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diff --git a/29047.txt b/29047.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54a2cd7 --- /dev/null +++ b/29047.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12432 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Captain Brand of the "Centipede", by H. A. +(Henry Augustus) Wise + + +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: Captain Brand of the "Centipede" + A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies: His Love and Exploits, Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner by Which He Departed This Life + + +Author: H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise + + + +Release Date: June 5, 2009 [eBook #29047] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN BRAND OF THE "CENTIPEDE"*** + + +E-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Katherine Ward, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from +digital material generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 29047-h.htm or 29047-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29047/29047-h/29047-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29047/29047-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/captainbrandofce00wiseuoft + + +Transcriber's note: + + A Table of Contents and List of Illustrations have been added. + + Text in italics is enclosed by _underscores_. + + Text in bold face is enclosed by =equal signs=. + + Specific changes to the text are listed at the end of the book. + + + + + +CAPTAIN BRAND, OF THE "CENTIPEDE." + +A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies: +His Loves and Exploits, + +Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner +by Which He Departed This Life. + +by + +HARRY GRINGO, +(H. A. WISE, U.S.N.), + +Author of "Los Gringos," "Tales for the Marines," and +"Scampavias." + + "Our God and sailors we alike adore, + In time of danger--not before; + The danger passed, both are alike requited: + God is forgotten, and the sailor slighted." + +With Illustrations. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN BRAND.] + + + +New York: +Harper & Brothers, Publishers, +Franklin Square. +1864. + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand +eight hundred and sixty-four, by +Harper & Brothers, +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District +of New York. + + + + +CONTENTS + CHAPTER PAGE + + Part I + I. Spreading the Strands 5 + II. Calm 7 + III. High Noon 15 + IV. Sunset 21 + V. Darkness 24 + VI. Danger 33 + VII. The Meeting and Mourning 42 + VIII. Captain Brand at Home 44 + IX. Captain and Mate 53 + X. An Old Spaniard with One Eye 61 + XI. Conversation in Pockets and Sleeves 69 + XII. Doctor and Priest 73 + XIII. A Manly Fandango 79 + XIV. A Pirates' Dinner 85 + XV. Drowning a Mother to Murder a Daughter 92 + XVI. Nuptials of the Girl with Dark Eyes 103 + XVII. Doom of Dona Lucia 112 + XVIII. End of the Banquet 119 + XIX. Fandango on One Leg 122 + XX. Business 133 + XXI. Treasure 138 + XXII. Pleasure 144 + XXIII. Work 150 + XXIV. Caught in a Net 154 + XXV. The Mouse that Gnawed the Net 160 + XXVI. The Hurricane 166 + XXVII. The Virgin Mary 168 + XXVIII. The Ark that Jack Built 173 + + Part II + XXIX. Laying Up the Strands 179 + XXX. Old Friends 186 + XXXI. The Commander of the "Rosalie" 193 + XXXII. A Splice Parted 198 + XXXIII. The Blue Pennant in the Cabin 201 + XXXIV. The Devil to Pay 203 + XXXV. And the Pitch Hot 208 + XXXVI. The Chase 214 + XXXVII. The Wreck of the "Centipede" 220 + XXXVIII. Vultures and Sharks 226 + XXXIX. Escondido 231 + XL. Paul Darcantel 236 + XLI. Instinct and Wonder 243 + XLII. Truth and Terror 247 + XLIII. Peace and Love 252 + XLIV. Snuff out of a Diamond Box 256 + XLV. Lilies and Sea-weed 262 + XLVI. Parting 266 + XLVII. Devotion 270 + XLVIII. All Alive Again 273 + XLIX. The Rope Laid Up 278 + L. On a Bed of Thorns 288 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + PAGE + Captain Brand Frontispiece + "When the Wind Comes from Good San Antonio" 12 + The Pirates Boarding the Brig 26 + The Night Chase 38 + The Pirate Den 47 + The "Panchita" 50 + "He Touched the Bell Overhead as He Spoke" 65 + A Pirates' Dinner 85 + The Pirate's Prey 94 + "A Supernatural Warning!" 116 + Shriving a Sinner 124 + "He Crept Forward on Hands and Knees" 141 + "A Dull, Heavy, Booming Roar" 156 + "See If You Can Not Slip That Pretty Silk Rope Over my + Head" 162 + Building the Boat 174 + The United States Frigate "Monongahela" 183 + "Queer Old Stick, That!" Said the Commodore 188 + And the Pitch Hot 208 + The Stern Chase 217 + "His Right Arm Poised with Clenched Hand Aloft," Etc. 256 + The Old Water-Logged Launch 280 + "Now Captain Brand Knew What Was Coming" 294 + + + + +PART I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SPREADING THE STRANDS. + + "Shout three times three, like Ocean's surges, + Join, brothers, join, the toast with me; + Here's to the wind of life, which urges + The ship with swelling waves o'er sea!" + + "Masters, I can not spin a yarn + Twice laid with words of silken stuff. + A fact's a fact; and ye may larn + The rights o' this, though wild and rough + My words may loom. 'Tis your consarn, + Not mine, to understand. Enough--" + + +It was in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and five, and in the +River Garonne, where a large, wholesome merchant brig lay placidly on +the broad and shining water. The fair city of Bordeaux, with its great +mass of yellow-tinted buildings, towers, and churches, rose from the +river's banks, and the din and bustle of the great mart came faintly to +the ear. The sails of the brig were loosed, the crew were hauling home +the sheets and hoisting the top-sails with the clear, hearty songs of +English sailors, while the anchor was under foot and the cable rubbing +with a taut strain against the vessel's bluff bows. At the gangway stood +a large, handsome seaman, bronzed by the sun and winds of about half a +century, dressed in a square-cut blue jacket and loose trowsers, talking +to the pilot--a brown little Frenchman, in coarse serge raiment and +large, clumsy sabots. The conversation between them was carried on +partly by signs, for, in answer to the pilot, the other threw his +stalwart arm aloft toward the folds of the spreading canvas, and nodded +his head. + +"_Fort bien! vite donc! mon Capitaine_," said the pilot; "the tide is on +the ebb; let us go. Up anchor!" + +"Ay, pilot!" replied the captain, pulling out his watch; "in ten +minutes. The ladies, you know, must have time to say 'good-by.' Isn't it +so, my pilot?" + +The gallant little Frenchman smiled in acquiescence, and, taking off his +glazed hat with the air of a courtier, said, "_Pardieu!_ certainly; why +not? Jean Marie would lose his pilotage rather than hurry a lady." + +Going aft to the raised cabin on the quarter-deck, the captain softly +opened the starboard door, and looking in, said, in a kindly tone, + +"It is time to part, my friends; the pilot says we are losing the +strength of the tide, so we must kiss and be off." + +Two lovely women were sitting, hand clasped in hand, on the sofa of the +transom. You saw they were sisters of nearly the same age, and a little +boy and girl tumbling about their knees showed they were mothers--young +mothers too, for the soft, full, rounded forms of womanhood, with the +flush of health and matronly pride tinged their cheeks, while masses of +dark hair banded over their smooth brows and tearful eyes told the story +at a glance. They rose together as the captain spoke. + +"_Adieu, chere Rosalie!_ we shall soon meet again, let us hope, never +more to part." + +"Adieu, Nathalie! adieu, dearest sister! adieu! adieu!" + +The loving arms were twined around each other in the last embrace; the +tears fell like gentle rain, but with smiles of hope and trustfulness +they parted. + +"Ay," said the sturdy skipper, as he stood with eyes brimful of moisture +regarding the sisters, "ay, trust me for bringing you together again. +Well do I remember when you were little wee things, when I brought you +to France after the earthquake in Jamaica; just like these little rogues +here"--and he laid his brawny hands on the heads of the children, who +clung to each other within the folds of their mothers' dresses; "but +never fear, my darlings," he went on, "you will meet happily again. Ay, +that you shall, if old Jacob Blunt be above land or water." + +A boat which was lying alongside the brig shoved off; the little boy, +who had been left on board, was held high above the rail in the arms +of a sturdy negro, while the mother stood beside him, waving her +handkerchief to the boat as it pulled rapidly away toward the shore. + +"Man the windlass, lads!" cried the captain. "Mister Binks, brace round +the head-yards, and up with the jib as soon as the anchor's a-weigh." + +The windlass clinked as the iron palls caught the strain of the cable, +the anchor was wrenched from its oozy bed, the vessel's head fell off, +and, gathering way, she moved quietly down the River Garonne. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CALM. + + "It ceased: yet still the sails made on + A pleasant noise till noon-- + A noise like that of a hidden brook + In the leafy month of June. + Till noon we quietly sailed on, + Yet never a breeze did breathe; + Slowly and smoothly went the ship, + Moved onward from beneath." + + +The great lumbering brig, with yards square, main-sail hauled up, and +the jib and trysail in the brails, lay listlessly rolling on the easy +swell of the water, giving a gentle send forward every minute or so, +when the sluggish sails would come with a thundering slap against the +masts, and the loose cordage would rattle like a drum-major's ratan on a +spree. The sea was one glassy mirror of undulations, shimmering out into +full blaze as the rising sun just threw its rays along the crest of the +ocean swell; and then, dipping down into the rolling mass, the hue would +change to a dark green, and, coming up again under the brig's black +counter, would swish out into a little shower of bubbles, and sparkle +again joyously. + +Away off in the distance lay the island of Jamaica--the early haze about +the mountain tops rising like a white lace veil from the deep valleys +below, with here and there a white dot of a cluster of buildings +gleaming out from the sombre land like the flicker of a heliotrope, and +at intervals the base of the coast bursting forth in a long, heavy +fringe of foam, as the lazy breakers chafed idly about the rocks of some +projecting headland. Nearer, too, were the dark succession of waving +blue lines in parallel bars and patches of the young land wind, tipping +the backs of the rollers in a fluttering ripple of cats'-paws, and then +wandering sportively away out to sea. + +On board the brig, forward, were three or four barefooted sailors, in +loose frocks and trowsers, moving lazily about the decks, drawing +buckets of water over the side and dashing it against the bulwarks, +while others were scrubbing and clearing up the vessel for the day. The +caboose, too, began to show signs of life, and a thin column of smoke +rose gracefully up in the calm morning air until it came within the +eddying influence of the sails and top-hamper, when a bit of roll would +puff it away in blue curls beyond. + +Abaft stood a low, squat-built sailor at the wheel, his striped Guernsey +cap hanging on one of the spokes, and his body leaning, half asleep, +over the barrel, which gave him a sharp twitch every now and then when +the sea caught the rudder on the wrong side. Near at hand, with an arm +around an after top-mast backstay, and head resting over the rail, was +the mate, Mr. Binks, with a spy-glass to his eye, through which he was +peering at the distant hills of Jamaica. Presently, as he was about to +withdraw the brass tube, and as the old brig yawed with her head +inshore, something appeared to arrest his attention; for, changing his +position, and climbing up to the break of the deck cabin, he steadied +himself by the shrouds, and rubbing his eye with the sleeve of his +shirt, he gave a long look through the glass, muttering to himself the +while. At last, having apparently made up his mind, he sang out to the +man at the wheel in this strain: + +"Ben, my lad, look alive; catch a turn with them halliards over the lee +wheel; and just take this 'ere glass and trip up to the fore-yard, and +see what ye make of that fellow, here away under the eastermost +headland." + +Ben, without more ado, secured the spokes of the wheel, clapped his cap +on his head, hitched up his trowsers, and, taking the glass from the +mate, rolled away up the fore-rigging. Meanwhile Mr. Binks walked +forward, stopping a moment at the caboose to take a tin pot of coffee +from the cook, and then, going on to the topsail-sheet bitts, he +carefully seated himself, and leisurely began to stir up the sugar in +his beverage with an iron spoon, making a little cymbal music with it on +the outside while he gulped it down. He had not been many minutes +occupied in this way when Ben hailed the deck from the fore-yard. + +"On deck there!" + +"Hallo!" ejaculated Mr. Binks. + +"I see that craft," cried Ben; "she's a fore and after, sails down, and +sweeping along the land. She hasn't got a breath of wind, sir." + +"Very well," said Mr. Binks, speaking into the tin pot with a sound like +a sheet-iron organ; "come down." + +As Ben wriggled himself off the fore-yard and caught hold of the futtock +shrouds to swing into the standing rigging, he suddenly paused, and +putting the glass again to his eye, he sang out: + +"I say, sir! here is a big chap away off on the other quarter, under +top-sails. There! Perhaps ye can see him from the deck, about a +handspike clear of the sun"--pointing with the spy-glass as he spoke in +the proper direction. + +"All right!" said the mate, as he began again the cymbal pot and spoon +music; "becalmed, ain't he?" + +"Yes, sir; not enough air to raise a hair on my old grandmother's wig!" +muttered Ben, as he slowly trotted down the rigging. + +The sun came up glowing like a ball of fire. The land wind died away +long before it fluttered far off from the island, and, saving the uneasy +clatter at times of the loose sails and running gear, all remained as +before. It was getting on toward eight o'clock, and while the cook was +dishing the breakfast mess for the crew beneath an awning forward of the +quarter-deck, the captain came up from his cabin below. The stalwart old +seaman stepped to the bulwarks, and, shading his eyes with his hand from +the glare, he took a broad glance over the water to seaward, nodded to +the mate, and said, in a cheerful voice, + +"Dull times, matey! No signs of a breeze yet, eh?" + +"No, captain," said Mr. Binks; "dead as ditch water; not been enough air +to lift a feather since you went below at four o'clock. But we have +sagged inshore by the current a few leagues during the night, and here's +old Jamaica plain in sight broad off the bow." + +"Well, it's not so bad after all, a forty-four days' passage--so I'll +tell my Lady Bird passenger." + +Going to the latticed door of the deck cabin, the jolly skipper threw it +wide open, clapped his hands together thrice, and then, placing them to +his mouth like a speaking-trumpet, he bellowed out, in a deep, low +roar, + +"Heave out there, all hands! Heave out, Lady Bird and baby! Land ho!" + +There came a joyous note from a soft womanly voice within a screen drawn +across the after cabin, mingled with a little cooing grunt from a child, +and presently an inner door swung back, and the sweetest little tot of a +boy came tumbling out into the open space, and sprang at once into the +captain's arms. The little fellow buried his brown curly head into the +old skipper's whiskers, and then, kicking up his fat naked legs, he +laughed and chattered like a magpie. + +"Aha! you young scamp, this small nose smells the oranges and cinnamon, +eh? And dear lazy mamma shuts her pretty eyes, and won't look for papa, +and so near home, too!" + +Here Madame Rosalie's low sweet voice trilled out merrily in a slightly +foreign accent, while the contralto tones vibrated on the ear like the +note of a harp. + +"Ah! _bon capitaine_, how could you deceive me? Still, I forgive you for +telling me last night that we were so far from Kingston. When you know, +too," she went on in her Creole accent, "how I love and want to see my +dear husband these last four years, since you carried him away in your +good big ship. But never mind, my good friend, I shall pay you off one +of these days; and now send, please, for Banou to dress his little +boy." + +Scarcely had the worthy skipper reached a bell-rope near at hand, and +given it one jerk, than the cabin door opened, and in stepped a brawny +black, whose bare woolly head and white teeth and eyes glittered with +delight. There was that about his face which indicated intelligence, +courage, devotion, and humanity--those indescribable marks of expression +which Nature sometimes stamps in unmistakable lines on the skin, whether +it be white or black. He was below the middle height, but the large head +was set with a great swelling throat on the shoulders of a Titan. His +loose white and red striped shirt was thrown well back over his black +and broad chest; and putting out a pair of muscular arms that seemed as +massive and heavy as lignum vitae, the boy jumped from the captain to +meet them; and then sticking his little soft legs down the slack of +Banou's shirt, he ran his rosy fingers in his wool, and shouted with +glee. + +"Oho!" said the black, as he passed his huge arms around the little +fellow, and smoothed down his scanty night-dress as if it were the +plumage of a bird, "oho! little Master Henri loves his Banou, eh? Good, +he take bath." + +Bearing his charge out upon the quarter-deck beneath the awning, he +pulled a large tub from under a boat turned upside down over the deck +cabin; and then, while the young monkey had scrambled round to his back, +and was beating a tattoo with his tiny fists on his shoulders, Banou +caught up a bucket and proceeded to draw water from over the side, which +he dashed into the tub. When he had nearly filled the tub he felt around +with his black paws as delicately as if he was about to seize a +musquito, and, clutching the kicking legs with one hand, he spun the +little fellow a somersault over his head, and skinning off at the same +time his diminutive frock, plunged him into the sparkling brine, singing +the while in a laughing chant: + + "Dis is the way strong Banou catch him, + First he strip and den he 'plash him; + Henri he jump and 'cream for his moder, + But Banou lub him more dan his broder!" + +Here the brawny nurse would souse him head over heels in the sparkling +water, lift him up at every dip, rub his black nose all over him, making +mock bites at the little legs and stomach; and, finally, holding him +aloft, dripping, laughing, and struggling, go on with his refrain: + + "What will papa say when he sees him, + Picaninny boy dat is sure to please him? + Big Banou he rub and dress him, + But little Henri he kick and pinch him!" + +All this time the men seated forward on the deck, pegging away deep into +their mess-kids, would pause occasionally, shake their great tarry +fingers at the imp, and chuckle pleasantly with their mouths full of +lobscouse, as if the urchin belonged to them as individual property. + +"What a tidy little chap he'll make some of these days," said Ben, +"a-furlin' the light sails in a squall! My eye! wouldn't I like to live +and see him!" + +"No, no, messmates," replied that worthy, as he crunched a biscuit and +took a sip of coffee out of the pot, "that 'ere child will, some of +these times, when he's growed a bit, be a-wearing gold swabs on his +shoulders, and a-givin' his orders like a hadmiral of a fleet!" + +"Quite right, my hearty! It'll never do for sich a knowin' little chub +to spend his days along shore a-bilin' sugar-cane on a plantation, and +a-footin' up accounts; for, ye mind, he was like the chip as was + + "'Born at sea, and his cradle a frigate, + The boatswain he nursed him true blue; + He'll soon learn to fight, drink, and jig it, + And quiz every soul of the crew!'" + +While these old salts were thus carving out a destiny for the youngster, +the black gave him a final souse in the tub, and then holding him up to +drain, as it were, for the last time, exclaimed, while his face lighted +up with pleasure, + +"Oho, my little massa! what will papa say to-morrow when he sees his +brave Henri?" + +"Ah! how happy he will be, Banou!" said the lovely mother, who had just +come on deck, as she kissed the mouth of the young scamp, while the +black wrapped and dried his little naked body in a large towel. + +"Ah! yes, my mistress, we all will be happy once more to get home to +master on the plantation." + +"Tell me! tell me, good _capitaine_," said she, turning in a pretty +coquettish way to the skipper, "when shall we get in port?" + +It was a sight to see her, in the loose white morning-gown folded in +plaits about the swelling bosom, her slender waist clasped by a flowing +blue sash, the dark brown satin bands of her hair confined by a large +gold filigree pin, and half concealed by a jaunty little French cap, +with the ribbons floating about her pear-shaped ears; and while her +soft, dark hazel eyes were bent eagerly toward the solid old skipper, +her round, rosy, dimpled fingers clasped a miniature locket fastened by +a massive linked gold chain around her neck. Ah! she was a sight to see +and love! + +"Tell me, _mon cher Capitaine_ Blunt, how many hours or minutes will it +be before I shall behold my husband?" + +The good-natured skipper laughed pleasantly at the eagerness of his +beautiful passenger, and opening his hands wide, he gave vent to a long, +low whistle, and replied, + +"When the wind comes from good San Antonio, my Lady Bird--when the +sea-breeze makes--then the old brig will reel off the knots! But see! +just now not a breath to keep a tropic bird's wings out. There, look at +that fellow!" + +High up in the heavens, two or three men-of-war birds, with wide-spread +pointed wings, and their swallow tails cut as sharp as knife-blades, +were heading seaward, and every little while falling in a rapid sidelong +plunge, as if in a vacuum, and then again giving an almost imperceptible +dash with their pinions as they recovered the lost space and continued +on in their silent flight. + +"That's a sure sign, Madame Rosalie," continued the skipper, "that the +trade wind has blown itself out, and the chances are that this hot sun +will drink up the flying clouds, and leave us in a dead calm till the +moon quarters to-night. What say you, Mr. Binks? am I right?" + +"Never know'd you to be wrong, sir," said the mate, with an honest +intonation of voice, as he tried to stare the sun out of countenance in +following the captain's glance. + +"_Helas!_" said the young mother, with a little sigh of sadness, as she +stood peering over the lee rail to the green hills and slopes of the +island, standing boldly out now with the lofty blue mountains cutting +the sky ten thousand feet in mid-heaven; "so near, too; and he is +thinking and waiting for us!" + +"Come," exclaimed the skipper, heartily, "the youngster wants his +breakfast!" + +[Illustration: "WHEN THE WIND COMES FROM GOOD SAN ANTONIO, MY LADY +BIRD--"] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HIGH NOON. + + "No life is in the air, but in the waters + Are creatures huge, and terrible, and strong; + The swordfish and the shark pursue their slaughters; + War universal reigns these depths along. + The lovely purple of the noon's bestowing + Has vanished from the waters, where it flung + A royal color, such as gems are throwing + Tyrian or regal garniture among." + + +High noon! Still the stanch old brig bowed and dipped her bluff bows +into the long, easy swell of the tropics; the round, flat counter sent +the briny bubbles sparkling away in the glare of the noontide sun; the +sails flapped and chafed against the spars and rigging, while the crew +sheltered themselves beneath the awnings, and dozed on peacefully. + +Off to seaward a few dead trade-clouds showed their white bulging cheeks +along the horizon, and occasionally a fluttering blue patch of a breeze +would skim furtively over the backs of the rollers; but long before they +reached the brig they had expended their force, and expired in the +boundless calm. + +Not so, however, with the large sail that had been seen from the brig in +the early morning. For, with a lofty spread of kites and a studding-sail +or two, she at times caught a flirting puff of air, and when the sun had +passed the zenith she had approached within half a mile or less of the +brig. There was no mistaking the stranger's character. Her taunt, trim +masts, square yards, and clear, delicate black tracery of rigging, +shadowed by a wide spread of snow-white canvas over the low, dark +hull--which at every roll in the gentle undulations exposed a row of +ports with a glance of white inner bulwarks--while the brass stars of +her battery reflected sparks of fire from the blazing rays of the sun, +showed she was a man-of-war. + +"She's one of our cruisers, I think, sir," said the mate, as he handed +the spy-glass to the captain; "but Ben here believes contrariwise, and +says she is a French corvette." + +"Have to try again, Mr. Binks; for, to my mind, she's an out-and-out +Yankee sloop-of-war. Ay! there goes his colors up to the gaff! so up +with our ensign, or else he'll be burning some powder for us." + +Even while they were speaking a flag went rapidly up in a roll to the +corvette's peak, when, shaking itself clear, it lay white and red, with +a galaxy of white stars in a blue union, on the lee side of the spanker; +while at the same instant a long, thin, coach-whip of a pennant unspun +itself from the main truck, and hung motionless in the calm down the +mast. Her decks were full of men, standing in groups under the shade of +the sails to leeward; and on the poop were three or four officers in +uniform and straw hats. One of these last stood for some time gazing at +the brig--one hand resting on the ratlines of the mizzen shrouds, and +the other slowly swinging a trumpet backward and forward. Presently an +officer with a pair of gleaming epaulets on his shoulders mounted the +poop ladder, touched his hat, and waved his hand toward the brig. A +moment after-- + +"Brig ahoy!" came in a sharp, clear, manly tone through the trumpet. + +"Sir?" + +"What brig is that?" + +"The 'Martha Blunt!' named after my dear old wife, God bless her! and +myself, Jacob Blunt, God bless me!" added the jolly skipper, in a sotto +voce chuckle to the fair passenger who stood beside him. + +"Where are you from, and where bound?" came again through the trumpet. + +"Bordeaux, and bound to Kingston. We have a free passport from Sir +Robert Calder and Admiral Villeneuve." + +There was a wave of the trumpet as the speaker finished hailing, and +then touching his hat to the officer with the gold swabs, and pausing +only a moment, he moved to the other side of the corvette's poop. + +"It would be no more nor polite in him to tell us what his name is, +arter all the questions he's axed." + +"Don't ye know, Mr. Binks," broke in the captain, "that the dignity of a +man-of-war is sich that it wouldn't be discreet to tell no more than +that she has a cargo of cannon balls, and going on a cruise any wheres? +which ye may believe is as much valuable information as we might get out +of our own calabashes without asking a question." + +"You are allers right, Captain Blunt, but I did not tax my mind to think +when I spoke them remarks," said Binks, deferentially. + +The cruiser, however, seemed more communicative than the mate gave her +credit for, and a moment after the officer with the trumpet sang out, + +"This is the United States ship 'Scourge,' from Port Royal, bound on a +cruise! Please report us." + +And again, after a few words apparently with the officer with the +epaulets, the trumpet was raised to his lips, and he asked, "Have you +seen any vessels lately?" + +The skipper was on the point of answering the hail, when his mate said, +"Beg pardon, Captain Blunt, but Ben and me made out a fore-and-aft +schooner airly this morning, with sweeps out, pulling in under the +outermost headland there," pointing with his horny finger as he spoke. + +"Nothing, sir, but a small schooner at daylight sweeping to windward." + +"What?" came back in a clear, quick note from the corvette. + +"Small fore-and-after, sir, with sails down and sweeps out, close under +the land." + +In a moment two or three officers on the cruiser's deck put their heads +together, several glasses were directed toward the now dim mirage-like +shadow of the island, and the next instant the sharp ring of a +boatswain's whistle was heard, followed by a gruff call of, "Away there! +Ariels, away!" + +Immediately a cluster of sailors, in white frocks and trowsers and straw +hats, sprang over the ship's quarter to the davits; and then with a +chirruping, surging pipe, a boat fell rapidly to the water. The falls +were cast off, the cutter hauled up to the gangway, and soon an officer +stepped over the side and tripped down to the boat. The white blades of +the oars stood up on end in a double line, the boat pushed off, the oars +fell with a single splash, and she steered for the brig. Descending down +into the gentle valley of the long swell, she would disappear for an +instant, till nothing but the white hats and feather blades of the oars +were visible; and again rising on the crest, the water flashed off in +foam from her bows as she came dancing on. + +In a few minutes the coxswain cried, "Way enough," and throwing up his +hand with the word "Toss," the cutter shot swiftly alongside; the +boat-hooks of the bowmen brought her up with a sudden jar, and the next +moment an officer with an epaulet on his right shoulder and a sword by +his side stepped over the gangway. The skipper was there to receive him, +to whom he touched his cap with his fore finger; but as his eye glanced +aft he saw a lady, and he gracefully removed his cap and bowed like a +gentleman to her. He was a man of about eight-and-twenty, with a fine, +manly, sailor-like figure and air, and with a pair of bright, determined +gray eyes in his head that a rascal would not care to look into twice. + +"I am the first lieutenant of the 'Scourge,' sir," he said, turning to +the skipper, "and if you will step this way, I'll have a few words with +you." + +This was said in a careless tone of command, but withal with frankness +and civility. The captain led him aft toward the taffrail, but in +crossing the deck the little tot of a boy followed closely in his wake, +and getting hold of the officer's sword, which trailed along by its +belt-straps on the deck, he got astride of it, and seized on to the +coat-skirts of the wearer. The little tug he gave caused the officer to +turn round, and with a cheerful smile and manner he snatched the urchin +up in his arms, kissed him on both cheeks, and as he put him down again +and detached his sword for him to play with, he exclaimed, + +"What a glorious little reefer you'll make one of these days! Won't +you?" + +"_Oui! oui! mon papa!_" said the little scamp, as he looked knowingly up +in the officer's face. + +"Excuse my little boy, sir," said his mother, who was in chase of him; +and then turning to the child with a blush spreading over her lovely +face, "It is not your papa, Henri! papa is in Kingston." + +"Ah! madame, I love children. I had once a dear little fellow like this, +but both he and his sweet mother are in heaven now. God bless them!" + +A flush of sadness tinged his cheeks, and he passed his hand rapidly +across his eyes, as if the dream was too sad to dwell upon; but changing +his tone, and while with one hand he patted the little fellow's head, he +went on: "Madame lives in Jamaica?" + +"Oh yes; I was born there, but my parents were destroyed by an +earthquake when I was quite a little child, and this good captain here +carried my sister and myself to France soon after, where Monsieur--" +here she hesitated and blushed with pleasure--"where I married my +husband, who is a planter on the island. Perhaps you may know Monsieur +Jules Piron?" + +"Piron!" said the navy man, with warmth. "Ay, madame, for as fine a +fellow as ever planted sugar! Know him? Why, madame, it is only a week +ago that a lot of us dined with him at his estate of Escondido; you know +it, madame? in the grand piazza which looks down the gorge. But he +behaved very shabbily," said the officer, as his face lighted up gayly, +"for he kept a spy-glass to his eye oftener than the wine-glass to his +lips, in looking out seaward, and in talking of his wife and the little +boy he had never seen." + +"Oh, monsieur! you make me so happy," said the lovely woman, as with +sparkling eyes and heaving bosom she cried, "Banou! Banou! this +gentleman has just seen your good master." + +The black, who had been standing near and guarding every movement of his +little charge, who was trailing the sword about the deck, immediately +approached the officer, and, falling on his knees, seized his hand and +drew it toward his face. + +"Ah! madame, I see that kindness meets with a return as well from a dark +as a fair skin," said the officer, in a low tone, as he gently withdrew +his hand from Banou's grasp. + +"But," he continued, turning toward the skipper, as the clear sound of +the cruiser's bell struck his ear, "I must not forget what I came for." + +"You say, captain, that you saw a schooner at daylight, eh? This way, if +you please"--as he raised his cap to Madame Piron and walked over to the +other side of the deck. "What was she like?" + +"She was reported to me by the mate," replied Jacob Blunt. + +"Please send for him." + +"Oh! Mr.--a'--" + +"Binks, sir," said that individual, touching his hat and making an +awkward scrape at a bow. + +"Well, Mr. Binks, did you clearly make out the vessel you saw this +morning under the land?" + +"Can't say exactly, sir, as I did; but Ben Brown there was on the +fore-yard, and he got a good squint at her." + +"Ah! can I see the man?" + +The mate straightway went forward, and, after a few pokes about the lee +waist, Ben was roused out from under the jolly-boat and came rolling +aft. + +"_You_ saw the schooner, eh?" said the lieutenant, as if he was in the +habit of asking sharp questions and getting quick answers. + +"Yes, sir," said the squat seaman, as he hitched up his knife-belt, and +wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and took off his cap. + +"Where?" + +"Here away, sir," with a wave of his paw, "just clear of that bluff +foreland where the gap opens with the Blue Mountain." + +"How was she rigged?" + +"Bare sticks, sir, not much of a bowsprit, and no sail spread. I see her +first by the flash of her sweeps in the rising sun, as she was heading +about sou'-sou'-east into the land." + +"Two masts, you say?" + +"Ay, sir; but I thought as 'ow there was a jigger-like yard a-sticking +out over her starn, though I wasn't sartin." + +"So!" said the lieutenant, in a musing tone, and with rather a grave +face and compressed lip; "that will do; thank you, my man." Then placing +his hand on the skipper's shoulder, he drew him to one side, out of +ear-shot, and said, + +"Captain Blunt, are you much acquainted in these latitudes?" + +"Oh yes, sir, me and my old brig are regular traders here, from Bordeaux +to Jamaica, and so home to England." + +"No treasure, I presume?" went on the officer, with a smile. + +"Why, lieutenant, none to speak of, p'raps; just a handful of dollars +and a guinea or two in the bag for a few sacks of sugar or coffee, or a +pipe of rum, or sich like, on my own account." + +"Well, my friend, there is probably nothing to fear, but if the breeze +springs up, keep as close to the corvette as you can, and I shall ask +the captain to keep a look-out for you during the night." + +"By the way"--the officer continued in a low tone as he moved toward the +gangway--"in case any thing should happen, you had better hoist a +lantern at your peak or in the main-rigging--we have sharp eyes for ugly +customers, and one or two of them have been particularly troublesome of +late hereabouts." + +Turning for a moment to bid adieu to the fair lady passenger on the +quarter-deck, and recovering his sword after a playful struggle with the +youngster, he buckled it around his waist, and, stepping lightly over +the side and into the boat, the oars fell with a single splash, and the +cutter shot rapidly away toward the corvette. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SUNSET. + + "Light is amid the gloomy canvas spreading, + The moon is whitening the dusky sails, + From the thick bank of clouds she masters, shedding + The softest influence that o'er night prevails. + Pale is she, like a young queen pale with splendor, + Haunted with passionate thoughts too fond, too deep; + The very glory that she wears is tender, + The very eyes that watch her beauty fain would weep." + + +Not a breath from the lungs of Aeolus. The sun went down like a globe of +fire; but just as it touched the horizon it flattened out into an oval +disk, and, sinking behind a dead, slate-colored cloud, shot up half a +dozen broad rose and purple bands, expanding as they mounted heavenward, +and then fading away in pearly-tinted hues in the softening twilight +until it mingled in the light of the half moon nearly at the zenith. +There lay the island, too, now all clear again, with the blue tops of +the mountains marked in pure distinct outline, and falling away from +peak to peak on either hand, till the sea flashed up in sluggish creamy +foam at the base. The man-of-war birds came floating in from seaward, +high up, like black musquitoes, with their pointed wings wide spread and +heading toward the land, but now with never a quiver to their silent +pinions. A school of porpoises, too, broke water from the opposite +direction, and, crossing and recrossing each other's track, came leaping +and puffing over the gentle swells until they struck the brig's wake, +when they wheeled around her bows, dashed off on a swift visit to the +corvette, and then, closing up in watery phalanx, went gamboling, +leaping, and breaking water again to windward. Presently, along the +eastern horizon, the banks of clouds, which had been lying dead and +motionless all the sultry day, seemed to be imbued with life, and, +separating in their fleecy masses, mounted up above the sea, and soon +spread out, like a lady's fan, in all directions. + +"Ho! ho!" shouted Captain Blunt, clapping his hands, "what said I, +Madame Rosalie, when we saw the sun setting up his lee backstays a while +ago? A breeze, eh? Come, Mr. Binks, be wide awake! We shall be bowling +off the knots before the watch is out." + +The mate caught the enthusiasm of the skipper, and, jumping up on the +break of the deck cabin, he sang out, + +"D'ye hear there, lads? give us a good pull of the top-sail halliards, +and round in them starboard braces a bit! That's your sort! Well, the +head-yards! That'll do with the main! Up with the flying jib, and trim +aft them starboard jib and staysail sheets! There! Belay all." + +Meanwhile the corvette, with her lofty dimity kissing the sky, caught +the first light airs before the slightest ripple darkened the surface of +the water; and with her helm a-starboard, and her after-yards braced +sharp up, she silently swung round on her heel, while the spanker came +flat aft, like a sheet of white paper, and with the head-sails trimmed, +she slowly moved athwart the stern of the brig. The sharp whistles of +the boatswain and his mates, piping like goldfinches, were the only +sounds that were heard; and as the cruiser moved on in her course, the +declining moon cast a mellow light over the folds of her canvas, and, +like a girl in bridal attire, she threw a graceful shadow over the +smooth and swelling waters away off to windward. + +The sails of the brig, which had begun to swell out in easy drooping +lines, fell back again flat to the masts as the ship crossed her wake. +But as the corvette passed, the officer of the watch on the poop raised +his cap to the lovely woman who was standing out in graceful relief on +the upper cabin deck, with her little boy held up beside her in the +sturdy arms of the black, and placing the trumpet to his lips, said, in +a distinct voice, as if addressing the skipper, + +"We shall go about at midnight. Remember the directions I gave you this +morning. _Bon voyage, madame!