the _Northern Rose_, but there were none of +his accusers who told how, at the risk of his own life and the lives +of all his crew, he had given succor to the schooner _Halifax_, found +adrift with all hands down with yellow fever. There was no defender +of his actions to tell how he and his crew of pirates had sailed the +pest-stricken vessel almost into the rescuing waters of Kingston +harbor. Eleazer confessed that he could not deny that when Scarfield +had tied the skipper of the _Baltimore Belle_ naked to the foremast of +his own brig he had permitted his crew of cutthroats (who were drunk +at the time) to throw bottles at the helpless captive, who died that +night of the wounds he had received. For this he was doubtless very +justly condemned, but who was there to praise him when he had, at the +risk of his life and in the face of the authorities, carried a cargo +of provisions which he himself had purchased at Tampa Bay to the +Island of Bella Vista after the great hurricane of 1818? In this +notable adventure he had barely escaped, after a two days' chase, the +British frigate _Ceres_, whose captain, had a capture been effected, +would instantly have hung the unfortunate man to the yardarm in spite +of the beneficent mission he was in the act of conducting. + +In all this Eleazer had the air of conducting the case for the +defendant. As he talked he became more and more animated and voluble. +The light went out in his tobacco pipe, and a hectic spot appeared in +either thin and sallow cheek. Mainwaring sat wondering to hear the +severely peaceful Quaker preacher defending so notoriously bloody and +cruel a cutthroat pirate as Capt. Jack Scarfield. The warm and +innocent surroundings, the old brick house looking down upon them, the +odor of apple blossoms and the hum of bees seemed to make it all the +more incongruous. And still the elderly Quaker skipper talked on and +on with hardly an interruption, till the warm sun slanted to the west +and the day began to decline. + +That evening Mainwaring stayed to tea and when he parted from Lucinda +Fairbanks it was after nightfall, with a clear, round moon shining in +the milky sky and a radiance pallid and unreal enveloping the old +house, the blooming apple trees, the sloping lawn and the shining +river beyond. He implored his sweetheart to let him tell her uncle and +aunt of their acknowledged love and to ask the old man's consent to +it, but she would not permit him to do so. They were so happy as they +were. Who knew but what her uncle might forbid their fondness? Would +he not wait a little longer? Maybe it would all come right after a +while. She was so fond, so tender, so tearful at the nearness of their +parting that he had not the heart to insist. At the same time it was +with a feeling almost of despair that he realized that he must now be +gone--maybe for the space of two years--without in all that time +possessing the right to call her his before the world. + +When he bade farewell to the older people it was with a choking +feeling of bitter disappointment. He yet felt the pressure of her +cheek against his shoulder, the touch of soft and velvet lips to his +own. But what were such clandestine endearments compared to what +might, perchance, be his--the right of calling her his own when he was +far away and upon the distant sea? And, besides, he felt like a coward +who had shirked his duty. + +But he was very much in love. The next morning appeared in a drizzle +of rain that followed the beautiful warmth of the day before. He had +the coach all to himself, and in the damp and leathery solitude he +drew out the little oval picture from beneath his shirt frill and +looked long and fixedly with a fond and foolish joy at the innocent +face, the blue eyes, the red, smiling lips depicted upon the +satinlike, ivory surface. + + +II + +For the better part of five months Mainwaring cruised about in the +waters surrounding the Bahama Islands. In that time he ran to earth +and dispersed a dozen nests of pirates. He destroyed no less than +fifteen piratical crafts of all sizes, from a large half-decked +whaleboat to a three-hundred-ton barkentine. The name of the _Yankee_ +became a terror to every sea wolf in the western tropics, and the +waters of the Bahama Islands became swept almost clean of the bloody +wretches who had so lately infested it. + +But the one freebooter of all others whom he sought--Capt. Jack +Scarfield--seemed to evade him like a shadow, to slip through his +fingers like magic. Twice he came almost within touch of the famous +marauder, both times in the ominous wrecks that the pirate captain had +left behind him. The first of these was the water-logged remains of a +burned and still smoking wreck that he found adrift in the great +Bahama channel. It was the _Water Witch_, of Salem, but he did not +learn her tragic story until, two weeks later, he discovered a part of +her crew at Port Maria, on the north coast of Jamaica. It was, indeed, +a dreadful story to which he listened. The castaways said that they of +all the vessel's crew had been spared so that they might tell the +commander of the _Yankee_, should they meet him, that he might keep +what he found, with Captain Scarfield's compliments, who served it up +to him hot cooked. + +Three weeks later he rescued what remained of the crew of the +shattered, bloody hulk of the _Baltimore Belle_, eight of whose crew, +headed by the captain, had been tied hand and foot and heaved +overboard. Again, there was a message from Captain Scarfield to the +commander of the _Yankee_ that he might season what he found to suit +his own taste. + +Mainwaring was of a sanguine disposition, with fiery temper. He swore, +with the utmost vehemence, that either he or John Scarfield would have +to leave the earth. + +He had little suspicion of how soon was to befall the ominous +realization of his angry prophecy. + +At that time one of the chief rendezvous of the pirates was the little +island of San Jose, one of the southernmost of the Bahama group. Here, +in the days before the coming of the _Yankee_, they were wont to put +in to careen and clean their vessels and to take in a fresh supply of +provisions, gunpowder, and rum, preparatory to renewing their attacks +upon the peaceful commerce circulating up and down outside the +islands, or through the wide stretches of the Bahama channel. + +Mainwaring had made several descents upon this nest of freebooters. He +had already made two notable captures, and it was here he hoped +eventually to capture Captain Scarfield himself. + +A brief description of this one-time notorious rendezvous of +freebooters might not be out of place. It consisted of a little +settlement of those wattled and mud-smeared houses such as you find +through the West Indies. There were only three houses of a more +pretentious sort, built of wood. One of these was a storehouse, +another was a rum shop, and a third a house in which dwelt a mulatto +woman, who was reputed to be a sort of left-handed wife of Captain +Scarfield's. The population was almost entirely black and brown. One +or two Jews and a half dozen Yankee traders, of hardly dubious +honesty, comprised the entire white population. The rest consisted of +a mongrel accumulation of negroes and mulattoes and half-caste +Spaniards, and of a multitude of black or yellow women and children. +The settlement stood in a bight of the beach forming a small harbor +and affording a fair anchorage for small vessels, excepting it were +against the beating of a southeasterly gale. The houses, or cabins, +were surrounded by clusters of coco palms and growths of bananas, and +a long curve of white beach, sheltered from the large Atlantic +breakers that burst and exploded upon an outer bar, was drawn like a +necklace around the semicircle of emerald-green water. + +Such was the famous pirates' settlement of San Jose--a paradise of +nature and a hell of human depravity and wickedness--and it was to +this spot that Mainwaring paid another visit a few days after rescuing +the crew of the _Baltimore Belle_ from her shattered and sinking +wreck. + +[Illustration: THE BUCCANEER WAS A PICTURESQUE FELLOW] + +As the little bay with its fringe of palms and its cluster of wattle +huts opened up to view, Mainwaring discovered a vessel lying at anchor +in the little harbor. It was a large and well-rigged schooner of two +hundred and fifty or three hundred tons burden. As the _Yankee_ +rounded to under the stern of the stranger and dropped anchor in such +a position as to bring her broadside battery to bear should the +occasion require, Mainwaring set his glass to his eye to read the name +he could distinguish beneath the overhang of her stern. It is +impossible to describe his infinite surprise when, the white lettering +starting out in the circle of the glass, he read, _The Eliza Cooper, +of Philadelphia_. + +He could not believe the evidence of his senses. Certainly this sink +of iniquity was the last place in the world he would have expected to +have fallen in with Eleazer Cooper. + +He ordered out the gig and had himself immediately rowed over to the +schooner. Whatever lingering doubts he might have entertained as to +the identity of the vessel were quickly dispelled when he beheld +Captain Cooper himself standing at the gangway to meet him. The +impassive face of the friend showed neither surprise nor confusion at +what must have been to him a most unexpected encounter. + +But when he stepped upon the deck of the _Eliza Cooper_ and looked +about him, Mainwaring could hardly believe the evidence of his senses +at the transformation that he beheld. Upon the main deck were eight +twelve-pound carronade neatly covered with tarpaulin; in the bow a +Long Tom, also snugly stowed away and covered, directed a veiled and +muzzled snout out over the bowsprit. + +It was entirely impossible for Mainwaring to conceal his astonishment +at so unexpected a sight, and whether or not his own thoughts lent +color to his imagination, it seemed to him that Eleazer Cooper +concealed under the immobility of his countenance no small degree of +confusion. + +After Captain Cooper had led the way into the cabin and he and the +younger man were seated over a pipe of tobacco and the invariable +bottle of fine old Jamaica rum, Mainwaring made no attempt to refrain +from questioning him as to the reason for this singular and ominous +transformation. + +"I am a man of peace, James Mainwaring," Eleazer replied, "but there +are men of blood in these waters, and an appearance of great strength +is of use to protect the innocent from the wicked. If I remained in +appearance the peaceful trader I really am, how long does thee suppose +I could remain unassailed in this place?" + +It occurred to Mainwaring that the powerful armament he had beheld was +rather extreme to be used merely as a preventive. He smoked for a +while in silence and then he suddenly asked the other point-blank +whether, if it came to blows with such a one as Captain Scarfield, +would he make a fight of it? + +The Quaker trading captain regarded him for a while in silence. His +look, it seemed to Mainwaring, appeared to be dubitative as to how far +he dared to be frank. "Friend James," he said at last, "I may as well +acknowledge that my officers and crew are somewhat worldly. Of a truth +they do not hold the same testimony as I. I am inclined to think that +if it came to the point of a broil with those men of iniquity, my +individual voice cast for peace would not be sufficient to keep my +crew from meeting violence with violence. As for myself, thee knows +who I am and what is my testimony in these matters." + +Mainwaring made no comment as to the extremely questionable manner in +which the Quaker proposed to beat the devil about the stump. Presently +he asked his second question: + +"And might I inquire," he said, "what you are doing here and why you +find it necessary to come at all into such a wicked, dangerous place +as this?" + +"Indeed, I knew thee would ask that question of me," said the Friend, +"and I will be entirely frank with thee. These men of blood are, after +all, but human beings, and as human beings they need food. I have at +present upon this vessel upward of two hundred and fifty barrels of +flour which will bring a higher price here than anywhere else in the +West Indies. To be entirely frank with thee, I will tell thee that I +was engaged in making a bargain for the sale of the greater part of my +merchandise when the news of thy approach drove away my best +customer." + +Mainwaring sat for a while in smoking silence. What the other had told +him explained many things he had not before understood. It explained +why Captain Cooper got almost as much for his flour and corn meal now +that peace had been declared as he had obtained when the war and the +blockade were in full swing. It explained why he had been so strong a +defender of Captain Scarfield and the pirates that afternoon in the +garden. Meantime, what was to be done? Eleazer confessed openly that +he dealt with the pirates. What now was his--Mainwaring's--duty in