_" He shook his trumpet playfully at the +boy, who put out his chubby arms with delight to the speaker, and then +hammered away with great glee on the crown of his bearer's head. + +"Thank you, sir," said Captain Blunt, who was leaning over the rail; and +then turning to his mate, he added, + +"Them Yankees, Mr. Binks, always treats a merchantman like gentlemen on +the high seas, and I never knew one on 'em to turn their backs on +friends or foes. What a pity they ever cut adrift from the Old Country! +Howsoever, matey, it can't be helped, and you had better up with the +port studding-sails, hang out all the rags, and make the old drogher +walk." + +Now came the rippling breeze all at once over the sea, fluttering +furtively for a minute or two, so as to make the top-sails of the brig +swell out and then fall back in a tremulous shiver; but again bulging +forward in a full-breasted curve, the vessel felt the tug, and began to +dash the spray from her bluff bows till it fell away beyond the lee +cathead in flying masses of foam. The studding-sail booms rolled out, +the sailors busied themselves aloft in making the additional sail, and +by-and-by the old brig floundered along, the bubbles gurgling out ahead +in the ruffled water, tipping over astern as the crests broke on her +quarter; at times plunging her bows into the rolling swell, but coming +up sturdily again, and so on as before. + +Meanwhile the corvette had edged away in a parallel course with the +brig, running past her at first as if she were at anchor, when she let +her topgallant-sails slide down to the caps, and, with the weather clew +of her main-sail triced up, she held way with the brig a mile or more to +windward. + +The moon was sinking well down in the west, and the clear, well-defined +crescent was occasionally obscured by the light fleecy clouds moving +under the influence of the trade wind, when, toward eight bells, the +moon gave one pure white glimmer, threw a rippling flood of light over +the waves, and sunk below the horizon. Still the stars twinkled and the +planets flamed out like young moons--masked at intervals by the +darkening clouds as they swept overhead in heavy masses--and tinging the +sea with shade, which would again break out in phosphorescent flashes as +the waves caught the reflection. + +"Now, Madame Rosalie," said the kind old skipper, "it is nearly +midnight; take your last snooze in the old barky, and wake up bright and +happy for Port Royal and--you know who, in the morning." + +The charming woman had been watching, with soul-rapt gaze, the lofty +hills of Jamaica from the last blaze of the setting sun, and until the +moon too had vanished and left only a dim blue haze over the island. She +started as the captain spoke, gave a deep sigh, kissed her hand to the +good old skipper, said "_Bon soir, mon ami_," and with a smile she +entered her cabin. + +The black was seated within the partition of the apartment, near a small +swinging cot, urging it gently to and fro, and watching over his little +charge. + +"Good-night, Banou," she said, in patois French; "you may go to bed, and +I will take care of my little boy." + +The black grinned so as to show his double range of white teeth beneath +the rays of the cabin lamp, and without a word he moved silently away. +The lady stood for a few moments gazing lovingly at the sleeping child, +and then drawing the miniature from her bosom, she detached it with the +chain from her neck, and after pressing it to her lips, she leaned +softly over the cot and fastened it around the little sleeper. As light +and zephyr-like as was the effort, it caused the little fellow to stir, +and reaching out his tiny arms, while a baby smile played around the +dimples of his cheeks, he clasped his mother's neck. + +Ah! fond and devoted mother! That was the last sweet infantile caress +your child was ever destined to give you! Treasure it up in joy and +sorrow, in sunshine and gloom, for long, long years will pass before you +press him to your heart again! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +DARKNESS. + + "The busy deck is hushed, no sounds are waking + But the watch pacing silently and slow; + The waves against the sides incessant breaking, + And rope and canvas swaying to and fro. + The topmost sail, it seems like some dim pinnacle + Cresting a shadowy tower amid the air; + While red and fitful gleams come from the binnacle, + The only light on board to guide us--where?" + + +On went the "Martha Blunt" with no fears of danger near. The bell struck +eight, the watch had been called, and the captain, taking a satisfactory +look all around the horizon, glanced at the compass, and, with a slight +yawn, said, + +"Well, Mr. Binks, I believe I'll turn in for a few hours; keep the brig +on her course, and at daylight call me. It will be time enough then to +bend the cables, for I don't think we shall want the anchors much afore +noon to-morrow. Where's the corvette?" + +"There she is, sir, away off on the port beam. She made more sail a few +minutes ago, and now she appears to be edging off the wind, and steering +across our forefoot. I s'pose she's enjoying of herself, sir, and +exercisin' the crowds of chaps they has on board them craft." + +"Well, good-night, matey"--pausing a moment, however, as the honest old +skipper stepped down the companion-way, and half communing with himself, +and then, with his head just above the slide, he added, "I say, Mr. +Binks, there's no need, p'r'aps, but you may as well have a lantern +alight and bent on to the ensign halliards there under the taffrail, in +case you want to signalize the corvette. Ah, Banou! that you, old +nigger? Good-night!" + +So Captain Blunt went slowly down below, and at the same time the black +went aft, coiled himself down on the deck, and made a pillow of the +brig's ensign. + +Mr. Binks wriggled himself upon the weather rail, where, with a short +pipe in his mouth, he kicked his heels against the bulwarks, and while +the old brig plunged doggedly on, he indulged himself with a song, the +air, however, being more like the growl of a bull-dog than a specimen of +music: + + "If lubberly landsmen, to gratitude strangers, + Still curse their unfortunate stars; + Why, what would they say did they try but the dangers + Encounter'd by true-hearted tars? + If life's vessel they put 'fore the wind, or they tack her, + Or whether bound here or there, + Give 'em sea-room, good-fellowship, grog, and tobaker, + Well, then, damme if Jack cares where!" + +"What d'ye think of that, Ben?" said Mr. Binks, as he finished his +ditty, and sucked away on his pipe. + +"Why, Mr. Mate," replied Ben, as he gave the wheel a spoke or two to +windward and glanced at the binnacle, "the words is first-rate, but it +seems to me your singing gear is a bit out o' condition, and I thought +you wos a prayin'; but the fact is," concluded Ben, apologetically, +"that whenever I hears grog and tobaker jined together, I likes to see +them in my fist." + +"Oh! you would, eh? Well, shipmate, turn and turn about is fair play; so +here, just take a pull at the pipe, and I'll step to the cuddy for the +bottle, and we'll have a little sniffler all around!" + +Saying this, Mr. Binks swung off the rail, handed Ben the pipe, and +after an absence of a few moments, he returned with a square case-bottle +and a pewter mug. + +"Now, Ben," said he, "this 'ere is not a practice, as you know, I often +is guilty of; but you bein' a keerful hand and a stiddy helmsman, and +port here close aboard, I've no objections to take a toss with ye." Then +pouring out a moderate quantity of the fluid, the mate handed it to Ben, +who, taking the pipe out of his mouth, and with one hand on the +king-spoke of the wheel and one eye at the compass-card, threw his head +back and pitched the dram down his throat. + +"My sarvice to ye, sir!" said Ben, as he smacked his lips and then shut +them tight together, fearful lest a breath of the precious liquid might +escape; "a little of that stuff goes a great ways." + +Mr. Binks hereupon measured himself off an allowance, and touching Ben +on the shoulder, raised the pewter to his lips. Before, however, +draining the cup, he tuned his pipes once more, and croaked forth in +this strain: + + "While up the shrouds the sailor goes, + Or ventures on the yard, + The landsman, who no better knows, + Believes his lot is hard. + But Jack with smiles each danger meets; + Casts anchor, heaves the log, + Trims all the sails, belays the sheets, + And drink his can of grog!" + +"Here comes the corvette, sir!" broke in Ben, as he stood on tiptoe, +holding on to the spokes of the wheel, and taking his eyes off the +binnacle a moment to get a clear view over the rail. "Here she comes, +with her starboard tacks aboard, athwart our bow, and moving like an +albatross!" + +The man-of-war had for an hour or more crept well to windward, and then, +wearing round, she came down close upon the wind under royals, and her +three jibs and spanker as flat as boards. As she whirled on across the +brig's bow, a few cables' length ahead, the sharp ring of the whistles +was again heard, and the moment after the head-sails fluttered and shook +in the wind, the sheets and blocks rattled, and with a clear order of +"Main-sail haul!" the after-yards swung round like magic, the sails +filled, and without losing headway the head-yards were swung, and she +gathered way on the other tack. On she came, with the spray flying up +into the weather leech of her fore-sail, the dark mazes of her rigging +marked out in clear lines against her white canvas, and the watch +noiselessly coiling up the ropes on her decks. As she pushed her sharp +snout through the water, and grazed along the brig's lee quarter, an +officer on the poop gave a rapid and searching glance around, peered +sharply along the brig's deck, waved his trumpet to the mate, and +resumed his rapid tramp to windward. In ten minutes after she had passed +the brig's wake nothing was seen of her save a dark, dim outline; a +light halo reflected on the water from her white streak, and an +occasional luminous flash of foam as it bounded away from her lean +bows. + +Half an hour went by. The mate was sitting on the weather rail droning +out an old sea-song to himself, and the four or five men of the watch +were dozing away along the bulwarks. Presently, however, Ben, the +helmsman, happened to let his eyes wander away from the compass-card for +a moment, as he steadied the wheel by his legs and bit a quid from his +plug of niggerhead to last him to suck for the remainder of the watch, +when, glancing beneath the bulging folds of the lee clew of the +main-sail, he clapped both hands again on the steering spokes, and +shouted, + +"Mr. Mate, here's a sail close under our lee beam!" + +"Where?" said Binks. But, before he had fairly time to run over to the +other side of the vessel and take a look for himself, a quick rattle of +oars was heard as a boat grated against the brig's side, and, before you +could think, a swarm of fellows started up like so many shadows above +the rail. In five seconds they had jumped on the deck, Ben fell like a +bullock from a blow from the butt-end of a pistol, the helm was jammed +hard down, the lee braces let fly, and, as the old brig gave a lurching +yaw in bringing her nose to windward, the weather leeches shivered +violently in the wind, and, taking flat aback, the studding-sail booms +snapped short off at the irons, and, with the sails, fell slamming and +thumping below. + +[Illustration: THE PIRATES BOARDING THE BRIG.] + +Meanwhile the mate had barely time to spring to the companion-way and +sing out, "We're boarded by pirates, Captain Blunt!" when he, too, +received an ugly overhand lick from a cutlass on his skull, and went +senseless and bleeding down the hatchway like a scuttle of coals. + +At the first noise, however, the black Banou sprang to his feet, and, as +he caught a glimpse of the fellows swarming over the side, he snatched +hold of the ensign halliards where the signal lantern had been bent on, +and in an instant it was dancing away up to the gaff, shrouded from view +to leeward of the vessel by the spread of the spanker. In another moment +the black leaped to the deck cabin and darted through the door. But in +less time than it has taken to tell it, the "Martha Blunt" had changed +hands. + +There, on the quarter-deck, stood in groups some sixteen barefooted +villains, in coarse striped gingham shirts, loose trowsers, and +skull-caps, and all with glittering, naked knives or cutlasses, and +pistols in their belts and hands. In the midst of this cluster of +swarthy wretches, near the companion-way, stood a burly, square-built +ruffian, with a pistol in his right hand, and his dexter paw pushing up +a brown straw hat as he ran his fingers across his dripping forehead and +a tangled mass of carroty, unshorn locks. There was a wisp of a red silk +kerchief tied in a single knot around his bare bull neck; the shirt was +thrown back, and exposed a tawny, hairy chest, as a ray of light flashed +up from the binnacle. He looked--as indeed he was--the lowest type of a +sailor scoundrel. His companions were of lighter build, and their dress, +complexion, and manner--to say nothing of their black hair and rings in +their ears--indicated a birth and breeding in other and hotter climes. + +"Well, my lads," said the big fellow, who seemed to be in command, "the +barkey is ours, and we've cheated that infarnal cruiser handsomely. Go +forward, Pedro, and gag them lubbers, and then tell the boys to trim aft +them jib sheets; and round in them after-braces, some of you, so we can +keep way with the schooner and take things easy." + +Here he laughed in a husky, spirituous, low chuckle, and then went on: +"This will make up for lost time, _amigos_! _Christo!_ there may be some +ounces on board. But who's left in the boat, Gomez?" This was addressed +to a bow-legged, beetle-browed individual, with a hare-lip, which kept +his face in a perpetual and skeleton-like grin, who hissed out from +between his decayed front tusks, + +"_El Doctor Senor, con tres de nosotros._" "_Bueno!_ all right; three of +the chaps will do to look out for her; but tell the doctor to drop the +boat astern, and veer him a rope from the gangway. There! that's well +with the braces! Keep her off a point; so--that'll do." + +As the orders were promptly obeyed, and the crew of the brig gagged, +and the vessel surged slowly on her course, the same speaker turned to +his men and said, + +"Now, my hearties! let's have an overhaul of the skipper. Hand him up +here, will ye? or, never mind," he added, "I'll just step down and have +a growl with him myself." + +As the mate pitched head foremost down the companion ladder, two of the +pirates jumped after him, and, dealing him another cruel stab with a +knife deep into the back, they passed on into the lower cabin. There was +a brief struggle, the sound of voices mingled with curses and threats, +and then all quiet again. + +In pursuance of his expressed purpose, the stout ruffian slewed himself +round, took a sweep about the horizon, then sticking his pistol in its +belt, he slowly descended the ladder, gave the wounded and dying mate a +kick, and with a hoarse laugh entered the cabin. + +There, on a small sofa abaft, between the two stern air-ports, sat +Captain Blunt. Blood was trickling down in heavy drops from a lacerated +bruise on his forehead; but, notwithstanding the swelling and pain of +the wound, his features were calm, stern, and honest. On either side of +him sat as villainous a brace of mongrel Portuguese or Spaniards as ever +infested the high seas; and his arms were pinioned by a stout cord to +the bolt above the transom. + +"My sarvice to you, sir!" said the leader of the gang, with a devilish +smile of derision, as he stuck his arms akimbo and squirted some +tobacco-juice from his filthy mouth across the cabin table at the +pinioned prisoner. + +"I s'pose you know by this time that you're a lawful prise, captured by +an hindependent constable of the West Indies, notwithstandin' ye had +sich safe escort and convoy all the arternoon?" + +Here he chuckled, squirted more juice over the table, then dropped down +on a sea-chest cleated to the deck, took off his hat, and scratched his +yellowish red hair. The poor captain said not a word, but shook a great +clot of blood from his brow. + +"Well, now, my old hearty, the first thing for you to do is to poke out +your manifest, and any other little matters of vallew ye may have stowed +away; and be quick, mind ye, for you haven't much time to sail in this +'ere craft. Howsoever, I s'pose ye can swim?" + +"You'll find the manifest and the ship's papers there, inside that +instrument-box; and all the money in the vessel is in that locker; and I +trust in Heaven it may burn your hands to cinders, you devils!" + +"Ho! smash my brains! keep a stopper on your jaw, or I'll squeeze your +dead carcass through that 'ere starn port." + +The fellow rose as he spoke, and, stepping up to the narrow state-cabin +near by, he jerked open the upper drawer of a small bureau affair, and +pulling out a canvas bag, sealed at the mouth, tossed it on to the +cabin table. The coin fell with the heavy dead sound peculiar to gold, +and the ruffian, after taking it up again and weighing it tenderly, +growled out, "This chink will do for a yapper, at any rate! So now let's +have a peep at what the cargo consists on." + +Then stepping a second time to the berth, he gave a kick to the +instrument-box, the lid flew off, and diving in his fist he drew out a +bundle of papers. Once more seating himself at the table beneath the +swinging lamp, he clumsily undid the papers and spread them before him. + +"What a blessed thing is edication," muttered he to himself, "and what a +power o' knowledge reading 'riting does for a man!" Putting his fat +stumpy finger on each line of the manuscript as he slowly began to spell +out the contents, he began, "Man-i-fest of Brig 'Martha Blunt'--Ja-cob +Blunt, master:" here he paused, and, squirting more tobacco-juice over +at the skipper, as if to attract his attention, he suddenly ejaculated, +"Hark ye! Master Blunt, what was the name of that man-o'-war vessel as +was lyin' by you this morning?" + +"The 'Scourge,'" replied the skipper, faintly, as he shook another great +drop of blood from his brow. + +"The what? The 'Scourge!' That Yankee snake! Smash my brains! D'ye know +that that ship has been a hangin' about the north side of Cuba for ever +so long, interruptin' our trade? And you an Englishman, to go and ax him +to purtect ye! take that!" + +Here he snatched a pistol from his sash, and, taking aim full at the +skipper's breast, he pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the weapon snapped +and did not explode. The ruffian held it a moment in his hand, and then +letting it rest upon the table, he said, with a horrible imprecation, + +"Ye see you wos not born to be shot; but we'll try what salt water will +do for ye by-and-by." + +Taking out his knife at the conclusion of this speech, he picked the +flint of his pistol, opened the pan, shook the priming, and then shoved +the weapon back in his belt. The mention of the "Scourge," however, had +evidently caused him some trepidation, for when he resumed the perusal +of the manifest it was in a hurried, agitated sort of way, and not at +all at his ease. + +Smoothing the papers again before him, he went on, making running +commentaries as he read: "Eighty-six cases of silks--light, and +easily stowed away; twenty-nine tons bar iron; sixty-four sugar-kettles! +it will help to sink the brig; forty pipes of Bordeaux; two hundred +baskets Champagne; three hundred and fifty boxes of claret--sour +stuff, I warrant you; two casks Cognac brandy--but I say, you Blunt," +said the fellow, looking up, "where's your own private bottle? It's +thirsty work spellin' out all this 'ritin', and my mouth's as dry as a +land-crab's claws. Howsoever," he continued, as he caught the +glance of satisfaction which came over the swarthy faces of his +companions beside the captain, "wait a bit, and we'll punch a hole in a +fresh barrel presently." + +Having run through the manifest, he opened another paper and exclaimed, +"Hallo! what have we here? List of passengers--Madame Rosalie Piron +and--ho! that's a French piece, I knows by the name. Where is she? +Hasn't died on the v'yage, has she? D'ye hear there, ye infarnal +Blunt?" + +The captain's face was troubled, and his head dropped down on his breast +without replying; but one of the scoundrels at his side struck him a +brutal blow with the back of his knife-hilt on the mouth, and jerking +up, he said, with an effort, + +"Yes, we have a female passenger on board, with a helpless child; but I +pray you, in God's name, to leave the innocent woman in peace. You've +robbed and ruined me and my poor old wife--turn me adrift if you like, +drown or hang me, but don't harm the poor lady." + +The tears blinded him as he spoke, and mingled with the bloody stream +which trickled down his cheeks. The ruffian's ugly face and bloodshot +eyes lighted up with a devilish and sinister satisfaction as the skipper +began his appeal, but before he had well finished speaking he broke in, + +"Avast your jaw! will ye? You'll have enough to look out for your own +gullet, my lad, without mindin' any body else's; so turn to and say your +prayers afore eight bells is struck, because there's sharks off +Jamaiky." + +Then addressing his own scoundrelly myrmidons, he exclaimed, "Look out +sharp for that old chap, my lads, while I goes to sarch for the woman +passenger!" As he turned, however, to leave the cabin, one of his +subordinates began to rummage about in a locker, when the burly brute +said, "Tonio, don't get to drinkin' too airly, boy, for ye know it's +agin the law till the prize is snug in harbor, or sunk, as the case may +be." + +"_Si, senor_," replied the man, with a nod and a grin, and he resumed +his seat again; but no sooner had their leader left the cabin than a +bottle and glasses were placed upon the table, and they fell to with a +will, complimenting the bound and wounded prisoner by pitching the last +drops from their tumblers into his face. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +DANGER. + + "What tale do the roaring ocean + And the night wind, bleak and wild, + As they beat at the crazy casement, + Tell to that little child? + And why do the roaring ocean + And the night wind, wild and bleak, + As they beat at the heart of the mother, + Drive the color from her cheek?" + + +In all this time so little noise had been made that even the watch +below, in the brig's forecastle, were snoozing away without a dream of +danger; though, had one of them shown his nose above the fore-peak, he +would have either been knocked down and murdered like the mate, or, with +a gag in his jaws, been hurled overboard. When the leader of the pirates +stepped again on deck, he said to his companions, who were still +clustered around the companion-way, + +"Well, my boys, we have 'arned a good prize--a fine cargo of the real +stuff--silks, wines, and what not, besides a few of the shiners!" Here +he jingled the bag of gold and dollars in his paws, and then threw it, +with an easy, indifferent toss, on to the slide of the companion-way. + +"But what think ye, lads?" he continued, in a hoarse whisper, "there's a +petticoat aboard! and, as sure as my name's Bill Gibbs, here goes for a +look; for there's nothing like lamplight for the lovely creeturs!" + +As he slewed round on his bare feet to approach the entrance to the deck +cabin, a move was made in the same direction by two or three of the +wretches of his band; but, shoving them roughly back with his heavy +fist, and clapping a hand to his belt, he said, in a threatening tone, + +"None o' that, my souls! I takes the first look myself; and if I think +her beauty'll suit the chief, why--I shall be able to judge, ye know, +whether she'll go furder on the cruise or swim ashore with the rest of +the lubbers at daylight to Jamaiky. Keep your eye on the schooner, +Pedro, and don't make no more sail! D'ye hear?" + +"Ay, ay, _si senor_!" quoth that worthy, as he and his followers fell +sulkily back. It took but three strides for Mr. Bill Gibbs to reach the +cabin door, when, finding it hard to open, after several trials at the +knob, he placed his burly shoulder against the edge of the panelwork, +and, throwing his powerful weight upon it, the door yielded with a snap +of the lock, and he pitched forward full length upon the cabin floor. +The noise startled the lady within, and speaking as if half asleep, she +called, + +"Banou! Banou! what is the matter?" + +"_Mon dieu, madame!_ we are prisoners in the hands of pirates!" + +Before more words were uttered, Mr. Bill Gibbs, who by this time had +regained his feet while giving vent to a volley of blasphemous curses, +roared out as he beheld the black, "Ho! nigger passengers, hay? A +mounseer of color, as I'm a Christian! I say, cucumber shins, is that +'ere woman as is talkin' as black as you be?" + +He was not left long in doubt concerning the color of the person he +alluded to, for at the instant the stateroom door flew open, and the +lovely woman, in her loose night-dress and hair streaming in brown, +heavy silken tresses over her fair neck and shoulders, with a pale and +terror-stricken face, stood before him. Speechless with agony, she gazed +at the coarse ruffian, who had, at the moment, reached the swinging cot +which held the little boy, and while he was in the act of looking at the +sleeping child, the mother uttered a fearful cry and the boy awoke. + +"Sarvice, madam! don't be scared! come and take the little chap! I ain't +goin' to hurt him--that is, if it be a him." + +The frightened mother, spell-bound at first, needed no second bidding, +and, forgetful of her disheveled dress, sprang forward, and with +outstretched arms, bare to the shoulder, was about to snatch her child. +The pirate, however, with his red eyes gleaming with unholy fire, threw +his great arm around the lovely woman's waist, and with a hoarse, +fiendish chuckle of triumph, attempted to draw her toward him. But, +quick as lightning, two black, sinewy paws clutched him with such a +steel-like grip about the throat that his sacrilegious arm dropped by +his side, and he was hurled violently back against the cabin bulkhead. +Then standing before him, the negro glared like an angry lion roused +from his lair as he looked round inquiringly at his mistress. + +"Ho!" sputtered the ruffian, as he pulled a pistol from his belt, "ho! +you mean fight, do ye?" + +"_Banou! mon pauvre Banou!_" screamed the terrified woman. "Yield! Oh, +sir, spare him! Don't harm us, and we will give you all we possess!" + +The burly scoundrel hesitated a moment, and balanced the cocked pistol +in his hand, as if undecided whether to blow the black's brains out on +the spot where he stood; and then shoving the weapon back in his sash, +and keeping a wary eye on his assailant, he exclaimed in an angry tone, + +"Well, come here, then, my deary, and give us a kiss for this nigger's +bad manners." + +Moving forward as he spoke, he caught up the little boy from the cot, +tore the gold chain and locket from his neck, which he thrust into his +pocket, and shook him roughly at arm's length, in hopes, perhaps, of +enticing the tender mother within his merciless grasp. But again the +black interposed his heavy frame before his mistress. + +"What! at it again, are ye? Well, then"--fumbling with his left hand for +his pistol--"say your prayers, ye imp of darkness." + +The black seemed, however, in no mood for praying; and putting forth his +slabs of arms like the paws of an alligator, he tried to grapple his foe +by the throat. The cries of the mother now mingled with those of the +child as he put out his little arms to shield his black protector. The +ruffian, foiled in his purpose, with baffled rage evaded the negro by +stepping to one side; and as he did so, he hurled the helpless child +with great force from him. The large cabin windows at the stern were +open to let in the breeze; and as the brig sank slowly down with her +counter to the following waves, and gurgled up as the sea eddied and +surged around the rudder, the faint, plaintive cry of the little boy +arose above the seething waters--a light splash followed--and the mother +had lost her child! + +"Oh, monster!" cried the heart-broken woman. "Oh, my boy! my boy! May +Heaven curse you forever!" as she sank down senseless on the deck. + +The awful howl of vengeance which burst from the deep lungs of Banou +came simultaneously with the report of the pirate's pistol, the bullet +from which struck the black hard in the left shoulder; but putting out +for the third time his sinewy arms, and this time with an iron grip that +only left the ruffian time to yell with a stifled curse for help, he was +hurled headlong, smashing through the latticed cabin door, and fell +stunned upon the outer deck. In an instant half a dozen pistol balls +whistled around the negro's head, and the knives of the pirates flashed +from their sashes as they rushed forward to bury the blades in his body; +but leaping to one side, and while two more bullets were driven into +him, he seized an iron-shod pump brake from the bulwarks, and, with a +mighty bound, whirled it once with the rapidity of thought high above +his head, and brought it down on the leg of his prostrate foe. Such was +the force of the blow that it smashed both bones, and drove the white +splinters through the brute's trowsers, where they gleamed out red and +bloody by the light of the binnacle lamp. Even then, wounded, and the +blood flowing from several places, and though almost encircled in the +grasp of the scoundrels, Banou made good his retreat to the cabin, and +planted his powerful body firmly against the door. + +With a volley of polyglot curses and yells in all languages, two or +three of the pirates stopped to raise their fallen leader, while the +others, leaving the wheel and vessel to herself, rushed in pursuit of +the black. Scarcely, however, had they made a step, when their ears were +saluted by a stunning crash from a heavy cannon, and the peculiar +humming sound of a round shot as it flew just above their heads between +the brig's masts. + +There, within half a cable's length to windward, loomed up the dark hull +of a large ship. The crew were evidently at quarters, with the battle +lanterns lit and gleaming in the ports, while the rays shot up the black +rigging and top-hamper, and spread out over the sails in fitful flashes +as she slowly forged abreast the brig, with her main top-sail to the +mast. For a minute not a sound was heard, though the decks were full of +men, some with their heads poked out of the open ports beside the guns, +or swarming along over the lee hammock-nettings and about the quarter +boats; but the next instant there came in a voice of thunder through the +trumpet, + +"What's the matter on board that brig?" + +There was no answer for a few seconds, until a choking voice, as if with +a pump-bolt athwart the speaker's mouth, mumbled out, + +"We're captured by pi--" + +A dull, heavy blow cut short these words; and though the reply to the +hail could hardly have been heard on board the ship, yet, as if divining +the true state of the case, loud, clear orders were given-- + +"Away, there, third and fourth cutters! away! Spring, men!" + +Then came the surging noise of the whistles as the falls dropped the +boats from the davits; then the men, leaping down into cutters--silently +and quick--no sound save the clash of a cutlass or the rattle of an +oar-blade as they took their places and shoved off. Again an order +through the trumpet-- + +"Clear away the starboard battery! Load with grape! Sail trimmers! +stations for wearing ship! Hard up the helm! Fill away the main-yard!" + +The "Scourge" had by this time forged ahead of the brig, her sails aback +or shivering, as she came up and fell off from the wind, and the boats +dancing with full crews toward her. No sooner, however, had the presence +of the unwelcome stranger been made known on board the brig than the +pirates seemed seized with a panic, and, without a second thought, they +scudded to leeward, where their boat had been hauled alongside, and +forgetful or indifferent for the fate of their companions below, though +dragging the while their maimed comrade to the rail, they lowered him +into the boat, jumped in themselves, and pulled away with all their +strength toward the schooner near. They were not, however, a moment too +soon; for as the last of the band disappeared, their places were +supplied by a crowd of nimble sailors to windward, headed by an officer +with his sword between his teeth as he swung over the bulwarks. The +first sound which greeted the new-comers was from below, and from the +throat of the honest skipper. Down the open companion-way leaped the +officer, with half a dozen stout, eager sailors at his heels, and dashed +right into the lower cabin. There was the brave old skipper, with but +one arm free, shielding himself and struggling--faint and well-nigh +exhausted--from the knives of the drunken brace of rascals who had been +left to guard him. A pistol in the hands of one of this pair was pointed +with an unsteady aim at the officer as he entered, but the ball struck +the empty rum-bottle on the table and flew wide of its mark; and before +the smoke of the powder had cleared away, a sword and cutlass had passed +through and through both their bodies, and they fell dead upon the cabin +floor. + +While Captain Blunt found breath to give a rapid explanation of the +trouble, and while the brig was once more got under control and the +wounded cared for, we will take a look at the man-of-war and the part +she bore in the business. + +At the first sound of the warning gun from the cruiser the schooner +began to show life; and drawing her head sheets, she wore short round on +her heel, with every thing ready to run up her fore and aft sails, and a +stay-tackle likewise rove and hanging over the low gunwale to hook on to +the boat and hoist it in the moment it came alongside. Meanwhile the +"Scourge" had shot ahead of the brig, and wearing round her forefoot, +with her starboard tacks on board, she emerged out beyond, like a hound +just slipped from the leash. As she cleared the brig, the schooner lay +with bare masts about three cables' length to windward, and the rattle +of oars told that her boat had just scraped alongside. At that moment a +clear, determined voice shouted through the trumpet, + +"Level your guns! Take good aim! Fire!" + +A brilliant series of sheets of flame burst forth from the corvette's +battery, lighting up the water and jet black wales, and away aloft to +the great towering maze of rigging and sails to the trucks, with the +topmen clustering to windward, and their very eyes and teeth lit up in +the glare; then, too, the crews of the guns, in their trim frocks and +trowsers; the marines on the top-gallant forecastle, with their +firelocks and white cross-belts; and abaft a knot of officers on the +poop, with night-glasses to their eyes, all standing out as clear as day +in the sudden flashes from the cannon. Then followed the concussive +roar, and the next instant you could hear the hurtling rush of the iron +hail as it flew singly or in bunches through the air, or skipped in its +deadly flight from wave to wave, until it went crashing into the +pirate's boat, slapping with heavy thumps against the schooner's side, +or furrowing along her decks; while a shower of white splinters flew +high over her low rail, and told how well the iron had done its +bidding. Then, with many a groan and imprecation, the shattered and +sinking boat was cut adrift, and, a moment after, the sails of the +vessel were spread, the sheets hauled flat aft, and, taking the breeze, +she heeled over till her lee rail was all awash, and away she walked, +right up to windward. + +But again came the clear, commanding tones on board the cruiser, mingled +with the jumping of the crew and ramming home the charges in the guns: + +"Load! round shot! Run out! One point abaft the beam! Fire as you bring +the schooner to bear!" + +Out belched the red flames; the heavy globes of iron, like so many black +peas in daylight, sung their deadly note as they darted on their way, +and the corvette gave a little heel to leeward as the shock of the +explosion was felt. One shot dropped within fifty yards of the low hull +of the schooner, bounded just clear of her after-deck, knocked off the +head and shoulder of a man at the tiller, and then went skipping away +over the water like a black foot-ball. Another messenger cut off the +schooner's delicate fore-top-mast as clean as a bit of glass, bringing +down the gaff-top-sail, and, what was equally pleasant, the fellow who +was setting it--pitching him over and over like a wheel, until he fell, +a bruised and lifeless lump of jelly, on the oak bitts at the fore-mast. +Before, however, they were treated to another of these metallic doses, +the pirates had got their craft in splendid trim; and with every stitch +of her canvas spread, and tugging and straining, she rushed on with the +heels of a race-horse, within three points of the wind. The "Scourge," +too, was now close hauled, her yards braced as fine as needles, and +crowded with every inch of sail that would draw; while every ten minutes +or so she would let slip two or more guns from a division at the chase. +But the uncertain gloom of starlight, and the darkening effect of the +passing trade-clouds, made the little vessel a very difficult object to +see; and though one of the last balls struck her on the narrow deck, +passed through that and the waterways, and out to windward, spoiling two +of her timbers, and no end of planking, yet this was the last damage she +received. Her crew, also, had got as well as could be out of harm's +way--both the sound and wounded--and were lying quietly as possible deep +down in the vessel's run. When daylight broke the breeze began to +slacken, but she was by this time hull down from the corvette, a long +way beyond the reach of her long eighteens in the bow ports, and eating +her way to windward, with no chance of being taken. + +[Illustration: THE NIGHT CHASE.] + +"It's no use," said the captain of the corvette to his first lieutenant, +as they stood watching the receding chase. "We may as well give it up; +she has the heels of us in this light wind, and will soon be out of +sight. I think, however," continued the captain, with a smile, "that +he'll remember the 'Scourge' when he meets her again. This is the second +time we have chased that fellow; and this heat, by the way the splinters +flew, we must have peppered the skin off his back." + +Shutting up the joints of the spy-glass which he held in his hand, he +took hold of the man-ropes of the poop ladder, and as he put his feet on +the steps, he said, + +"You can go about, Mr. Cleveland, and run down to the brig." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MEETING AND MOURNING. + + "Moan! moan, ye dying gales! + The saddest of your tales + Is not so sad as life! + Nor have you e'er began + A theme so wild as man, + Or with such sorrow rife. + + "Then, when the gale is sighing, + And when the leaves are dying, + And when the song is o'er, + Oh! let us think of those + Whose lives are lost in woes-- + Whose cup of grief runs o'er!" + + +The afternoon following the night when the foregoing events transpired, +the "Martha Blunt" sailed slowly along the sandy tongue of land which +separates Port Royal from Kingston, and dropped anchor in the harbor. As +the cable rumbled out with a grating sound through the hawse-hole, and +the crew aloft were furling the sails, a large, gayly-painted barge, +pulled by a dozen blacks shaded by a striped awning, shot swiftly +alongside. Jabbering were those darkies, and clapping their hands, and +shouting joyously. A rope was immediately thrown from the gangway of the +brig, and a tall, handsome man, with a broad Panama hat, loose white +jacket and trowsers, sprang with a bound up the side, and leaped on +deck. + +Captain Blunt stood there to receive him. A broad white bandage was +passed around his head, and the tears trickled slowly down his bronzed +and honest cheeks. Just beyond him, under the shade of the awning, lay +Banou, stretched out at full length on a mattress; while Ben, the +helmsman, was kneeling beside him, fanning his hot and fevered face with +his tarpaulin. A yard or two beyond, on a broad plank resting on +trestles, lay the mate, Mr. Binks, cold and rigid in the grasp of death, +with the union jack folded modestly over his corpse. The black breathed +heavily and in pain; but when he caught sight of the gentleman as he +stepped on deck, a deathly blue pallor came over his countenance, and, +closing his eyes, the hot salt tears started in great drops from the +lids. + +"My God! captain," said the gentleman, with a bewildering stare, "what's +all this? What has happened?" + +The old skipper merely made a motion with his hand toward the cabin, +and, leaning painfully against the rail, wept like a child. The +gentleman's blood forsook his cheeks, and, with his knees knocking +together, he staggered like a drunken man toward the cabin door. A few +minutes later he emerged, bearing in his arms the sobbing, drooping form +of his wife. Starting from his close embrace for a moment as he bore her +to the gangway, she gave one shuddering, terrified, searching gaze over +the blue water to seaward, and then, with a wailing cry of agony, that +would have shaken the hardest heart, she fell sobbing again into her +husband's arms. + +The voices and joyous shrieks of the negroes in the barge alongside +subsided into low moaning groans; four or five came up, and carefully +lowered Banou down; then all got into the boat, and she moved mournfully +away toward the shore. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CAPTAIN BRAND AT HOME. + + "From his brimstone bed at break of day, + A-walking the Devil is gone, + To visit his snug little farm the Earth, + And see how his stock goes on." + + +Upon a broad, flat, rocky ledge, near a small, landlocked narrow inlet +of one of the clustering Twelve League Keys on the south side of Cuba, +stood a red-tiled stone building, with a spacious veranda in front, +covered by plaited matting and canvas curtains triced up all around. The +back and one side of the building rested against a craggy eminence which +overlooked the sea on both sides of the island, and commanded a wide +sweep of reef and blue water beyond. A few clumps of cocoa-nut-trees and +dwarf palms, with bare gaunt stems and tufted tops, stood out here and +there along the rocky slopes, while lesser vegetation of cactus and +mangrove bushes were scattered thickly over the island, cropping out +with jagged edges of rock down to the sandy beaches of the sea-shore. A +deep narrow inlet of blue water lay pure and still near the base of the +rocky height, where, too, was a shelving curve of white sand, sprinkled +about by a few mat sheds, while on the other side the rocks arose to an +elevation of a hundred and fifty feet, forming a precipitous wall to the +water. The inlet here took a sharp turn, scooped out in a secluded +basin, and then narrowing to less than forty yards in width, it wound +and twisted for a good mile in a thin blue channel to the open sea. Half +that distance farther out was a roaring ledge of white breakers, where +the long swell came hammering on it, bursting up in the air in brightish +green masses, and then tumbling over the reef and bubbling smoothly on +toward the shore. On a level with the water no channel could be +discerned through the ledge; but, looking down from the heights around +the inlet, a narrow blue gateway was marked out, skirted on the surface +by frothy crests of dead foam, and near where flocks of cormorants and +gulls were riding placidly on the inner side of the ledge. The island +itself was about two miles broad and seven long; and about midway of its +width the inlet formed a forked strait, one branch finding its way to +the north, between a low succession of sandy hummocks, where the water +was too shallow to float a duck, and the other finding an outlet, +scarcely a biscuit-toss wide, between two bluff rocks. With the trade +wind this passage was safe and accessible; but on the change of the +moon, with a breeze and swell from the south, the sea came bowling in, +in boiling eddies and whirlpools, and it required a nerve of iron to +attempt an entrance. Just within this narrow mouth, on a flat beveled +ledge of rock but a few feet above the water, was a small battery of two +long eighteen-pounders, and two twenty-four pounder carronades mounted +on slides and trucks, with platforms laid on a bed of sand. Near by, +beneath a low shed of tiles and loose stones, were a pile of round shot, +nicely blacked, and some stands of grape and canister in canvas bags and +cases, together with a large copper magazine of cartridges. Seated a +little way off on a low stool was a dingy Spaniard with a telescope laid +across his knees, which every little while he would raise to his eye and +take a steady glance around the horizon to seaward. At other times he +would roll and light a paper cigar, murmuring some low ditty to himself +as he sent the smoke in volumes through his nose. A small brass bell +hung beside the shed near the battery, together with a telegraphic card, +which was connected by a wire strung on low posts, or hooked from rock +to rock to the stone building away up at the basin. To return, however, +to the building: the veranda rested on square rough masonry full twenty +feet from the ground, which was loopholed for musketry, and with but one +narrow slip of a doorway that fell like a portcullis, banded and +strapped with bars and studs of wrought iron. Within this stone +inclosure was a large and roomy vault, half filled with cases, barrels, +and packages, and at the upper angle was a narrow subterranean vaulted +passage, barred also by an iron-bound door, which led to a succession of +whitewashed chambers--dark, damp, and gloomy--and then on, in a +fissure-like pathway, to another equally strongly secured outlet on the +other side of the crag. Leading to the veranda was a tautly-stretched +rope ladder lashed to eye-bolts let into the natural rock below, and +hooked on to the edge of the floor above. This was the only approach to +the main floor of the building from the outside, though within were +heavy trap-doors like the hatches of a ship, which communicated to the +chambers beneath. The whole structure was of stone and tiles, roughly +built, but yet strong and durable, and capable of resisting any assault, +unaided by cannon, that could be brought against it. The floor was +divided into four rooms, the smallest used for a kitchen, the next for a +magazine of small arms, and the third a spacious bedchamber, which +opened into a large square apartment facing the veranda, and which +deserves more notice. + +[Illustration: THE PIRATE DEN.] + +The lofty ceiling came down with the slant, showing the bare red tiles +and heavy square beams which supported the roof. In one of the stoutest +of these beams was an eye-bolt and copper-strapped block, through which +was rove a long green silk rope, with one end secured by a cleat on the +wall, and the other dangling loose, and squirming, whenever a current of +air struck it, like a long, slim snake. Around the sides of the room, +which were paneled with cedar, stood four or five quaint ebony armoires, +and as many cabinets, clocks, and bookcases, with here and there a +woman's work-stand, some of them curiously inlaid with pearl and silver. +The walls were hung with a great number of pictures of all kinds of +vessels--generally, however, of the merchant description--under full +sail, with vivid light-houses in the distance, and combing breakers +under the lee; and all portraying gallant crews and buoyant freights, +which probably had never reached their destinations. Among this gallery +of marine display was a broad framing of the "Flags of All Nations;" and +codes of signals, too, in bright colors, hung beside them. Farther on, +in a pretty panel by itself, surrounded by an edging of mother-o'-pearl, +was a triple row of female miniatures, a number of them of great beauty, +and many executed in excellent taste and art. In one corner was a large +chart-stand, covered with rolls of maps and nautical instruments, while +above were suspended, by white rope grummets, a pyramidal line of +spy-glasses and telescopes of all sizes and make. Near the centre of the +apartment stood a large round dining-table, on which was laid things for +a breakfast, a box of cigars, and a small silver pan of live coals. +There were but two windows to this room, both hung with striped muslin +curtains, the casements going to the floor, and looking out upon the +veranda; and but two doors, one leading to the kitchen, and the other to +the sleeping-chamber on the opposite side. + +Presently this last door opened, and, pushing aside a blue gauze curtain +which hung before it, an individual of about eight-and-twenty years of +age stepped languidly into the room. He was a tallish man, over six feet +in stature, rather spare in build, but with great breadth of shoulders, +and though pale, apparently from long illness, yet he was evidently very +active and muscular when his nerves were called into action. Had it not +been for a downward choleric curve to his large nose, and a little +parting at the corners of his wide mouth and compressed lips, the face +might have been thought handsome. The eyes were light blue, set close +together, but hard and stony, with no ray of mercy or humanity in them. +He wore no beard, and his light brown hair was thin and dry, and +carefully parted at the side. He was dressed in a snow-white pair of +loose drilling trowsers, cut sailor fashion, straw slippers, and silk +stockings; and above he wore a brown linen jacket with large pearl +buttons, and pockets. As he entered the room he held a delicate cambric +handkerchief, with a fine lace border, in his hands, which he seemed to +regard with curious interest as he lounged toward the windows of the +veranda. + +"I wish I could remember," he muttered musingly to himself, "which of +those sisters this bit of cambric belonged to, marked with an E.--Ellen +or Eliza--hum! They _would_ die--silly things!--tried to stab me! Ho! +what fun! Never left me even a miniature, either, for my collection. +'_Bueno!_' There's more fish in the sea--and under it too!" he +concluded, with an unpleasant elevation of his eyebrows. + +By this time he had approached the open window, and, shoving the +delicate fabric daintily in his pocket, he gave a slight yawn and looked +out. Before him lay the deep blue basin of the inlet, with a couple of +boats hauled up on the shore; a few idle sailors moving about, or +squatted beneath the sheds playing cards or sewing. Without letting his +eye rest more than a moment on this scene, he turned and gave a long, +earnest gaze between an opening of the rocks to seaward. Then, with an +angry frown, he approached the table, poured out a cup of black coffee, +threw rather than dropped in a lump of sugar, and sat himself down for +his morning's meal. He had scarcely, however, gulped down his cup of +coffee and choked after it a slice of toast, than he pushed away the +breakfast things, snapped his teeth together like a steel clasp, biting +a tooth-pick in twain by the effort; and then, tossing the pieces away, +he dashed his hand into the cigar-box, extracted one, touched it to the +pan of coals, and began to smoke savagely. At first the grateful smoke +appeared to soothe his chafed spirit, for he threw himself lazily into a +large cane-bottomed settee, and, stretching out his legs, seemed to +enjoy the tranquil scene around him with uninterrupted pleasure. But +soon a scowl darkened his face; he dropped his cigar on the floor, and +springing to his feet as if touched by a galvanic battery, he snatched +down a telescope from the wall, steadied it at the window-sash, and +peered again long and anxiously to windward. He saw nothing, however, +save the long, glassy, unbroken undulations of a calm tropical sea, +rolling away off beyond the ledge under a burning sun; no sign of a +breeze--not even a cat's-paw; and only now and then the leap of a +deep-sea fish sparkling for a moment in the air, and some sluggish gulls +and pelicans sailing and diving about the reef for their prey. Shutting +up the glass with a crash that made the joints ring, he strode to the +settee, where hung several knotted bell-ropes, and, seizing one, gave it +a sharp jerk. Then putting his ear to an aperture in the wall, where was +a hollow cane tube like the mouth of a speaking-trumpet, he listened +attentively till a hoarse whisper uttered the word, + +"_Senor._" + +Putting his mouth to the tube, he said, + +"Can you make out the 'Centipede' from the crag station?" + +"Not sure, sir, this morning; but last evening, at sunset, I saw a sail +which I took to be her. The sea-breeze is just beginning to make, and if +she's to windward of Punta Arenas she'll soon heave in sight." + +This colloquy was held in Spanish; and when the signal-man had ceased +speaking, the interlocutor lit another cigar mechanically, kicked a +foot-stool out of his way like a foot-ball, and thus communed with +himself as he rapidly paced between the table and the veranda: + +"Fourteen weeks ago yesterday since the schooner was off Matanzas; not a +word of news to cheer me through all that cursed fever; the spring trade +done, and the track deserted by this time!" + +Then pausing in his walk, he stopped at the chart-stand, and unrolling a +map, he went on: + +"Where, in the devil's name, could she possibly have gone to? She might +have been to Cape Horn and back before this. Miserable fool that I was +to trust the craft with that thirsty, thick-headed Gibbs! _Diavolo!_ he +may have been captured, and if he has, I hope his neck has been +stretched like a shred of jerked beef." + +Even while he was talking a bell struck near the settee, and, putting +his ear again to the tube, the hoarse voice said, + +"I can make her out now, _senor_. She's just caught the strong young +breeze, and is, hull up, coming along with the bonnet off her fore-sail +and a reef in her main-sail! There's a felucca to windward of her, which +I take to be the 'Panchita!'" + +"Ah ha!" laughed the individual in the room. "The 'Centipede' is safe, +then; and I am to have the pleasure, too, of a visit from the Tuerto, +the mercenary old owl, with his account of sales and his greed. But let +me once catch him foul, and, my one-eyed friend, I'll treat you to such +a dance that you won't need shoes!" + +Here he glanced with a meaning look at the silk rope swaying from the +beam above his head, and the laugh of satisfaction which followed was +not one a timid man would care to hear in a dark night; nor did it come +from his heart, as any one might have discovered from the ferocious +gleam of inward passion which shot out in the cold sparkle of his eyes +and flitted away over his grating teeth. + +Controlling his feelings, however, and stepping out on the veranda, he +drew aside the curtains and sung out to the men in the huts, "One of you +fellows, tell the boatswain I want him." + +The men started up, and a moment after a man in a blue jacket stood out +from one of the sheds and threw up his hand to his straw hat. + +[Illustration: THE "PANCHITA"] + +"Get together the people! Let run the cable at the Alligator's mouth, +and have three or four warps ready for the schooner when she passes the +point! The 'Panchita' is coming too, so look out, and have enough lines +to tow both vessels in case the breeze fails. Tell Mr. Gibbs to moor +close under the other shore in the old berth, and to come to me when +he's anchored! D'ye hear?" + +All this was said in a sharp tone of command, and by the alacrity with +which the orders were executed the men seemed to be accustomed to a +master who knew how to rule them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CAPTAIN AND MATE. + + "So I hauled him off to the gallows' foot, + And blinded him in his bags; + 'Twas a weary job to heave him up, + For a doomed man always lags; + But by ten of the clock he was off his legs + In the wind, and airing his rags!" + + +A couple of hours had passed since the occupant of the stone building +had last spoken to his subordinates down at the inlet, but the +interval he devoted to a minute inspection of weapons in the armory +adjoining his bedroom. They were all in excellent order, of the best +make, and very neatly arranged in stands and cases around the room. +When he emerged again, after locking the door, he held an exquisite +pair of small pistols inlaid with gold in his hand, which he gently +polished with his cambric handkerchief, and then slipped them into +his trowsers pockets. Then he held short dialogues with the voice at +the signal-station, and, without looking out of the window, he +informed himself of what was doing outside, and what progress the +vessels made toward their haven. When, however, the schooner poked her +slim, low black bows, with her sails down, around the point, he gave one +stealthy peep, or glare rather, at her. He took all in at that glance, +from the patches of sheet-lead nailed over the shot-holes in her side, +to the sawed-off stump of the fore-top-mast; and then he remarked the +absence of the boat which was carried amidships, and the few men moving +about her deck. Ay! he took it all in with that one comprehensive +glance, and when he had done, he raised his fore finger quivering +with anger, and slowly and unconsciously passed it with an ominous +gesture across his throat. + +Soon was heard a sullen plunge as an anchor was let go, and the +splashing of the warps upon the water as the stern of the "Centipede" +was being moored to the rocks, to make room for her companion the +felucca, now shortly expected. + +"Mr. Gibbs is coming on shore, _senor_, and he seems to have a wooden +leg," came through the tube. "The doctor is coming with him, and there +is a little boy in the boat." + +"Ho!" muttered the man in the saloon, "where was that brat picked up?" + +Nothing more was said. The tall man lit a cigar, threw himself into an +easy attitude on the settee, opened a richly-bound volume, and waited. +Ten minutes may have gone by when the trampling of feet was heard on the +smooth rocks outside the building, and the voice of Mr. Gibbs +exclaimed, + +"Easy, will ye? Doctor! Don't ye see it tears the narves out of me to +hobble with this broomstick-handle of a leg! There! Stop a bit! How in +thunder am I to climb this ladder? Oh!" Here a low howl of pain. +"Another shove. Easy, old Sawbones! So--give us another push, will ye? +All right! There, that'll do." + +The next minute Mr. Bill Gibbs stood on the broad piazza, and, with the +assistance of a crutch, he hobbled to the entrance of the apartment, and +only pausing to recover his wind and compose his features, he pulled off +his straw hat and entered. + +"So ho! Mr. Gibbs," said the man on the settee, as the burly, lame +ruffian darkened the entrance, laying the book down as he spoke, and +waving his delicate handkerchief before him. + +"So ho! Mr. Gibbs, you've come back at last! Delighted to see you. I am, +'pon my soul. Ah! one of those stout pins gone? Why, how's this? Some +little accident? Santa Cruz rum and a tumble down the hatchway, perhaps, +eh? D'ye smoke? Take a cheroot. Put that bag on the table." + +All this was said in a gay, gibing tone, with an indifference and _sang +froid_ that a tight-rope dancer might have been proud of; and as he +ended, he threw a handful of cigars across the table, and pushed the pan +of coals toward his visitor. Before, however, Gibbs had time to utter a +word in reply, his companion, while lolling over the settee, caught up +an opera-glass from the table, and, placing it to his eyes, went on: + +"Ha! ho! the fore-top-mast of my pretty long-legged schooner is gone. +Pretty stick it was! I suppose, Master Gibbs, that _you_"--he nodded +fiercely without removing the glass--"cut it up for that lovely new leg +you've mounted. Ay, my beauty!" again apostrophizing the vessel, which +lay like a wounded bird in the calm inlet before him; "but where's my +handsome barge, that used to cover the long gun? Ho! stormy weather +you've seen of late." + +During all this one-sided conversation Gibbs had managed to wriggle his +mutilated body on to a wicker chair, where he steadied himself with his +crutch, evincing manifest signs of choler the while by running his fat +fingers through the reddish door-mat of hair, hitching up his trowsers, +and rapping nervously his timber stump of a leg on the floor, until at +last, unable, apparently, longer to control himself, he burst out, with +his bad face suffused with passion, + +"I say, Captain Brand, it's time to end them 'ere gibes. What's took +place is unfortinate; but, howsoever, I has a bag of shiners and a +wooden leg to show for it, and d----n the odds." + +"Stop, stop, my bull-dog! Don't be profane in my presence, if you +please. We are both Christians, you know, and friends too, I hope." + +This was said in a very precise, emphatic, and clear enunciation, and +without apparent heat; and Captain Brand smiled too--but such a smile, +as his wide mouth came down with a twitch at the corners, and left a +sort of hole, where the cigar was habitually stuck, to see his teeth +through. + +"And now, my friend, suppose you give me some little account of your +cruise, and fill up, if you can, any chinks that I haven't seen through +already," he concluded, throwing his legs again over the back of the +settee, and elevating his eyebrows as the cigar smoke curled in spiral +wreaths around his face. + +Mr. Gibbs hereupon settled himself more at ease in his chair, laid his +crutch across his knees, and began: + +"I s'pose, sir, you got the news I sent in a letter from Matanzas, after +we'd been chased out of the Nicholas Channel by that Yankee corvette?" + +Captain Brand nodded at the eye-bolt which held the green silk rope from +the ceiling, as if calculating mentally the strain it would bear, merely +as a matter of philosophical speculation, perhaps. + +"Well, arter that--and a very tight race it was--we ran down to the +Behamey Banks. There we picked up a Yankee schooner loaded with shingles +and lumber; and as the skipper was sarsy, I just made him and his crew +walk one of his own planks, and then bored a couple of holes through his +vessel, arter taking out some water which we stood in need of. You +hasn't a drop of summut to drink, has you, Captain Brand? becase it +makes my jaw-tackle dry to talk much." + +The captain merely motioned with a wave of his cambric handkerchief +to an open liquor-case which stood on a cabinet near, and to which +Mr. Gibbs hobbled; when, seizing a square flask of crystal incased in +a network of frosted silver, he returned with it to the table. Had +Mr. Gibbs chosen he might have brought with the flask a small, +thimble-shaped liqueur glass; but he did not, and contented himself +with a china coffee-cup which stood on the tray before him. He seemed a +little near-sighted too; and as he inverted the flask, gave no heed to +the quantity of fluid he poured into the cup. But he took care, however, +that it did not run over; and then, raising it with a trembling hand +to his lips, he said, "My sarvice to you, Captain Brand," and tossed it +down his capacious throat. The captain gave no response to this +compliment, but as Mr. Gibbs put down the coffee-cup he said blandly, + +"Thank you; but suppose you put that flask back in the case. I am +rather choice with that brandy; it was a--given to me by a--person who +was a--unfortunately hanged, and a--I rarely offer it a--the second +time." + +Puffing his cigar as he spoke in an easy manner, he then turned round to +listen to Mr. Gibbs's narrative. Becoming more genial as the brandy +loosened his tongue, Mr. Gibbs continued: + +"Well, sir, from the Behameys we ran to leeward, nearly to the Spanish +Main, in hopes, perhaps, of finding some stray fellow as was bound to +Europe; but we see nothing for days and days, and weeks and weeks, till +finally the water fell short again, and we beats up and runs into Santa +Cruz. There, as luck would have it, Eboe Pete and French Tom got into a +bit of a scrimmage up on a gentleman's plantation arter sunset, and was +werry roughly handled by a patrol of sogers as happened to be near. I +believe as how Eboe Pete died that night; and I heerd, too, that French +Tom had his skull cracked; and what does he go for to do but make a +confession to the authorities that the 'Centipede' was a pirate! + +"Well, captain, the moment that information reached me, and seein' +a sogers' boat gettin' ready, and the sogers running about the +water-battery of the fort, than I just slips the cable, and runs +out to sea like a bird; and, Lord love ye, sir! the way they pitched +round shot arter us was--was--" Here Master Gibbs paused for a +simile, and the captain observed with a hacking, cough-like laugh, + +"You saved the water-casks, though?" + +"Why no, sir; and we was forced to go upon a 'lowance of a pint a water +a man!" + +"Ho!" rejoined the listener. "Capital! Didn't suffer, I hope? Go on." + +"Howsomever, I says to myself, the captain wants a good valy'ble cargo, +and so we beats up again and stretches away back along the coast of +Jamaiky, on the look-out for any think that might be comin' that 'ere +way. Well, sir, d'ye see, airly one morning, as we was a lying as close +as wax under the land, we spies a big brig becalmed off to seaward; but +we diskivered at the same time that same Yankee cruiser as was in chase +of us off Matanzas. I know'd as how you would be displeased at any risks +being run, so we keeps clean and snug inshore, under a pint o' land, +till set of sun, and until arter the moon went down. Then the breeze +sprung up fresh from the old trade quarter, and says I, now we'll make a +dash at that 'ere drogher, and squeeze him as dry as bone-dust; more +pertikerly, ye see, captain, since the corvette, arter dodgin' about him +all day, had yawed off, and, with his port-tacks aboard, was beatin' to +wind'ard." + +Here Mr. Gibbs's auditor took the cigar from his mouth and rolled his +light blue eyes at him, puffed a thick volume of smoke through the +corner of his mouth, but said never a syllable. + +The narrator gave a wistful look at the brandy-flask, drained the last +few drops from the coffee-cup, pushed out his timber leg, and resumed: + +"So you see, sir, as I was a sayin', I says to myself, I'll get the boat +in the water with the lads, and, to make sure of all being conducted +shipshape, I'll go myself." + +"Oh!" said the captain, as his eyebrows went up and the corners of his +mouth came down, with the faintest breath of a sardonic smile, while he +lit a fresh cigar, "oh! you did!" + +"Ay, sir! So we let the old drogher go bouncing on past us, at about the +rate of five mile in four hours, when we crossed his wake under the jib, +and then we ups with the fore and main-sail, got a pull of the sheets, +and--" + +Captain Brand shook the point of his curved nose at the speaker, who +checked himself, and, giving an emphatic rap with his crutch on the +floor, went on with-- + +"Beg parding, sir; but, Lord love ye! we just walked up under his lee, +and afore he know'd where he wos, we boarded him, knocked over two or +three chaps, and had the skipper lashed down in his cabin as quick as +winkin' and as quiet as could be. Ay, sir, we had it all our own way; +but during the scrimmage wot should I see (here he inclined his head out +like a loggerhead turtle) but the lovelyest young 'oman as ever I +clapped eyes on!" Here his timber stump grated nervously on the floor. +"Says I, that's just the craft, with such a clean run and full bows, as +would please Captain Brand"--at which that individual rolled round on +his elbow and brought his eye to the opera-glass in the direction of the +schooner. + +"She isn't there, captain!" parenthesized the narrator, following the +motion with his head. "So I just fisted hold of her to hand her tenderly +into the boat, with a bag of shiners as wos found on board, when, so +help me---- --beg parding, sir--if a dwarfed giant of a nigger didn't +take an overhand lick at me with an iron pump-break, and nearly cut this +'ere larboard pin in two pieces; and, smash my brains!" he continued, +shaking his broad paw aloft with rage, "but what does I do, with all the +pain from the clip that da--(beg parding, sir) give me, I slams away +with a pistol bullet through the nigger's head--" + +"Didn't I see a little boy on board the 'Centipede?' Perhaps I was +mistaken, the sun blazes so fiercely, eh?" broke in Captain Brand, +though the sun didn't blaze with a fiercer light than shot out of his +deadly cold blue eyes. + +"Ho, ay, sir! that young imp was a bitin' at my t'other leg like a bull +terrier pup, while the nigger was attackin' me, and then he goes and +crawls out of the cabin winders, and was fished out of the water by the +chaps as wos towin' astarn in the boat." + +"Oh, really! how very fortunate!" muttered the captain; "go on; don't +stop, I pray you, Master Gibbs." + +"Well, sir, I knows very little what happened arter this, for the young +'oman was a screamin' and our chaps a cursin' about the decks, when all +of a sudden I fell off into a faint like, and the same time a heavy gun +came slamming into our very ears; and there was that infarnal corvette +agen bowlin' down within five cables' length of the brig, her battery +all alight and the whistles a callin' away the boats, in as violent a +haste as any think I can remember," said Gibbs, as he paused to catch +his breath. + +"You must have kept a sharp look-out, though?" But, without heeding this +remark, the burly scoundrel went on-- + +"Well, Captain Brand, the boys tumbled me over the side--" + +"Not forgetting the little bag of shiners!" sneered his auditor. + +"Tumbled me into the boat, sir, and then pulled like mad for the +schooner. I know'd, d'ye mind, captain, or leastways I felt sartain we +could show any think afloat our heels, and so away we scrambles aboard, +and off we splits. But ye must see by this time, sir, the corvette had +come down and rounded to on the weather beam of the drogher, acting like +a screen for the schooner close under his lee. It wos only a minnit, +though, while he was holding some jaw with those lubbers aboard the +brig, before he filled away again, and wearing sharp round her bows, he +diskivered us sartain. I don't think, as matters stood by this time, +that our boat was a boat-hook's length from the schooner when I jist see +a burst of red flashes from the man-o'-war's starboard ports, and heerd +an officer roar out, 'Give him the whole three divisions of grape!' when +I'm da--your parding agin, sir; I'm blest if ever I heerd sich a rain of +cold iron in all my sea-goin' experience. Ay, sir, by G--gracious, sir, +if about two bushels of them grape didn't riddle the barge like the +nozzle to a watering-pot, and same time tore seven of our noble fellows +all to rags--" + +"You saved the boat, of course?" suggested his companion, in a kind +voice, but with a frightful sneer. + +"Why, captain, we unfortinately lost her; for ye see, arter tumbling me +aboard the schooner, and arter bailing nigh as much blood as water--" + +"Capital! excellent! best joke I ever heard," broke in Captain Brand, +with a hollow laugh of much enjoyment. + +"Arter bailin' as much blood as water, and finding the man-o'-war was +heaving in stays to slam another broadside into us, we cut the boat +adrift, and then got the sheets flat aft, the gaff-top-sails up, and +away we drove with a crackin' breeze right up to wind'ard, like a +swordfish. Lord love ye, sir! we walked away from the cruiser, a eatin' +the wind out of him like a knife, and notwithstandin' he hove more nor +forty round shot at us, he only knocked away the fore-top-mast and some +other triflin' little damage about the hull, and"--he hesitated--"Lascar +Joe's head." + +"That counts off about half your crew, eh?" said Captain Brand, smiling +in his peculiar manner. "Well, what next?" + +"Why, sir, the next mornin' Belize Paul--as is part doctor, you +know--said as how my leg was to come off below the knee, and arter +givin' me a sip or two o' rum--" + +"Bottle," interjected the captain, twisting the beak of his nose in a +puff of smoke. + +"--Rum, why, smash my brains, sir, if he didn't hack it off with a +wood-saw!" + +"Well, what next?" + +"Then, sir, ye see, we run the schooner down Cape Cruz, where we kept +werry snug and quiet till sich times as the old one-eyed Diego judged +the coast clear to return to head-quarters." + +"Well, what then?" + +"That's all, Captain Brand!" concluded the narrator his garbled yarn, as +he again had recourse to scratching the door-mat on his head, and cast a +thirsty look at the brandy-flask. + +"That's all, is it?" hissed the man with the iron jaws, in a tone of +concentrated passion, as he sprang with a single bound from the settee, +and clutched Master Gibbs with both hands around his hairy throat until +his face turned livid purple and his eyes started from the sockets. +"That's all, is it, you drunken beast? That's all you have to tell after +idling away the summer, losing anchors and boats, and more than half my +crew, and bringing a hornet's nest down about our ears! That's all, is +it? And what would you say, now, if I should order the doctor to cut off +your other leg close behind your ears, you beast?" + +In the last stages of suffocation, the man was hurled on his back to the +floor, and there lay, bleeding a torrent from his mouth and nose. His +superior stood over him for a moment and put his hand in his trowsers +pocket for a pistol, and then he glanced rapidly at the green rope +squirming from the beams above; but, changing his purpose apparently, he +strode back to the settee and shouted "Babette!" + +Presently the door opened from the passage leading to the kitchen, and +there appeared a large, powerfully-made negro-woman, with her arms +akimbo, and a pair of bloodshot eyes gleaming from beneath a striped +Madras turban wound round her head. + +"Babette!" repeated the captain, resuming his seat and his habitual +polite air and voice, "serve out a barrel of Bordeaux and a beaker of +old Antigua rum to the 'Centipede's' crew to drink my health; and I say, +my beauty! have a pig or two killed; tell the boatswain to haul the +seine, and have a good supper for all hands to-night. And, Baba"--he +went on as if he had just thought of something--"there's my friend Gibbs +lying there--I believe he has fallen down in a fit--be very careful of +him--a bed in the vault--a little biscuit and water--he may be feverish +when he wakes up, you know. And, Babette, old girl, if you are in want +of kindling wood, you may as well use that timber leg of our friend +Gibbs! I don't think he'll want it again. There! _doucement_, Baba!" + +The negress gave a deep grunt of assent, and, seizing the senseless body +lying on the floor, she dragged it out of the room. Returning a few +moments after, she wiped up the blood with a cloth dipped in hot water, +and finally disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AN OLD SPANIARD WITH ONE EYE. + + "I fear thee, Ancient Mariner! + I fear thy skinny hand! + For thou art long, and lank, and brown, + As is the ribbed sea-sand." + + +"The 'Panchita' has passed Mangrove Point," came in the hoarse whisper +from the signal-man. "You can see her now from below, sir." + +Captain Brand put on a fine Panama hat, and stepped out on the veranda, +where, with a cigar in his mouth, he leaned over the balustrade, and +kept sharp watch on every thing that was going on below him. In a few +minutes a long pointed brown bowsprit protruded itself beyond the wall +of rocks, followed by a great triangular lateen sail, bent to a yard a +mile long, and tapering away like a fly-fishing-rod, where, at the end, +was a short bit of yellow and red pennant. As her bows came into view +they showed above a curved prow falling inboard, with a huge bunch of +sheepskin for a chafing-mat on the knob, and a thin red streak along the +wales, on a lead-colored ground, above her bottom, which was painted +green. As more of her proportions came into the picture, you saw a stout +stump of a mast, raking forward, with short black ropes of purchases for +hoisting the single yard, and heavy square blocks close down to the foot +of the mast. When this great sail had come out from the screen of rocks, +another light stick of a mast stood up over the taffrail, with another +lateen sail and whip-stalk of a yard, to which was bent the Spanish +Colonial Guarda Costa flag. In fact, she was a Spanish felucca all over, +from stem to stern, and truck to water-line. A few dingy hammocks were +stowed about halfway along her rail, and there were a good many men +moving about her decks in getting the cable clear, and a lot more +clinging like so many lizards along the bending yard, and all in some +attempt at uniform dress, in readiness to roll up the sail when the +anchor was down. There was a long brass gun, too, burnished like gold, +on a pivot slide, with all its equipment, trained muzzle forward in +front of the main-mast. No sooner had she sagged into the open basin, +with her immense sail hanging flat and heavy in the light air, than a +boat from the schooner boarded her, and presently she let go an anchor. +There were a few coarse compliments and greetings exchanged between the +crews of the two vessels, and some rough jokes made, as the last comer +veered out the cable, rolled up his sails, and set taut his running gear +in quite a tidy and man-of-war style. + +"Go on board the felucca, Jose, and give my compliments to Don Ignacio, +and say I shall be happy to see him," cried Captain Brand from the +piazza to a man at the cove; "and tell him," continued he, "that I +should have called in person, but I can't bear the hot sun since I +caught the fever. Take my gig." + +This was said in Spanish, and when he had finished speaking he shaded +his face behind the curtain and scowled. + +"You're a bird of ill omen, my one-eyed friend; but one of these days +I'll wipe out old scores, and new ones too, perhaps," Captain Brand +muttered to himself; and, from his murderous expression of face, he +seemed just the man to carry out his threat. Meanwhile, a light +whale-boat of a gig, manned by four men and a coxswain, pushed off from +the shore, and in three strokes of the oars she was alongside the +felucca. The coxswain stepped over the low rail, and, walking aft, +turned down a cuddy of a cabin, took off his hat, and delivered his +message. A minute later he again got into the boat, and pulled to the +cove, where he said to the captain, + +"Don Ignacio says he'll come in his own boat when he's ready." + +"_Bueno!