the +case? Was the cargo of the _Eliza Cooper_ contraband and subject to +confiscation? And then another question framed itself in his mind: Who +was this customer whom his approach had driven away? + +As though he had formulated the inquiry into speech the other began +directly to speak of it. "I know," he said, "that in a moment thee +will ask me who was this customer of whom I have just now spoken. I +have no desire to conceal his name from thee. It was the man who is +known as Captain Jack or Captain John Scarfield." + +Mainwaring fairly started from his seat. "The devil you say!" he +cried. "And how long has it been," he asked, "since he left you?" + +The Quaker skipper carefully refilled his pipe, which he had by now +smoked out. "I would judge," he said, "that it is a matter of four or +five hours since news was brought overland by means of swift runners +of thy approach. Immediately the man of wickedness disappeared." Here +Eleazer set the bowl of his pipe to the candle flame and began puffing +out voluminous clouds of smoke. "I would have thee understand, James +Mainwaring," he resumed, "that I am no friend of this wicked and +sinful man. His safety is nothing to me. It is only a question of +buying upon his part and of selling upon mine. If it is any +satisfaction to thee I will heartily promise to bring thee news if I +hear anything of the man of Belial. I may furthermore say that I think +it is likely thee will have news more or less directly of him within +the space of a day. If this should happen, however, thee will have to +do thy own fighting without help from me, for I am no man of combat +nor of blood and will take no hand in it either way." + +It struck Mainwaring that the words contained some meaning that did +not appear upon the surface. This significance struck him as so +ambiguous that when he went aboard the _Yankee_ he confided as much of +his suspicions as he saw fit to his second in command, Lieutenant +Underwood. As night descended he had a double watch set and had +everything prepared to repel any attack or surprise that might be +attempted. + + +III + +Nighttime in the tropics descends with a surprising rapidity. At one +moment the earth is shining with the brightness of the twilight; the +next, as it were, all things are suddenly swallowed into a gulf of +darkness. The particular night of which this story treats was not +entirely clear; the time of year was about the approach of the rainy +season, and the tepid, tropical clouds added obscurity to the darkness +of the sky, so that the night fell with even more startling quickness +than usual. The blackness was very dense. Now and then a group of +drifting stars swam out of a rift in the vapors, but the night was +curiously silent and of a velvety darkness. + +[Illustration: THEN THE REAL FIGHT BEGAN] + +As the obscurity had deepened, Mainwaring had ordered lanthorns to +be lighted and slung to the shrouds and to the stays, and the faint +yellow of their illumination lighted the level white of the snug +little war vessel, gleaming here and there in a starlike spark upon +the brass trimmings and causing the rows of cannons to assume +curiously gigantic proportions. + +For some reason Mainwaring was possessed by a strange, uneasy feeling. +He walked restlessly up and down the deck for a time, and then, still +full of anxieties for he knew not what, went into his cabin to finish +writing up his log for the day. He unstrapped his cutlass and laid it +upon the table, lighted his pipe at the lanthorn and was about +preparing to lay aside his coat when word was brought to him that the +captain of the trading schooner was come alongside and had some +private information to communicate to him. + +Mainwaring surmised in an instant that the trader's visit related +somehow to news of Captain Scarfield, and as immediately, in the +relief of something positive to face, all of his feeling of +restlessness vanished like a shadow of mist. He gave orders that +Captain Cooper should be immediately shown into the cabin, and in a +few moments the tall, angular form of the Quaker skipper appeared in +the narrow, lanthorn-lighted space. + +Mainwaring at once saw that his visitor was strangely agitated and +disturbed. He had taken off his hat, and shining beads of perspiration +had gathered and stood clustered upon his forehead. He did not reply +to Mainwaring's greeting; he did not, indeed, seem to hear it; but he +came directly forward to the table and stood leaning with one hand +upon the open log book in which the lieutenant had just been writing. +Mainwaring had reseated himself at the head of the table, and the tall +figure of the skipper stood looking down at him as from a considerable +height. + +"James Mainwaring," he said, "I promised thee to report if I had news +of the pirate. Is thee ready now to hear my news?" + +There was something so strange in his agitation that it began to +infect Mainwaring with a feeling somewhat akin to that which appeared +to disturb his visitor. "I know not what you mean, sir!" he cried, "by +asking if I care to hear your news. At this moment I would rather have +news of that scoundrel than to have anything I know of in the world." + +"Thou would? Thou would?" cried the other, with mounting agitation. +"Is thee in such haste to meet him as all that? Very well; very well, +then. Suppose I could bring thee face to face with him--what then? +Hey? Hey? Face to face with him, James Mainwaring!" + +The thought instantly flashed into Mainwaring's mind that the pirate +had returned to the island; that perhaps at that moment he was +somewhere near at hand. + +"I do not understand you, sir," he cried. "Do you mean to tell me that +you know where the villain is? If so, lose no time in informing me, +for every instant of delay may mean his chance of again escaping." + +"No danger of that!" the other declared, vehemently. "No danger of +that! I'll tell thee where he is and I'll bring thee to him quick +enough!" And as he spoke he thumped his fist against the open log +book. In the vehemence of his growing excitement his eyes appeared to +shine green in the lanthorn light, and the sweat that had stood in +beads upon his forehead was now running in streams down his face. One +drop hung like a jewel to the tip of his beaklike nose. He came a step +nearer to Mainwaring and bent forward toward him, and there was +something so strange and ominous in his bearing that the lieutenant +instinctively drew back a little where he sat. + +"Captain Scarfield sent something to you," said Eleazer, almost in a +raucous voice, "something that you will be surprised to see." And the +lapse in his speech from the Quaker "thee" to the plural "you" struck +Mainwaring as singularly strange. + +As he was speaking Eleazer was fumbling in a pocket of his +long-tailed drab coat, and presently he brought something forth that +gleamed in the lanthorn light. + +The next moment Mainwaring saw leveled directly in his face the round +and hollow nozzle of a pistol. + +There was an instant of dead silence and then, "I am the man you +seek!" said Eleazer Cooper, in a tense and breathless voice. + +The whole thing had happened so instantaneously and unexpectedly that +for the moment Mainwaring sat like one petrified. Had a thunderbolt +fallen from the silent sky and burst at his feet he could not have +been more stunned. He was like one held in the meshes of a horrid +nightmare, and he gazed as through a mist of impossibility into the +lineaments of the well-known, sober face now transformed as from +within into the aspect of a devil. That face, now ashy white, was +distorted into a diabolical grin. The teeth glistened in the +lamplight. The brows, twisted into a tense and convulsed frown, were +drawn down into black shadows, through which the eyes burned a baleful +green like the eyes of a wild animal driven to bay. Again he spoke in +the same breathless voice. "I am John Scarfield! Look at me, then, if +you want to see a pirate!" Again there was a little time of silence, +through which Mainwaring heard his watch ticking loudly from where it +hung against the bulkhead. Then once more the other began speaking. +"You would chase me out of the West Indies, would you? G---- ---- you! +What are you come to now? You are caught in your own trap, and you'll +squeal loud enough before you get out of it. Speak a word or make a +movement and I'll blow your brains out against the partition behind +you! Listen to what I say or you are a dead man. Sing out an order +instantly for my mate and my bos'n to come here to the cabin, and be +quick about it, for my finger's on the trigger, and it's only a pull +to shut your mouth forever." + +It was astonishing to Mainwaring, in afterward thinking about it all, +how quickly his mind began to recover its steadiness after that first +astonishing shock. Even as the other was speaking he discovered that +his brain was becoming clarified to a wonderful lucidity; his thoughts +were becoming rearranged, and with a marvelous activity and an +alertness he had never before experienced. He knew that if he moved to +escape or uttered any outcry he would be instantly a dead man, for the +circle of the pistol barrel was directed full against his forehead and +with the steadiness of a rock. If he could but for an instant divert +that fixed and deadly attention he might still have a chance for life. +With the thought an inspiration burst into his mind and he instantly +put it into execution; thought, inspiration, and action, as in a +flash, were one. He must make the other turn aside his deadly gaze, +and instantly he roared out in a voice that stunned his own ears: +"Strike, bos'n! Strike, quick!" + +Taken by surprise, and thinking, doubtless, that another enemy stood +behind him, the pirate swung around like a flash with his pistol +leveled against the blank boarding. Equally upon the instant he saw +the trick that had been played upon him and in a second flash had +turned again. The turn and return had occupied but a moment of time, +but that moment, thanks to the readiness of his own invention, had +undoubtedly saved Mainwaring's life. As the other turned away his gaze +for that brief instant Mainwaring leaped forward and upon him. There +was a flashing flame of fire as the pistol was discharged and a +deafening detonation that seemed to split his brain. For a moment, +with reeling senses, he supposed himself to have been shot, the next +he knew he had escaped. With the energy of despair he swung his enemy +around and drove him with prodigious violence against the corner of +the table. The pirate emitted a grunting cry and then they fell +together, Mainwaring upon the top, and the pistol clattered with them +to the floor in their fall. Even as he fell, Mainwaring roared in a +voice of thunder, "All hands repel boarders!" And then again, "All +hands repel boarders!" + +Whether hurt by the table edge or not, the fallen pirate struggled as +though possessed of forty devils, and in a moment or two Mainwaring +saw the shine of a long, keen knife that he had drawn from somewhere +about his person. The lieutenant caught him by the wrist, but the +other's muscles were as though made of steel. They both fought in +despairing silence, the one to carry out his frustrated purposes to +kill, the other to save his life. Again and again Mainwaring felt that +the knife had been thrust against him, piercing once his arm, once his +shoulder, and again his neck. He felt the warm blood streaming down +his arm and body and looked about him in despair. The pistol lay near +upon the deck of the cabin. Still holding the other by the wrist as he +could, Mainwaring snatched up the empty weapon and struck once and +again at the bald, narrow forehead beneath him. A third blow he +delivered with all the force he could command, and then with a violent +and convulsive throe the straining muscles beneath him relaxed and +grew limp and the fight was won. + +Through all the struggle he had been aware of the shouts of voices, of +trampling of feet and discharge of firearms, and the thought came to +him, even through his own danger, that the _Yankee_ was being +assaulted by the pirates. As he felt the struggling form beneath him +loosen and dissolve into quietude, he leaped up, and snatching his +cutlass, which still lay upon the table, rushed out upon the deck, +leaving the stricken form lying twitching upon the floor behind him. + +It was a fortunate thing that he had set double watches and prepared +himself for some attack from the pirates, otherwise the _Yankee_ would +certainly have been lost. As it was, the surprise was so overwhelming +that the pirates, who had been concealed in the large whaleboat that +had come alongside, were not only able to gain a foothold upon the +deck, but for a time it seemed as though they would drive the crew of +the brig below the hatches. + +But as Mainwaring, streaming with blood, rushed out upon the deck, the +pirates became immediately aware that their own captain must have +been overpowered, and in an instant their desperate energy began to +evaporate. One or two