_" was responded aloud; and then to himself: "Don't ask or +receive favors, eh? What an old file the brute is!" + +He said no more, but watched. Presently a small man came up out of the +cabin of the "Panchita," but so very slow, and with such a quiet motion +did he emerge, that one might suppose it was a wary animal rather than a +human being. He was scrupulously neat in attire--a brown pair of linen +trowsers, a Marseilles vest with silver filigree buttons, an embroidered +shirt-bosom with gold studs, and a dark navy-blue broadcloth coat, with +standing collar and anchor gilt buttons. His head-gear was simply a +white chip hat, with a very narrow brim and a fluttering red ribbon; but +beneath it his coal-black hair behind was chopped as close as could be, +leaving a single long and well-oiled ringlet on each side, which curled +like snakes around a pair of large gold rings pendent from his ears. His +complexion was dark, bilious, and swarthy, with a thin, sharp nose, and +a million of minute wrinkles, all meeting above, at the corners, and +under a small line of a mouth; quite like rays, in fact, and only +relaxed when the lips parted to show a few ragged, rotten pegs of sharp +teeth. But perhaps the most noticeable feature in his face was his +eye--for he had but one--and the spot where the other is seen in the +species was merely a red, closed patch of tightly-drawn skin, with a few +hairs sticking out like iron tacks. His single eye, however, was a jet +black, round, piercing organ, which seemed to do duty for half a dozen +ordinary glims, and danced with a sharp, malevolent scrutiny, as if the +owner was always in search of something and never found it, and every +body and every thing appeared to slink out of its light wherever it +glanced around. His age might have been any where from forty to sixty. +As he stepped on deck, clear of the cuddy cabin hatch, his sinister +optic played about in its socket--now scanning the long brass gun, the +half-furled sails, the crew, the ropes, or taking a steady, unwinking +glance at the midday sun, and then shining off to the shore, and +sweeping in the "Centipede," the little pool of blue water, and the +mouth of the inlet. Feeling apparently satisfied with the present aspect +of affairs, he slowly pulled out a machero from his waistcoat pocket, +plucked a cigarette from the case, and then proceeded deliberately to +strike a light. Even while performing this simple operation, his uneasy +orb, like unto a black bull's-eye, traversed about in its habitual way; +and when he raised the spark of fire with his brown, thin hand, and the +claws of fingers loaded with rings, he seemed to be looking into his own +mouth. Nodding to a fellow who stood near, with a crimson sash around +his waist, he inclined his eye toward the shore, blew out a thin wreath +of smoke from his lungs--all the while his vigilant organ shining like a +burning spark of lambent jet through the smoke--and merely said, + +"The boat!" + +In a moment a small cockle-shell of a punt was lowered from the stern of +the felucca, when, stepping carefully in, he seized a scull, and with a +few vigorous twists pushed her to the landing at the cove. + +During all these movements of the commander of the felucca Captain Brand +was by no means an inattentive observer; and, indeed, he was so +extremely critical that he stuck the tube of a powerful telescope +through an aperture of the curtains around him, and not only looked at +his cautious visitor, but he actually watched the expression of his +uneasy eye, and almost counted every wrinkle--finely engraved as they +were--on his swarthy visage; but, if Captain Brand's own visage +reflected an index of his mind, he did not seem over and above pleased +with what he saw. + +"Has a bundle of papers under his arm! I can see the hilt of that +delicate blade, too, sticking out from his wristband. Ah! I've seen him +throw that short blade from his coat-sleeve and strike a dollar at +twenty yards! Wonderful skill with knives you have, Don Ignacio; but you +never yet tried your knack with _me_! Oh no, my Tuerto--bird of ill omen +that you are! We can't do without one another just yet, so let us wait +and see what's in the wind!" + +Soliloquizing these remarks, Captain Brand withdrew his telescope as the +commander of the felucca approached, and, with a cheerful smile, waited +to receive him. A few moments later the one-eyed individual mounted the +rope-ladder stairway, carefully feeling the strands, however, and +looking suspiciously around him as he stepped lightly on the piazza. + +"_Ah! compadre mio!_" exclaimed Captain Brand, in Spanish, as he seized +his visitor by the flipper, and squeezed his fingers till the pressure +on his valuable rings made him wince, as he was led into the large and +spacious saloon, while at the same time the captain gave him a hearty +slap between his narrow shoulders. + +"_Ah! compadre!_ How goes the friend of my soul?" + +The small man gave no symptoms of joy at this warm greeting; but, +screwing his wiry frame out of the captain's caresses, his eye flashed +like a spark of fire quickly up and down and all around the apartment, +as if making a mental inventory of the furniture, and not omitting his +tall companion, from the crown of his head to the toes of his straw +slippers, when he quietly remarked through his closed teeth, + +"_Como estamos?_"--"How are we?" + +"Ah, Don Ignacio, _poco bueno, poco malo_! Half and half. Just getting +well over that maldito attack of Yellow Jack." + +"Hum! more bad than good. No? I've brought you some letters from the +agent at Havana." + +"Thanks--thanks, my friend. Ho! Babette! Babette! Some anisette for Don +Ignacio. _Presto!_ my good Baba. There--that will do!" he said, merrily, +as the liqueur and glasses were placed on the table. "And don't omit the +turtle-soup for dinner, and tell Lascar Joe to make it. Ah! I +forget--the best cook I had--the devil's making soup of him now. +However, do the best you can, my Baba, and let us have dinner about +sunset." + +Then turning to his visitor, with a graceful bow and a laugh, he added, +"And we'll have the doctor to join us, and tell how he cut off our poor +friend Gibbs's leg with a hand-saw. _Dios! amigo!_ Capital joke, 'pon my +honor!" + +Captain Brand's honor! Lord have mercy upon us! And he had very few +jokes, and never told one himself. + +"Hum!" replied the Tuerto, in the pause of the conversation. "There's +better jokes than that to hear. _Mira!_ look!" + +With this brief rejoinder he threw a bundle of newspapers on the table, +and, pulling out a packet of letters from a breast pocket, pitched it +toward his host. Then helping himself to a thimbleful of anisette, he +took off his narrow-brimmed chip hat for the first time, polished up his +eye a bit with the knuckle of his fore finger, and looked at his +companion fixedly. + +"Letters, I see, from our old friend Moreno, at Havana," said Captain +Brand, as he sat down on the settee, and with a pretty tortoise-shell +knife cut round the seals. "Ah! what says he? 'Happy to inform you,' is +he? 'Packages of French silks seized by custom-house on account of +informal invoice and clearance.' Why didn't the fool forge others, then? +Well, what next? 'Schooner "Reel," from Barbadoes, with cargo of rum and +jerked beef, wrecked going into Principe, and crew thrown into prison on +suspicion of being engaged in--' Oh! ah! served them right, when I +ordered them to St. Jago--delighted they must be! 'Bills for advances +and stores now due, please remit, per hands of Don Ignacio Sanchez--'" + +Here Captain Brand caught a ray from the one eye of his companion, which +he returned with interest; and then laying the letters down on the table +with the softest motion in life, he exclaimed, with a sigh, + +"Not the best news in the world, as you say, _compadre_; all those rich +goods, and those bags of coffee, and pipes of rum gone to the devil. But +these are little accidents in our profession." + +"_Como?_" said Senor Ignacio, "_our_ profession?" shaking his fore +finger before his paper cigar in a deprecating manner. "Speak for +yourself, _amigo_." + +"Ah! true," the other went on--"my profession. The freedom of the seas, +the toll of the tropics, the right of search, and all that sort of +buccaneering pastime, is liable, you know, to the usual risks." + +Here he inclined his head to one side and gave a slight clack to his +lips, as if to illustrate in a humorous way a man choking to death with +a knotted rope under his ear. "However, we must be more cautious in +future and retrieve the past disasters, for there are still on the sea +as good barks as ever floated." + +Captain Brand said this as if he were a merchant of large means and +strict integrity, and was about to enter into some shrewd commercial +speculation. + +"Hum!" murmured Senor Ignacio, while pouring out another little glass of +anisette. "_Amigo mio!_ you had better read the papers from Havana +before you talk of another cruise." + +"Oh! delighted to read the news--quite refreshing to get a peep at the +world after being cooped up here for months! Another French revolution! +Bonaparte alive yet! A Patriot war! Nelson and Villeneuve! All +interesting." + +Thus glancing rapidly over the prints, pausing at times at a paragraph +that arrested his attention, then tossing a paper away and taking up +another, till suddenly Captain Brand's hand shook with passion as he +read aloud, + +[Illustration: "HE TOUCHED THE BELL OVERHEAD AS HE SPOKE, AND, PUTTING +HIS MOUTH TO THE TUBE, ASKED, 'ANY THING IN SIGHT?'"] + +"His Britannic majesty's squadron has been augmented on the West India +station. The brig 'Firefly,' corvettes 'Croaker' and 'Joker,' touched at +Nassau, New Providence, on the 2d instant, bound to leeward. We also +learn that the United States have fitted out a squadron of small +vessels, called the Musquito Fleet, to search for the noted pirate +Brand, who has so long committed atrocities among the islands. He was +last chased by the American corvette 'Scourge,' off Morant Bay, on the +east coast of Jamaica, but escaped during the night. The following day a +shattered boat was picked up, which had been cut adrift from the +piratical schooner, containing several dead and dying bodies of the +pirates. One of the latter gave such information to the captain of the +'Scourge' as leads to the hope that Brand's retreat may soon be +discovered and his nest of pirates be destroyed. Recent advices from +Principe state that a vessel loaded with valuable merchandise struck on +the Cavallo Reef and went down. The crew, however, five in number, were +rescued, but on landing were identified by the mate of the English bark +'Trident' as a portion of the men who robbed that vessel and murdered +the master and several of the passengers. Our readers may remember that +among the latter were two sisters, who leaped overboard and were +drowned, to save themselves the horror of a more cruel fate. The men +alluded to, who were wrecked in the brig off Principe, were sent in +chains to Havana, and were yesterday publicly garroted in the Plaza of +Moro Castle." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +CONVERSATION IN POCKETS AND SLEEVES. + + "He holds him with his skinny hand: + 'There was a ship,' quoth he. + 'Hold off! unhand me, graybeard loon!' + Eftsoons his hand dropp'd he." + + +Captain Brand laid down the paper without a sign of outward emotion, and +nodded his head several times at the one-eyed man facing him. He then +extracted his perfumed handkerchief, examined the cipher in the corner, +and waved it before his face. Don Ignacio pulled out a red silk bandana, +and polished his eye as if it were the lens of a spy-glass. At length +the former spoke: + +"_Amigo mio!_ The nets are spreading, but the fish are not in them +yet!" + +"No, _amigo_!" + +"Ah! _compadre, viento y ventura poca dura!_ the fair breezes have +chopped round in our teeth. Success, my friend, creates jealousy, envy, +hatred, and malice. Now here were we swimming along as quietly as sharks +under water, only coming up for a bite occasionally, when on come those +villainous swordfishes, and wish to drive us away." + +Captain Brand gave expression to this pious homily in a tone of virtuous +reproach against the world at large, and as if he were a very much +maligned and ill-used gentleman. He touched the bell overhead as he +spoke, and, putting his mouth to the tube, asked, + +"Any thing in sight?" + +"Nothing, _senor_." + +"Telegraph the man at the Tiger-trap station to keep a bright look-out, +and direct the gunner to keep the battery manned day and night! Tell the +boatswain to set taut the chain on the other side at the Alligator's +mouth!" + +Don Ignacio gave a rather suspicious glimmer at his vessel as this last +order was given, and smiled; that is, if a one-sided twitch to the +wrinkles about the line of his mouth could be tortured into a smile. His +companion seemed to divine what was passing in the Don's mind, for he +added politely, + +"The cable won't interfere with the 'Panchita!'" + +"No, _amigo_; the felucca is anchored just _out_side of it." The Tuerto +was not a man to leave any thing to chance, and he had taken the +precaution to be on the safe side of the pirates, either as friends or +enemies. He had indeed been as near an approach to a pirate himself as +could be, and had only abandoned the business for a profession quite as +bad, where there was less risk and more profit. In other words, he was +now a colonial officer in command of a Guarda Costa, winking--but +without shutting his eye--at piracy whenever he was well paid for it; +and he invariably was well paid for it, or else he made mischief. +Withal, he was as crafty and determined an old villain as ever sailed +the West Indies. He had amassed a large fortune, and owned several +tobacco estates--pretty much all his wealth acquired by the easy trouble +of holding his tongue. Yet his greed was insatiable, and he probably +would have sold the fingers from his hands, and his legs and arms with +them--all, save his single black ball of an optic, which was invaluable +to him--for doubloons. In fact, this feverish thirst after gold which +always raged in his hot veins had induced him to pay Captain Brand a +visit, and we shall see with what result. The truth is, however, that +Captain Brand was the only man of his numerous villainous acquaintance +afloat for whom he felt the least dread. He knew him to be bold, +skillful, and wary, and so the Don had a tolerably positive conviction +that, should he play him false, his own neck might get a wrench in the +garrote while he was throwing the noose for his coadjutor. + +To return, however, to the pair of worthies sitting in conclave in the +pirate's saloon: the captain, resuming the conversation, observed in a +careless tone, quite as if the subject under discussion was a mere +ordinary matter, + +"When will this swarm of hornets be down upon us?" + +The Spaniard blew a thick puff of smoke from his cigarette, and still +holding it between his teeth, while his eye glittered through the murky +cloud, he replied, + +"Perhaps a fortnight, a little more or less. I left St. Jago five days +ago, with orders from the Administrador to run down this side of the +island, and procure information for the English consul." + +"Any cruisers down that way?" + +"Ay! the corvette 'Scourge,' and the 'Snapper' schooner; they arrived +the night before I sailed." + +"Did you happen to see their officers, _amigo_?" + +"_Oh si!_ I had a long talk with the captain of the corvette at the +custom-house." + +"Holloa! and you told him--" + +"Yes; I showed him a chart of the Isle of Pines, and pointed out how to +get into the old hole." + +Here the pair laughed short laughs, when Brand continued his questions +with, + +"And how did he take the bait?" + +"Hooked him; for I heard him order his first lieutenant to be ready for +weighing at daylight, and say that my description tallied with that of +the dying man they picked up in the 'Centipede's' boat," replied the +Tuerto, with a chuckle. + +"_Bueno!_" exclaimed the pirate, as his face assumed an unwonted +sternness, while he rested his cheek on his left hand with the elbow on +the table, and slipped his right into the pocket of his trowsers. + +"_Bueno! amigo mio!_ But how do I know but you may have made a little +mistake, and described another haunt besides the Island of Pines, off in +this direction?" + +There was the faintest click of a noise in the captain's pocket as he +spoke, but not so faint but that it vibrated on the ear of the Spaniard, +and, pushing back his chair a foot or two from the table, he raised his +right hand, the fore fingers and thumb slightly bent inward, but +grasping a jewel-hilted knife, whose dim blue blade glimmered up the +loose sleeve. There was nothing threatening apparently in the movement, +though the two villains looked at each other with a cold, murderous, +unflinching glare. + +The Don was the first to break the silence; and he said, in a low, +hissing tone, + +"_Maldito!_ Because I had a little account of plata to settle with you +before the men-o'-war should roast you out. But beware, _Capitano mio_! +I left a little paper at St. Jago with directions where to find me in +case I did not return in a certain time." + +"Ho, _compadre_, how very cautious with your friends! Why, what has put +such thoughts into your head? _Diavolo!_ we have stood by one another +too long to separate now. There, my hand upon it." + +Saying this, Captain Brand's whole manner changed, and, drawing his hand +from his pocket, he reached over toward his companion. The Don, however, +watched him narrowly, and his eye shot out a wary sparkle as he withdrew +his hand, when, cautiously putting forth his own left, he touched his +cold, thin brown fingers to those of the man before him. This operation +ended, he quietly sipped a few drops of anisette, and rolled and lighted +another paper cigar. + +"Well, _amigo_, let us now proceed to business," said Brand, gayly, "for +dinner will soon be ready, and we have no time to lose. How stands the +account?" + +"The papers are on board the felucca, and it will be more convenient, +when the settlement is made, to come on board with the money. How would +to-morrow morning do? There's no hurry." + +"Just as you choose, friend of my soul! The doubloons, or the silk, or +broadcloth are ready for you at any moment. Pay you in any thing except +the delicious wines of France. _Bueno!_" he added, pulling out a +splendid gold repeater, with a marquis's coronet on the chased back. +"And now, _amigo_, accept this little token into the bargain." + +Don Ignacio's fiery eye twinkled with greed, but it was only for a +moment, when, giving a quick glance at the coronet and coat of arms, he +waved his fore finger gently to and fro, and shook his head. + +"What! No? Why, you know it once belonged to the Captain General of +Cuba, old Tol de rol de riddle rol--what was his name? He gave it me, +you know, together with some other trinkets, for saving his life--a--you +remember? Very generous old gentleman--nobleman indeed--he was. May he +live a thousand years, or more, if he can!" + +Ay, Don Ignacio did remember the circumstance attending that generous +transaction, and he remembered to have heard, also, that the Captain +General made a present of all his money and jewels with the point of a +broad blade quivering at his throat. He said nothing, however, in +allusion to this interesting episode, but he smiled meaningly, and went +on with his cigar. + +"Not take it, eh? Well, _amigo_, I must look you up something else; +but now for dinner. Babette, clear away for dinner. Here are the keys +of the wine-cellar. The best, my beauty, and plenty of it." Then +turning to his companion: "Suppose we take a stroll to the Tiger's Trap; +the sun is sinking, and a walk will give us an appetite for the +turtle-soup--_vamanos!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +DOCTOR AND PRIEST. + + "But soon I heard the dash of oars, + I heard the pilots' cheer; + My head was turned perforce away, + And I saw a boat appear. + + "The pilot and the pilot's boy, + I heard them coming fast; + Dear Lord in heaven! it was a joy + The dead men could not blast." + + +While Captain Brand and Don Ignacio Sanchez walked pleasantly along the +pebbly shore of the clear blue inlet to the Tiger's Trap, let us, too, +saunter amid the habitations which sheltered the pirate's haunt. + +Apart from the mat sheds of the shelly cove of the basin, where the +"Centipede" and "Panchita" were anchored, there was a nest of red-tiled +buildings which served the crew of the former vessel for a dwelling when +in port. It was pleasantly situated on a little sandy plateau, within a +stone's-throw of the water, and shaded by a cluster of palm-trees; while +in the rear was a dense jungle of canes and bushes, through which led +numerous paths to a small lagoon beyond. The buildings were of one +story, constructed of loose stones, the holes plastered with yellow +clay, with broad, projecting eaves extending over roughly-built piazzas. +They stood in a double row, leaving a stone pavement yard between, where +one or two cocoa-nut-trees lifted their slim trunks like sentinels on +guard. Two of the largest of these huts were mere shells inside, and +used for mess-rooms, exposing the unhewn girders and roof above, but all +whitewashed and tolerably clean. The floors were of rough mahogany +boards, or heavy dark planks, and no doubt part of the cargo of some +Honduras trader who had fallen into the pirates' hands. Around the sides +of these mess-rooms were arranged small tables and canvas camp-stools, +with eating utensils of every variety of pattern and value, from stray +sets of French porcelain to common delf crockery. A large open chimney +stood a little way off, where was a kitchen, in which the cookery was +carried on, under the superintendence of a couple of old negroes. Beyond +the mess-rooms were the sheds used for sleeping apartments, with lots of +hammocks of canvas and straw braid hanging by their clews from the +beams, quite like the berth-deck of a ship of war. Bags and sea-chests +stood out from the walls, with bits of mirrors here and there, some with +the glasses cracked, and others in square or round gilt frames. All, +however, was arranged with a certain degree of order, and the floor was +clean and well scrubbed. Another detached building, much smaller than +the rest, was divided by a board partition into two rooms. The first was +used for a storeroom, and was filled with bread in barrels, bags of +coffee and sugar, hams, dried fruits, beans, salt meats, and what not, +but every thing in abundance, and apparently the very best the market of +the high seas could produce. A strong door protected this repository, +with a wrought iron bar and padlock. The other portion of the building +was more habitable. There were chairs and tables; a couple of upright +bookcases with glass doors, one filled with books, odd numbers of +magazines, and old newspapers, and the other containing a multitude of +vials, pots, and bottles of medicine--a small apothecary's shop, in +fact, together with two or three cases of surgical instruments. Two +elegant bureaus, with rosewood doors and mouldings, like those furnished +passenger ships to the East Indies, stood against the wall at either +side; and near to each, in opposite corners, were low iron bedsteads, +without mattresses or bedding, and merely stretched with dressed and +embossed leather. For pillows were Chinese heel stools, and as for +covering, the climate dispensed with it altogether. Hanging against the +wall were a couple of brace of pistols and two or three muskets, and on +the table stood a square case-bottle of gin, some glasses, and a +richly-bound breviary clasped with a heavy gold strap; but in no other +part of these huts were fire-arms ever allowed, and very rarely was +liquor served out in more than the usual daily half-gill allowance. + +Seated at the table in the last room we have described were two men. +One, the shorter of the two, was dressed in a long, loose bombazine +cassock, girded about his waist by a white rope, which fell in knotted +ends over his knees. Around his open neck was hung a string of black +ebony beads, hooked on to a heavy gold cross, which rested on his +capacious breast, and which the wearer was continually feeling, and +occasionally pressing to his lips. His face was dark and sensual--thick, +unctuous lips, a flat nose, and large black eyes--while a glossy fringe +of raven hair went like a thick curtain all around his head, only +leaving a bluish-white round patch on the shaved crown. This individual +was the Padre Ricardo, who, for some good reasons best known to himself, +had left his clerical duties in his native city of Vera Cruz and taken +service with Captain Brand. One of the reasons for leaving--and rather +abruptly, too--was for thrusting a cuchillo into the heart of his own +father, who had reported him to his superior for his monstrous +licentiousness. The padre, however, always declared that he was +actuated entirely by filial duty in killing his old parent, to save him +the pain and disgrace which would have followed the exposure of his son! +He still clung, though excommunicated, to the priestly calling, and +prided himself upon his fasts and vigils, never omitting the smallest +forms or penances, and saying mass from Ave Maria in the early morning +to Angelus at vesper time in the evening. For Captain Brand he was ready +to shrive a dying pirate--and pretty busy he was, too, at times--or hear +the confession of one with a troubled conscience in sound health; which, +if important to the safety or well-being of the fraternity, he took a +quiet opportunity of imparting to his superior in command. In these +pursuits he not only made himself useful to Captain Brand, but he became +more or less his confidant and adviser, and seemed to maintain his +influence by ghostly advice over the superstitious feelings of the men. +The padre, however, utterly detested the sea, and never touched his soft +feet in the water if he could by any possibility avoid it; but since he +had plenty to eat and drink on the island, and no end of prayers for his +amusement when in charge of the haunt--as he was--to look out for the +people who were left when the "Centipede" sailed on a cruise, he thus +passed the time in a delightfully agreeable manner. + +The companion who sat opposite to the padre was a tall, gaunt, +cadaverous person, evidently of French extraction, with something kind +and humane about his face, but yet the physiognomy expressed the utmost +determination of character--such a heart and eye as could perform a +delicate surgical operation without a flutter of nerve or eyelid, and +who would stand before a leveled pistol looking calmly down the barrel +as the hammer fell. His face was intellectual, and he never smiled. His +whole appearance portrayed a thorough seaman. Where he came from no one +knew; nor did he ever open his lips, even to the captain, with a reason +for taking service among his band. All known about him was that he +landed from a slaver at St. Jago, and was engaged by Don Ignacio to +serve professionally with Brand in assisting the patriots on the Spanish +Main. When, however, he reached the rendezvous of the pirates, and +discovered that they were altogether a different sort of patriots than +he had bargained for, he nevertheless made no objections to remain, and +took the oath of allegiance, only stipulating that he should not be +called upon to take an active part in their proceedings. Here, then, he +remained for nearly three years, attending to the sick or wounded, +taking no interest in the accounts of the exploits of the freebooters +around him--rarely, indeed, holding speech with any one save his +room-mate, the padre, or occasionally a dinner or a walk with Captain +Brand. On the last expedition, however, of the "Centipede," he had been +induced to go on board, so that he might become a check and guard over +the brutal ruffian who had been placed temporarily in command; but, as +we have already seen, his influence had been of little avail. + +There was yet another occupant of the room inhabited by the doctor and +Padre Ricardo; and a low moaning cry caused the former to rise quietly +from his chair and approach the low iron bedstead on his side of the +lodging. There, beneath a light gauze musquito net, lay our poor little +Henri--his once round, rosy, innocent face now pale and thin, with a red +spot on each cheek, and a dark, soft line beneath the closed eyes. +Uneasily he moved in his fitful slumber; and putting his little hands +together as if in prayer, he murmured, "Oh mamma, mamma!" + +Beside the bed stood an unglazed jar of lemonade, together with a vial +and a spoon. The doctor drew nigh, and, gently pushing aside the +curtain, stood looking at the child for some minutes. Presently the +little sick boy feebly stretched out his delicate, thin limbs, and +unclosed his eyes. Oh! how dim, and sad, and touching was that look, as +he gave a timid, half-wild stare, and then, closing the lids tight +together, the hot drops bubbled out and coursed slowly down his tender +cheeks. + +The doctor, with the gentleness of a woman, bent over him, and taking up +his poor, limp little hand, he remained feeling the fluttering pulse and +catching the hot breath on his dark cheeks. As if communing with +himself, while a glow of compassion lighted up his careworn visage, he +muttered, + +"By the great and good God, who hears me, if I save this child I will +restore him to his heart-broken mother!" + +He sank down on his knees by the bedside as he made his vow, and letting +the little hand rest on the bed, he buried his face in his large bony +hands. What thoughts passed through that man's mind none but the +Almighty knows; but when he arose his stern features had resumed their +wonted expression, and, pouring a little lemonade in a glass, he held it +to the sleeper's lips. Then moving noiselessly back to the table, he +said, in a low tone, + +"Padre, the boy will live. His fever is leaving him, and he will get +well." + +"_Ave Maria! Santissima!_" ejaculated the padre, crossing himself and +kissing his cross; "I pray for him. You must give him to me, doctor. I +will make him a little priest, and he shall swing the censer and chant +the Misericordia when I get the new chapel built." + +"Time enough to think of that, _mi padre_, when he gets strong again. +But just now all the prayers _you_ can say for him will do him no good, +and so I hope you won't put yourself to the trouble." + +"_Cierto, amigo_, doctor; but don't sneer at the prayers of the Church. +They do good; they ease the soul and soothe the pangs of Purgatory." + +"Ah! and how long do you expect to stop in Purgatory?" + +"_Ave purissima!_ What a question to ask your pious and devout Padre +Ricardo!" + +"Question the devil when you want fire," retorted the doctor, as he +opened a book lying on the table before him, and put an end to the +dialogue. His companion quietly helped himself to a measure of pure gin, +and unclasped the covers of his richly-bound missal. + +Scarcely, however, had their conversation ceased, when a hoarse hum of +many voices was heard in the direction of the sheds without, mingled +with shouts in all tongues and uproarious laughter. + +"_Peste!_" said the doctor, looking out of an open window; "the people +have knocked off work and are coming home to their supper. They seem to +have brought some of the crew of the felucca with them too. We shall +have a loud night of it, for the captain has sent them a pipe of wine +and a barrel of rum to carouse with." + +"_Pobre citos!_ they have had a hard time of it during the summer--short +of rum, and water too, I hear, and they need refreshment and repose. So +many of my poor flock killed, too, by that savage American corvette, and +I not near to administer the last consolations and holy rite!" sighed +the padre, as he kissed the crucifix and bowed his head. "There is +Lascar Joe, too, among the missing! He refused the sacrament, infidel as +he was, the day before he sailed; but what turtle-soup he made!" The +padre hereupon sighed deeply again, but whether for the loss of the +Lascar or the soup, no one knows. + +The noise without increased--the rattle of crockery, the clinking of +glasses, the moving of feet, and all the sounds of hungry, boisterous +sailors at table. Soon, too, a shout or cheer would be heard, then a +verse of a song, roars of laughter, and now and then the tinkle of a +guitar struck by vigorous fingers in waltz or fandango. + +"_Merci!_" muttered the doctor, as he looked compassionately at the sick +child on the bed; "those noisy wretches will, I fear, disturb the little +boy, and it's as hot here too, padre, as the place we all are going +to." + +"It _is_ warm, my son!" he replied, as his thick unctuous lips parted +with a smile at his companion's allusion to another and a hotter place; +"but I think our good _capitano_ would have a cot slung for my little +priest in the saloon of the big building there. It is always cool on the +crag, you know." + +"Ah! perhaps he will," said the doctor, reflectively; "I'll see about +it." + +Stepping again to the bedside of the little sufferer, he laid a hand +gently on his forehead, where the soft curls lay in confusion about his +temples, and then quickly touching his pulse, he regarded him +attentively for a few moments, while at the same time a light glow of +perspiration came faintly over the innocent face and spread itself down +the neck. + +"His fever is breaking! _Grace a Dieu!_" whispered the doctor to the +padre; "his breath is regular and cool, and he is sleeping sweetly. Now, +if you like, we will go to see the captain, and, if he consents, I will +carry the child when he wakes to the dwelling." + +The doctor carefully closed the door of the room as he and his companion +stepped out into the open court-yard, and moved toward the spacious +sheds beyond. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A MANLY FANDANGO. + + "While feet and tongues like lightning go + With--What cheer, Luke? and how do, Joe? + Dick Laniard chooses Meg so spruce, + And buxom Nell takes Kit Caboose." + + "Now around they go, and around and around, + With hop, skip, and jump, and frolicsome bound, + Such sailing and gliding, + Such sinking and sliding, + Such lofty curvetting + And grand pirouetting, + Mix'd with the tones of a dying man's groans, + Mix'd with the rattling of dead men's bones." + + +Twilight had taken the place of the red sun, the stars came timidly out +one by one, and then in sparkling clusters the brilliant constellations +illumined the blue heavens as the rosy twilight faded again away. Then +the ripple of the inlet came with a tranquil musical sound upon the +white pebbly beach, the lizards in the holes and crevices of the rocks +began their plaintive wheetlings, the frogs and alligators joined in the +chorus from the low lagoon in the distance, and the early night of the +tropic had begun. + +But louder far than the hum of the insects and reptiles, and brighter +than the lamps of heaven, arose the wild shouts and songs of the pirates +carousing, where the torches and wax-lights lit up the scene of their +orgies with the glare of day. The great mess-room was a blaze of light +from candles and lamps, stuck in brackets or gilt sconces about the +walls, or hanging awry in broken chandeliers from the lofty beams. The +remains of their feast had been cleared away, and the tables were +covered with bottles, cups, and glasses, with boxes of cigars and pans +of lighted coals. At one end of the room was a large table, on which was +laid a black cloth with a broad silver border--sometimes used by the +padre on great occasions--and covered with cards and piles of Mexican or +Spanish dollars. At the other end was a raised platform, where four or +five swarthy fellows with guitars in their hands were strumming away in +the clear rattling harmony of Spanish boleros and dances, shrieking out +at intervals snatches of songs in time to the music, or twirling the +instruments around their heads in a frenzy of excitement. At the +tables, too, were more of the excited band, vociferating with almost +superhuman fluency in various languages their exploits, pausing +occasionally amid the hubbub to clink their glasses together, and then +chattering and yelling on as before. In the centre of the apartment were +some half dozen of the same sort, either spinning around the floor in +the waltz, or moving with a certain air of careless, manly grace one +toward another in the gavotte or bolero. There were at the least some +sixty or seventy of these fellows in the room together, most of them +above the middle height, with finely-developed muscles, broad shoulders, +bushy whiskers, and flowing hair. They came apparently from all climes, +from Africa to the Mexican Gulf, and their features and complexions +partook of every imaginable type, from the light skin and florid +complexion of the Swede, to the low brow, oval olive cheek of the +Mediterranean, and the coal-black hue and flat nose of the Bight of +Benin. Their dress was uniform--frock collars cut square and thrown well +back over their ample chests; their nether limbs incased in clean duck +or brown linen trowsers, with silk sashes around their waists, and large +gold rings in their ears. Mingled here and there in the moving throng, +or leaning over the large table with the black cloth cover, were a few +fellows in the uniform rig of the Guarda Costa, in navy jackets and +black silk belchers around their throats; but all were without weapons +of any description, and were enjoying themselves each after his fancy. +Sentinels stood at the doors of the mess-room with drawn cutlasses over +their shoulders, so that in case of a violent quarrel or row, in dance, +drinking, or gaming, the culprits might be cared for. + +While the uproar was at its height, and the lofty tiled roof was ringing +with the gay and ribald songs and shouts of the excited crowds, two +persons appeared in the doorway at the middle of the room, and entered. +In a moment, as the busy revelers beheld them, the dance ceased, the +music of the guitars died away in a tinkling cadenca, the glasses +stopped clinking, the dollars no longer chinked, and the songs and +shouts were hushed. You might have heard a _real_ drop for a minute, +until one of the individuals who had entered slowly walked forward a few +paces and threw his right hand aloft in salutation. Then burst forth a +hoarse, simultaneous shout of + +"_Viva nuestro amigo! Viva el capitano!_" + +Captain Brand did not pause until he had reached the centre of the great +hall, where he stood calmly looking around upon the swarthy groups, who +crowded about in circles at a respectful distance from him; and then +amid the silence he spoke up, in a frank, off-hand manner, + +"Well, my men, I am glad to see you all once more around me. You have +not been so successful as I hoped, but we must take the good and ill +luck as it comes, and I have no fault to find with you. The times, +however, are bad enough; for I have certain news that our retreat here, +where we have so long been hid, may be discovered"--the villains around +held their breath and let their cigars lie dead in their mouths--"but," +went on their commander, "I shall do all that is prudent in the +circumstances for the benefit of all of us; and when we leave here you +will still have me for your leader, with my head, heart, and blade ever +ready to advise or protect you." As he stopped speaking another cheer +arose: + +"_Viva, nuestro amigo! viva! viva! El 'Centipede' y el capitano! Hasta +muerto!_ Long live the captain! We stand by you until death!" + +"Thank you, my friends; I have but one more word to say. The men who +have the relief at the signal-stations and the water-battery must keep +sober. Now go on again with the music." + +The captain, however, did not immediately quit the hall, but, while the +revel began once more with all its enthusiasm, he moved amid the crowd +of its adherents and said a cheerful word to many. + +"Ah! Pepe, your arm in a sling, eh! a graze of a grape-shot, eh? Why, +Hans, you here! nothing can hurt _you_! Well, Monsieur Antoine, how well +thou art looking; and that pretty sweetheart of thine at St. Lucie! Bah! +never look sad, man; thou shalt see her again. What, my jolly Jack Tar! +an ugly scratch, that, across your jaw--a splinter, eh? Never mind; a +little plaster and half allowance of grog will put you all right again. +So good-night, my friends. _Adios!_" + +Saying these words, all addressed to the individuals in their different +languages, he gave a graceful wave of his hand and passed out of the +building. As he rejoined his friend, the commander of the "Panchita," +who had waited at the threshold, while his wary glim of an eye searched +the faces and read the thoughts of all the villains who clustered about +the room--they both stepped out into the court-yard and sauntered +pleasantly on toward the crag. They had not, however, proceeded many +paces before they encountered the padre and the doctor. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the captain, who was in advance, "how goes it with my +doctor?" shaking his hand as he spoke. "Oh, _mi padre_, how art thou?" +turning to Ricardo. + +"_Salve!_ my son; not been so well this morning, with the old rheumatism +in my head." + +"Drunk!" said sententiously the doctor. + +Then again with a gay laugh to the other, "Well, my doctor, your first +cruise has not been so pleasant in the 'Centipede' as I hoped it might +be, but the next may be more agreeable." + +"Perhaps so, Captain Brand; but I shall have a word or two with you on +that subject to-morrow; and, in the mean while, _senor_, I brought a +little boy back with me who is ill from fever, and my quarters are so +stifling hot, and the air from the lagoon is so bad, that I would like +to stow him for a day or so, with your permission, in your quarters, +where it is cooler." + +"Certainly, doctor; why not? my house and all in it are at your service. +By the way, I was about to ask you and the padre to dine with me and Don +Ignacio there. Will you join us? Yes? Then let us move on, for dinner +must be ready by this time, and it would be a sin to keep Babette +waiting." + +Excusing himself for a few minutes, the doctor went for his sick charge, +and returned with him in his arms to the pirate's dwelling. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A PIRATES' DINNER. + + "But the best of the joke was, the moment he spoke + Those words which the party seemed almost to choke, + As by mentioning Noah some spell had been broke, + And, hearing the din from barrel and bin, + Drew at once the conclusion that thieves had got in." + + +When the guests had assembled in the pirate's saloon it was some minutes +before their host appeared. When, however, he did step into the room +from his private apartment adjoining, he was altogether a different man +in outward appearance than in the early morning. In place of the loose +sailor summer rig which he then wore, he was now attired as a gentleman +of elegant fashion of the time in which we write. His lower limbs were +clothed with flesh-colored silk stockings, and fitted into a pair of +pointed toed pumps with buckles of brilliants that a duchess might have +envied. A pair of white cassimere breeches, which set off to advantage +his well-shaped leg, were tied in a dainty bow of rose-colored satin +ribbon below the knee, and fitted him like a second skin. His waistcoat +was of rose-colored watered silk, embroidered with silver, and which, +with its flaps and ample proportions, was halfway hidden by a dress coat +of green velvet. This last garment had a sort of navy cut, with standing +collar richly laced with silver, gold buttons in a double row of the +size of doubloons, with loose sleeves and cuffs heavily laced with +silver also. His linen was of the most gossamer fineness, the collar +thrown slightly back and confined by a single clasp of rubies the size +of beans, while below was a frill of cambric ruffles sparkling with opal +studs framed in diamonds. The ruffles, too, at his wrist were of the +most beautiful point lace, secured by royal brilliants, and he was +altogether a dandy of such princely magnificence that the courtiers of +the days of the old French monarchy might have taken him for a study. +His manner, likewise, was every way in keeping with his splendid attire; +and the ease and grace with which he excused himself to his guests for +keeping them waiting certainly denoted a knowledge of a higher order of +breeding and society than that in which his lot had been cast. + +[Illustration] + +From the very moment of his entrance, however, Don Ignacio had measured +him at a glance. His single glittering eye of jet had taken him in from +the laced collar of his coat to the buckles of his shoes. Not a jewel in +his dress, from the flaming opals in his bosom to the brilliant stones +at his wrists, and down to the sparkling clusters at his feet, did not +his one uneasy optic drink in the flash and estimate the value. Nay, he +calculated by instinct the weight of the gold buttons on his coat and +the price of the exquisite lace which fell in snowy folds about his +hands. Oh, a rare mathematician was Don Ignacio! What greedy thoughts, +too, passed through that little Spaniard's brain! "Ah!" thought he, +"shall I take my debt in those priceless gems, each one the ransom of a +princess, which the old Captain General may one of these days reclaim? +Hola! no! Or shall I receive more negotiable commodities in gold, +cochineal, or silks? Well! _Veremos!_ we shall see!" + +The effect produced upon the good Padre Ricardo was altogether +different. As the captain entered with all his glorious raiment upon +him, he started back, and, bowing before him as if he were Saint Paul +himself, he seized his superior's white hand, and kissed it with fervent +devotion. Not satisfied with this mark of respect, he raised his dingy +paws, holding his crucifix before him, and murmured, in a sort of +ecstasy, + +"_Mi hico! mi capitano! que brillante!_"--"My son! my captain! what a +brilliant being you are!" + +Singularly in contrast, however, was the effect produced upon the +doctor, who merely raised his dark eyes in an abstracted gaze, gave +a careless and rather contemptuous nod of recognition, and then turned +to examine one of the richly-inlaid cabinets which adorned the +saloon. All these various phases of sympathy, attraction, or contempt +flickered like a sunbeam into Captain Brand's reflecting brain, as, with +a delicately-perfumed handkerchief in one hand, and a gold-enameled +and diamond-incrusted snuff-box in the other, he bowed gracefully to +his visitors, and seated himself at table. + +The table was now rolled out into the centre of the saloon, laid with a +snowy-white damask cloth, and covered with the equipage for a banquet. +At either corner were noble branches of solid silver candelabra, which +would have graced an altar, as perhaps they had, and holding clusters of +wax-lights, which shed their rays over the display below. In the centre +arose a huge epergne of silver, fashioned into the shape of a drooping +palm-tree, whose leaves were of frosted silver, and about the trunk +played a wilderness of monkeys. Beneath, around the board, were +cut-glass decanters, flat bulbous flasks of colored Bohemian glass, +crystal goblets, delicate and almost shadowy wine-cups from Venice, +silver wine-coolers, all mingled in with a heterogeneous collection of +rare china and silver dishes. Such wines, too, as filled those vessels! +not a prince or magnate in all the lands where the vine is planted could +boast of so rare and exquisite a collection. Pure, thin, rain-water +Madeira, full threescore years in bottle! Pale, limpid Port, whose color +had long since gone with age, and left only the musk-like odor; flasks +of Johannisberg of pearly light; bottles of Tokay for lips of cardinals; +tall, slim stems of the taper flasks of the Rhine; while the ruby hues +of wine from the Rhone stood clustering about amid pyramids of +pine-apples, oranges, and bananas, and all loading the air of the saloon +with their delicious fragrance. + +When the party had become fairly seated around the board, and while the +host was bailing out the soup from an enormous silver tureen with a +tea-cup--for it did not appear that he had ever been presented in the +usual way with a ladle--fishing out the floating morsels of rich +callipee, with the delicate frills of his sleeves turned back, he began +the conversation in the Castilian language: + +"Well, _amigos_, we are taking our last feast together, I fear, on this +little cluster of rocks, for a long time to come." + +"How!" exclaimed the padre, as he stuffed a wedge of turtle fat in his +oily mouth, and opened his round black eyes to their fullest extent in +manifest surprise. + +"_Como, mi hico!_" he repeated, as he passed a dirty paw over his smooth +chin, and looked inquiringly. + +"Yes, holy father, our good friend Don Ignacio here has brought us +somewhat startling intelligence. Capital soup, this. I shall give +Babette a dollar. Yes, the eagles and vultures are after us; all the +West India fleet; the Lord only knows how many ships, and brigs, and +gun-boats. Glass of Madeira with you, doctor?" wiping his thin lips with +a corner of the damask table-cloth as he spoke; "and they have tampered, +too, with my old friends the custom-house people. Take away the tureen, +Babette--and, in point of fact, I shouldn't be the least surprised to +see a swarm of those navy gentlemen off the reef here at any moment. A +sharp knife, Babette, for these teal--a duck should be cut, not torn. +Try that Moselle, Don Ignacio; I know your fancy for light wines. This +was given me by a Captain--'pon my soul, I forget his name; he had such +a pretty wife, Madame Matilde," glancing at the frame of miniatures on +the wall; "sweet creature she was; took quite a fancy for me, I believe, +and might have been sitting here at this moment, but a--really I forget +her other name. However, it makes no difference: the wine is called +Moselle." + +Now be it here observed that Don Ignacio drank very little wine or +stimulants of any sort, and never by any chance a drop from any vessel +which, with his single bright eye, he did not see his host first indulge +in. This self-imposed sacrifice may have been owing to his diffidence, +or modesty, or deference to Captain Brand, or, perhaps, other and +private reasons of his own; but yet he never broke through that rule of +politeness and abstemiousness. Sometimes, indeed, he carried his +principles so far as to refuse a meat or the fruits which his host had +not partaken of, and always with a slow shake of his brown fore finger, +as if he did not like even to smell the dish presented to him. + +"What! not even a sip of that nectar, _compadre mio_?" + +The compadre shook his digit, and observed that drinking nectar +sometimes made people sick. + +The captain laughed gayly, and said, "Bah! learning to drink does the +harm, and not the art, when properly acquired." + +During all the foregoing interlude the doctor remained in his grave, +calm humor, and only when the captain alluded to the lady whose +husband's name escaped him did he show signs of interest. Then his eye +followed the look toward the miniature, and his jaws came together with +a slight grating spasm. + +Padre Ricardo, however, was in excellent sympathetic spirits, eating and +drinking like a glutton of all within his reach, and turning his full +eyes at times, as if to a deity, upon his friend the captain. Once he +spoke-- + +"But, my son, you were talking of leaving this quiet retreat, where we +have passed so many happy hours." + +"Yes, friend of my soul! Those fellows with commissions, and pennants at +their mast-heads, and guns, and what not, seem determined to do us a +mischief." The devout padre crossed himself, and pressed the crucifix to +his greasy lips. "Ay! they would no doubt arraign us before some one of +their legal tribunals. Put us in prison, perhaps; or maybe give us a +slight squeeze in a rope or iron collar!" + +The padre groaned audibly, and dropped the wing of a teal he was +gnawing, forgetting, strange as it may seem, to cross himself. + +"_Hola, mi padre!_ cheer up! We are worth a million of dead men yet. The +world is wide, the sea open, and with a stout plank under our feet and +one of these fellows"--here he balanced a long carving-knife, dripping +with blood-red gravy, in his hand--"in our belts, who can stop us?" + +There was the cold, ferocious-eyed gleam of a dying shark in the +speaker's eyes as he went on with his carving; but the priest gave a +jerk of trepidation with his chin, and appeared anxious to hear more. + +"Don Ignacio, try a bit of this roast _guana_; it's quite white and +tender. No? Babette, give me some of that rabbit stew!" The one-eyed +individual was likewise helped to some of that savory ragout, and +proceeded to pick the bones with much care and deliberation. + +"Still _triste_, my _padre_! Come, come, this will never do. Join me in +a bumper of this generous old Port. _Bueno!_ may we attain the same age! +By the way, where did this rich stuff come from?" holding up the +decanter between the light and his face as he spoke. + +Don Ignacio's glittering optic pierced clear through the light ruby +medium of the wine, cut-glass decanter and all, as he furtively watched +his host, and was prepared to dodge in case the heavy vessel should slip +out of the captain's hand. Such things had happened, and might again; +besides, a hard flint substance with a multitude of sharp projections, +two or three inches thick and five or six pounds in weight, falling from +a height on a man's head, might kill him. The Don thought of all this, +and twitched something up his sleeve with his hand under the table. But +Captain Brand, it seemed, had no intention of smashing his elegant +dinner set of glass, and putting down the decanter and raising a finger +to his forehead, he said, "How did that wine come into my possession?" + +"Somebody gave it to you, perhaps. _Quien sabe?_ (Who knows?)" suggested +Don Ignacio. + +Without heeding the interruption, the captain's eye rested on the +brilliant snuff-box on the table beside him, where the letter L was set +in diamonds and blue enamel on the back, and catching it with a rap, his +face lighted up, and as he took a pinch and passed the box to the padre, +he exclaimed, + +"Ah! now I remember, my old friend--the Portuguese countess from Oporto. +_Dios! de mi alma!_ (God of my soul!) what a stately beauty was her +daughter!" + +Here Captain Brand sneezed, and, drawing a delicately-perfumed lace +handkerchief from his waistcoat pocket, blew his nose. Meanwhile the box +went round the table; Padre Ricardo took a huge pinch with his dirty +fingers, and feasted his eyes upon the precious lid. The doctor scarcely +gave the elegant bawble a glance as he helped himself. The Don, however, +examined it with the eye of a connoisseur, and not only that, but he +threw a spark at the captain's flashy waistcoat, and thought he detected +some other article in the capacious pockets vice the handkerchief. +Perhaps he may have been mistaken and perhaps not, though he was so very +suspicious an old villain that he sometimes did his friends injustice. +Nor did he put his thin brown fingers, with the few grains of snuff he +had dipped from the box, to his sheepskin nostrils till he had watched +the effect it had produced on those around him. + +"Ah! my friends, I remember distinctly now all about it," continued the +captain, as he returned the kerchief and shook a few specks of the +titillating dust from his point-lace sleeve; "it is about three years +ago, just before you came to live with me, padre, that we fell in with a +large ship bound to Porto Rico. She had been disabled in an awful +hurricane, which had taken two of her masts clean off at the decks, and +was leaking badly. We, too, had been a little hurt in the same gale, and +having made a pretty good season, I was anxious to get back here and +give the crews a rest. Well, we made out the ship about an hour before +sunset, and it was quite dark before we came up with her. There she lay, +rolling like a log, though there was not much sea on, and we could hear +her chain-pumps clanking, and saw the water spouting out from her +scuppers as pure almost as it went into her hold. As we came up +alongside they hailed me for assistance, and said the ship was sinking, +and could not live till morning. + +"Of course I could give them no actual assistance, situated as I +was"--here the narrator smiled as he glanced round upon his guests--"it +would have been simply absurd, you know, the idea of my putting men on +board to keep her afloat for the nearest gibbet. Bah! I did not dream of +such ridiculous nonsense. However, I determined to make her a visit, +and, if there should be any thing to save from the wreck in an undamaged +condition, why, I should look around. + +"Not too much of that Port, _mi padre_; think of your rheumatism in the +morning! Doctor, you don't drink! + +"Well, going on board, I found two lady passengers--the wife and +daughter of an old judge of the island of Porto Rico, with half a dozen +servants, who were all screaming, and praying, and beseeching me to save +them--all but one, a tall, graceful girl, with a large India shawl +wrapped around her shoulders, her white arms glancing through the folds, +and a pair of dark, liquid, almond-shaped eyes, such as I had never +before seen. The fact is, my friends, I had always before fancied blue. +But there stood this girl, with eyes like a wounded stag, leaning up +against the weather bulwarks near the open cabin door. + +"Babette, take away all but the wine and fruit, and bring fire. Pass +that box this way, if you please, _compadre_! Thank you." + +Don Ignacio seemed to have an affection for the trifle, and had counted +the brilliants over and over again, and made a mental calculation of +their weight and value; and when he did move it as he was desired, his +greedy eye followed it with fascination. + +"Yes, it's very pretty, and I set a great store by it," parenthesized +the host, as he resumed his tale: + +"The girl never screamed or even spoke, and, amid all the hubbub of a +drunken skipper and a disorderly crew, she remained quiet and unmoved. +To assure the people, I told them that I would stay by the ship and do +what I could for them. At this the old lady clasped me around the neck, +and kissed me, and blubbered over me more than ever she did, I imagined, +to the old Spanish judge, her husband--imploring me too, by all the +saints she could think of, to take herself and daughter out of the +sinking vessel at once. You may believe that I would much rather have +been treated in that way by the lovely girl with the wonderful eyes +instead of the fat, rancid old woman beside her; but there was no help +for it just then, and so I consented, with all the professions of +sympathy I could make, to do as she desired." + +Here the captain lit a pure Havana, and, after a few puffs and a sip of +Port, continued: + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DROWNING A MOTHER TO MURDER A DAUGHTER. + + "At last she startled up, + And gazed on the vacant air + With a look of awe, as if she saw + Some dreadful phantom there." + + +"No sooner had I assured the old lady that I would transfer them to my +vessel than her daughter made a step forward, and, letting her shawl +fall upon the deck, she seized my hand with both of hers, and said, in a +low contralto voice, + +"'Heaven bless you, _senor_!' + +"By the cestus of Venus, _caballeros_, the pressure of that girl's hand, +and the deep, speaking look of gratitude she gave me out of her liquid +eyes, quite did my business!" + +"And the senorita's too, I think," chimed in the one-eyed commander, as +he wagged his uneasy head at the narrator. + +"_Quien sabe?_" (who knows?) went on Captain Brand: "at all events, I +raised her soft patrician hand to my lips and kissed it respectfully. +Ha! I noticed, too, as I released her round, slender fingers, that she +wore a sapphire of great brilliancy--ay, here it is now. I keep it in +remembrance of the girl." + +Saying this, the host shook back the lace ruffles of his sleeve, and, +crooking his little finger, exhibited the jewel to his guests. + +"Go on, my son," said the padre, as his sensual face expressed his +satisfaction at the recital--"_Vamonos!_" + +"My holy father," responded the narrator, "beware of that wine-flask! +You have grand mass to-morrow! it is the feast of our patron saint, you +know." + +"_Si! si! hijo mio!_ your padre is always ready," crossing himself in a +half tipsy way as he spoke--"_Vamonos!_" The doctor looked as cold as +marble, and said not a word. + +"Well, gentlemen," went on Captain Brand, "I soon got that ship in a +tolerably wholesome state of command. I made my trusty old boatswain, +Pedillo, lock the fuddled skipper up sound and tight in his own +stateroom, and the rest of my men took a few ropes' ends, and belted the +lubbers of a crew until they went to work at the pumps with renewed +vigor. I also insisted upon the scared male servants of the passengers +lending a hand at that innocent recreation, for you see I had no +intention of letting the ship go down--" + +"With the Capitano Brand in her," interrupted Senor Sanchez. + +"No, by no manner of means; for the ship, I felt, was settling fast, and +I could hear the loose cargo, which had broken adrift below in the main +hold, playing the devil's own game; smashing and crushing from side to +side as the vessel rolled, and coming in contact with the stanchions and +beams, with a surging swash of water, too, which told the tale without +the trouble of breaking open the hatches. I took, however, the +precaution to run my eye over the manifest to see if, perchance, there +was any treasure in the after run or any where else, as, in case there +had been, I should have made some little effort to get at it. However, +there was nothing on board but wine, dried fruits, and heavy bale goods, +not worth the time or trouble, in the aspect of affairs at that time, to +save as much as a single cask or a drum of prunes. I glanced, too, at +the clearance list, and saw that the names of the passengers were La +Senora Luisa Lavarona, and the Senorita Lucia, lady and daughter, with +half a dozen orders and titles, of the judge in _Puerto Rico_. _Bueno!_ +roll me an orange, if you please, doctor! Ah! _gracias_, thanks." + +The doctor rolled the orange, and, had it been a grape-shot or any other +iron missile, its aim would have gone straight through the captain's +body, just above his left waistcoat pocket. + +"In the mean while the old lady rushed around in a tremendous hurry, in +and out of the cabin, losing her balance occasionally in the lurches, +ordering her maids to pull out trunks and boxes on to the deck; then +giving me a hug to relieve her feelings, and praying and crying between +whiles in the most whimsical manner. Not contented either with getting +out a pile of luggage and chests that would have swamped a jolly-boat, +she insisted upon waiting until a locker was broken open in the cabin +pantry for the purpose of rescuing six cases of old Port wine, which had +been, she told me, sent as a present from the Archbishop of Lisbon to +his friend the judge. At this juncture I persuaded her to send her +daughter and a few light articles first on board my vessel, when the +boat would then return for herself and the remainder of their property. +Accordingly, I carefully wrapped the lovely girl in shawls and cloaks, +and got her over the side and down into my boat, pitched a few light +caskets and cases in after the young beauty, and then, with a quiet word +or two into Pedillo's sharp ear, the boat shoved off. I suppose it may +have been half an hour before my boat returned, and then I learned from +the coxswain that he had shown his charge down into my private cabin, +and she appeared as comfortable and resigned as possible. Well, we made +quick work of it now, tumbled a good many things into the boat, when I +myself got in to receive the old lady and her retinue. By the way, among +the articles were the boxes of wine--this is some of it"--tapping the +decanter, now nearly empty from the attacks of the priest--"and in my +opinion it does great credit to the taste and judgment of that venerable +archbishop." + +"_Ave, purissima!_" said the padre, with a hiccough; "I shall be a +bishop myself one of these days. _Ora pro nobis!_" + +"You'll be a cardinal," gibed in the doctor, "if swilling wine will do +it." + +Captain Brand went on with his narrative: + +"Where was I? Oh! ah! We were waiting alongside the ship, with her lower +chain-plates not a foot above water, for the donna to be hoisted over +the rail, since she would not permit any of her attendants to precede +her--though Heaven knows they were anxious enough to do so. By this +time, too, after my men had left the deck of the ship, the crew had +somehow got hold of a barrel of wine, and, letting the pumps work +themselves, were guzzling away in grand style. I began to lose patience +at last, and shouted to the old lady to come at once, or I should be +compelled to leave her. She merely leaned over the rail, however, and +chattered forth that all she had in the world was at my service--of +course, figuratively she meant--but she must stay another minute to find +a jar of preserved ginger, which was her only cure for the cholic." + +"You didn't take the offer of the old lady as a figure of speech, I +presume?" asked the doctor. + +"No!" muttered the one-eyed old wretch, with a sneer. "And that jar of +ginger spared her any more attacks of cholic!" + +"_Caballeros_, you are both right. I did accept the gift of her worldly +goods in the frank spirit in which it was offered, without any +reservation; and, to my almost certain knowledge, the Senora Lavarona +was never more troubled with illness of any kind. + +"The fact was, that, finding the ship fast sinking, and her crew +becoming boisterous and rebellious as the imminent danger burst upon +them, they proposed, since their own boats were stove, to take +possession of mine! That _was_ a joke, to be sure! A dozen drunken +swabs, with naked hands, to capture ten of the old 'Centipede's' picked +men, with a pistol and knife each under their shirts; and"--here the +speaker laughed heartily--"and Captain Brand beside them! _Diavolo!_ +what silly people there are in this world!" + +The good padre joined his superior in this ebullition of feeling, and +seemed to enjoy the joke immensely, rolling his goggle eyes and head +from side to side, kissing his crucifix, and exclaiming, with devotion, + +"_Que hombre es eso!_"--"What a man he is!" + +[Illustration: THE PIRATE'S PREY.] + +"Well, _senores_, the next minute we let go the painter and floated +astern past the ship's counter, and a few strokes of the oar-blades sent +us dancing away to leeward, where the schooner was lying with her +main-sail up, and the jib-sheet hauled well to windward. We made no +unnecessary noise in getting alongside, and it took no great time to get +the boat clear, a tackle hooked on, and to swing her on board over the +long gun. Then we drew aft the sheets, set the fore-sail, and the +'Centipede' was once more reeling off the knots on her course." + +"But the ship, my son?" + +"Why, my padre, I was so busy attending to the schooner, and afterward +going below to break the sad news to my lovely dark-eyed passenger of +the loss of her mother, that I had no time to devote to the ship. +Pedillo, however, told me that he heard a good deal of frantic +shrieking, and prayers, and cursing, with, for a little while, the +renewed clank of the chain-pumps, but after that we had got too far to +windward to hear more. About midnight, though, Pedillo and some of the +watch thought they saw a white shower of foam like a breaking wave, and +a great commotion in the water, but that was all. So, you see, what +really became of that old craft we do not positively know; though for a +long time afterward I read the marine lists very attentively, yet I +never saw any accounts of her arrival at her destination. + +"Perhaps," added Captain Brand, with a peculiar smile, as he lit a fresh +cigar, "her arrival may have escaped my notice, as I hope it may, though +I think not." + +Don Ignacio intimated, by waving his fore finger to and fro, that such a +hope had no possible foundation in fact; and he stated, too, that he +knew the underwriters had paid the full insurance on the missing ship. + +"Ah! well, that seems to settle the matter, truly," murmured the +captain, as if he had long entertained painful doubts on the subject, +and now his mind was finally relieved. + +"But, _hico mio_! Son of mine! _La Senorita_--hiccough--with the +almond-shaped eyes--_Santissima!_--hic--how did she bear the--death of +her--hic--mother?" + +"_Por Dios, padre!_ there was a scene which would have drawn tears from +a--" + +"Pirate," suggested the doctor. + +The padre blubbered outright, and his round, tipsy eyes nearly popped +out of his head. + +"Ay, _monsieur_, even from mine! But to go back a little. When I had got +all snug on board the schooner, I went below, and moved softly on tiptoe +along the passage to the door of my beautiful cabin. + +"You remember, _amigo_," said the narrator, turning toward Don Ignacio, +"how that cabin was fitted, and how much it cost to do it. I think you +paid the bill for me? No?" + +Oh yes, Captain Brand was quite right. Don Ignacio remembered it well, +and the bill was a thousand gold ounces, sixteen thousand hard silver +dollars; and by no means dear at that, for the Don never allowed any +body to cheat _him_. + +"Cheats himself, though, sometimes. Don't charge more than the usual +commission." + +The one-eyed usurer looked wicked at this remark, but he said nothing, +being occupied at the moment rolling up a paper cigar with one hand, and +wetting the brown fore finger of the other. + +"Well, _caballeros_, I peeped through the lattice-work of the cabin +door, and there reclined my pretty prize--I recall her as if it were +yesterday--on one of the large blue satin damask lounges of the after +transoms. Her head rested on one of her round ivory arms, half hidden in +the luxurious pillows; her shawl, too, was thrown back; and with a +somewhat disordered dress, and a mass of glossy hair clustering in +ringlets about her neck and white shoulders, I thought then, as I do +now, that she was a paragon of loveliness. I saw her, as she thus +reclined, by the light of a large shaded crystal lamp, which hung by +silver chains from the cabin beams, and shed a rose-tinted effulgence +over the whole apartment. When I first approached the door the girl was +looking out of her own large liquid lamps, so superbly framed in a heavy +fringe of dark lashes, in evident curiosity around the elegant cabin. +Her looks wandered from the Turkey carpet on the floor to the beautiful +silk hangings, that exquisite set of inlaid pearl ebony furniture, the +display of knickknacks, and Dresden porcelain panels of the sides, and, +in fact, nothing seemed to escape her; and the good taste of the +fittings evidently met her approbation. At times, too, she would turn +her gaze out of the narrow little window of the stern, and peer +anxiously over the vessel's wake, which by this time was skimming along +like a wild duck, and leaving countless bubbles behind her. At the first +sound I made, however, in opening the door, she started up and stepped +forward to meet me. + +"'Oh, _Senor Capitano_, _mi madre_! (My mother!) What detains her? We +seem to be going very fast through the water!' + +"I gently took the girl's outstretched hands and led her back to the +cushioned transom. Then I told her, as kindly as I could, that I did +all in my power to save her good mother, but that the crew had +mutinied--they had taken possession of the unfortunate ship--great +confusion existed--and as I feared, you know, that my own boat would be +swamped by remaining longer alongside, I was compelled to leave her to +her fate. + +"'But my mother, _senor_!' exclaimed the girl, with anguish; 'she was +saved?' + +"'No, _senorita_,' I said, 'she went down with the ship; but the last +words she uttered--that is to me--were to invoke a blessing on my head, +and to consign all she possessed to my care.' The poor thing swooned +away as I uttered these words, and it was a long time before she came to +again. When she did, however, regain consciousness, tears came to her +relief, and I did all I could to soothe her distress by telling her +that, if the wind came fair, she would in the course of a few days be +restored to her father." + +"But the wind didn't come fair, eh?" broke in Don Ignacio, "and she +didn't see--" + +"No, _amigo_, the wind held steady from the opposite quarter, and I +thought it better not to beat up with a fished fore-mast, and all +that--and a--she did _not_ see her father." + +Captain Brand here wet his thin lips with a few sips of wine, said, +"Babette, bring coffee!" and resumed his story. + +"When the girl became a little more calm I induced her to retire to my +stateroom, where I left her to sob herself to sleep. Don't spill that +coffee, Babette, and put the liqueurs on the table. There, that will do, +old lady. + +"Well, _senores_, the next morning my pretty prize was too ill to leave +her room; but, as I handed her a cup of chocolate through the door +curtains, she thanked me with much gratitude for what I had done, and +knew that her dear father, the judge, would bless me." + +"So he will," snarled the one-eyed old rascal, "if he ever catches you, +when he draws the black cap over your head." + +"Possibly he may, though perhaps it will be some considerable time +before he has that pleasure." + +"Ah! _cuidado hico mio!_ Take care of yourself, my son," hiccoughed the +priest as he crossed himself. The captain gave a light laugh, sipped his +coffee, and went on as if a dungeon, scaffold, and noose were the last +things he ever thought of. + +"I amused myself during the day in looking over the trunks, caskets, and +what not we had saved from the sinking trader--presented to me, as you +know, by the old lady who was on board. There were, of course, a great +quantity of ladies' dresses, and a good many jewels and trinkets; among +the latter this fine snuff-box here, which our friend Don Ignacio so +much admires, and which I set aside as an especial testimonial of the +old lady's regard. Try another pinch, _amigo_? No? _Bueno!_ I caused +what I believed to be the daughter's elegant raiment to be placed in the +after cabin. For three days I never even saw my pretty passenger, though +I heard her low, sweet voice occasionally when I laid out something for +her to eat in the adjoining cabin. She sang, too, some little sad songs +with a voice which vibrated upon my ear like the notes of an Aeolian harp +sighing in the night wind. _Dios!_ how I regretted then and afterward +that I did not have a cabinet piano!" + +"Presented to you," suggested the doctor. + +"Yes, presented to me, so that she might have touched the keys with +those ivory and rose-tipped fingers. + +"So the time passed, the schooner flying on under whole sails, the wind +about two points free, and the weather as fine as silk. It was the +fourth evening, I think, after parting with the Oporto trader that I +induced my fair passenger to come on deck and take a little breath of +sea-air. You will observe, _caballeros_, that I did not make this +suggestion in the daytime, because the 'Centipede's' crew, you know, +were rather numerous, and some of them not so handsome in point of +personal looks as ladies at all times care to behold. Besides, there +were certain things about the decks--racks of cutlasses, lockers of +musketry along the rail, and a long brass twelve-pounder, which is not +altogether hidden by the boat, you know, and might have given rise to a +little curiosity, or maybe suspicion, even in the mind of a girl, as to +our character, pursuits, and so forth, which I should have been puzzled +to answer. Therefore I chose a clear starlight night to pay my homage, +and accordingly I went below about four bells of the first watch to +escort the little lady to the deck. She was dressed, and waiting for me +in the cabin; and if I was so struck with her beauty when I first saw +her, my heart thumped now against my ribs like a volley of musket-balls +against an oak plank. She wore a black silk robe, such as Spanish women +wear at early mass, and around the back part of her head--where the hair +was gathered in a glossy knot, and secured by a gold bodkin--fell the +heavy folds of a black lace mantilla, the lower end fastened sash +fashion around her lithe waist. She stepped, too, like a queen on a pair +of slim, long, delicate feet, with arched ball and instep, as if she +were in command of the schooner. + +"By my right arm!" exclaimed Captain Brand, shaking that member aloft in +a glorious fit of enthusiasm, "I am quite sure she had conquered me, and +that was more than half the battle! + +"Well, I led her to the quarter-deck, where some cushions and flags had +been placed for her near the weather taffrail, and where she sat down. +The schooner was at the time under the two gaff-top-sails, the main boom +and sheets eased off a little, those long masts, with the sticks above +them running clear away up the sky, almost out of sight, bending like +whalebone, and reeling over the long swell when the breeze freshened; +and not a sound to be heard save now and then a light creak from the +main boom as the broad white sail strained flat and taut over to +leeward, or the rush of the water as it came hissing along from her +sharp, clean bows, with a noise like a breeze through the leaves of a +forest, away off over the counter into luminous sparkles as it swished +out into our wake. The 'Centipede' was indeed doing her best, and you +all know what that is, when we have been chased many and many a time by +some of the fastest cruisers going. + +"You remember, Don Ignacio, how the 'Juno' frigate nearly ran us under, +and yet never gained a fathom on us in nine hours?" + +"Ay, _amigo_; but, had she not carried away her fore-top-mast, in +another hour there would have been nothing left of you afloat but +a--hencoop perhaps." + +"_Quien sabe, compadre?