jumped overboard; one, who seemed to be the +mate, fell dead from a pistol shot, and then, in the turn of a hand, +there was a rush of a retreat and a vision of leaping forms in the +dusky light of the lanthorns and a sound of splashing in the water +below. + +The crew of the _Yankee_ continued firing at the phosphorescent wakes +of the swimming bodies, but whether with effect it was impossible at +the time to tell. + + +IV + +The pirate captain did not die immediately. He lingered for three or +four days, now and then unconscious, now and then semi-conscious, but +always deliriously wandering. All the while he thus lay dying, the +mulatto woman, with whom he lived in this part of his extraordinary +dual existence, nursed and cared for him with such rude attentions as +the surroundings afforded. In the wanderings of his mind the same +duality of life followed him. Now and then he would appear the calm, +sober, self-contained, well-ordered member of a peaceful society that +his friends in his far-away home knew him to be; at other times the +nether part of his nature would leap up into life like a wild beast, +furious and gnashing. At the one time he talked evenly and clearly of +peaceful things; at the other time he blasphemed and hooted with fury. + +Several times Mainwaring, though racked by his own wounds, sat beside +the dying man through the silent watches of the tropical nights. +Oftentimes upon these occasions as he looked at the thin, lean face +babbling and talking so aimlessly, he wondered what it all meant. +Could it have been madness--madness in which the separate entities of +good and bad each had, in its turn, a perfect and distinct existence? +He chose to think that this was the case. Who, within his inner +consciousness, does not feel that same ferine, savage man struggling +against the stern, adamantine bonds of morality and decorum? Were +those bonds burst asunder, as it was with this man, might not the wild +beast rush forth, as it had rushed forth in him, to rend and to tear? +Such were the questions that Mainwaring asked himself. And how had it +all come about? By what easy gradations had the respectable Quaker +skipper descended from the decorum of his home life, step by step, +into such a gulf of iniquity? Many such thoughts passed through +Mainwaring's mind, and he pondered them through the still reaches of +the tropical nights while he sat watching the pirate captain struggle +out of the world he had so long burdened. At last the poor wretch +died, and the earth was well quit of one of its torments. + +[Illustration: "He Struck Once and Again at the Bald, Narrow Forehead +Beneath Him" + +_Illustration from_ +CAPTAIN SCARFIELD + +_by_ Howard Pyle + +_Originally published in_ +THE NORTHWESTERN MILLER, _December_ 18, 1897] + +A systematic search was made through the island for the scattered +crew, but none was captured. Either there were some secret hiding +places upon the island (which was not very likely) or else they had +escaped in boats hidden somewhere among the tropical foliage. At any +rate they were gone. + +Nor, search as he would, could Mainwaring find a trace of any of the +pirate treasure. After the pirate's death and under close questioning, +the weeping mulatto woman so far broke down as to confess in broken +English that Captain Scarfield had taken a quantity of silver money +aboard his vessel, but either she was mistaken or else the pirates had +taken it thence again and had hidden it somewhere else. + +Nor would the treasure ever have been found but for a most fortuitous +accident. + +Mainwaring had given orders that the _Eliza Cooper_ was to be burned, +and a party was detailed to carry the order into execution. At this +the cook of the _Yankee_ came petitioning for some of the Wilmington +and Brandywine flour to make some plum duff upon the morrow, and +Mainwaring granted his request in so far that he ordered one of the +men to knock open one of the barrels of flour and to supply the cook's +demands. + +The crew detailed to execute this modest order in connection with the +destruction of the pirate vessel had not been gone a quarter of an +hour when word came back that the hidden treasure had been found. + +Mainwaring hurried aboard the _Eliza Cooper_, and there in the midst +of the open flour barrel he beheld a great quantity of silver coin +buried in and partly covered by the white meal. A systematic search +was now made. One by one the flour barrels were heaved up from below +and burst open on the deck and their contents searched, and if nothing +but the meal was found it was swept overboard. The breeze was whitened +with clouds of flour, and the white meal covered the surface of the +ocean for yards around. + +In all, upward of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was found +concealed beneath the innocent flour and meal. It was no wonder the +pirate captain was so successful, when he could upon an instant's +notice transform himself from a wolf of the ocean to a peaceful Quaker +trader selling flour to the hungry towns and settlements among the +scattered islands of the West Indies, and so carrying his bloody +treasure safely into his quiet Northern home. + +In concluding this part of the narrative it may be added that a wide +strip of canvas painted black was discovered in the hold of the _Eliza +Cooper_. Upon it, in great white letters, was painted the name, "The +Bloodhound." Undoubtedly this was used upon occasions to cover the +real and peaceful title of the trading schooner, just as its captain +had, in reverse, covered his sanguine and cruel life by a thin sheet +of morality and respectability. + +This is the true story of the death of Capt. Jack Scarfield. + +The Newburyport chap-book, of which I have already spoken, speaks only +of how the pirate disguised himself upon the ocean as a Quaker trader. + +Nor is it likely that anyone ever identified Eleazer Cooper with the +pirate, for only Mainwaring of all the crew of the _Yankee_ was +exactly aware of the true identity of Captain Scarfield. All that was +ever known to the world was that Eleazer Cooper had been killed in a +fight with the pirates. + +In a little less than a year Mainwaring was married to Lucinda +Fairbanks. As to Eleazer Cooper's fortune, which eventually came into +the possession of Mainwaring through his wife, it was many times a +subject of speculation to the lieutenant how it had been earned. There +were times when he felt well assured that a part of it at least was +the fruit of piracy, but it was entirely impossible to guess how much +more was the result of legitimate trading. + +For a little time it seemed to Mainwaring that he should give it all +up, but this was at once so impracticable and so quixotic that he +presently abandoned it, and in time his qualms and misdoubts faded +away and he settled himself down to enjoy that which had come to him +through his marriage. + +In time the Mainwarings removed to New York, and ultimately the +fortune that the pirate Scarfield had left behind him was used in part +to found the great shipping house of Mainwaring & Bigot, whose famous +transatlantic packet ships were in their time the admiration of the +whole world. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chapter VIII + +THE RUBY OF KISHMOOOR + +_Prologue_ + + +A very famous pirate of his day was Capt. Robertson Keitt. + +Before embarking upon his later career of infamy, he was, in the +beginning, very well known as a reputable merchant in the island of +Jamaica. Thence entering, first of all, upon the business of the +African trade, he presently, by regular degrees, became a pirate, and +finally ended his career as one of the most renowned freebooters of +history. + +The remarkable adventure through which he at once reached the pinnacle +of success, and became in his profession the most famous figure of his +day, was the capture of the Rajah of Kishmoor's great ship, _The Sun +of the East_. In this vessel was the Rajah's favorite Queen, who, +together with her attendants, was set upon a pilgrimage to Mecca. The +court of this great Oriental potentate was, as may be readily +supposed, fairly aglitter with gold and jewels, so that, what with +such personal adornments that the Queen and her attendants had fetched +with them, besides an ample treasury for the expenses of the +expedition, an incredible prize of gold and jewels rewarded the +freebooters for their successful adventure. + +Among the precious stones taken in this great purchase was the +splendid ruby of Kishmoor. This, as may be known to the reader, was +one of the world's greatest gems, and was unique alike both for its +prodigious size and the splendor of its color. This precious jewel the +Rajah of Kishmoor had, upon a certain occasion, bestowed upon his +Queen, and at the time of her capture she wore it as the centerpiece +of a sort of coronet which encircled her forehead and brow. + +The seizure by the pirate of so considerable a person as that of the +Queen of Kishmoor, and of the enormous treasure that he found aboard +her ship, would alone have been sufficient to have established his +fame. But the capture of so extraordinary a prize as that of the +ruby--which was, in itself, worth the value of an entire Oriental +kingdom--exalted him at once to the very highest pinnacle of renown. + +Having achieved the capture of this incredible prize, our captain +scuttled the great ship and left her to sink with all on board. Three +Lascars of the crew alone escaped to bear the news of this tremendous +disaster to an astounded world. + +As may readily be supposed, it was now no longer possible for Captain +Keitt to hope to live in such comparative obscurity as he had before +enjoyed. His was now too remarkable a figure in the eyes of the world. +Several expeditions from various parts were immediately fitted out +against him, and it presently became no longer compatible with his +safety to remain thus clearly outlined before the eyes of the world. +Accordingly, he immediately set about seeking such security as he +might now hope to find, which he did the more readily since he had +now, and at one cast, so entirely fulfilled his most sanguine +expectations of good fortune and of fame. + +Thereafter, accordingly, the adventures of our captain became of a +more apocryphal sort. It was known that he reached the West Indies in +safety, for he was once seen at Port Royal and twice at Spanish Town, +in the island of Jamaica. Thereafter, however, he disappeared; nor was +it until several years later that the world heard anything concerning +him. + +One day a certain Nicholas Duckworthy, who had once been gunner aboard +the pirate captain's own ship, _The Good Fortune_, was arrested in the +town of Bristol in the very act of attempting to sell to a merchant of +that place several valuable gems from a quantity which he carried with +him tied up in a red bandanna handkerchief. + +In the confession of which Duckworthy afterward delivered himself he +declared that Captain Keitt, after his great adventure, having sailed +from Africa in safety, and so reached the shores of the New World, had +wrecked _The Good Fortune_ on a coral reef off the Windward Islands; +that he then immediately deserted the ship, and together with +Duckworthy himself, the sailing master (who was a Portuguese), the +captain of a brig, _The Bloody Hand_ (a consort of Keitt's), and a +villainous rascal named Hunt (who, occupying no precise position among +the pirates, was at once the instigator of and the partaker in the +greatest part of Captain Keitt's wickednesses), made his way to the +nearest port of safety. These five worthies at last fetched the island +of Jamaica, bringing with them all of the jewels and some of the gold +that had been captured from _The Sun of the East_. + +But, upon coming to a division of their booty, it was presently +discovered that the Rajah's ruby had mysteriously disappeared from the +collection of jewels to be divided. The other pirates immediately +suspected their captain of having secretly purloined it, and, indeed, +so certain were they of his turpitude that they immediately set about +taking means to force a confession from him. + +In this, however, they were so far unsuccessful that the captain, +refusing to yield to their importunities, had suffered himself to die +under their hands, and had so carried the secret of the hiding place +of the great ruby--if he possessed such a secret--along with him. + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN KEITT] + +Duckworthy concluded his confession by declaring that in his opinion +he himself, the Portuguese sailing master, the captain of _The Bloody +Hand_, and Hunt were the only ones of Captain Keitt's crew who were +now alive; for that _The Good Fortune_ must have broken up in a storm, +which immediately followed their desertion of her; in which event the +entire crew must inevitably have perished. + +It may be added that Duckworthy himself was shortly hanged, so that, +if his surmise was true, there were now only three left alive of all +that wicked crew that had successfully carried