_ If hads had been shads you would have had fish +for your breakfast," rejoined the narrator; and then throwing back +the lappels of his green velvet coat with an air of gentlemanly +satisfaction, he hooked his thumbs in the arm-holes of his fine +waistcoat, and went on. + +"Well, _senores_, the graceful girl beside me never spoke scarcely for +half an hour. I divined, however, what her thoughts might have been in +dwelling on the painful scenes she had recently witnessed, and I held my +peace also; for, you see, I have had considerable experience with women, +and I have ever found that a man loses more by talking than by remaining +watchful and attentive." + +Captain Brand looked, as he gave utterance to this philosophical +sentiment, as if he were a thirsty, cold-eyed tiger, lying in wait to +spring upon an unwary passer-by. + +"Yes, I waited, until at last she spoke. + +"'_Capitano_,' she said, 'what a beautiful vessel you command, and how +fast she sails!' + +"What I replied, my friends, is neither here nor there; but I sank down +on the cushions beside the lovely girl, and poured out a torrent of +passionate words--which I really felt, too, at the time--as I don't +think I ever uttered before or since. She was a little startled and +nervous at first, but after a while I saw her stately head droop to one +side till it rested on my shoulder; I stole my arm around her yielding +waist and clasped her to my breast." + +Here Captain Brand looked as if the tiger had already sprung upon the +passer-by, and was sucking the blood, with his claws buried deep into +the carcass. + +"'_Senor_,' she murmured, in the low, sweet, plaintive note of a +nightingale, 'I am a young and inexperienced girl, of an old and noble +family; you have saved my life; my mother is gone, and I have no one to +advise with, and, if my dear father smiles upon my choice, I will marry +you; but do not, I implore you, deceive me!'" + +"And you did not deceive her, I hope?" broke in the doctor, with a +shiver of light from his determined eyes that was almost painful to see, +so earnest and terrible it was, as he leaned forward with both of his +clenched hands quivering nervously on the table. + +Captain Brand looked at the doctor with rather a suspicious stare, and +letting his thumbs drop from his armpits till they rested on the flaps +of his waistcoat pockets, he replied, in a careless tone, + +"Oh no, _monsieur_, I never deceived--a--that is to say, intentionally +deceived a woman in all my life!" + +"Let us hear more, my son," said the priest, thickly, who had now woke +up from a short nap. + +"_Bueno, caballeros!_" continued the narrator, as he tossed off a +thimbleful of maraschino from a wicker-bound square bottle after his +coffee. "Well, gentlemen, the young Portuguese damsel, Senorita +Lucia, and I sat there under the weather rail till the first faint +streaks of early dawn in the tropics began to announce the coming of +the gray morning. Then she arose, and, leaning with a soft pressure on +my arm, I took her to her cabin, kissed her sweet hands, and bade her +good-night." + +At this stage of the narrative Captain Brand threw himself triumphantly +back in his large Manilla chair, and ran his white muscular hands +through his dry light hair. Ay! the tiger had clutched his prey. An +unprotected, young, and lovely girl had been won and lost, and her +palpitating heart was soon to be torn from her tender body. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +NUPTIALS OF THE GIRL WITH DARK EYES. + + "With a pint and a quarter of holy water + He made the sacred sign, + And he dashed the whole on the only daughter + Of old Plantagenet's line!" + + "But the count he felt the nervous work + No more than any polygamous Turk, + Or bold piratical skipper, + Who, during his buccaneering search, + Would as soon engage a 'hand' at church + As a hand on board his clipper." + + +The captain got up from his chair, stepped to the settee, and, pulling +the signal-cord on the wall, held a short dialogue with the man at the +station; then, saying in a low, sharp whisper through the tube, "A +bright look-out, Pedro!" he resumed his place at the table. The doctor +had, in the mean while, got up and gone to the veranda, where, swinging +in a Yucatan grass hammock, shielded from the night wind, lay his little +patient sleeping soundly. Carefully closing the curtains again around +him, he returned to his place. The padre was now all awake again, with +his thick lips open, waiting for the captain to go on with his story. As +for Don Ignacio, he never stirred body or limb, but his eye traveled +about perpetually, and he observed the movements of his companions all +at the same time. Still the hoarse roar of the pirates in their carouse +arose from the covered sheds in the calm night, and the two solitary +lights from each mast-head of the felucca and schooner twinkled above +the basin of the inlet. + +"And now, _amigos_," began again Captain Brand, after he had assured +himself that all was going on as he could wish without, "I shall inform +you of the sequel of my adventure with the Senorita Lucia. The evening +after the night on which I had declared my passion, we were seated at +dinner in the after cabin. Such a choice little dinner, too, as only our +late friend, Lascar Joe, could prepare! Poor fellow, he'll never make +another of those famous curries, though, no doubt, he'll find fire and +pepper enough where he is, if the devil chooses to employ him. What a +neat hand he was, too, with that spiral-bladed Malay creese of his! Ah! +well--we were sitting over the dessert, and I was relating to my pretty +passenger some account of my early days, and of my lady mother and my +old squire of a father, omitting, perhaps, some few uninteresting +details--" + +Here the old commander of the felucca cackled, and his black, beady eye +glittered as the thought flashed through his head as to what details his +villainous compeer had omitted. How he forged his old father's name, +which brought down his gray hairs in sorrow and disgrace to the grave; +and how his poor mother, too, died of grief, together with other bitter +memories, all of which Captain Brand, the pirate, omitted to mention. + +"Yes, I related likewise some of my early privateering adventures, when +all the broad Atlantic was alive with the fleets of France, England, and +Spain; how I was captured by a Spanish brigantine"--omitting again to +state that he got up a mutiny with the crew of that brigantine, +poniarded the captain and mate in their sleep, and, assuming command of +the vessel, changed her colors for a black flag, and began his career as +a pirate in the Caribbean Sea--"and how I escaped. To all this she +listened with great interest, her large eyes dilating, and her bosom +swelling with sympathy as I proceeded, when suddenly the cabin door +opened, and my ugly friend Pedillo put his head in, and gave me a +warning nod. + +"'What is it?' I said, rather sharply, to Pedillo; 'and how dare you +intrude inside my cabin?' I fear, too, that I came very near doing a +mischief to my boatswain; for I am rather impulsive at times, and by the +merest accident I happened to have a small pistol in my pocket." + +Don Ignacio twitched his sleeve, and looked as if he believed such +accidents as pistols being found in the narrator's pockets happened +quite often. + +"'_Senor_,' said Pedillo, 'there are two sail standing out from the lee +of Culebra Island, and one of them appears to be a large--' + +"I stopped any farther particulars from the lips of my subordinate by a +motion of my finger, and then, kissing the hands of the girl, who was +somewhat surprised at what had transpired, I left the cabin and jumped +on deck. + +"The schooner was now running down through the Virgin's Passage between +St. Thomas and Porto Rico, with a fine breeze on the quarter, and the +sun was just sinking behind the last-named island. I snatched a +spy-glass from the rail, and looked ahead. There, sure enough, was a +sixteen-gun brig on the starboard tack heading across our track, and a +large frigate under single-reefed top-sails stretching away over to the +opposite shores of Culebra, while they were telegraphing bunting one +with another as fast as the bright-colored flags could talk. And, as +luck would have it, as I swept the glass round, what should I see but a +long rakish corvette in company with a huge whale of a line-of-battle +ship, with her double tier of ports glimmering away in the slanting rays +of the sun, both on the wind, and coming out from under the lee of +Culebra Point, just a mile or two astern of us. By the blood of +Barabbas, _caballeros_, we were in a trap for wolves, and the hounds +were in full cry! I immediately, however, luffed the schooner up, and +steered boldly for the frigate; and, as a puff of smoke spouted out from +the lee bow of the admiral to windward, and before the boom of the gun's +report reached us, I hoisted American colors. Seeing this, the brig hove +in stays, and, perhaps being ordered to board me, came staggering along +on the other tack across our forefoot, while the frigate went round too, +and held her wind toward her consorts to windward. Now this was just the +disposition which I wanted of the vessels, and it could not have been +done better for my plans had I been the admiral of the squadron. In less +than a quarter of an hour, the brig--and no great things she was, with a +contemptible battery, as I could see, of short carronades--hove aback a +little on the bow of the schooner, and gave us a warning of a +twenty-four pound shot across our forefoot, to heave to also, at the +same time hoisting the English ensign. + +"So ho!" ejaculated Captain Brand, as he twisted the point of his nose, +accompanied by a malevolent scowl, "_senores_, I at once hauled flat aft +the fore-sail, dropped the main peak, and put the helm up, as if to +round to under the brig's stern; whereupon my man-of-war friend dropped +a cutter into the water, and she had just shoved off in readiness to +board me, when, before you could light a paper cigar, I ran up the main +peak, got a pull of the sheets, and the 'Centipede' was off again like a +shark with his fin above water, heading for the narrow passage between +Culebra and Crab Islands. It was at least five minutes before that +stupid brig could believe his eyes, and ten more before he got hold of +the boat again, when she filled away and began to pop gun after gun at +me as fast as he could bring his battery to bear! There was only one +shot that skipped on board us, and that only smashed both legs of a +negro, and then hopped off through the fore-sail to windward. + +"Had I not had a good dinner that day and pleasant society on +board"--how peculiarly the speaker smiled--"I should perhaps have taught +that brig such a lesson that he would not have cared to report it to his +admiral. But as I knew I had the heels of him, and as the rest of the +squadron were now crowding all sail and keeping off in chase of me, I +ordered Pedillo, just by way of touching my hat and saying '_Adios_,' to +clear away the long gun and return the brig's salute. The shot struck +him just forward the night-heads by the bowsprit, and by the way the +splinters flew and his jib and head-sails came down, I knew I had +crippled him for an hour at least. At the same time, to prevent any +mistakes as to our quality, and to satisfy the admiral's curiosity, we +hauled down the Yankee colors and set our swallow-tailed flag!" + +"Rather dark bunting! no?" edged in Don Ignacio. + +"Ay, _amigo_! as black as that eye of thine, though not half so +murderous," retorted the pirate as he continued his narrative. + +"_Bueno_, there came the whole of the squadron down after us, spitting +out from their bridle ports mouthfuls of cold iron, which all went to +the bottom of the Virgin's Passage, for not one came within a mile of +the schooner; and then I led them such a dance through that intricate +cluster of reefs and islets, that soon after dark they gave up the game, +and I said '_Buenos noches_' to them all!" + +Here Captain Brand paused, made a careful selection of a beautifully +turned trabuco cigar from the box, shouted to Babette to produce some +old Santa Cruz rum, sugar, lemons, and hot water--screeching hot, he +said--at which the padre crossed himself; and then throwing his fine +legs, incased in the lustrous silk stockings, on a chair beside him, and +while his eyes gazed fondly on the brilliants sparkling in the buckles +of his shoes, he resumed his tale. + +"When I went below again, after every thing had become quiet on deck, I +found my stag-eyed sweetheart waiting to receive me! How superbly she +looked as she made a movement from the cushions where she had been +reclining, and exclaimed, + +"'Oh, _senor_, what has happened, and what was the cause of all that +noise of guns, and those cries of agony I heard above?' + +"'_Querida Lucia_, dearest,' I replied, 'we have been where there +are--a--pirates, but fortunately have escaped, and the cries you heard +were from one of my poor crew who got slightly wounded by a shot!' + +"'Ah, _malditos piratos_! cursed pirates!' exclaimed the charming +beauty, as she put both her hands in mine, 'and how thankful am I that +you are not hurt! But, _querido mio_! dear one!' she went on, 'when +shall we get to Porto Rico and _our_ dear father? We must be near, for I +heard one of your sailors shout to you the name of the island!' + +"In reply, I told her that we had been near Porto Rico, but +that--a--circumstances were such, on account of the dangerous pirates +who infested those seas, that I felt obliged, for her safety--you +understand--to run along by way of Hispaniola--she not having a very +clear idea of the position and geography of those parts--and that our +cruise might probably be prolonged for a few days more." + +"And into h----, perhaps," said the doctor, with a hollow voice and a +calm cold eye. + +"Oh no, my friends, certainly nothing so bad as that. Possibly to +heaven! but, _quien sabe_? no one can tell! + +"However," pursued the captain, "I soon succeeded in allaying her +apprehensions, and then I threw myself at her feet, and implored her to +risk her father's displeasure and to marry me at once; that she knew her +father was cold, stern, and obdurate, and should he frown upon my suit I +should die of despair!" + +"_Cierto!_" murmured Ignacio, with the grin of a skeleton. + +"I used these passionate appeals and many more, until at last the fond +girl yielded her consent to my entreaties. + +"'But the priest, _querido mio_!' she exclaimed, as she rose and +disengaged herself from my arms. I told her that I chanced to have one +on board as a passenger, who would perform the ceremony. + +"And so I had," added Captain Brand, "or at least a very near approach +to one, for my ugly boatswain, Pedillo, had been bred up--as an +acolyte--you comprehend--in the house of a rich old prelate of San Paulo +Cathedral in Trinidad, to whom Pedillo, one fine morning, gave about +eight inches of his cuchillo!" + +"_Jesus Maria!_" exclaimed Padre Ricardo, starting back with horror, and +telling his beads. + +"Ay, _mi padre_! Pedillo assassinated the holy father, and plundered his +cash-box besides; and so you see Pedillo was just the man I wanted." + +Don Ignacio nodded his wicked old head through a cloud of cigar smoke as +a sign of approval. + +"Accordingly, _senores_, the next day I made the trusty Pedillo cut off +all the bushy beard about his ugly face, and had the crown of his head +shaved besides--quite like that round, oily spot there on the top of +good Ricardo's poll--and then he rigged himself out in a clerical gown, +to which the trunks of my bride's old mother contributed, and, take my +word for it, he was as proper and rascally a looking priest as could be +found on the island of Cuba. He performed the ceremony, too, by way of +practice, on Lascar Joe and the second cook beforehand, with as much +decorum and solemnity, and gave as pious a benediction, as his old +Trinidad uncle, the prelate, ever did. Well, that evening we were +married." + +"How many times has the _capitano_ been married?" grunted out Don +Ignacio. + +"Why, let me reflect," as he threw his cold, icy look at the frame of +miniatures on the opposite wall. "You mean, _compadre_, how often the +ceremony has been performed. Ah! I think on eleven occasions. No, it was +only ten. Madame Mathilde had two husbands living when I made love to +her, and declined to take a third. But then, you know, I have an +affectionate disposition, and I can not set my heart against the +fascinations of the sex." + +He gave vent to these moral sentiments as if he really meant them to be +believed and generally adopted by his audience. + +"Well, that same evening I was married to the beautiful Senorita Lucia +Lavarona, though I am sorry to say that Pedillo did not perform his part +of the business as well as I had expected of him, from his practice in +the morning. He stammered a good deal, and when he raised the crucifix +to the lips of the young girl, her innocent looks and maidenly majesty +of deportment so struck my coadjutor with confusion that he let the +crucifix fall to the deck at her dainty feet. This little incident +caused me some displeasure; but, reflecting that the poet tells us + + 'A tiger, 'tis said, will turn and flee + From a maid in the pride of her purity,' + +I said nothing to the abashed Pedillo as I gave him back the emblem; but +I favored him with a look, with my right hand in my pocket--this +fashion." + +Here the cold-blooded scoundrel dipped his thumb and fore finger into +the flap of his waistcoat, while the commander of the "Guarda Costa" +waved his brown digit before him, as if he knew what was there all the +time. + +"Ah! that restored my new-made priest to his senses, and he then got +through the ceremony entirely to my satisfaction. + +"However," said Captain Brand, turning with lazy indifference toward +Padre Ricardo, "ever after this I resolved not to take the risk of such +another chance of failure, and this is the reason why I first sought +your services." + +"_Gracias a Dios!_ Thanks be to heaven, my son, that you found me!" said +the sacrilegious wretch, as he bowed to his superior and sipped a glass +of rum punch. "_Vamonos!_ let us hear more." + +"At the conclusion of our nuptials, while I held my sweet Lucia to my +heart, and kissed her pale brow, and while tears of crystal drops, half +in rapture and half in sorrow, dimmed her large, sparkling black eyes, +she withdrew this royal sapphire from her slender finger, and gently +placing the gem on mine--where you see it, _amigos_--she said, + +"'My dear and only love, this is the talisman of my race. It has been +for ages in my family, and it has been the guardian of our hope and +honor. Receive it, friend of my heart, and be the protector of the young +girl who yielded up to you her very soul!'" + +The doctor started as if he had been stung by a scorpion; but Captain +Brand, heedless or inattentive to the movement, went on: + +"Yes, _caballeros_, those were her very words; murmured, too, in her low +contralto tones with a pure, lisping Castilian accent, as she laid her +stately head on my shoulder. + +"Ay, those were rapturous moments; and it was in some degree--yes, I may +say in truth--entirely her own fault that they did not last. + +"Well, for some days--eight or ten, perhaps--with light baffling winds, +we crept stealthily along the south side of St. Domingo; but the weather +was delightful, and the time passed on the wings of a zephyr. In the +warm, soft evenings, with the moon or stars shedding their pearly gleams +over the sea, she sat beside me on the deck of the schooner, watching +with girlish interest the white sails above her head, or singing to me +the sweet little sequidillas of her native land. And again, starting up +from my arms, she would peep over the counter, trace the foam as it +flashed and bubbled in our wake, or point to the track of a dolphin as +he leaped above the luminous waves and went like a bullet to windward. + +"I flatter myself, _caballeros_, that there have been periods in my +career on the high seas, or on land, and may be again, for aught I +know," continued the elegant pirate, as he crossed his legs and threw +back the lappels of his velvet coat, so as to expose the magnificence of +his waistcoat, and the frills on his broad, muscular chest, "when men of +high birth and breeding, and lovely women too of noble lineage, have not +thought it beneath them to dine with or to receive the homage +of--a--Captain Brand. + +"And, _por Dios_!"--the narrator did not consider it unbecoming his +cloth and profession to swear in a foreign language--"_por Dios!_ +_senores_, I have known the time, too, when I have played whist with a +French prince of the blood and two knights of the Golden Fleece." + +"And you fleeced them? No?" muttered Don Ignacio, with an envious +glimmer from his greedy eye, as if no one had a right to rob the +community but himself. + +"And not only that," continued the captain, rapidly, "but the daughter +of an English peer of the realm once proposed to run away with me. Ho! +ho! yes, she actually proposed to elope with me; but as she was verging +on fifty years, and only weighed fifty pounds, with never a pound in her +pocket, I sighed my regrets. Ay, great compliment it was, but I declined +the honor. You yourself, _compadre_, must remember how I was received by +the people on the Buena Vista villa at Principe; how the obispo blessed +me, the old general embraced me, and the beautiful marquesa, with the +hour-glass waist, smiled on me." + +"_Cierto!_" That astute old Spaniard never forgot any thing, particularly +a debt due to him; and he remembered, moreover, to have heard that when +the noble _Mi Lord Inglez_ left the villa one dark night, a good deal of +plate, jewels, doubloons, and other valuable property disappeared with +him. Ay, the sly old fellow had a faint recollection as well of seeing +a heavily-armed schooner running the gauntlet through the forts before +daylight, and that she left a certain bag of gold ounces for him--Don +Ignacio Sanchez--somewhere in a secret hole beneath a well-known rock +inside the harbor. Oh, a wonderful memory for matters of this nature +had our rapacious one-eyed acquaintance! + +"Yes," went on his partner in many a scene of pillage and crime, "I have +every reason to know that I won the hearts, and purses too, sometimes, +of some of the fine people I met in refined society. But yet there have +been occasions when the game has gone against me--" + +Don Ignacio's tenacious memory came again into play, and he looked back +to the time when he himself had cleaned his profuse friend out of all +his gains at the card-table, even to the buttons off his coat; but he +gave no sign of remembrance of those days, and only blew a dense cloud +of smoke from his thin yellow nostrils as the captain spoke. + +"--Though those occasions have not been of frequent recurrence." + +The good Padre Ricardo at this juncture hoped that, by Saint Barnabas, +luck might, in all time to come, befriend his son and patron; croaking, +too, with a goblet of punch to his unctuous lips, "_Vamonos!_ Tell us +more of the adorable Dona Lucia!" + +Captain Brand rapped his snuff-box, opened the diamond-crusted lid, took +a dainty pinch, laid his cambric handkerchief over his kerseymere +breeches, and resumed his narrative. + +"So passed the days, _caballeros_; and when, one morning, the high +mountains back of Port Guantamano were reported to me, I felt a +presentiment that my dream of bliss was drawing to a close. Indeed, I +might probably have remained at sea a week or two longer, but the men +were getting a little impatient, and I thought it better to sacrifice my +own pleasure to theirs. That day we caught a cracking breeze out of the +Windward Passage, and toward midnight we came up with this little sandy +island here. + +"The preparations for going into port excited the curiosity of my bride; +for, poor thing! she believed we were bound into Porto Rico, and I had +some trouble in inducing her to go below before we crossed the reef. +_Bueno!_ the coast was clear, the signals were all right, and an hour +later the schooner had her anchor down and sails furled pretty much in +the spot where she now lies moored. + +"While, however, we were sweeping up the inlet, I sent a boat ahead, +with directions for my tidy old housekeeper, Babette, to have every +thing prepared to receive her new mistress. Just then one of those +terrible thunder-storms came up; heavy masses of clouds obscured the +sky, followed by such double-barrel shocks and intensely vivid lightning +as is only beheld in the tropics preceding the equinox. The rain, too, +came along in horizontal sheets, driven by a squall which burst in fury +over the island, and it seemed to me that all the devils from hell were +howling and shrieking in the air. + +"Shielded from the storm by a large boat-cloak, I carried my beautiful +bride, with her face nestling on my breast, to the cove, and then I bore +her into this fine saloon. + +"I shall never forget the sweet words she whispered, and the loving +caresses she gave me on that little journey, even while the tempest +almost dashed me to the ground, and the sharp flashes of lightning +nearly blinded me. They were the last she ever lavished upon me." + +No sigh escaped the lips of this cold-blooded monster as he uttered +these words; no sign of feeling for the ruin of a gentle girl whom he +had betrayed to his piratical den of infamy and crime--whose dream of +life was destroyed like a crushed rose-leaf, and all her hope gone from +that moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DOOM OF DONA LUCIA. + + "I went into the storm, + And mocked the billows of the tossing sea; + I said to Fate, What wilt thou do to me? + I have not harmed a worm! + + "Thy dim eyes tell a tale-- + A piteous tale of vigils; and the trace + Of bitter tears is on thy beauteous face; + Beauteous, and yet so pale!" + + +"Thus it ever is, _caballeros_, and ever will be," went on Captain +Brand, in rather a reflecting strain. "There is a point to begin +and stop, and an end to joy as well as grief. We should, however, +take the world as it comes and as it goes. I do, and so do you, +_compadre_!"--pitching a cigar spear fashion at Don Ignacio to +attract his attention--"and, therefore, we should never look too +far ahead, and live only for the present. + +"Indulging then in this train of thought, as I set down my lovely burden +here, and the cloak fell from her shoulders, I was prepared for any +thing which might happen. I wore a slightly different costume at the +time than that she had been accustomed to see me in, as I always do when +I think there might be a chance of a surprise or trap laid for us in +entering the inlet. So, instead of fine linen and velvet, I had on a red +flannel shirt, canvas trowsers, with a cutlass slung to my side, and a +pair of pistols in my belt. I don't think I appear handsome in that rig, +but the fellows at my back somehow think it is becoming to me, +especially when we are engaged in a hand-to-hand fight! What say you, +_compadre_?" + +The Don said nothing, and merely waved his fore finger, as if dress was +not a matter to which he devoted much attention. He thought, however, +that sleeves should be cut loose for knives when the pockets were not +too small for pistols; but he uttered no word. + +"_Bueno!_ There I stood"--pointing to the corner of the room as he +spoke--"drenched with rain, and there stood my tall and lovely wife! + +"The saloon was brilliantly lighted; a profusion of plants and flowers +were clustered here, there, and every where, on cabinets and tables, in +striking contrast to the display exhibited yonder in that armory, where +pikes, muskets, and knives were gleaming through the open door. + +"Quick as the lightning which was piercing deep into the inmost crevices +of the rocks and lighting up the crag without, Lucia's dark eyes flashed +around the apartment from floor to ceiling, from flower to blade, +resting an instant on the frame of miniatures there--hers was not among +the collection _then_; it is the one in the middle, doctor--" + +There were no knives on the table, or else, from the deadly look the +doctor gave, he might have perhaps sprinkled the narrator's heart's +blood on the floor. + +"--Until at last her gaze of terror rested on _me_! No one, I fancy, can +tell the power of Spanish girls, who has never seen them when the whole +passion of their souls, either in love or hate, comes pouring in a black +blaze of jet from their gleaming eyes. + +"Advancing a step toward me, with her white hands clasped together, she +said, in a hurried, beseeching voice--and low as was the sound, I heard +it distinctly during the crashing thunder which shook the rocks of the +crag to their foundations-- + +"'_Senor!_ where am I? My father! Who--who--in the name of the Blessed +Virgin, art _thou_?' + +"Again giving a look of the utmost horror around the room, she pressed +her hands to her eyes, and said, in the same low, distinct tone, + +"'Speak, _senor_! For the love of our holy Savior, speak!' + +"I felt that the girl had saved me, by her own instinctive perception, a +world of painful explanations, and I replied, + +"'Lucia! I divine that all farther concealments are useless; you are in +the haunt of the most noted pirate of these seas, and that man stands +before you.' + +"_Caballeros!_" continued Captain Brand, "had my pretty prize swooned +away, or fallen down in a fit, or gone into hysterics and torn her +hair out by the roots, I should not have been greatly surprised; but +she did none of those things. On the contrary, she became as calm as +marble--frightfully so, in fact--and pushing back the bands of her +magnificent tresses from her pale forehead, she raised her round +white arm aloft, with her slender fore finger quivering like the tongue +of a viper in mid air, and then poured forth such a torrent of +awfully impressive words that I quailed before her. + +"Yes, _senores_, I am no coward, take me when you will; but on this +occasion I must honestly admit that I stood powerless before the gaze +and gesture of that slight, delicately-formed woman. + +"'Pirate--wretch--monster! may the curses of hell be heaped upon thee! +Murderer--betrayer! may thy heart be burned, and thy soul blasted +forever!' + +"I need not pain you, _senores_, by reciting the cruel words that came +hissing through her closed teeth, nor yet farther describe the terrible +concentrated gaze of hate and fury which streamed from those gleaming +eyes. Suffice it to say, that though often afterward I was treated in +the same manner, yet, on the occasion alluded to, I cut short the +interview by summoning Babette to see her mistress to her chamber, and +then, glad to escape, I went out of the house and attended to the duties +which required my presence." + +The padre, with his flat lips half open, eagerly drinking in--with his +Santa Cruz punch--the words of his patron; the doctor, calm, unmoved +now, and thoughtful; the one-eyed old rascal, still puffing his +cigarettes and allowing no rest to his uneasy, suspicious optic, all sat +listening, with each an interest peculiarly his own, to the fate of Dona +Lucia. The narrator leisurely arose and held his hourly confab with the +man at the signal-station, and then returning to his place, proceeded +with his discourse: + +"I shall pass rapidly over, my friends, many little incidents of a +rather unpleasant nature which occurred here, in this my rocky retreat, +for some months after the interview which I have described. I tried +every argument and persuasion I was master of to bring my proud bride to +reason, but to all my entreaties she turned a cold and chilling stare of +obdurate hate. Day by day the intensity of her detestation grew stronger +and stronger, and seemed to have become a part of her nature. Yes; the +gentle, yielding girl I had won on board the 'Centipede' had now become +as stern and unbending as a rock, and my controlling power over her mind +and love was gone. I left her entirely to herself for some weeks, until +one day I thought her passion might have subsided, and once more, +attired in a rich and splendid suit, I came in here, as she sat like a +marble statue at table. She never looked up at my entrance, but her eyes +shone like stars as she mechanically went through the forms of the +dinner laid before her. + +"'Lucia!' I said, gayly. No answer by word or look. 'Lucia! _querida +mia!_' I repeated, and, sinking on one knee beside her, attempted to +take her hand. + +"By all the saints, _senores_, that came near--very near--being the last +time that I ever should kneel to a woman; for with a movement so sudden +that I had barely time to leap aside, she snatched a long pointed +carving-knife from the table and lunged full at my throat! The blade +just grazed my jugular artery, inflicting a slight wound. But she never +turned round to see the extent of her effort, and again sat calm and +rigid at the table. + +"This was my last visit save one. I had long before abandoned these +comfortable quarters entirely, and occupied the rooms you do, _mi +padre_, out there among the men. In fact, my stern young bride was in +entire command of the island; and even my good Babette here stood in +such awe of her that she always crossed herself when called to approach +her mistress. + +"Month by month matters went on in this way, until the rainy season had +gone, and I was preparing for another cruise in the schooner; but hour +by hour the consuming passion which flamed in the veins of Lucia was +doing its work. I sometimes beheld her standing out on the veranda, tall +and stately as ever; and when the moon was at the full, it threw its +light upon her wan and sunken cheeks, and thin, wasted frame. Ay, there +she stood, like an almost transparent statue of alabaster, with her dark +eyes shining with an unearthly light, turned in one long tearless gaze +upon the ledge and combing breakers to seaward. It was singular, too, +the effect she produced even upon the horde of these brave fellows of +mine, for no persuasion could induce a man of them to come within +pistol-shot of that part of the house while she was thus keeping her +nightly vigils. And as for Pedillo, he acquired such a superstitious +dread of the girl he had married, and lived in such a state of abject +terror, that I had serious thoughts of shooting him through the head to +avoid the contaminating influence he exercised over his comrades. + +"Well, _caballeros_, late one Saturday night, while the men were +carousing and drinking success to the coming cruise--we were to sail on +the following Monday--and while I was returning from my usual stroll to +the Tiger's Trap to see the battery in order and the look-outs wide +awake, I met Babette toddling along, nearly out of breath. + +"'What is it, old lady?' You know, _amigos_, that Babette never spoke a +word in her life, but she made signs to let me know that I was wanted at +the crag, and that there was no time to be lost. I quickened my pace, +and, preceded by Babette, I once more darkened my own threshold. The +curtains and hangings were all closely drawn in the saloon here, and it +was dark as a tomb; but there was a light burning yonder in the passage +leading to the chamber, and I made my way to the door. + +"I shall never forget what I saw, though I should like to, as it comes +to me sometimes in the night, or when I am left much alone by myself." + +The pirate passed his hands over his eyes as if he saw something while +he spoke, and then, letting his voice drop to an almost sepulchral +pitch, he went on hurriedly: + +"I stood at the door, _caballeros_, and looked in. On the bed, which was +drawn to the middle of the chamber to get the air through the narrow +loopholed windows, with the gauze curtains falling square on all sides, +lay Lucia. Her attenuated frame scarcely presented an uneven surface +beneath the snowy sheet which covered it. Her superb hair was spread in +great black masses on the pillow, and her pale marble face reposed +there like an ivory picture in an ebony setting. Her eyes were wide +open, large and luminous, and her thin delicate hands were clasped +around a silver and pearl crucifix, which rested on her hollow breast. A +single taper in a silver lamp threw a lurid, flickering ray about the +room, and beside it was Babette on her knees quivering with terror, +while from one of the loopholed windows a broad white band of moonlight +streamed directly across the pillow and face of the dying girl." + +Captain Brand's face assumed a deathly pallor, and, with his icy blue +eyes fixed on vacancy, and his voice sunk to a hoarse whisper, he went +on: + +"As I appeared in the portals of the door, Lucia slowly raised her fore +finger, and beckoned me to approach. I could no more have resisted the +summons than if a chain cable to a frigate's anchor had caught me in its +iron coils, and was dragging me to the bottom of the sea. I moved to the +foot of the bed. + +"'_Pirato!_' came from her slightly-parted lips, in her old low and +distinct tones. '_Pirato_, behold your cruel work! Destroyer of mother +and child--of soul and body--may the curses of a dying woman and her +unborn child haunt you by day and by night!' I was dumb, and my pulse +stopped beating. + +"'_Ave Maria purissima!_' were the last words that came in a sweet, pure +whisper from her parted lips; she clasped the crucifix tighter, and the +spirit departed. I tore aside the gauze net to lay my hand on her heart, +when, on my soul! her right hand slowly relaxed its death-grasp on the +crucifix, and, rising to a vertical line, with the fore finger pointing +upward, quivered in the light of the waning moon, like, as it was, a +supernatural warning! Yes, that finger--" + +[Illustration: "A SUPERNATURAL WARNING! YES, THAT FINGER--"] + +"Mamma! mamma!" came in a weak, plaintive voice from the piazza, while +the villain, with his hands before him as if to shut out a frightful +vision, and eyeballs starting from their sockets, was hoarsely +whispering to his horror-stricken audience the last warning of the dead +Lucia. + +As the low moaning cry in the stillness which reigned around the saloon +struck his ear, he sprang with a bound to his feet, and, quick as +thought, with a pistol in each hand, he shouted, "Who's there?" + +"It is the little sick boy, _senor_. Do him no harm at your peril!" and +the doctor stood towering before the pirate's leveled weapons. + +"_Maldito_ on the brat! Pshaw!" said Captain Brand, quieting down, and +returning the pistols to his pockets. "How nervous I am! Excuse me, +_caballeros_. I was thinking of something else." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +END OF THE BANQUET. + + "There was turning of keys, and creaking of locks, + As he stalked away with his iron box. + Oh, ho! oh, ho! The cock doth crow, + It is time for the fisher to rise and go. + Fair luck to the abbot, fair luck to the shrine! + He hath gnawed in twain my choicest line; + Let him swim to the north, let him swim to the south, + The _pirate_ will carry my hook in his mouth." + + +In the pause which followed the dreadful episode just recounted by +Captain Brand, the padre was occupied in pattering a prayer, counting +his beads, and elevating his crucifix as if he was mumbling high mass at +the altar. Don Ignacio slowly waved his brown fore finger, and his +single spark of glowing eye glared fiercely and fixedly at his host. A +clammy sweat burst out on the pallid brow of the doctor, and his hands +were clutched before him on the table like the jaws of a steel vice. And +still the drunken shrieks and cheers of the piratical crew at the sheds +arose wild and shrill in the calm night, making a gloomy echo for the +banquet. The doctor was the first to break the awkward silence which +pervaded the saloon. + +"_Capitano!_" said he, in his habitual calm, deep voice, "with respect +to what you said in the early part of the evening, of breaking up this +establishment, what, may I ask, are your plans for the future?" + +"_Gracias!_ _amigo_ doctor! Thank you, my friend, for changing the +conversation. My plans! eh! ah! Well, they are these--" + +Here Captain Brand's face assumed its usual expression; and entirely +himself again, he went on to state, in a precise, business-like way, the +views he had resolved upon for future action. + +"--To-morrow, gentlemen, is Sunday. Those boisterous fellows out there, +after mass, will need rest all the day. On Monday, however, I shall +begin to change the rig of the schooner, fill up with provisions for a +long cruise, take on board all the loose odds and ends we have stowed +here, of course," he added, as he remarked an inquiring and a rather +alarmed mercenary look from the Tuerto's glim--"of course, after having +squared up all claims of our _compadre_ there!" + +"Hum!" croaked that sharp rascal, with a nod of satisfaction quite like +an old raven. + +"Then, _senores_, I shall burn or destroy the old sheds, and bury the +cannon and heavy articles we can not find room for in the 'Centipede;' +when, if nothing happens, we shall trip anchor and spread our sails for +sea! + +"Babette! Babette! Really I believe that dear old negress has fallen +asleep. Babette! ah! there you are, my beauty! See if you can't give us +a bowl of okra gumbo before we break up here!" + +Babette had not been asleep. Oh no! She had her ear to the door of the +saloon, and was listening to the sad history of Dona Lucia, and when her +master came to the final scene the old woman fell on her knees and +shivered all over, where she remained until the sound of the captain's +voice again called her to her duties. + +"And when we have left these quiet waters, my son!" broke in the padre, +"what then?" + +The fact was, that the carnivorous and vinous Father Ricardo knew that +his stomach was not suited for high winds and rough oceans, and was +hoping that some scheme might be devised to allow him to remain +tranquilly on the island. + +"Why, holy padre, I propose to steer clear of the West Indies by some +unfrequented track, and, striking the broad Atlantic, stretch down the +coast of Brazil. Perhaps we may double Cape Horn, and see what those +miserable patriots are fighting for in Chili and Peru; then maybe across +the Pacific, to the lovely islands and maidens of Polynesia; so on to +the China Seas, where we may fall in with an outward-bound Canton +trader, or a galleon with a ton or two of silver on board--who +knows?--there is plenty of blue water and fine ships every where; so we +must be content." + +Padre Ricardo made the sign of the cross, kissed his thumb and fore +finger, and, reaching his dirty paw over to the captain, shook hands +with him. + +"Ay, _amigos_!" continued the leader, without minding the friendly +interruption; "yes, my friends, we shall, I trust, give the hounds in +search of us the slip; and even should they scent out this retired +little spot, they will have their trouble for their chase, and find +nothing but a few stones and heaps of rubbish above ground." + +"They may find some little matters below, though," chimed in the +commander of the felucca. + +"If they do," retorted the pirate, with a meaning scowl, "I'll put the +spy who betrays it to such a torture as that he'll wish himself below +ground when I come back here." + +"_Cierto, amigo!_ no fear of that!" muttered the Tuerto, with some +little trepidation of manner. "_My_ papers are white." + +"Captain Brand," said the doctor, "my contract with you is nearly up, +and since I only agreed--as you know--to enlist my professional services +here on shore, I presume you will have no objections to permit me to +depart with Don Ignacio in the felucca." + +It would be difficult to say what caused the flush of passion which +overspread the leader's face as he listened to this simple request, but +it was full a minute before he replied, and then, having weighed the +matter carefully in his mind, he said, in a precise and determined tone, +in French, + +"_Monsieur le Docteur!_ the compacts that I have made with all those +that have taken service with me have never been broken except by death. +I can not, therefore, consider your request, and I shall expect you to +sail with me in the schooner." + +Then he added, quickly, as he noticed a certain haughty expression in +his subordinate's face, "Pardon me, _monsieur_; we had better not +discuss this question now. Suppose you see me on the morrow." + +"Willingly, _senor_, and you will find my resolution unchangeable." +Rising as he spoke, he bowed to his companions at table, and saying +"_Buenas noches!_ (good-night!)" he passed from the saloon to the +piazza. There he paused a moment, as if communing with himself, and then +approaching the grass hammock where the sick boy was sleeping, he gently +took the little fellow up in his arms. The child murmured "Mamma, +mamma!" and was borne away. + +Captain Brand followed the doctor with his searching, sharklike eyes +until he had left the apartment, and there was something that denoted +danger in the look; but he uttered no sound, and, placing a finger on +his lip, he nodded meaningly to the padre. + +A moment after Babette brought in the steaming gumbo soup, and the +pirate's feast was nearly ended. Don Ignacio waited until his companions +had swallowed a goodly portion of the grateful mess, when he too +refreshed himself. Then making his salutations in his usual observant +manner, he departed. He declined, however, the offer of his host's +society to his boat, saying he had, he knew, half a dozen of the +felucca's crew outside the building to guard his footsteps, and he would +not put the _capitano_ to the trouble. + +When the padre rose to give his benediction to his patron, the captain +took him impressively by the rope which girded his cassock about the +loins, and giving it a sharp jerk or two, he said, + +"My holy father, I think we shall have a sad duty to perform to-morrow. +Our old friend Gibbs has behaved badly, and I shall punish him. He is +now in the Capella dungeon. After early mass go and console him." + +The padre returned a meaning smile, crossed himself, and slowly left the +pirate alone in his saloon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FANDANGO ON ONE LEG. + + "God! 'tis a fearsome thing to see + That pale wan man's mute agony-- + Those pinioned arms, those hands that ne'er + Shall be lifted again--not even in prayer! + That heaving chest! Enough; 'tis done! + The bolt has fallen! the spirit is gone." + + +Day dawned in the east. The early spikes of morning shot up in rosy +bands from behind the lofty hills of Cuba and announced the coming of +the sun. The inlet and basin, framed in by their rocky walls, were still +clothed in the gloom of night, and dimly reflecting the fading stars on +the calm unruffled surface where the schooner and felucca were moored. +Away off in the distance a dense white misty vapor hung flat and low +over the lagoon and thickets of mangroves, with not a breath of air to +disturb the noxious fog or quiver a leaf in the silent groves. The +revels, too, of the drunken sailors had long since ceased; the +sentinels, with their cutlasses in the sheaths, paced slowly to and fro +before the doors of the sheds, and the look-outs at the signal-stations +and battery peered through the early dawn to seaward; else not a sound +or moving thing, save a teal or two fluttering with a sharp cry up and +down the lagoon; the music of the tiny ripples lapping on the shelly +beach; and the low roar, in a deep bass, breaking and moaning over the +ledge beyond the island. Such was the appearance of things where our +scene is laid in the Twelve League Group of Keys, on a Sunday morning, +in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and five. + +Half a mile, perhaps, inland from the sheds where the sailors lived, and +beneath the steep face of the ridge-like crag which split the island in +two parts, stood a low chapel, built of loose stones nicely fitted +together and roofed with tiles. A rough iron cross was fastened over the +doorless entrance, and at the other end was a stone balustrade, with a +rude painting of the Virgin over the altar, on which stood four or five +tall brass candlesticks and a lighted taper. Outside the building was a +narrow and secluded inclosure, surrounded by a low wall of coral rocks, +with a few head-stones marked with black crosses--the graves of the +pirates whose bones reposed beneath. At one end of this burial-place was +still another subdivision, where stood ten upright flat white stones, +on whose faces were rudely carved initial letters, with the years in +which the eternal sleepers had been laid beneath the sand. Far and near +sprang up close and almost impenetrable thickets of cactus, whose sharp +and pointed needle-shoots defied the passage of any thing more bulky +than land-crabs and lizards. One or two narrow pathways had been cut out +here and there, but they were overgrown again by the stubborn, hardy +vegetation; and only with the risk of losing one's trowsers, and having +one's legs cut in gashes, could a human being struggle through it. + +Within the chapel kneeled a dozen or more of the "Centipede's" crew, the +coarse and sodden faces and uncombed locks, from their night's debauch, +in striking contrast to the place and the apparent devoutness of manner +in which they crossed themselves while the rites of the Church were +going on. Before the altar stood Padre Ricardo, with his breviary on the +chancel beneath the taper, and chanting forth from his deep lungs the +services of the mass. In a few minutes the unholy hands and lips which +performed the solemn ceremony ceased word and gesture, and with a +sonorous benediction at the elevation of the Host, and a tinkle of a +bell, the sailors arose from their knees and again staggered back to the +sheds, to slumber through the day. When all had gone, the padre clasped +his missal, tucked it into his bosom, and making the sign of the cross +with a genuflexion before the Virgin, the sacrilegious wretch turned and +left the chapel. + +Pursuing the winding path which led to his own habitation for a certain +distance, he then turned to the left, and carefully picking his way +through the sharp cactus and Spanish bayonets along the face of the +crag, he stopped at a yawning fissure which gaped open in the rock. +Here, too, the same wiry vegetation had crept, and it was with great +difficulty, and many an "_Ave!_" and "_Santa Maria!_" that the padre +succeeded in passing into the dark, rugged mouth of the cavern. + +"By the ashes of San Lorenzo!" he muttered, "there are serpents and +venomous insects in this pit of purgatory. Oh, _misericordia_! what has +pierced my leg? Why should my son drag me through this hole? Ah! blessed +Saint Barnabas! a slimy reptile has crossed my instep!" + +Feeling with his outspread hands in his fright, as he gradually made his +way into the dripping cavern, getting narrower and lower as he +proceeded, he at last, after stumbling prayerfully along for about a +hundred and fifty yards, came to a loose pile of stones. Here opened +another low narrow fissure on the left, and, in some doubt, he was about +to enter; but the noise he made by stepping on a stone was answered by +the hissing warning of a serpent, and the scared padre fell back at his +full length in a pool of stagnant slimy water. + +"_O Madre di Dios!_ I am stung by a cobra! Holy Virgin! my new cassock +ruined too! _Ave Maria!_ light me out of this abode of the devil!" + +Slowly recovering, however, from his fright, he once more regained his +feet, and, after a few steps, which he was obliged to accomplish by +scraping his crown against the jagged rocks above, his outstretched +hands touched an iron-bound door. + +"_Gracias a Dios!_ Thanks be to all the saints, I am here at last; but, +alas! curses on me, I shall be obliged to return by the same path unless +my son allows me to escape by the casa." + +Cautiously searching with his fingers as he muttered these words, he +touched a bolt, and, grasping it with both hands, drew it partly out +like the knob of a bell. Then, placing his ear to the door, he presently +heard a rattling, creaking noise, as if a beam of timber, with pulley +and chain, was being raised from behind the entrance. When the sound +ceased the door yielded to the padre's sturdy shoulder, and there was +just room to admit his portly body. Here the passage was wider, the rock +evidently chiseled away by the hands of man, and on one side was an +artificial chamber, blasted out of the solid rock, with a narrow door +with heavy iron bolts on the outside. At this opening the padre paused +and listened. No sound caught his ear at first, but as he clutched the +bolt and it grated back in its bands, he was saluted by such a volley of +frightful curses as to make him start back and cross his ample breast. +It was the voice of Master Gibbs, lying there on a low iron settle in +the noisome dungeon, with not a ray of light to cheer him, and only a +jug of water and some weevily biscuit to save him from starvation. All +through the day and during the long, long hours of the awful night, in +pain and suffering from his lopped-off limb and bruises, had he lain on +his hard bed with clenched hands, blaspheming and impotently raging in +his agony and despair. No prayer, however, dawned in his ruthless heart, +or was breathed from his brutal lips; but curses upon curses came thick +and fast, till his tongue refused to give them utterance, and he fell +back in utter exhaustion. As the noise, however, of the bolt struck his +ear, he clutched the stone water-jug from the floor, and hurled it, with +a yell of execrations, toward the door, where the fragments fell with a +clattering crash on the stone pavement. + +Grinding his teeth in his frightful passion, he howled, + +"Let me but once put these hands on your bloodstained carcass, and if +the mother that bore ye will know her spawn again, my name's not Bill +Gibbs! Ha! you miserable swab, with your soft words and white hands! +when I get out of this hole I'll blow you and your infarnal hounds +to ----! Give me fair play, and, even on one of my legs, I'll cut the +cowardly heart out of you, Captain Brand! Come in, will ye? ye son of +the devil, and I'll bite the tongue out of your mouth by the roots!" + +[Illustration: SHRIVING A SINNER.] + + Here the hoarse and panting wretch again ceased his roarings, and +the padre timidly opened the door. + +"Ha! who's that? Babette?" + +"No, my son, it is your good Padre Ricardo, come to console you." + +What the maimed villain replied to the priest, and what means the holy +father took to allay the passion and assuage the sorrows of the man +lying helpless in the dungeon, or whether successful in his mission, is +not important to state in detail. An hour later, however, the priest +seemed relieved in body and spirit as he retired from the loathsome +hole, and shooting the bolt as he closed the door, cautiously felt his +way along the dark and narrow passage. Presently, as he turned an angle, +a ray of light from the loopholes of the great stone vault beneath the +pirate's dwelling lighted his pathway; and a moment after, with a hearty +sigh of satisfaction, he seized a cord above his head and gave it a +jerk. A bell sounded above, and then a large, square-hinged trap-hatch +fell down, swinging gently to and fro from the beams above. At the same +time the padre put his arms about a square wooden stanchion which +supported the floor of the saloon, and then painfully sticking his toes +in some deep-cut notches at the sides, he slowly began to mount upward. +When, however, his oily shaved crown appeared nearly at the level of the +floor, a vigorous grasp was laid on his shoulders, and he was pulled up +like a flapping lobster and rolled into the apartment. It was Captain +Brand who kindly assisted the holy father, and it was the captain's +hollow laugh which saluted him in his torn and soiled raiment, as, with +difficulty, he regained his perpendicular. + +"Laugh not, _hijo mio_, at my sorrowful plight," said the bruised +Ricardo, with some asperity; "I have met with dangers of venomous +serpents, and been stabbed cruelly by those villainous cactus." + +"But I raised the beam, my padre, the moment you made the signal." + +"You did, my son; but what I suffered in the cavern was as nothing to +what I endured when I entered the dungeon of the English Gibbs. _Jesus +Maria_, what an infidel he is!" + +"You did not find his spirit subdued, then, by bread and water?" + +"Far from it, my friend. He rages like a wild beast. He consigns your +body and soul to everlasting torments! But, what is more impious still," +went on the padre, as he crossed himself, "he damned your holy father, +and hoped I would roast in hell!" + +"But he confessed, Ricardo, and you gave him absolution?" + +"If calling me thief and assassin, and hurling his stone water-jug at my +head, be confession and forgiveness of sins, the ceremony has been +performed. Ah! my son, he needs no more mercy in this world!" + +"Of course not, my padre; and we will give him a short shrift and a long +rope." + +"Babette!" continued Captain Brand. "Ah! my Baba, you have not forgotten +to feed our jolly Gibbs there below? No? I thought not. Well, then, it +is Sunday, you know; give him a pint of pure rum for his morning's +draught. And, Baba, my beauty, slip a pair of iron ruffles over his +wrists, and then pass a cloth over those bloodshot eyes of his, and lug +him here beneath this hatch. Go down by your own ladder, and be quick, +my Baba, as I wish my breakfast presently!" + +All this was said in a cool and rather an affectionate tone, as Captain +Brand sipped a spoonful or two of chocolate from a cup of Dresden china. +Then turning to the padre, he said, + +"You would perhaps like a cordial, my father, to take the chill off your +stomach? Yes. You will find some capital Curacoa in that stand of +bottles there." + +The padre, forgetful of the dignity of his calling, shuffled with +indecent haste to the spot indicated, and, without going through the +form of filling one of the diminutive thimble-shaped glasses in the +stand, he boldly raised the silver-netted flask to his lips, and sucked +away until it was nearly empty. Then seating himself on the settee, he +lugged out his illuminated missal and pored over its contents. Captain +Brand occupied himself with opening the loop of the silk rope which fell +from the ceiling, and securing the end firmly on the stout cleat at the +wall. + +So passed the time until a noise beneath the room of a voice in anger, +and a body bumped and dragged along, once more attracted the attention +of those in the saloon. + +"Oh ho! is that you, Master Gibbs?" exclaimed Captain Brand, in a +cheerful voice. "You have risen early; but stop that profane language, +my friend, or you will never see daylight again!" + +The maimed ruffian only muttered, "Your friend, eh? blindfolded and +manacled!" And then, apparently abashed by the cool, commanding tone of +his superior, he held his peace. + +"Well, you are quiet, my lad. Now we'll see if we can't hoist you up +here in the saloon." + +"Thank ye, sir!" said Gibbs, aloud; and then he muttered to himself, +"Let me jest get one grip of ye, and I'll show ye how quiet I'll be." + +"Do you think we shall need assistance, my son?" whispered the padre +into the ear of his patron. + +"_Diavolo!_ No. I never wanted help in these little affairs, except in +the case of that violent Yankee whaler, who gave us much trouble, you +know, and we were obliged to call Pedillo," replied the captain, in the +same low tone. Then, raising his voice, he said, + +"Hark ye, Master Gibbs! Babette will lift you off the stones, and the +padre and I will raise you up to the room here. You don't weigh so much +as you did before you had your leg hacked off with a hand-saw--ho! and I +dare say you are as light now as a dried stockfish! Up with him, Baba! +There--steady! all right--here you are!" + +Saying this, Captain Brand, with the assistance of the stout negress and +the padre, raised the once burly ruffian, with a vigorous hoist that +made him groan, to the floor of the saloon, where they laid him out at +full length on his back. + +"Wait a moment, my hearty, till the hatch is raised, and then we will +raise you. Unpleasant position, no doubt," continued Captain Brand, as +the trap came up and was secured by a spring; "but then, you know, you +_would_ have that pin of yours cut off, and somehow you have been so +careless as to dispose of the nice leg you had the other day, made out +of the spruce fore-top-mast of the 'Centipede'--a very tough bit of a +spar it was." + +Here Master Gibbs grated his teeth and grinned hideously. + +The captain smiled like a demon, and, approaching the prostrate cripple, +said cheerfully--ay, in a frank and hearty tone-- + +"Now, my padre, place a comfortable chair for Master Gibbs, and we will +help him to a seat." + +The considerate Ricardo placed a large, roomy Manilla chair on the fatal +trap, and then aided his chief in lifting their victim to the position +assigned him. As they performed this operation, the captain, with the +gentleness of a tiger before he strikes his prey, and with a wink to the +padre, lightly passed the noose of the silk rope over the ruffian's +hairy throat, where it lay like a snake with its slack coil squirming at +the back of the chair. + +"Now, Master Gibbs, I am about to remove this bandage from your +beautiful red eyes," said Captain Brand, in his cold, chilling, +deliberate manner, "and if you so much as move when daylight shines +before you, I'll blow your brains out." + +Here the pirate leisurely cocked a pistol close to his subordinate's +ear, removed the bandage, and laid the weapon on the table within +reach. + +"No noise either, Master Gibbs!" continued Captain Brand, as he stirred +up the remains of his chocolate and gulped it down; "for it is Sunday +morning, and we must respect the feelings of our padre. You were unkind +to him, he tells me, just now, and even said some disrespectful things +of me. What have _I_ done to vex you?" + +The manacled wretch tried to raise his horny hands to his face when the +cloth was removed from his eyes, and rub those organs, while he glared +suspiciously around; but the captain pointed with his white finger in a +threatening way to the cocked pistol, and Master Gibbs let his hands +fall again. + +"Well, Captain Brand, I s'pose now you're going to treat me as a +faithful man who has sarved under you ought to be treated; and I'm +willin' to forgive what has passed." + +There was no look of forgiveness, however, in those brutal bloodshot +eyes, nor much signs of repentance in those grinding teeth and +compressed lips. + +"Why, no, my Gibbs, _I_ am _not_ going to treat you as a faithful man, +but I tell you what I will do"--here the captain moved his chair nearer +till his straw slipper touched the spring of the trap--"I will drink a +glass of grog with you in forgetfulness of the past and forgiveness for +the future." + +"Thank ye, Captain Brand; I do feel dry. That stuff Babette gave me a +while ago didn't touch the right spot, and I'll be glad to jine you." + +"Ah! _bueno_, my old friend; you _shall_ drink something that _will_ +touch the right spot! What shall it be? you have only to name it." + +"I'll take a toss of that old brandy you gave me the other day, if it's +the same to you, sir." + +"Oh, Master Gibbs, it's all the same to me. Delighted I am to oblige +you! _Padre mio!_ a glass of old Cognac for our friend--a tumblerful; a +wine-glass will do for me." + +The padre poured out the brandy as he was desired, handed the lesser +glass to the captain, and the tumbler he placed in the locked hands of +the victim. Slowly and painfully the subdued ruffian raised the glass to +his mouth, careful not to spill a drop; then, before draining it, he +cleared his throat, while at the same time the captain rose to his feet, +his right foot resting a little on the heel, and held the wine-glass +before him. + +"Now, then, Master Gibbs, for a toss that will touch the right spot." + +"Ay, ay, captain!" said Gibbs; "and here's forgiveness for the future." + +Scarcely had the words been uttered, and the liquor began to gurgle down +the hairy throat of the manacled wretch, than the pirate before him +pressed his foot with a quick, nervous action on the spring. + +Like a flash the trap fell, carrying chair and man with it. The hinges +of the hatch creaked, the wicker-work chair fell with a bound on the +stone floor below, the heavy beam overhead gave a jarring quiver as the +strong silk rope brought up with a shuddering surge on the cleat where +it was belayed at the wall, and with a gasping, choking cry of pain +mingled with the ring of the shattered tumbler on the pavement, the +ruffian of a hundred crimes fell full three feet, and hung struggling in +the death agony. With almost superhuman force he raised his clenched +hands and struck his forehead till the manacles were twisted like wire +by the effort, spinning around too by the lopsided weight of his body, +while the beam above yielded slightly to the strain, and the deadly +cord, no longer squirming, but taut as a bar of iron, held the wretch in +its knotted embrace, clasped tight around the throat. In a minute or two +the hands ceased beating the inflamed face and head, and fell with a +clank before the body; the legs gave a few convulsive twitches, a last +and violent spasm shook the frame, and there Master Gibbs hung, a warm +dead lump of clay. + +While this murderous business was going on, and the poor crippled wretch +was struggling in the jaws of death, the padre was chanting with his +profane tongue from his open breviary the _Salve Domine_, and his patron +coolly took down a telescope and swept it over the blue water to +seaward. When, however, after a quarter of an hour had elapsed, and the +body of their victim gave no more signs of life, the captain laid down +the telescope as the padre closed his missal, and remarked quietly, +while glancing critically down at the suspended body, + +"He did not go off so easy as I had anticipated; his bull-neck is not +broken, though the knot was perfectly well placed. However, he is stone +dead, and we will lower him down. You, my padre, will bury him!" + +"_Hijo mio!_ son of mine! spare me that troublesome duty. Would you have +me drag such a carcass through the cavern and consign him to consecrated +earth, when he refused the last holy offers of salvation?" + +"_Bueno_, my padre, I respect your feelings! You need not put him under +the sand; take him merely to his late dungeon, and lay him decently on +his bed." + +"Thank you, my son; your orders shall be obeyed!" + +Glad, apparently, to be relieved from farther exertion, though with +manifest symptoms of disgust, the priest, more infamous even than the +scoundrel he had assisted in hanging, clumsily descended the hatchway by +the way he came up, and awaited the movements of his chief. The captain +stepped to the wall, and, casting off the turns from the cleat, he +slowly lowered the body down till it rested on the pavement. + +"Unbend the rope from his neck, my padre, and hitch it on to that +Manilla chair. There--all right! you may return this way and breakfast +with me." + +Saying this, Captain Brand rounded up the chair, detached the silk rope, +hung the loop in its accustomed place, and then waited the reappearance +of his confederate. Not many minutes elapsed before the padre, having +performed the last rites, again ascended the stanchion, and was assisted +above the floor by his chief. Then both together got hold of a +ring-bolt in the trap, drew it up and secured the spring, placing square +bits of mahogany over the countersunk apertures, so as to prevent +accidental falls or hangings of themselves. Even while performing these +mechanical operations, the priest puffed out an account of his +proceedings below: how he had dragged the body to the dungeon; how, when +there, he had inadvertently stumbled and fallen on the top of it; and +that his lips--_maldito!_--came in contact with the open mouth of the +late Master Gibbs; but when he had recovered from the horror of this +frightful caress, he had said a short prayer and bolted the door. + +"You have done well, my padre; and now let us break our fast. Babette, a +couple of broiled snappers and a cold duck! Be lively, old lady, for I +have business to attend to after breakfast. _Hola, mi padre_, will you +wash your hands in water before sitting down? No! _bueno!_ I will myself +take a dip all over." + +No, the oily Ricardo never washed his hands, save wetting the tips of +his fingers in holy water in the chapel; and, indeed, he rarely touched +water in any quantity either outside or in; and it was with a look of +surprise, not unmingled with contempt, that he beheld his patron retire +for a bath. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +BUSINESS. + + "He had rolled in money like pigs in mud, + Till it seemed to have entered into his blood + By some occult projection; + And his cheeks, instead of a healthy hue, + As yellow as any guinea grew, + Making the common phrase seem true + About a rich complexion." + +The business which Captain Brand alluded to when he was about to partake +of breakfast with his friend the padre was, in the first instance, to +arrange some matters in the way of payment of debts to his compadre, Don +Ignacio Sanchez, commander of the Colonial Guarda Costa felucca +"Panchita." + +Accordingly, when he rose from table, and after a whispered dialogue and +reports as to the state of affairs in and around the den and island from +the men at the signal-stations, he summoned Pedillo. When that worthy +appeared below the veranda--for be it remembered that Captain Brand +never permitted the inferior officials of his band to pollute his +apartments, unless, perhaps, as in the case of his deceased subordinate, +Master Gibbs, it was on urgent business--Captain Brand ordered his gig +manned. + +Pedillo threw up his hand in token of assent, and walked down to the +brink of the basin to execute the command. Then, after a few minutes, +Captain Brand lit a cigar, dismissed the padre, put on his fine white +Panama straw hat, unlocked a strong cabinet with a secret drawer, +glanced over a paper before him, and, making a rapid calculation, he +caught up a heavy bag of doubloons, and left the house in charge of +Babette. The captain always told his guests that his fellows had +such love and respect for him that he rarely locked up his property, +and never placed a guard at his door. The truth was, that his +fellows--scoundrels, miscreants, and villains as they were--stood in +such fear and dread of their leader, that they were glad to keep out of +his way. Moreover, he never boasted or made any display before them, +living on shipboard, as on shore, by himself, but always ready and +terrible when the moment came for action; treating his crew, too, with +the most rigid impartiality, adhering strictly to his promises and +compacts with them, and never overlooking an offense. + +So Captain Brand left his dwelling in charge of his dumb housekeeper +Babette, and tripping down the rope ladder from the piazza in a clean +suit of brown linen and straw slippers, his beardless face shaded by his +broad-brimmed hat from the sun, and the bag of gold on his arm, he +jauntily walked toward the cove. + +"Ah! good morning, my doctor! Glad to meet you! How are the sick? Doing +well, I hope!" + +"Quite well, sir; but I was about to call upon you in relation to the +conversation we had last evening, and--" + +"Pardon me, _Monsieur le Docteur_, but I have been very busy this morning, +and am now going to see Don Ignacio on matters of importance"--here the +elegant pirate took the cigar from his thin lips and held it daintily +between his thumb and fore finger in the air--"and really, monsieur, I am +very sorry to miss your visit. But," he added, with one of his usual +smiles, "I shall be at leisure this afternoon, and in the cool of the +evening we can take a stroll. What say you?" + +The doctor nodded. + +"Apropos, _docteur_, suppose we have a little game of _monte_ afterward +at your quarters. I never permit gaming in mine, you know. The padre +will not object; and I am confident our _compadre_, the Tuerto, will be +delighted." + +"As you please, captain," replied the medico, with a cold, indifferent +air and averted face. "I will join you in the promenade, and I shall be +ready to receive you in the evening." + +"_Hasta huego, amigo!_" said Captain Brand, as he again stuck his cigar +between his teeth, waved his hand in adieu, and walked to his boat. + +"You don't love me, doctor," thought the pirate. "I don't fear you, +captain," thought the doctor. + +It was a touch of high art the way this notorious pirate pitched the bag +of gold toward his coxswain, crying, "Catch that, Pedillo!" and then the +almost girlish manner in which he pattered about the beach and held up +his trowsers, so that he might not even get his slippers damp. Had that +salt water been red blood, he would not have cared if his feet had been +soaked in it. And then, too, the little exclamation of joy when he +finally stepped into the stern-sheets, and sat down beneath the awning, +while he stretched his smooth brown linen legs out on the cushions. Oh, +it was certainly a touch of high piratical art! + +"The old 'Centipede' is looking a little rusty after her late cruise, +Pedillo!" throwing his head back to evade a curl of smoke, and casting +his cold eyes like a rattle of icy hail at the coxswain. "But I am glad +Pedro took your place"--puff, puff--"that knife-stab prevented you, of +course"--puff--"and we shall have her all tight and trig again in a day +or two." + +"_Si, senor!_" said Pedillo, respectfully; "and how goes Senor Gibbs, +_capitano_?" + +The _capitano_ rolled his icy eyes again at the coxswain, and replied, +carelessly, "Why, Pedillo, our friend Gibbs came to see me when the +'Centipede' anchored, but almost before"--puff--"he had given me an +account of his unfortunate cruise he fell down in a fit. The fact is, +however"--puff, puff--"that, what with hard drinking and inflammation +which set in on the stump of his lost leg, he has been in a very bad +way"--puff--"quite in a dangerous condition indeed, requiring all my old +Babette's care and attention"--puff--"but this morning the good padre +went to see him, and he told me a while ago that he left him without +fever, and altogether tranquil." + +Pedillo's wiry mustaches twirled of themselves. + +Meanwhile the boat skimmed lightly over the basin, and as the captain +ceased speaking she ran alongside of the felucca. Don Ignacio, with his +bright single eye in full burning power, and a cigarette between his +wrinkled lips, was on the deck of the vessel to receive his visitor; and +as he saw the coxswain follow his superior with a weighty bag under his +arm, his glimmering orb became brighter, if possible--as if it was +piercing through the thick canvas of the bag, and counting, ounce by +ounce, the contents--and putting out his fore finger, it was grasped +cordially by the white hand of Captain Brand. + +"_Como se va?_ How goes it with my _compadre_? Stomach and head all +clear after our long dinner of yesterday?" + +The _compadre_ said that his head was particularly clear that morning, +and as for his stomach he had not yet inquired; but if the _capitano_ +had any doubts as to the former proposition, he had better step below +and decide for himself. + +In accordance with this ambiguous invitation, the visitor and commander +disappeared down the small cuddy in the afterpart of the felucca, where +was a low, stifling hole of a cabin, dank with stale tobacco-smoke, and +smelling awfully of rats and roaches. There was a little round table in +the middle, and on one side was a single berth, with some dirty bedding, +which had not been cleaned, apparently, since the vessel was built. +Light was shed from a skylight above. + +Captain Brand gave a sniff of disgust as he entered this floating +sanctum of Don Ignacio, but, without remark, seated himself on a canvas +stool, and waved a perfumed cambric kerchief before his nose. + +Commander Sanchez, catching the inspiration, merely observed that it was +a little close certainly, and not so spacious as the superb cabin of the +schooner, and that sometimes, when lying in a calm off the lee side of +Cuba, it was hot enough to melt the tail off a brass monkey; but yet it +was his duty, and he did not particularly mind it. + +Hereupon Captain Brand requested Don Ignacio to produce his papers, and +they were presently laid upon the table. For a few minutes the pirate +was absorbed in running his cold eyes over the accounts--making +pencil-notes on the margins, and comparing them with a memorandum he +took from his pocket; but at last he threw himself back and exclaimed, + +"_Compadre_, the account of old Moreno, at the Havana, is correct to a +real--three hundred and twelve doubloons and eight hard dollars. Yours, +however, has some few inaccuracies--double commissions charged here and +there; all losses and sales charged to me, and all profits credited to +you." + +Don Ignacio spread out the palms of both his hands toward his +companion, as if to exorcise such unjust charges from the brain of his +confederate. + +"_O si, si, compadre!