to its completion the +greatest adventure which any pirate in the world had ever, perhaps, +embarked upon. + + +I + +_Jonathan Rugg_ + +You may never know what romantic aspirations may lie hidden beneath +the most sedate and sober demeanor. + +To have observed Jonathan Rugg, who was a tall, lean, loose-jointed +young Quaker of a somewhat forbidding aspect, with straight, dark hair +and a bony, overhanging forehead set into a frown, a pair of small, +deep-set eyes, and a square jaw, no one would for a moment have +suspected that he concealed beneath so serious an exterior any +appetite for romantic adventure. + +Nevertheless, finding himself suddenly transported, as it were, from +the quiet of so sober a town as that of Philadelphia to the tropical +enchantment of Kingston, in the island of Jamaica, the night brilliant +with a full moon that swung in an opal sky, the warm and luminous +darkness replete with the mysteries of a tropical night, and burdened +with the odors of a land breeze, he suddenly discovered himself to be +overtaken with so vehement a desire for some unwonted excitement that, +had the opportunity presented itself, he felt himself ready to +embrace any adventure with the utmost eagerness, no matter whither it +would have conducted him. + +At home (where he was a clerk in the countinghouse of a leading +merchant, by name Jeremiah Doolittle), should such idle fancies have +come to him, he would have looked upon himself as little better than a +fool, but now that he found himself for the first time in a foreign +country, surrounded by such strange and unusual sights and sounds, all +conducive to extravagant imaginations, the wish for some extraordinary +and altogether unusual experience took possession of him with a +singular vehemence to which he had heretofore been altogether a +stranger. + +In the street where he stood, which was of a shining whiteness and +which reflected the effulgence of the moonlight with an incredible +distinction, he observed, stretching before him, long lines of white +garden walls, overtopped by a prodigious luxuriance of tropical +foliage. + +In these gardens, and set close to the street, stood several +pretentious villas and mansions, the slatted blinds and curtains of +the windows of which were raised to admit of the freer entrance of the +cool and balmy air of the night. From within there issued forth bright +lights, together with the exhilarating sound of merry voices laughing +and talking, or perhaps a song accompanied by the tinkling music of a +spinet or of a guitar. An occasional group of figures, clad in light +and summerlike garments, and adorned with gay and startling colors, +passed him through the moonlight; so that what with the brightness and +warmth of the night, together with all these unusual sights and +sounds, it appeared to Jonathan Rugg that he was rather the inhabitant +of some extraordinary land of enchantment and unreality than a dweller +upon that sober and solid world in which he had heretofore passed his +entire existence. + +Before continuing this narrative the reader may here be informed that +our hero had come into this enchanted world as the supercargo of the +ship _Susanna Hayes_, of Philadelphia; that he had for several years +proved himself so honest and industrious a servant to the merchant +house of the worthy Jeremiah Doolittle that that benevolent man had +given to his well-deserving clerk this opportunity at once of +gratifying an inclination for foreign travel and of filling a position +of trust that should redound to his individual profit. The _Susanna +Hayes_ had entered Kingston harbor that afternoon, and this was +Jonathan's first night spent in those tropical latitudes, whither his +fancy and his imagination had so often carried him while he stood over +the desk filing the accounts of invoices from foreign parts. + +It might be finally added that, had he at all conceived how soon and +to what a degree his sudden inclination for adventure was to be +gratified, his romantic aspirations might have been somewhat dashed at +the prospect that lay before him. + + +II + +_The Mysterious Lady with the Silver Veil_ + +At that moment our hero suddenly became conscious of the fact that a +small wicket in a wooden gate near which he stood had been opened, and +that the eyes of an otherwise concealed countenance were observing him +with the utmost closeness of scrutiny. + +He had hardly time to become aware of this observation of his person +when the gate itself was opened, and there appeared before him, in the +moonlight, the bent and crooked figure of an aged negress. She was +clad in a calamanco raiment, and was further adorned with a variety of +gaudily colored trimmings, vastly suggestive of the tropical world of +which she was an inhabitant. Her woolly head was enveloped, after the +fashion of her people, in the folds of a gigantic and flaming red +turban constructed of an entire pocket handkerchief. Her face was +pock-pitted to an incredible degree, so that what with this deformity, +emphasized by the pouting of her prodigious and shapeless lips, and +the rolling of a pair of eyes as yellow as saffron, Jonathan Rugg +thought that he had never beheld a figure at once so extraordinary and +so repulsive. + +It occurred to our hero that here, maybe, was to overtake him such an +adventure as that which he had just a moment before been desiring so +ardently. Nor was he mistaken; for the negress, first looking this way +and then that, with an extremely wary and cunning expression, and +apparently having satisfied herself that the street, for the moment, +was pretty empty of passers, beckoned to him to draw nearer. When he +had approached close enough to her she caught him by the sleeve, and, +instantly drawing him into the garden beyond, shut and bolted the gate +with a quickness and a silence suggestive of the most extravagant +secrecy. + +At the same moment a huge negro suddenly appeared from the shadow of +the gatepost, and so placed himself between Jonathan and the gate that +any attempt to escape would inevitably have entailed a conflict, upon +our hero's part, with the sable and giant guardian. + +Says the negress, looking very intently at our hero, "Be you afeared, +Buckra?" + +"Why, no," quoth Jonathan; "for to tell thee the truth, friend, though +I am a man of peace, being of that religious order known as the +Society of Friends, I am not so weak in person nor so timid in +disposition as to warrant me in being afraid of anyone. Indeed, were I +of a mind to escape, I might, without boasting, declare my belief that +I should be able to push my way past even a better man than thy large +friend who stands so threateningly in front of yonder gate." + +At these words the negress broke into so prodigious a grin that, in +the moonlight, it appeared as though the whole lower part of her face +had been transformed into shining teeth. "You be a brave Buckra," said +she, in her gibbering English. "You come wid Melina, and Melina take +you to pretty lady, who want you to eat supper wid her." + +Thereupon, and allowing our hero no opportunity to decline this +extraordinary invitation, even had he been of a mind to do so, she +took him by the hand and led him toward the large and imposing house +which commanded the garden. "Indeed," says Jonathan to himself, as he +followed his sable guide--himself followed in turn by the gigantic +negro--"indeed, I am like to have my fill of adventure, if anything is +to be judged from such a beginning as this." + +Nor did the interior sumptuousness of the mansion at all belie the +imposing character of its exterior, for, entering by way of an +illuminated veranda, and so coming into a brilliantly lighted hallway +beyond, Jonathan beheld himself to be surrounded by such a wealth of +exquisite and well-appointed tastefulness as it had never before been +his good fortune to behold. + +Candles of clarified wax sparkled like stars in chandeliers of +crystal. These in turn, catching the illumination, glittered in +prismatic fragments with all the varied colors of the rainbow, so that +a mellow yet brilliant radiance filled the entire apartment. Polished +mirrors of a spotless clearness, framed in golden frames and built +into the walls, reflected the waxed floors, the rich Oriental carpets, +and the sumptuous paintings that hung against the ivory-tinted +paneling, so that in appearance the beauties of the apartment were +continued in bewildering vistas upon every side toward which the +beholder directed his gaze. + +Bidding our hero to be seated, which he did with no small degree of +embarrassment and constraint, and upon the extreme edge of the gilt +and satin-covered chair, the negress who had been his conductor left +him for the time being to his own contemplation. + +Almost before he had an opportunity to compose himself into anything +more than a part of his ordinary sedateness of demeanor, the silken +curtains at the doorway at the other end of the apartment were +suddenly divided, and Jonathan beheld before him a female figure +displaying the most exquisite contour of mold and of proportion. She +was clad entirely in white, and was enveloped from head to foot in the +folds of a veil of delicate silver gauze, which, though hiding her +countenance from recognition, nevertheless permitted sufficient of her +beauties to be discerned to suggest the extreme elegance and +loveliness of her lineaments. Advancing toward our hero, and extending +to him a tapering hand as white as alabaster, the fingers encircled +with a multitude of jeweled rings, she addressed him thus: + +"Sir," she said, speaking in accents of the most silvery and musical +cadence, "you are no doubt vastly surprised to find yourself thus +unexpectedly, and almost as by violence, introduced into the house of +one who is such an entire stranger to you as myself. But though I am +unknown to you, I must inform you that I am better acquainted with my +visitor, for my agents have been observing you ever since you landed +this afternoon at the dock, and they have followed you ever since, +until a little while ago, when you stopped immediately opposite my +garden gate. These agents have observed you with a closeness of +scrutiny of which you are doubtless entirely unaware. They have even +informed me that, owing doubtless to your extreme interest in your new +surroundings, you have not as yet supped. Knowing this, and that you +must now be enjoying a very hearty appetite, I have to ask you if you +will do me the extreme favor of sitting at table with me at a repast +which you will doubtless be surprised to learn has been hastily +prepared entirely in your honor." + +So saying, and giving Jonathan no time for reply, she offered him her +hand, and with the most polite insistence conducted him into an +exquisitely appointed dining room adjoining. + +Here stood a table covered with a snow-white cloth, and embellished +with silver and crystal ornaments of every description. Having seated +herself and having indicated to Jonathan to take the chair opposite to +her, the two were presently served with a repast such as our hero had +not thought could have existed out of the pages of certain +extraordinary Oriental tales which one time had fallen to his lot to +read. + +This supper (which in itself might successfully have tempted the taste +of a Sybarite) was further enhanced by several wines and cordials +which, filling the room with the aroma of the sunlit grapes from which +they had been expressed, stimulated the appetite, which without them +needed no such spur. The lady, who ate but sparingly herself, +possessed herself with patience until Jonathan's hunger had been +appeased. When, however, she beheld that he weakened in his attacks +upon the dessert of sweets with which the banquet was concluded, she +addressed him upon the business which was evidently entirely occupying +her mind. + +"Sir," said she, "you are doubtless aware that everyone, whether man +or woman, is possessed of an enemy. In my own case I must inform you +that I have no less than three who, to compass their ends, would +gladly sacrifice my life itself to their purposes. At no time am I +safe from their machinations, nor have I anyone," cried she, +exhibiting a great emotion, "to whom I may turn in my need. It was +this that led me to hope to find in you a friend in my perils, for, +having observed through my agents that you are not only honest in +disposition and strong in person, but that you are possessed of a +considerable degree of energy and determination, I am most desirous of +imposing upon your good nature a trust of which you cannot for a +moment suspect the magnitude. Tell me, are you willing to assist a +poor, defenseless female in her hour of trial?" + +"Indeed, friend," quoth Jonathan, with more vivacity than he usually +exhibited, with a lenity to which he had heretofore in his lifetime +been a stranger--being warmed into such a spirit, doubtless, by the +generous wines of which he had partaken--"indeed, friend, if I could +but see thy face it would doubtless make my decision in such a matter +the more favorable, since I am inclined to think, from the little I +can behold of it, that thy appearance must be extremely comely to the +eye." + +"Sir," said the lady, exhibiting some amusement at this unexpected +sally, "I am, you must know, as God made me. Sometime, perhaps, I may +be very glad to satisfy your curiosity, and exhibit to you my poor +countenance such as it is. But now"--and here she reverted to her more +serious mood--"I must again put it to you: are you willing to help an +unprotected woman in a period of very great danger to herself? Should +you decline the assistance which I solicit, my slaves shall conduct +you to the gate through which you entered, and suffer you to depart in +peace. Should you, upon the other hand, accept the trust, you are to +receive no reward therefor, except the gratitude of one who thus +appeals to you in her helplessness." + +For a few moments Jonathan fell silent, for here, indeed, was he +entering into an adventure which infinitely surpassed any anticipation +that he could have formed. He was, besides, of a cautious nature, and +was entirely disinclined to embark in any affair so obscure and +tangled as that in which he now found himself becoming involved. + +"Friend," said he, at last, "I may tell thee that thy story has so far +moved me as to give me every inclination to help thee in thy +difficulties, but I must also inform thee that I am a man of caution, +having never before entered into any business of this sort. Therefore, +before giving any promise that may bind my future actions, I must, in +common wisdom, demand to know what are the conditions that thou hast +in mind to impose upon me." + +"Indeed, sir," cried the lady, with great vivacity and with more +cheerful accents--as though her mind had been relieved of a burden of +fear that her companion might at once have declined even a +consideration of her request--"indeed, sir, you will find that the +trust which I would impose upon you is in appearance no such great +matter as my words may have led you to suppose. + +"You must know that I am possessed of a little trinket which, in the +hands of anyone who, like yourself, is a stranger in these parts, +would possess no significance, but which while in my keeping is +fraught with infinite menace to me." + +Hereupon, and having so spoken, she clapped her hands, and an +attendant immediately entered, disclosing the person of the same +negress who had first introduced Jonathan into the strange adventure +in which he now found himself involved. This creature, who appeared +still more deformed and repulsive in the brilliantly lighted room than +she had in the moonlight, carried in her hands a white napkin, which +she handed to her mistress. This being opened, disclosed a small ivory +ball of about the bigness of a lime. Nodding to the negress to +withdraw, the lady handed him the ivory ball, and Jonathan took it +with no small degree of curiosity and examined it carefully. It +appeared to be of an exceeding antiquity, and of so deep a yellow as +to be almost brown in color. It was covered over with strange figures +and characters of an Oriental sort, which appeared to our hero to be +of Chinese workmanship. + +"I must tell you, sir," said the lady, after she had permitted her +guest to examine this for a while in silence, "that though this +appears to you to be of little worth, it is yet of extreme value. +After all, however, it is nothing but a curiosity that anyone who is +interested in such matters might possess. What I have to ask you is +this: will you be willing to take this into your charge, to guard it +with the utmost care and fidelity--yes, even as the apple of your +eye--during your continuance in these parts, and to return it to me in +safety the day before your departure? By so doing you will render me a +service which you may neither understand nor comprehend, but which +shall make me your debtor for my entire life." + +By this time Jonathan had pretty well composed his mind for a reply. + +"Friend," said he, "such a matter as this is entirely out of my +knowledge of business, which is, indeed, that of a clerk in the +mercantile profession. Nevertheless, I have every inclination to help +thee, though I trust thou mayest have magnified the dangers that beset +thee. This appears to me to be a little trifle for such an ado; +nevertheless, I will do as thou dost request. I will keep it in safety +and will return it to thee upon this day a week hence, by which time I +hope to have discharged my cargo and be ready to continue my voyage to +Demerara." + +At these words the lady, who had been watching him all the time with a +most unaccountable eagerness, burst forth into words of such heartfelt +gratitude as to entirely overwhelm our hero. When her transports had +been somewhat assuaged she permitted him to depart, and the negress +conducted him back through the garden, whence she presently showed him +through the gate whither he had entered and out into the street. + + +III + +_The Terrific Encounter with the One-Eyed Little Gentleman in Black_ + +Finding himself once more in the open street, Jonathan Rugg stood for +a while in the moonlight, endeavoring to compose his mind into +somewhat of that sobriety that was habitual with him; for, indeed, he +was not a little excited by the unexpected incidents that had just +befallen him. From this effort at composure he was aroused by +observing that a little gentleman clad all in black had stopped at a +little distance away and was looking very intently at him. In the +brightness of the moonlight our hero could see that the little +gentleman possessed but a single eye, and that he carried a +gold-headed cane in his hand. He had hardly time to observe these +particulars, when the other approached him with every appearance of +politeness and cordiality. + +"Sir," said he, "surely I am not mistaken in recognizing in you the +supercargo of the ship _Susanna Hayes_, which arrived this afternoon +at this port?" + +"Indeed," said Jonathan, "thou art right, friend. That is my +occupation, and that is whence I came." + +"To be sure!" said the little gentleman. "To be sure! To be sure! The +_Susanna Hayes_, with a cargo of Indian-corn meal, and from my dear +good friend Jeremiah Doolittle, of Philadelphia. I know your good +master very well--very well indeed. And have you never heard him speak +of his friend Mr. Abner Greenway, of Kingston, Jamaica?" + +"Why, no," replied Jonathan, "I have no such recollection of the +name--nor do I know that any such name hath ever appeared upon our +books." + +"To be sure! To be sure!" repeated the little gentleman, briskly, and +with exceeding good nature. "Indeed, my name is not likely to have +ever appeared upon your employer's books, for I am not a business +correspondent, but one who, in times past, was his extremely intimate +friend. There is much I would like to ask about him, and, indeed, I +was in hopes that you would have been the bearer of a letter from him. +But I have lodgings at a little distance from here, so that if it is +not requesting too much of you maybe you will accompany me thither, so +that we may talk at our leisure. I would gladly accompany you to your +ship instead of urging you to come to my apartments, but I must tell +you I am possessed of a devil of a fever, so that my physician hath +forbidden me to be out of nights." + +"Indeed," said Jonathan, who, you may have observed, was of a very +easy disposition--"indeed, I shall be very glad to accompany thee to +thy lodgings. There is nothing I would like better than to serve any +friend of good Jeremiah Doolittle's." + +And thereupon, and with great amity, the two walked off together, the +little one-eyed gentleman in black linking his arm confidingly into +that of Jonathan's, and tapping the pavement continually with his cane +as he trotted on at a great pace. He was very well acquainted with the +town (of which he was a citizen), and so interesting was his +discourse that they had gone a considerable distance before Jonathan +observed they were entering into a quarter darker and less frequented +than that which they had quitted. Tall brick houses stood upon either +side, between which stretched a narrow, crooked roadway, with a kennel +running down the center. + +In front of one of these houses--a tall and gloomy structure--our +hero's conductor stopped and, opening the door with a key, beckoned +for him to enter. Jonathan having complied, his new-found friend led +the way up a flight of steps, against which Jonathan's feet beat +noisily in the darkness, and at length, having ascended two stairways +and having reached a landing, he opened a door at the end of the +passage and ushered Jonathan into an apartment, unlighted, except for +the moonshine, which, coming in through a partly open shutter, lay in +a brilliant patch of light upon the floor. + +His conductor having struck a light with a flint and steel, our hero +by the illumination of a single candle presently discovered himself to +be in a bedchamber furnished with no small degree of comfort, and even +elegance, and having every appearance of a bachelor's chamber. + +"You will pardon me," said his new acquaintance, "if I shut these +shutters and the window, for that devilish fever of which I spoke is +of such a sort that I must keep the night air even out from my room, +or else I shall be shaking the bones out of my joints and chattering +the teeth out of my head by to-morrow morning." + +So saying he was as good as his word, and not only drew the shutters +to, but shot the heavy iron bolt into its place. Having accomplished +this he bade our hero to be seated, and placing before him some +exceedingly superior rum, together with some equally excellent +tobacco, they presently fell into the friendliest discourse +imaginable. In the course of their talk, which after a while became +exceedingly confidential, Jonathan confided to his new friend the +circumstances of the adventure into which he had been led by the +beautiful stranger, and to all that he said concerning his adventure +his interlocutor listened with the closest and most scrupulously +riveted attention. + +[Illustration: How the Buccaneers Kept Christmas + +_Originally published in_ +HARPER'S WEEKLY, _December 16, 1899_] + +"Upon my word," said he, when Jonathan had concluded, "I hope that you +may not have been made the victim of some foolish hoax. Let me see +what it is she has confided to you." + +"That I will," replied Jonathan. And thereupon he thrust his hand into +his breeches' pocket and brought forth the ivory ball. + +No sooner did the one eye of the little gentleman in black light upon +the object than a most singular and extraordinary convulsion appeared +to seize upon him. Had a bullet penetrated his heart he could not have +started more violently, nor have sat more rigidly and breathlessly +staring. + +Mastering his emotion with the utmost difficulty as Jonathan replaced +the ball in his pocket, he drew a deep and profound breath and wiped +the palm of his hand across his forehead as though arousing himself +from a dream. + +"And you," he said, of a sudden, "are, I understand it, a Quaker. Do +you, then, never carry a weapon, even in such a place as this, where +at any moment in the dark a Spanish knife may be stuck betwixt your +ribs?" + +"Why, no," said Jonathan, somewhat surprised that so foreign a topic +should have been so suddenly introduced into the discourse. "I am a +man of peace and not of blood. The people of the Society of Friends +never carry weapons, either of offense or defense." + +As Jonathan concluded his reply the little gentleman suddenly arose +from his chair and moved briskly around to the other side of the room. +Our hero, watching him with some surprise, beheld him clap to the door +and with a single movement shoot the bolt and turn the key therein. +The next instant he turned to Jonathan a visage transformed as +suddenly as though he had dropped a mask from his face. The gossiping +and polite little old bachelor was there no longer, but in his stead +a man with a countenance convulsed with some furious and nameless +passion. + +"That ball!" he cried, in a hoarse and raucous voice. "That ivory +ball! Give it to me upon the instant!" + +As he spoke he whipped out from his bosom a long, keen Spanish knife +that in its every appearance spoke without equivocation of the most +murderous possibilities. + +The malignant passions that distorted every lineament of the +countenance of the little old gentleman in black filled our hero with +such astonishment that he knew not whether he were asleep or awake; +but when he beheld the other advancing with the naked and shining +knife in his hand his reason returned to him like a flash. Leaping to +his feet, he lost no time in putting the table between himself and his +sudden enemy. + +"Indeed, friend," he cried, in a voice penetrated with +terror--"indeed, friend, thou hadst best keep thy distance from me, +for though I am a man of peace and a shunner of bloodshed, I promise +thee that I will not stand still to be murdered without outcry or +without endeavoring to defend my life!" + +"Cry as loud as you please!" exclaimed the other. "No one is near this +place to hear you! Cry until you are hoarse; no one in this +neighborhood will stop to ask what is the matter with you. I tell you +I am determined to possess myself of that ivory ball, and have it I +shall, even though I am obliged to cut out your heart to get it!" As +he spoke he grinned with so extraordinary and devilish a distortion of +his countenance, and with such an appearance of every intention of +carrying out his threat as to send the goose flesh creeping like icy +fingers up and down our hero's spine with the most incredible rapidity +and acuteness. + +Nevertheless, mastering his fears, Jonathan contrived to speak up with +a pretty good appearance of spirit. "Indeed, friend," he said, "thou +appearest to forget that I am a man of twice thy bulk and half thy +years, and that though thou hast a knife I am determined to defend +myself to the last extremity. I am not going to give thee that which +thou demandest of me, and for thy sake I advise thee to open the door +and let me go free as I entered, or else harm may befall thee." + +"Fool!" cried the other, hardly giving him time to end. "Do you, then, +think that I have time to chatter with you while two villains are +lying in wait for me, perhaps at the very door? Blame your own self +for your death!" And, gnashing his teeth with an indescribable menace, +and resting his hand upon the table, he vaulted with incredible +agility clean across it and upon our hero, who, entirely unprepared +for such an extraordinary attack, was flung back against the wall, +with an arm as strong as steel clutching his throat and a knife +flashing in his very eyes with dreadful portent of instant death. + +With an instinct to preserve his life, he caught his assailant by the +wrist, and, bending it away from himself, set every fiber of his body +in a superhuman effort to guard and protect himself. The other, though +so much older and smaller, seemed to be composed entirely of fibers of +steel, and, in his murderous endeavors, put forth a strength so +extraordinary that for a moment our hero felt his heart melt within +him with terror for his life. The spittle appeared to dry up within +his mouth, and his hair to creep and rise upon his head. With a +vehement cry of despair and anguish, he put forth one stupendous +effort for defense, and, clapping his heel behind the other's leg, and +throwing his whole weight forward, he fairly tripped his antagonist +backward as he stood. Together they fell upon the floor, locked in the +most desperate embrace, and overturning a chair with a prodigious +clatter in their descent--our hero upon the top and the little +gentleman in black beneath him. + +As they struck the floor the little man in black emitted a most +piercing and terrible scream, and instantly relaxing his efforts of +attack, fell to beating the floor with the back of his hands and +drubbing with his heels upon the rug in which he had become entangled. + +Our hero leaped to his feet, and with dilating eyes and expanding +brain and swimming sight stared down upon the other like one turned to +a stone. + +He beheld instantly what had occurred, and that he had, without so +intending, killed a fellow man. The knife, turned away from his own +person, had in their fall been plunged into the bosom of the other, +and he now lay quivering in the last throes of death. As Jonathan +gazed he beheld a thin red stream trickle out from the parted and +grinning lips; he beheld the eyes turn inward; he beheld the eyelids +contract; he beheld the figure stretch itself; he beheld it become +still in death. + + +IV + +_The Momentous Adventure with the Stranger with the Silver Earrings_ + +So our hero stood stunned and bedazed, gazing down upon his victim, +like a man turned into a stone. His brain appeared to him to expand +like a bubble, the blood surged and hummed in his ears with every +gigantic beat of his heart, his vision swam, and his trembling hands +were bedewed with a cold and repugnant sweat. The dead figure upon the +floor at his feet gazed at him with a wide, glassy stare, and in the +confusion of his mind it appeared to Jonathan that he was, indeed, a +murderer. + +What monstrous thing was this that had befallen him who, but a moment +before, had been so entirely innocent of the guilt of blood? What was +he now to do in such an extremity as this, with his victim lying dead +at his feet, a poniard in his heart? Who would believe him to be +guiltless of crime with such a dreadful evidence as this presented +against him? How was he, a stranger in a foreign land, to totally +defend himself against an accusation of mistaken justice? At these +thoughts a developed terror gripped at his vitals and a sweat as cold +as ice bedewed his entire body. No, he must tarry for no explanation +or defense! He must immediately fly from this terrible place, or else, +should he be discovered, his doom would certainly be sealed! + +At that moment, and in the very extremity of his apprehensions, there +fell of a sudden a knock upon the door, sounding so loud and so +startling upon the silence of the room that every shattered nerve in +our hero's frame tingled and thrilled in answer to it. He stood +petrified, scarcely so much as daring to breathe; and then, observing +that his mouth was agape, he moistened his dry and parching lips, and +drew his jaws together with a snap. + +Again there fell the same loud, insistent knock upon the panel, +followed by the imperative words, "Open within!" + +The wretched Jonathan flung about him a glance at once of terror and +of despair, but there was for him no possible escape. He was shut +tight in the room with his dead victim, like a rat in a trap. Nothing +remained for him but to obey the summons from without. Indeed, in the +very extremity of his distraction, he possessed reason enough to +perceive that the longer he delayed opening the door the less innocent +he might hope to appear in the eyes of whoever stood without. + +With the uncertain and spasmodic movements of an ill-constructed +automaton, he crossed the room, and stepping very carefully over the +prostrate body upon the floor, and with a hesitating reluctance that +he could in no degree master, he unlocked, unbolted, and opened the +door. + +The figure that outlined itself in the light of the candle, against +the blackness of the passageway without, was of such a singular and +foreign aspect as to fit extremely well into the extraordinary tragedy +of which Jonathan was at once the victim and the cause. + +It was that of a lean, tall man with a thin, yellow countenance, +embellished with a long, black mustache, and having a pair of +forbidding, deeply set, and extremely restless black eyes. A crimson +handkerchief beneath a lace cocked hat was tied tightly around the +head, and a pair of silver earrings, which caught the light of the +candle, gleamed and twinkled against the inky darkness of the +passageway beyond. + +This extraordinary being, without favoring our hero with any word of +apology for his intrusion, immediately thrust himself forward into the +room, and stretching his long, lean, birdlike neck so as to direct his +gaze over the intervening table, fixed a gaping and concentrated stare +upon the figure lying still and motionless in the center of the room. + +"Vat you do dare," said he, with a guttural and foreign accent, and +thereupon, without waiting for a reply, came forward and knelt down +beside the dead man. After thrusting his hand into the silent and +shrunken bosom, he presently looked up and fixed his penetrating eyes +upon our hero's countenance, who, benumbed and bedazed with his +despair, still stood like one enchained in the bonds of a nightmare. +"He vas dead!" said the stranger, and Jonathan nodded his head in +reply. + +"Vy you keel ze man?" inquired his interlocutor. + +"Indeed," cried Jonathan, finding a voice at last, but one so hoarse +that he could hardly recognize it for his own, "I know not what to +make of the affair! But, indeed, I do assure thee, friend, that I am +entirely innocent of what thou seest." + +The stranger still kept his piercing gaze fixed upon our hero's +countenance, and Jonathan, feeling that something further was demanded +of him, continued: "I am, indeed, a victim of a most extravagant and +extraordinary adventure. This evening, coming an entire stranger to +this country, I was introduced into the house of a beautiful female, +who bestowed upon me a charge that appeared to me to be at once +insignificant and absurd. Behold this little ivory ball," said he, +drawing the globe from his pocket, and displaying it between his thumb +and finger. "It is this that appears to have brought all this disaster +upon me; for, coming from the house of the young woman, the man whom +thou now beholdest lying dead upon the floor induced me to come to +this place. Having inveigled me hither, he demanded of me to give him +at once this insignificant trifle. Upon my refusing to do so, he +assaulted me with every appearance of a mad and furious inclination to +deprive me of my life!" + +At the sight of the ivory ball the stranger quickly arose from his +kneeling posture and fixed upon our hero a gaze the most extraordinary +that he had ever encountered. His eyes dilated like those of a cat, +the breath expelled itself from his bosom in so deep and profound an +expiration that it appeared as though it might never return again. Nor +was it until Jonathan had replaced the ball in his pocket that he +appeared to awaken from the trance that the sight of the object had +sent him into. But no sooner had the cause of this strange demeanor +disappeared into our hero's breeches' pocket than he arose as with an +electric shock. In an instant he became transformed as by the touch of +magic. A sudden and baleful light flamed into his eyes, his face grew +as red as blood, and he clapped his hand to his pocket with a sudden +and violent motion. "Ze ball!" he cried, in a hoarse and strident +voice. "Ze ball! Give me ze ball!" And upon the next instant our hero +beheld the round and shining nozzle of a pistol pointed directly +against his forehead. + +For a moment he stood as though transfixed; then in the mortal peril +that faced him, he uttered a roar that sounded in his own ears like +the outcry of a wild beast, and thereupon flung himself bodily upon +the other with the violence and the fury of a madman. + +The stranger drew the trigger, and the powder flashed in the pan. He +dropped the weapon, clattering, and in an instant tried to draw +another from his other pocket. Before he could direct his aim, +however, our hero had caught him by both wrists, and, bending his hand +backward, prevented the chance of any shot from taking immediate +effect upon his person. Then followed a struggle of extraordinary +ferocity and frenzy--the stranger endeavoring to free his hand, and +Jonathan striving with all the energy of despair to prevent him from +effecting his murderous purpose. + +[Illustration] + +In the struggle our hero became thrust against the edge of the table. +He felt as though his back were breaking, and became conscious that in +such a situation he could hope to defend himself only a few moments +longer. The stranger's face was pressed close to his own. His hot +breath, strong with the odor of garlic, fanned our hero's cheek, while +his lips, distended into a ferocious and ferine grin, displayed his +sharp teeth shining in the candlelight. + +"Give me ze ball!" he said, in a harsh and furious whisper. + +At the moment there rang in Jonathan's ears the sudden and astounding +detonation of a pistol shot, and for a moment he wondered whether he +had received a mortal wound without being aware of it. Then suddenly +he beheld an extraordinary and dreadful transformation take place in +the countenance thrust so close to his own; the eyes winked several +times with incredible rapidity, and then rolled upward and inward; the +jaws gaped into a dreadful and cavernous yawn; the pistol fell with a +clatter to the floor, and the next moment the muscles, so rigid but an +instant before, relaxed into a limp and listless flaccidity. The +joints collapsed, and the entire man fell into an indistinguishable +heap upon and across the dead figure stretched out upon the floor, +while at the same time a pungent and blinding cloud of gunpowder smoke +filled the apartment. For a few moments the hands twitched +convulsively; the neck stretched itself to an abominable length; the +long, lean legs slowly and gradually relaxed, and every fiber of the +body gradually collapsed into the lassitude of death. A spot of blood +appeared and grew upon the collar at the throat, and in the same +degree the color ebbed from the face, leaving it of a dull and leaden +pallor. + +All these terrible and formidable changes of aspect our hero stood +watching with a motionless and riveted attention, and as though they +were to him matters of the utmost consequence and importance; and only +when the last flicker of life had departed from his second victim did +he lift his gaze from this terrible scene of dissolution to stare +about him, this way and that, his eyes blinded, and his breath stifled +by the thick cloud of sulphurous smoke that obscured the objects about +him in a pungent cloud. + + +V + +_The Unexpected Encounter with the Sea Captain with the Broken Nose_ + +If our hero had been distracted and bedazed by the first catastrophe +that had befallen, this second and even more dreadful and violent +occurrence appeared to take away from him, for the moment, every +power of thought and of sensation. All that perturbation of emotion +that had before convulsed him he discovered to have disappeared, and +in its stead a benumbed and blinded intelligence alone remained to +him. As he stood in the presence of this second death, of which he had +been as innocent and as unwilling an instrument as he had of the +first, he could observe no signs either of remorse or of horror within +him. He picked up his hat, which had fallen upon the floor in the +first encounter, and, brushing away the dust with the cuff of his coat +sleeve with extraordinary care, adjusted the beaver upon his head with +the utmost nicety. Then turning, still stupefied as with the fumes of +some powerful drug, he prepared to quit the scene of tragic terrors +that had thus unexpectedly accumulated upon him. + +But ere he could put his design into execution his ears were startled +by the sound of loud and hurried footsteps which, coming from below, +ascended the stairs with a prodigious clatter and bustle of speed. At +the landing these footsteps paused for a while, and then approached, +more cautious and deliberate, toward the room where the double tragedy +had been enacted, and where our hero yet stood silent and inert. + +All this while Jonathan made no endeavor to escape, but stood passive +and submissive to what might occur. He felt himself the victim of +circumstances over which he himself had no control. Gazing at the +partly opened door, he waited for whatever adventure might next befall +him. Once again the footsteps paused, this time at the very threshold, +and then the door was slowly pushed open from without. + +As our hero gazed at the aperture there presently became disclosed to +his view the strong and robust figure of one who was evidently of a +seafaring habit. From the gold braid upon his hat, the seals dangling +from the ribbon at his fob, and a certain particularity of custom, he +was evidently one of no small consideration in his profession. He was +of a strong and powerful build, with a head set close to his +shoulders, and upon a round, short bull neck. He wore a black cravat, +loosely tied into a knot, and a red waistcoat elaborately trimmed with +gold braid; a leather belt with a brass buckle and hanger, and huge +sea boots completed a costume singularly suggestive of his occupation +in life. His face was round and broad, like that of a cat, and a +complexion stained, by constant exposure to the sun and wind, to a +color of newly polished mahogany. But a countenance which otherwise +might have been humorous, in this case was rendered singularly +repulsive by the fact that his nose had been broken so flat to his +face that all that remained to distinguish that feature were two +circular orifices where the nostrils should have been. His eyes were +by no means so sinister as the rest of his visage, being of a +light-gray color and exceedingly vivacious--even good-natured in the +merry restlessness of their glance--albeit they were well-nigh hidden +beneath a black bush of overhanging eyebrows. When he spoke, his voice +was so deep and resonant that it was as though it issued from a barrel +rather than from the breast of a human being. + +"How now, my hearty!" cried he, in stentorian tones, so loud that they +seemed to stun the tensely drawn drums of our hero's ears. "How now, +my hearty! What's to do here? Who is shooting pistols at this hour of +the night?" Then, catching sight of the figures lying in a huddle upon +the floor, his great, thick lips parted into a gape of wonder and his +gray eyes rolled in his head like two balls, so that what with his +flat face and the round holes of his nostrils he presented an +appearance which, under other circumstances, would have been at once +ludicrous and grotesque. + +"By the blood!" cried he, "to be sure it is murder that has happened +here." + +"Not murder!" cried Jonathan, in a shrill and panting voice. "Not +murder! It was all an accident, and I am as innocent as a baby." + +The newcomer looked at him and then at the two figures upon the +floor, and then back at him again with eyes at once quizzical and +cunning. Then his face broke into a grin that might hardly be called +of drollery. "Accident!" quoth he. "By the blood! d'ye see 'tis a +strange accident, indeed, that lays two men by the heels and lets the +third go without a scratch!" Delivering himself thus, he came forward +into the room, and, taking the last victim of Jonathan's adventure by +the arm, with as little compunction as he would have handled a sack of +grain he dragged the limp and helpless figure from where it lay to the +floor beside the first victim. Then, lifting the lighted candle, he +bent over the two prostrate bodies, holding the illumination close to +the lineaments first of one and then of the other. He looked at them +very carefully for a long while, with the closest and most intent +scrutiny, and in perfect silence. "They are both as dead," says he, +"as Davy Jones, and, whoever you be, I protest that you have done your +business the most completest that I ever saw in all of my life." + +"Indeed," cried Jonathan, in the same shrill and panting voice, "it +was themselves who did it. First one of them attacked me and then the +other, and I did but try to keep them from murdering me. This one fell +on his knife, and that one shot himself in his efforts to destroy me." + +"That," says the seaman, "you may very well tell to a dry-lander, and +maybe he will believe you; but you cannot so easily pull the wool over +the eyes of Captain Benny Willitts. And what, if I may be so bold as +for to ask you, was the reason for their attacking so harmless a man +as you proclaim yourself to be?" + +[Illustration: The Burning Ship + +_Originally published in_ +COLLIER'S WEEKLY, _1898_] + +"That I know not," cried Jonathan; "but I am entirely willing to tell +thee all the circumstances. Thou must know that I am a member of the +Society of Friends. This day I landed here in Kingston, and met a +young woman of very comely appearance, who intrusted me with this +little ivory ball, which she requested me to keep for her a few days. +The sight of this ball--in which I can detect nothing that could be +likely to arouse any feelings of violence--appears to have driven +these two men entirely mad, so that they instantly made the most +ferocious and murderous assault upon me. See! wouldst thou have +believed that so small a thing as this would have caused so much +trouble?" And as he spoke he held up to the gaze of the other the +cause of the double tragedy that had befallen. But no sooner had +Captain Willitts's eyes lighted upon the ball than the most singular +change passed over his countenance. The color appeared to grow dull +and yellow in his ruddy cheeks, his fat lips dropped apart, and his +eyes stared with a fixed and glassy glare. He arose to his feet and, +still with the expression of astonishment and wonder upon his face, +gazed first at our hero and then at the ivory ball in his hands, as +though he were deprived both of reason and of speech. At last, as our +hero slipped the trifle back in his pocket again, the mariner slowly +recovered himself, though with a prodigious effort, and drew a deep +and profound breath as to the very bottom of his lungs. He wiped, with +the corner of his black-silk cravat, his brow, upon which the sweat +appeared to have gathered. "Well, messmate," says he, at last, with a +sudden change of voice, "you have, indeed, had a most wonderful +adventure." Then with another deep breath: "Well, by the blood! I may +tell you plainly that I am no poor hand at the reading of faces. Well, +I think you to be honest, and I am inclined to believe every word you +tell me. By the blood! I am prodigiously sorry for you, and am +inclined to help you out of your scrape. + +"The first thing to do," he continued, "is to get rid of these two +dead men, and that is an affair I believe we shall have no trouble in +handling. One of them we will wrap up in the carpet here, and t'other +we can roll into yonder bed curtain. You shall carry the one and I the +other, and, the harbor being at no great distance, we can easily bring +them thither and tumble them overboard, and no one will be the wiser +of what has happened. For your own safety, as you may easily see, you +can hardly go away and leave these objects here to be found by the +first comer, and to rise up in evidence against you." + +This reasoning, in our hero's present bewildered state, appeared to +him to be so extremely just that he raised not the least objection to +it. Accordingly, each of the two silent, voiceless victims of the +evening's occurrences was wrapped into a bundle that from without +appeared to be neither portentous nor terrible in appearance. + +Thereupon, Jonathan shouldering the rug containing the little +gentleman in black, and the sea captain doing the like for the other, +they presently made their way down the stairs through the darkness, +and so out into the street. Here the sea captain became the conductor +of the expedition, and leading the way down several alleys and along +certain by-streets--now and then stopping to rest, for the burdens +were both heavy and clumsy to carry--they both came out at last to the +harbor front, without anyone having questioned them or having appeared +to suspect them of anything wrong. At the waterside was an open wharf +extending a pretty good distance out into the harbor. Thither the +captain led the way and Jonathan followed. So they made their way out +along the wharf or pier, stumbling now and then over loose boards, +until they came at last to where the water was of a sufficient depth +for their purpose. Here the captain, bending his shoulders, shot his +burden out into the dark, mysterious waters, and Jonathan, following +his example, did the same. Each body sank with a sullen and leaden +splash into the element, where, the casings which swathed them +becoming loosened, the rug and the curtain rose to the surface and +drifted slowly away with the tide. + +As Jonathan stood gazing dully at the disappearance of these last +evidences of his two inadvertent murders, he was suddenly and +vehemently aroused by feeling a pair of arms of enormous strength +flung about him from behind. In their embrace his elbows were +instantly pinned tight to his side, and he stood for a moment helpless +and astounded, while the voice of the sea captain, rumbling in his +very ear, exclaimed, "Ye bloody, murthering Quaker, I'll have that +ivory ball, or I'll have your life!" + +[Illustration] + +These words produced the same effect upon Jonathan as though a douche +of cold water had suddenly been flung over him. He began instantly to +struggle to free himself, and that with a frantic and vehement +violence begotten at once of terror and despair. So prodigious were +his efforts that more than once he had nearly torn himself free, but +still the powerful arms of his captor held him as in a vise of iron. +Meantime, our hero's assailant made frequent though ineffectual +attempts to thrust a hand into the breeches' pocket where the ivory +ball was hidden, swearing the while under his breath with a terrifying +and monstrous string of oaths. At last, finding himself foiled in +every such attempt, and losing all patience at the struggles of his +victim, he endeavored to lift Jonathan off of his feet, as though to +dash him bodily upon the ground. In this he would doubtless have +succeeded had he not caught his heel in the crack of a loose board of +the wharf. Instantly they both fell, violently prostrate, the captain +beneath and Jonathan above him, though still encircled in his iron +embrace. Our hero felt the back of his head strike violently upon the +flat face of the other, and he heard the captain's skull sound with a +terrific crack like that of a breaking egg upon some post or billet of +wood, against which he must have struck. In their frantic struggles +they had approached extremely near the edge of the wharf, so that the +next instant, with an enormous and thunderous splash, Jonathan found +himself plunged into the waters of the harbor, and the arms of his +assailant loosened from about his body. + +The shock of the water brought him instantly to his senses, and, being +a fairly good swimmer, he had not the least difficulty in reaching and +clutching the crosspiece of a wooden ladder that, coated with slimy +sea moss, led from the water level to the wharf above. + +After reaching the safety of the dry land once more, Jonathan gazed +about him as though to discern whence the next attack might be +delivered upon him. But he stood entirely alone upon the dock--not +another living soul was in sight. The surface of the water exhibited +some commotion, as though disturbed by something struggling beneath; +but the sea captain, who had doubtless been stunned by the tremendous +crack upon his head, never arose again out of the element that had +engulfed him. + + * * * * * + +The moonlight shone with a peaceful and resplendent illumination, and, +excepting certain remote noises from the distant town, not a sound +broke the silence and the peacefulness of the balmy, tropical night. +The limpid water, illuminated by the resplendent moonlight, lapped +against the wharf. All the world was calm, serene, and enveloped in a +profound and entire repose. + +[Illustration: Dead Men Tell No Tales + +_Originally published in_ +COLLIER'S WEEKLY, _December 17, 1899_] + +Jonathan looked up at the round and brilliant globe of light floating +in the sky above his head, and wondered whether it were, indeed, +possible that all that had befallen him was a reality and not some +tremendous hallucination. Then suddenly arousing himself to a renewed +realization of that which had occurred, he turned and ran like one +possessed, up along the wharf, and so into the moonlit town once more. + + +VI + +_The Conclusion of the Adventure with the Lady with the Silver Veil_ + +Nor did he check his precipitous flight until suddenly, being led +perhaps by some strange influence of which he was not at all the +master, he discovered himself to be standing before the garden gate +where not more than an hour before he had first entered upon the +series of monstrous adventures that had led to such tremendous +conclusions. + +People were still passing and repassing, and one of these groups--a +party of young ladies and gentlemen--paused upon the opposite side of +the street to observe, with no small curiosity and amusement, his +dripping and bedraggled aspect. But only one thought and one intention +possessed our hero--to relieve himself as quickly as possible of that +trust which he had taken up so thoughtlessly, and with such monstrous +results to himself and to his victims. He ran to the gate of the +garden and began beating and kicking upon it with a vehemence that he +could neither master nor control. He was aware that the entire +neighborhood was becoming aroused, for he beheld lights moving and +loud voices of inquiry; yet he gave not the least thought to the +disturbance he was creating, but continued without intermission his +uproarious pounding upon the gate. + +At length, in answer to the sound of his vehement blows, the little +wicket was opened and a pair of eyes appeared thereat. The next +instant the gate was cast ajar very hastily, and the pock-pitted +negress appeared. She caught him by the sleeve of his coat and drew +him quickly into the garden. "Buckra, Buckra!" she cried. "What you +doing? You wake de whole town!" Then, observing his dripping garments: +"You been in de water. You catch de fever and shake till you die." + +"Thy mistress!" cried Jonathan, almost sobbing in the excess of his +emotion; "take me to her upon the instant, or I cannot answer for my +not going entirely mad!" + +When our hero was again introduced to the lady he found her clad in a +loose and elegant negligee, infinitely becoming to her graceful +figure, and still covered with the veil of silver gauze that had +before enveloped her. + +"Friend," he cried, vehemently, approaching her and holding out toward +her the little ivory ball, "take again this which thou gavest me! It +has brought death to three men, and I know not what terrible fate may +befall me if I keep it longer in my possession." + +"What is it you say?" cried she, in a piercing voice. "Did you say it +hath caused the death of three men? Quick! Tell me what has happened, +for I feel somehow a presage that you bring me news of safety and +release from all my dangers." + +"I know not what thou meanest!" cried Jonathan, still panting with +agitation. "But this I do know: that when I went away from thee I +departed an innocent man, and now I come back to thee burdened with +the weight of three lives, which, though innocent, I have been +instrumental in taking." + +"Explain!" exclaimed the lady, tapping the floor with her foot. +"Explain! explain! explain!" + +"That I will," cried Jonathan, "and as soon as I am able! When I left +thee and went out into the street I was accosted by a little gentleman +clad in black." + +"Indeed!" cried the lady. "And had he but one eye, and did he carry a +gold-headed cane?" + +"Exactly," said Jonathan; "and he claimed acquaintance with friend +Jeremiah Doolittle." + +"He never knew him!" cried the lady, vehemently; "and I must tell you +that he was a villain named Hunt, who at one time was the intimate +consort of the pirate Keitt. He it was who plunged a deadly knife into +his captain's bosom, and so murdered him in this very house. He +himself, or his agents, must have been watching my gate when you went +forth." + +"I know not how that may be," said Jonathan, "but he took me to his +apartment, and there, obtaining a knowledge of the trust thou didst +burden me with, he demanded it of me, and upon my refusing to deliver +it to him he presently fell to attacking me with a dagger. In my +efforts to protect my life I inadvertently caused him to plunge the +knife into his own bosom and to kill himself." + +"And what then?" cried the lady, who appeared well-nigh distracted +with her emotions. + +"Then," said Jonathan, "there came a strange man--a foreigner--who +upon his part assaulted me with a pistol, with every intention of +murdering me and thus obtaining possession of that same little +trifle." + +"And did he," exclaimed the lady, "have long, black mustachios, and +did he have silver earrings in his ears?" + +"Yes," said Jonathan, "he did." + +"That," cried the lady, "could have been none other than Captain +Keitt's Portuguese sailing master, who must have been spying upon +Hunt! Tell me what happened next!" + +"He would have taken my life," said Jonathan, "but in the struggle +that followed he shot himself accidentally with his own pistol, and +died at my very feet. I do not know what would have happened to me if +a sea captain had not come and proffered his assistance." + +"A sea captain!" she exclaimed; "and had he a flat face and a broken +nose?" + +"Indeed he had," replied Jonathan. + +"That," said the lady, "must have been Captain Keitt's pirate +partner--Captain Willitts, of _The Bloody Hand_. He was doubtless +spying upon the Portuguese." + +"He induced me," said Jonathan, "to carry the two bodies down to the +wharf. Having inveigled me there--where, I suppose, he thought no one +could interfere--he assaulted me, and endeavored to take the ivory +ball away from me. In my efforts to escape we both fell into the +water, and he, striking his head upon the edge of the wharf, was first +stunned and then drowned." + +"Thank God!" cried the lady, with a transport of fervor, and clasping +her jeweled hands together. "At last I am free of those who have +heretofore persecuted me and threatened my very life itself! You have +asked to behold my face; I will now show it to you! Heretofore I have +been obliged to keep it concealed lest, recognizing me, my enemies +should have slain me." As she spoke she drew aside her veil, and +disclosed to the vision of our hero a countenance of the most +extraordinary and striking beauty. Her luminous eyes were like those +of a Jawa, and set beneath exquisitely arched and penciled brows. Her +forehead was like lustrous ivory and her lips like rose leaves. Her +hair, which was as soft as the finest silk, was fastened up in masses +of ravishing abundance. "I am," said she, "the daughter of that +unfortunate Captain Keitt, who, though weak and a pirate, was not so +wicked, I would have you know, as he has been painted. He would, +doubtless, have been an honest man had he not been led astray by the +villain Hunt, who so nearly compassed your destruction. He returned to +this island before his death, and made me the sole heir of all that +great fortune which he had gathered--perhaps not by the most honest +means--in the waters of the Indian Ocean. But the greatest +treasure of all that fortune bequeathed to me was a single jewel which +you yourself have just now defended with a courage and a fidelity that +I cannot sufficiently extol. It is that priceless gem known as the +Ruby of Kishmoor. I will show it to you." + +[Illustration: "I AM THE DAUGHTER OF THAT UNFORTUNATE CAPTAIN KEITT"] + +Hereupon she took the little ivory ball in her hand, and, with a turn +of her beautiful wrists, unscrewed a lid so nicely and cunningly +adjusted that no eye could have detected where it was joined to the +parent globe. Within was a fleece of raw silk containing an object +which she presently displayed before the astonished gaze of our hero. +It was a red stone of about the bigness of a plover's egg, and which +glowed and flamed with such an exquisite and ruddy brilliancy as to +dazzle even Jonathan's inexperienced eyes. Indeed, he did not need to +be informed of the priceless value of the treasure, which he beheld in +the rosy palm extended toward him. How long he gazed at this +extraordinary jewel he knew not, but he was aroused from his +contemplation by the sound of the lady's voice addressing him. "The +three villains," said she, "who have this day met their deserts in a +violent and bloody death, had by an accident obtained knowledge that +this jewel was in my possession. Since then my life has hung upon a +thread, and every step that I have taken has been watched by these +enemies, the most cruel and relentless that it was ever the lot of any +unfortunate to possess. From the mortal dangers of their machinations +you have saved me, exhibiting a courage and a determination that +cannot be sufficiently applauded. In this you have earned my deepest +admiration and regard. I would rather," she cried, "intrust my life +and my happiness to you than into the keeping of any man whom I have +ever known! I cannot hope to reward you in such a way as to recompense +you for the perils into which my necessities have thrust you; but +yet"--and here she hesitated, as though seeking for words in which to +express herself--"but yet if you are willing to accept of this jewel, +and all of the fortune that belongs to me, together with the person +of poor Evaline Keitt herself, not only the stone and the wealth, but +the woman also, are yours to dispose of as you see fit!" + +Our hero was so struck aback at this unexpected turn that he knew not +upon the instant what reply to make. "Friend," said he, at last, "I +thank thee extremely for thy offer, and, though I would not be +ungracious, it is yet borne in upon me to testify to thee that as to +the stone itself and the fortune--of which thou speakest, and of which +I very well know the history--I have no inclination to receive either +the one or the other, both the fruits of theft, rapine, and murder. +The jewel I have myself beheld three times stained, as it were, with +the blood of my fellow man, so that it now has so little value in my +sight that I would not give a peppercorn to possess it. Indeed, there +is no inducement in the world that could persuade me to accept it, or +even to take it again into my hand. As to the rest of thy generous +offer, I have only to say that I am, four months hence, to be married +to a very comely young woman of Kensington, in Pennsylvania, by name +Martha Dobbs, and therefore I am not at all at liberty to consider my +inclinations in any other direction." + +Having so delivered himself, Jonathan bowed with such ease as his +stiff and awkward joints might command, and thereupon withdrew from +the presence of the charmer, who, with cheeks suffused with blushes +and with eyes averted, made no endeavor to detain him. + +So ended the only adventure of moment that ever happened him in all +his life. For thereafter he contented himself with such excitement as +his mercantile profession and his extremely peaceful existence might +afford. + + +_Epilogue_ + +In conclusion it may be said that when the worthy Jonathan Rugg was +married to Martha Dobbs, upon the following June, some mysterious +friend presented to the bride a rope of pearls of such considerable +value that when they were realized into money our hero was enabled to +enter into partnership with his former patron the worthy Jeremiah +Doolittle, and that, having made such a beginning, he by and by arose +to become, in his day, one of the leading merchants of his native town +of Philadelphia. + +[Illustration] + + +The End + + * * * * * + + +BOOKS BY + +HOWARD PYLE + + +HOWARD PYLE'S BOOK OF PIRATES +MEN OF IRON +A MODERN ALADDIN +PEPPER AND SALT +THE RUBY OF KISHMOOR +STOLEN TREASURE +THE WONDER CLOCK + + +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + +ESTABLISHED 1817 + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates, by Howard I. 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