_ it is as I state, and you know it is true; but, +nevertheless, a few dozens of ounces more or less makes no difference; +and, to make short work, I am ready to pay. But," said Captain Brand, +laying a hand on the heavy bag of money beside him, "though I am quite +ready to cancel my debts in hard cash here on the spot, yet, as I am +bound on a long cruise--Heaven only knows where--I would prefer to keep +the gold and pay you in something else." + +Don Ignacio threw his head back and fixed his eye like a parrot on the +captain, waiting to hear farther. + +"What have I on hand besides gold? Well, there are a few bales of +Mexican cochineal, and English broadcloths, and some cases of French +silks, which you can have at a fair market value; then there is all that +collection of silver table-service, which you can take by weight; and, +besides, lots of rare furniture, which you may set your own price +upon--altogether much more than enough to pay Moreno and you both. What +say you, _compadre_? is it a bargain? or shall I carry the stuff with +me, and run the chance of disposing of it on the Spanish Main?" + +It was a long time before the crafty old Spaniard could make up his mind +whether to receive his pay in a simple portable currency, or take more +bulky matter, with the hope of making double the money by the operation. +Finally, however, his greed overcame his prudence, and he accepted the +last proposition, with the understanding that the articles should be +transferred to the felucca the next night. + +"Ah!" said Captain Brand, with another sniff of disgust, as he spat on +the dirty floor of the cabin, "I am glad the affair is settled, for I +wouldn't remain another hour in this filthy hole for all the money you +have cheated me out of, you old rascal." + +He said the last portion of this sentence to himself as he emerged from +the cuddy. + +"But listen, _amigo_!" he continued, as they both reached the deck. "You +will give me duplicate receipts on the part of Senor Moreno, so that I +can forward one to him from the next port I visit. And, by the way, +suppose you come on shore this afternoon for a stroll, and in the +evening we will have a little game of _monte_--eh?" + +"_Cierto!_ (certainly!)" returned the commander of the felucca; when +Captain Brand, with his bag of gold intact under his arm, got into his +boat and was pulled to the shore. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +TREASURE. + + "Gold! gold! gold! gold! + Bright and yellow, hard and cold, + Molten, graven, hammered, and rolled; + Heavy to get, and light to hold; + Hoarded, bartered, bought, and sold; + Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled; + Price of many a crime untold-- + Gold! gold! gold! gold!" + + +It was long past noon when the pirate returned to his island home, and +the day was hot, for the sea-breeze had not made, and the tropical sun +was pouring down its burning rays until the sand was roasting as in a +furnace; the very rocks throwing off a trembling mirage of heated air, +and the lagoon almost boiling under the fiery influence. The sailors, +with aching heads and parched mouths, were swinging in their grass +hammocks beneath the sheds; and, save the watchful vigilance of the men +at the look-outs and battery, the little island was wrapped in repose. + +Captain Brand, however, was as cool as a cucumber; and regardless of +the heat, and indifferent about _siesta_, he drew the curtains of the +saloon, and took some active exercise. First, however, he desired +his faithful Babette to get out some camphor trunks and pack the +contents of his splendid wardrobe. This operation was performed under +the critical eye of Captain Brand himself, to which he personally +lent his aid by stowing away, here and there, his caskets, trinkets, +and treasures--those which had been presented to him by the unfortunate +people who had the ill luck to make his acquaintance on the high seas, +or in midnight forays on shore. Then the captain opened and rummaged +cabinets, bureaus, and bookcases, making liberal presents to his +trusty housekeeper; and, turning from that occupation, he had all his +table furniture spread before him, when he made careful estimates of +the value of the silver, china, and glass. This concluded, Captain +Brand ordered Babette to furnish him a slight repast; and while it was +preparing--the captain taking the precaution to bolt his handmaiden in +her kitchen--he went quietly into his bedroom, and when he came out he +bore heavy burdens in his muscular arms, all of which he laid +conveniently near the trap in the floor. Then letting the hatch swing +softly down, he lowered the heavy articles by the silk rope, as he +had Master Gibbs, though not so suddenly, going down himself as +nimbly as a rat after them. In the vault beneath, Captain Brand struck +a light and set fire to a torch, which blazed out luridly, and illumined +the dark excavation and passages like day. Going slowly on, with his +burden in his arms, by the path by which we traced the padre, he +came to the outer door, which opened into the fissure in the crag; and, +after a vigorous effort, the beam was raised, and he passed out. Once +outside, he felt his way cautiously, stepping clear of the stagnant +pools beneath, and guarding his head from the jagged rocks above; and +then, lighting his way over the stones which had upset the equilibrium +of Don Ricardo, he crept slowly into an aperture on the right. + +[Illustration: "HE CREPT FORWARD ON HANDS AND KNEES, THE BLAZING TORCH +LIGHTING UP THE DAMP AND DRIPPING ROCKS."] + +No serpents or venomous reptiles disturbed the pirate's progress; for, +though there were plenty of them coiled or crawling near, yet their +instinct probably taught them that he was a monster with a more deadly +poison than themselves, and whose fangs were sharper, though his tongue +did not hiss a note of warning. Captain Brand put down his burden and +crept forward on hands and knees, the blazing torch lighting up the damp +and dripping rocks, all green and slimy from the tracks of the snake and +lizard. Where the narrow fissure seemed to end by a wall of natural +rock, the pirate rolled aside a large stone at the base, and scratching +away the sand, a large copper lock was displayed, in which, after +pushing aside the hasp, Captain Brand touched a spring, and it opened. +Then, exerting all the force of his powerful frame, a rough slab of +unhewn rock yielded to the effort, and rose like a vertical door slung +by a massive hinge at the top. Placing the large stone at the opening, +so as to prevent the slab falling to its place, the captain stood the +torch within the opening, and went back for his burden; then he +returned, and squeezed himself with it into a small excavated, uneven +chamber, where he sat down. + +"Nasty work," communed the pirate with himself, "but a safe place to lay +up a penny for a rainy day! Let me see. These two bags of doubloons, and +the small one my Gibbs brought me, with those three, there, of guineas, +and those sacks of dollars, will make about ten thousand pounds. That +will make me a nest-egg when I retire from the profession and return to +Scotland. They will have forgotten all my boyish follies by that time." + +Captain Brand alluded to forging his father's name, and other little +peccadilloes of a similar nature. + +"And I may be elected to Parliament--who knows? It is something of a +risk, perhaps, to leave all this pretty coin here, but then it's a +greater risk to carry it in the schooner"--he argued both ways--"and +then, again, damp does not decay pure metal. But," thought Captain +Brand, "suppose somebody should discover this little casket in the +rock. Ah! that's not probable, for no soul besides myself knows of it, +and even the very man who made the door did not know for what it was +intended; besides, he died long ago." + +Captain Brand had forgotten, in this connection, that the man who cut +out the stone chamber and door, and fashioned the hinge and lock, took +too much sugar in his coffee the morning the job was finished, and died +in horrible convulsions before night. Oh yes, that incident had entirely +escaped his memory! + +Captain Brand, having now thoroughly reasoned the matter out, gave each +of the bags lying on the sand a gentle kick to get a responsive echo +from the coin; and then creeping out of the treasure-chamber, he +withdrew the torch, removed the stone, and the heavy slab fell again +into its place. Then clasping the lock, covering it over with sand, and +rolling back the stone, he seized the torch and quickly returned to the +vault beneath his saloon. There, putting out the torch by rubbing it +against the stone pavement until not a spark was left, by the sunlight, +streaming through the loopholes around, he passed to one side and began +removing the cases of cochineal, silks, and what not, near to the +strongly-barred portcullis door, which opened toward the basin fronting +his dwelling. It was hard work, but Captain Brand seemed to enjoy it; +and even after he had arranged the packages intended for shipment in his +_compadre's_ felucca, he began again. Going to the farther corner of the +vault, he stopped before a strong mahogany door, and taking a key from +his pocket, unlocked and threw it wide open. It was as black as night +inside, floored and lined with wood, and emitting a choking atmosphere +of charcoal and sulphur. Piled around the walls were some fifty or a +hundred small barrels with copper hoops, and branded on the heads with +the word "powder." Unmindful of the odor and the rather combustible +material around him, Captain Brand again resumed his work, and rolled a +large number of the little barrels toward the doorway, near the +merchandise already there, saying to himself the while, + +"I think that will about fill the 'Centipede's' magazine, and we must +make a proper disposition of the remainder." + +Hereupon Captain Brand, actively bent upon the work of disposing of his +treasures, rolled out a dozen or two more of the little barrels. Strange +to say, among the very few articles that were never presented to him, +but actually bought of Senor Moreno, was this highly useful and +indispensable material of powder, and he therefore set much store by it. +And it was with a sigh of regret that the pirate stood the little +barrels on their ends in a line across the great vault of the building, +beneath kitchen, bedrooms, and saloon, and especially beside the square +upright stanchions on which the interior of the building rested. Not +content with this, he took a copper hammer and knocked in all the heads +of the little barrels, and then, with a scoop of the same metal, he +dipped out large quantities of the black material, and poured thick +trains of it from barrel to barrel, sometimes capsizing one, but always +particularly cautious not to rasp a grain of it beneath his grass +slippers and the pavement. Then he took a piece of match-rope, and +sticking one end deep into a barrel, he just poked the other end out of +a loophole, to be in readiness whenever Captain Brand should deem proper +to touch his lighted cigar to it. + +"There," said Captain Brand, "that piece of tow will burn about thirty +or forty minutes, and then--stand from under!" + +Ascending the hatchway again with the agility of a cat, he drew up and +secured the trap, and in ten minutes afterward he was freshly attired in +a nice pair of India panjammers, a grass cloth jacket and vest--with, of +course, the usual knickknacks in his pockets--and seated at table, where +his busy housekeeper had placed a broiled chicken and a bottle of old +Bordeaux before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +PLEASURE. + + "But ever, from that hour, 'tis said, + He stammered and he stuttered, + As if an axe went through his head + With every word he uttered. + He stuttered o'er blessing, he stuttered o'er ban, + He stuttered, drunk or dry; + And none but he and the fisherman + Could tell the reason why." + + +"Babette," said Captain Brand, as he tapped a spoon against his +coffee-cup and puffed his cigar, while the stout dumb negress was +removing the remains of the light dinner, "Babette, old girl, you know +that we are going to leave here in a few days, and I should like to know +whether you care to go with us or remain here on the island." + +The negress made a guttural grunt of assent, and nodded her head till +the ends of her Madras turban fluttered. + +"Ho! you do, eh? Well, my Baba, I shall be sorry to leave you, for you +will be very lonely here, and it may be a long, very long time before I +come back." + +Babette jerked her chin up this time, and did not grunt. + +"It's all the same, eh? old lady! Well, I shall leave enough to eat to +last you a lifetime; but you will have to change your quarters, my Baba, +and live in the padre's shed, for I--a--don't think this house will be +inhabitable long after I am gone." + +The negress gave another grunt and nod of assent. + +"Yes. Well, old lady, the matter is decided, then; but, in case you +should have any visitors here after we have gone, you won't take any +trouble to describe what you have seen here? No! That shake of your head +convinces me--not if they roast you alive?" + +The hideous sign of understanding that the woman expressed in her dumb +way would have convinced any body without the trouble of uttering a +word. + +"_Bueno!_" said Captain Brand; "that will do for to-day." + +Rising as he spoke, he stepped to a cabinet, slipped a large handful of +doubloons in his trowsers pocket, put on his hat, and walked out. + +The sea-breeze swept over the island with its full strength, making the +lofty cocoa-nuts bow their tufted tops, the palm-trees rustle their +broad flat leaves and clash the stems together. The mangroves bent, too, +before the wind, and the sand eddied up in tiny whirls amid the great +expanse of cactus, while the vessels swung with taut cables to their +anchors. Even Captain Brand's hat nearly was blown off his dry light +hair as he joined his _compadre_, Don Ignacio, at the landing; and the +sandy dust blinded--though only for a moment--that one-eyed individual's +optic, and put out his cigarette as they struggled against the influence +of the breeze. But yet they walked on in the direction of the sheds, and +as they passed through the court-yard, where the men were lounging about +in yawning groups or sitting under the piazza, playing cards--getting up +and touching their hats as their chief passed--Senor Pedillo accosted +him thus: + +"_Capitano_, the people are thirsty, and desire a barrel of wine." + +"Not a drop, Senor Pedillo--not so much as would wet the bill of a +musquito! To-morrow at daylight let all hands be called, for we have +work to do, and we must be quick to do it." + +Pedillo slunk away, abashed by the positive tone of his commander; and +Captain Brand, with his companion, passed on to the domicile of the +padre and doctor. Pausing at the open door of the shed, they looked in. +The padre was lying flat on his back on his narrow bed, with his mouth +wide open, and snoring like a key-bugle with leaky stops; while his +beads and crucifix--misplaced emblems in contact with drunkenness and +debauchery--were reposing on his ample chest. The doctor was sitting +beside his own couch, whispering words of childish comfort to the little +boy, whose pale cheeks and brown curls reposed on the pillow of the bed. +The poor child's thin, limp fingers rested like the petals of a drooping +lily in the dark, bony hand of his friend, and his dim hazel eyes were +turned sadly toward him. + +"Holloa, _amigos_!" shouted Captain Brand, in a hearty voice. "We are +losing the glorious sea-breeze. _Vamanos!_ let us take a stroll to the +Tiger's Trap." + +Hereupon Captain Brand entered the room, and gave the padre a violent +tweak of the nose, at the same time puffing a volume of cigar-smoke +into his beastly mouth, which combined effort brought the holy father +to life in a trice, choking and sputtering, as he arose, a jargon of +paternosters, which an indifferent hearer might have mistaken for a +volley of execrations, so savagely were they uttered. + +"Take a sip of Geneva, my padre. There it is on the table. Ah! do you +call half a bottle a sip? Well! Come, doctor, let us be moving." + +Down by the narrow gorge of the inlet, and over the smooth rocks and +shelly shore, the party took their way, Don Ignacio leading with the +amiable priest, on whom he glared with his malevolent eye as if--he not +being a person from whom money or its equivalent could be squeezed--the +greedy old Spaniard would like to transfix him with a glance. In the +rear came Captain Brand and the doctor, the former as gay as a bird--of +the vulture species--and his companion grave, severe, and preoccupied. +Stopping as they reached the Tiger Trap Battery, where, after Captain +Brand had made a close inspection of the guns, and held sharp confabs +with the men who rose to receive him, he moved away a few steps, and, +resting his body against the lee side of a projecting rock, removed the +cigar from his frozen lips, and said, + +"The arguments you have urged, monsieur, and the views you entertain, +have a certain amount of reason in them. It is true you were deceived in +coming here, but yet you swore to remain and not betray us when you did +come. Well--ah! don't interrupt me; I divine what you are going to +say--you did not know what our real character was. Perhaps not. +Nevertheless, I can not consent to your going away with that old rascal, +Don Ignacio, there--that is, if he would take you, which I think he +would not, as your presence on board might compromise him with the Cuban +authorities; and," went on Captain Brand, as he crossed his legs, and +held his fine Panama hat on his head as a ruffle of the sea-breeze shot +around the rock, "with respect to your remaining here on the island, you +will only have that dumb old beast of a Babette for company; and it is +highly probable that the English or American cruisers will be down upon +you before a change of the moon, and they might--a--hang you, perhaps, +for a pirate. Ho! ho!" + +"If Don Ignacio declines to take me, Captain Brand, of course I can not +go in the felucca; but, let come what will, I am resolved not to sail in +the 'Centipede.'" + +The pirate regarded the doctor for a moment with a cold, freezing look, +not wanting, however, in a partial glimmer of respect and admiration, as +he thus resolutely stated his determination; and then, putting his +finger lightly on the doctor's arm, as he saw Don Ignacio and the padre +draw near, he said impressively, in a low tone, + +"_Monsieur le Docteur_, do not make hasty resolutions. _I_ command here, +and my will is law. I will turn the matter over, however, in my mind, +and give you a final decision before we part to-night. Now let us +return. The sun is down, and the rocks are slippery." + +"Well, _caballeros_, let us have a little social amusement," said +Captain Brand, as he sat down at the table in the padre's and doctor's +quarters, and wound up his splendid watch, the present from the Captain +General of Cuba. "But bear in mind that we must break up at midnight, +for our _compadre_ here has a multitude of articles to get on board his +felucca to-night, and I must be astir at daylight." + +Did Captain Brand think, while he turned the key of that gold repeater, +of the bloodstained wretch he had put to death in the morning, who was +lying stark and still in his narrow, damp resting-place, or of the poor +little sufferer who had been torn from his heart-broken mother sleeping +near him? Oh no, certainly not. Captain Brand was thinking of a little +game of monte. + +The padre lugged out a small store of dollars, and a gold ounce or two, +and other stray bits of gold, down to quartitos or eighths of +doubloons--all of it donations made him for remission of sins and +absolutions, presented at one time and another from the pirates of his +flock, such donations falling in pretty rapidly after a successful +cruise, but dwindling away to most contemptible gifts long before his +flock took to sea again. + +Captain Brand was very liberal to his crew, dividing a great deal of +money with them, but, since he rarely visited any foreign ports, they +had little chance of squandering it; and in the end it served merely as +a gaming currency to play with, and eventually coming back to him as +contributions for stores, ammunition, rigging, and so forth. The +captain, therefore, was a large gainer by the operation, as most of the +articles in eating and drinking, and the vessel's outfit, were--as we +know--generally presented to him, so that he was enabled to stow away +the cash for future gratification. + +Don Ignacio Sanchez was likewise a moneyed man, and came provided with a +long pouch of solid gold, which he made into little piles before him of +the exact size of those of the captain. The doctor, however, declined to +play, and sat an indifferent spectator of the game. + +"Let us begin, _senores_!" exclaimed the Don, as he rapidly shuffled the +cards, and his keen, black spark of fire lit up with animation at the +rich prospect before him. "We are losing precious time. I'll be +_banquero_! _Vamanos!_" + +So they began. The cards were dealt, and the betting went on. The padre +forgot breviary and beads in his excitement, and as his little pointings +were swept away, he forgot, too, the sacred ejaculations he was wont to +lard his discourse with, and he became positively profane. The captain +won largely in the beginning, and jeered his _compadre_ with great zest +and enjoyment; but that one-eyed, rapacious old Spanish rascal was not +in the least disturbed, and bided his time. At first the conversation +was light and jovial, Captain Brand insisting upon the doctor describing +minutely how he had hacked his friend Gibbs's leg off with a hand-saw, +laughing hugely thereat, and wiping the icy tears from his cold blue +eyes with his delicate cambric handkerchief. Then the fascinating game +began to fluctuate, and the luck set back with a steady run into the +piles of the banker. Captain Brand liked as little to lose his money as +any other gambler in cards, stocks, or dice, and he was somewhat chafed +in spirit; but what especially irritated him was losing it to that +wrinkle-faced, one-eyed, greedy old scoundrel, with no possible hope of +ever seeing a dollar of it again. As for the padre, he was dead broke; +and since his friends would not lend him a real, and the banker did not +play upon credit, he sat moodily by, and gloated over the winnings of +the Tuerto, cursing his own luck and that of his companions likewise. + +"Ho!" growled Captain Brand, "_maldito a la sota!_ I have lost my last +stake!" + +Even while he spoke the poor little boy murmured in a sobbing voice, +"Mamma, _chere_ mamma!" and turned uneasily in his little nest from his +fitful slumber. + +"That crying imp again!" said the now angry pirate, as he hurled the +padre's half empty gin jug in the direction of the couch, which crashed +against the wall, and fell in a shower of glass splinters over the +little sleeper. + +The child gave one terrified shriek, and, starting from the bed in his +little night-dress, now soiled and torn, he ran and threw himself on his +knees before the doctor. Another bottle was raised aloft by the long +muscular arm of the pirate; but, before you could wink, that arm was +arrested, and the missile twisted from his grasp. + +"For shame, you coward! Don't harm the boy. He will die soon enough in +this awful den without having his brains dashed out." + +"Ho, _Monsieur le Docteur_!" muttered the villain, looking as if he +would like to taste the heart's-blood of the resolute man who stood +before him, as he pushed a hand into his waistcoat pocket, "do you +presume to call names and oppose _my_ will?" + +But, controlling his passion with a violent contortion of face that +would have made one's blood run cold to see it, he changed his tone and +said, + +"Nonsense, doctor; you seem to take rather a strong interest in the +brat--possibly an injudicious one; but, since he is my prize, you know, +by law, come--what will you give for him? Ah! happy thought, we will +play for him! There, deal away, _compadre_. _Sota_ and _cavallo_! I take +the knave again, and you ten doubloons against the boy on the horse." + +The doctor said not a word, but nodded assent, and seemed absorbed in +the game. + +"_Presto!_ Turn the cards, you old sinner! Quick! _Por dios!_ horse has +kicked me, and the knave loses! _Monsieur_, the brat is yours!" + +Then starting up, Captain Brand hastily pulled out his watch, and said, +"_Hola, caballeros_, the time is up! I must say good-night." + +Don Ignacio's brown thin fingers, like a dentist's steel nippers, laid +down the cards, and carefully picked up his winnings, even to the +smallest bit of the precious metal, and dropped it piece by piece into +his long pouch, following them each with his glittering eye, like a +magpie peering into a narrow-necked bottle, and smiling with his +wrinkled old lips as the dull chink of the coin fell upon his ear. When +he had performed this operation, he tied up the mouth of the bag as if +he was choking somebody to death; and then, twitching something which +was partly hidden in his sleeve, he arose in readiness to go out. + +As, however, Captain Brand turned to follow his _compadre_, he looked +carelessly toward the doctor, and said, + +"By the way, monsieur, I have made up my mind with respect to our +conversation to-day, and you _shall_ remain on the island. No thanks. +Adieu. Now, Don Ignacio, if your men and boats are at the cove, we will +make sharp work with your business. _Vamanos!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +WORK. + + "Skeleton hounds that will never be fatter, + All the domestic tribes of hell, + Shrieking for flesh to tear and tatter, + Bones to shatter, + And limbs to scatter, + And who it is that must furnish the latter, + Those blue-looking men know well!" + + +When the pirate stood in his saloon on the morning subsequent to the +pleasurable events of the Sunday previous, he, as well as his saloon, +presented altogether a different aspect. The apartment had been stripped +of all its rare and costly furniture, cabinets, candelabra, plate, +china, and glass, and nothing of value was left save the camphor trunks +on the floor, the cane-bottomed settee, a few chairs, and a table. All +the beautiful things, ornamental as well as useful, had disappeared, +even to the rich packages of merchandise in the great vault beneath. The +late possessor, however, of all that worldly wealth did not appear to be +at all discomposed, or to cherish the faintest pang of regret at his +loss. In truth, he seemed to be relieved from an uncomfortable load of +responsibility; and feeling assured, perhaps, that in roaming about the +world he could collect a still more valuable collection--only give him +time--and he would exercise his critical taste with every pleasing +variety. It was thus he consoled himself as he stood there in his now +denuded room, attired in a pair of coarse canvas trowsers, a red flannel +shirt, with a short sharp hanger on his hip, and a double-barreled +pistol in his belt--quite the costume in which he so singularly shocked +Dona Lucia, whose lovely miniature once hung there on the wall in +company with the other miserable victims of his lust. + +Captain Brand had just entered his dwelling, having been up and actively +occupied ever since we last parted with him. Now he had come for a cup +of tea and dry toast; and, while Babette was bringing that simple +breakfast, the pirate stood, tall, erect, and powerful, with one +muscular arm resting high above his head on the side of the doorway, and +the other lying lightly on the shark's-skin hilt of his cutlass, looking +out to seaward--a very model, as he was, of a cool, prudent, desperate +villain. + +"Ah! there you go, you crafty old miser, in your guarda costa! Take +care, my compadre, of that reef. If that felucca's keel touches one of +those coral ledges there won't be a tooth-pick left of her in ten +minutes. San Antonio! but that was a close shave! How the sharks would +rasp your bones, for there's no flesh on them! Grazed clear, eh? +_Bueno!_ now you're in blue water, you rapacious scoundrelly old wretch, +and make the most of it." + +Captain Brand waved his hand in adieu to the felucca, which, with the +wind off shore, had crept through the coral gateway, and, with her great +lateen sail and green glancing bottom, was rising and falling on the +long swell as she slipped away to the eastward. He then gulped down his +tea, made one or two savage bites at his toast, and again walked out to +the veranda, descended the ladder, and took his course toward the +basin. + +There, too, the scene had changed; and instead of the tranquil, shelly +shore, only agitated by the musical rippling from the pure little inlet, +the faint cry of a sea-gull, or the chirps of the lizards in the +crevices of the rocks across the basin, those sounds had given place to +the nimble feet and voices of busy sailors. The "Centipede," also, had +been towed from her moorings to a jetty which projected into the water +from the shore, and there she lay, careened down, her keel half out of +the water, with a dozen of her crew scrubbing her lean sides till the +green-coated copper came flashing out in the sunlight like burnished +gold. With her slanting masts lashed to the jetty, carpenters were +engaged reducing the length of the fore-mast, and trimming out a spar +for a new bowsprit. The long gun, with its carriage, lay near, and +artisans were at work at a temporary forge, hammering out bolts and +straps to replace those which were weakened by long service. On the +shore, too, were a score or more of the piratical gang--Spaniards, +negroes, Indians, Italians, and who not--ferocious-looking scoundrels, +busy as bees, splicing and knotting ropes, stretching new rigging, +cutting running gear from the coils of hemp or Manilla-grass rope, or +making spun-yarn and chafing-mats; while beneath the low mat sheds hard +by, sail-makers were stitching away with their shining needles, making a +set of square sails for the changed rig of the "Centipede," or repairing +old sails. But this was not all; for in a shed beyond was the armorer, +with a few hands, grinding pikes and cutlasses, and cleaning small arms; +while farther still was the gunner and his mate, filling powder-cases +for the long gun and swivels, and making up musket and pistol +ball-cartridges. + +In the midst of all these busy throngs moved Captain Brand, hither and +thither, from vessel to forge, from sails to rigging, giving clear, +sharp directions in various languages--commendation here, reproof +there--inspecting with his own cold eyes every thing; judging of all; +quick, active, ready; never at a loss for an expedient, and urging on +the work like a thorough-bred seaman as he was, who knew his own duty +and how to make others do theirs. So went on the refitting of the +"Centipede," all through the burning hot tropical day; and while the +half-exhausted crew took a respite in the scorching noon for dinner, +still their leader toiled on. Or, if he took a rest, it was in closely +scrutinizing the progress made by his men, in puffing a cigar like to a +small high-pressure engine, or in clambering up the steep face of the +crag to the signal-station, where he would peer away in all directions +around the island--never missing the glance of a pelican's pinion or the +leap of a fish out of water. Then he would return to the cove and begin +anew the work. It was no longer the elegant Captain Brand, in +knee-breeches, point-lace sleeves, and velvet doublet, seated at his +luxurious table, groaning under splendid plate, fine wines, and +brilliant wax-lights, and dispensing a profuse hospitality, but Captain +Brand the pirate, in tarry rig, amid sailors, sails, and cordage, +munching a bit of hard biscuit at times, or a cube of salt-junk out of a +mess kid, but ever ready, never weary, and always up to the professional +mark. + +At the first gray blush of dawn on the following day Captain Brand was +astir again, and before the sun went down behind the waves the schooner +"Centipede" had been transformed into a brigantine, her fore-mast +reduced, new standing rigging fitted for it, with a new bowsprit and +head-booms, her rail raised four or five feet by shifting bulwarks, and +a temporary house built on deck over the long gun. She was also painted +afresh, with a white streak; and, with false head-boards on her bows to +hide her snakelike snout of a cutwater, no one, unless in the secret, +could have known that the clumsy box of a merchantman lying there was +once the low, swift, piratical schooner which had made so notorious a +name in the West Indies. Still the work was driven on with scarcely any +intermission--a few hours' repose for the crew at night, and an hour for +dinner in the day; but as for Captain Brand, he never slept at all--a +doze for an hour or two, perhaps, on his settee in the saloon, and a cup +of tea in the morning, with cigar-smoke, satisfied his frugal +requirements. The next day, by noon, the water and stores were got on +board the brigantine, her magazine stowed, the dunnage of the crew +transferred from the sheds, the captain's camphor trunks on board and +cabin in order, the sails bent, anchors on the bows, and, swinging to a +hawser made fast to the rocks, the vessel was ready to put to sea at any +moment. + +"Pedillo," said Captain Brand, as his vigilant gaze took in all around +him and then rested on the "Centipede"--"Pedillo, you may warp the +vessel down to the mouth of the Tiger's Trap so soon as you've strewed +some fagots ready for lighting in the sheds. When you get to the Trap, +tell the gunner to take a gang of hands and give that battery a good +coat of coal tar, plug the vents of the guns, and bury carriages and +all in the sand beside the magazine. Tell him to destroy the powder, and +pitch overboard all he can't conceal; and let him bear a hand about it, +for we shall sail with the last of the sea-breeze toward sunset. + +"And, Pedillo"--here the pirate's voice dropped to a whisper--"come back +after the vessel is secured, and bring that Maltese fellow without a +nose with you. It will be as well, perhaps, for you to provide yourself +with a few fathoms of raw-hide strips, as we may have occasion to use +it. _Quien sabe?_" + +Senor Pedillo's black wiry beard fairly bristled as he grinned +understandingly at his superior; and, getting into a bit of a canoe at +the jetty, he paddled off to the brigantine to execute his orders. + +Meanwhile Captain Brand slowly bent his steps toward the house under the +crag, and entered his spacious saloon for the last time. On the bare +table, too, was his last dinner, served on a few odd dishes and cracked +plates. + +"Babette, old girl!" said he, as he sat down to this repast, "you have a +bottle of good Madeira, and a flask of Hock left? No?" + +The negress shook her head violently, made the sign of the cross, and by +other telegraphic motions gave her master to understand that Padre +Ricardo had dropped in, drained both bottles, and then had reeled off on +board the brigantine. + +"The drunken selfish beast!" muttered Captain Brand; "it will be the +last taste of wine he will swallow for a long time." + +The pirate was quite correct in his schemes for the padre's reform, for +the next copious draught the holy father imbibed was the briny salt +water from the Caribbean Sea. + +"Well, my Baba, a drop of water, then! Thank you, old lady. Here's to +your health while I am gone. There--you need not blubber so over my +hand--good-by!" And so passed away from Captain Brand's sight the only +creature in the wide world who loved him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CAUGHT IN A NET. + + "I closed my lids and kept them close, + And the balls like pulses beat; + For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky, + Lay like a load on my weary eye, + And the dead were at my feet." + + +Captain Brand did not linger long over his frugal dinner, and when he +had finished, as if he had not had enough exercise for the last three +days, he began to walk with long nervous strides across the saloon. + +"He called me coward, did he? and dared to lay his hands on me! By my +right arm, my Creole doctor, I'll teach you not to call hard names +again, and I'll paralyze your hands for all time to come." + +The pirate's jaws grated like a rusty bolt as he hissed out these +murderous threats; but as his eye caught the squirming green silk rope +as he swung round on his heel in his walk, he paused and muttered, + +"That bit of stuff may be of use. I'll take it by way of precaution." + +Hereupon he rapidly unrove the cord and coiled it away in the bosom of +his shirt. Then looking at his watch, he said, "Ho! the time approaches, +and here comes Pedillo." + +Lighting a cigar, he left his dwelling for the last time; and, after +pausing to hear a report from Pedillo that his orders had been executed +and the vessel all ready for sea, and whispering a few precise +directions in return, Captain Brand mounted up the steep face of the +crag again, and accosted the signal-man at the station. + +"Any thing in sight?" + +"Nothing to the eastward, _capitano_; but it has been a little hazy here +away to the southward since meridian, and I can hardly see through it." + +"_Bueno_, my man! give me the glass. You can go on board the brigantine. +I'll take a last look myself." + +While the signal-man scrambled down the crag, Captain Brand rested the +spy-glass on the trunk of the single cocoa-nut-tree, whose skeleton-like +fingers of leaves rattled above his head like a gibbeted pirate in +chains, and then he searched steadily along the hazy horizon. As he was +about, however, to withdraw his eye from the tube, something--a mere dim +speck--arrested his attention. Quickly dropping the glass, and as +rapidly rubbing the large lens and carefully adjusting the joints, he +raised it again, as a backwoodsman does his rifle with an Indian for a +mark. For full five minutes the pirate stood as motionless as the crag +beneath him, intently glaring through the tube at the speck in the +distance. At last he let the glass fall at his side, and pulling out his +watch with a jerk, he muttered to himself, + +"It is a large and lofty ship; but, should she be a cruiser after me, +she will find the bird flown and the nest empty. Ho, now for action!" + +Springing down the precipitous declivity as he spoke, he paused a moment +at a loophole of the vault beneath his dwelling, and puffing his cigar +into a bright coal, he carefully twitched the match-rope which led to +the train, opened the loose strands, and placed the fire to it. Waiting +an instant till he saw the nitre sparkle as it ignited, he moved away +with long, swinging strides toward the sheds. There, glancing through +the now deserted halls the crew had occupied, where quantities of +fagots, and kindling-wood, and barrels of pitch were standing, he +continued on till he came to the quarters of the doctor. The doctor was +standing at the open door on the thatched piazza, looking quietly at the +brigantine, whose sails were loosed, and the vessel hanging by a +sternfast, with her head just abreast the Tiger's Trap. + +"Ah! _Monsieur le Docteur_, I have merely called to bid you a final +adieu before I go on board; and as I have a few moments left, and a few +words to say, suppose you walk with me toward the chapel. _Allons!_ +there is a suspicious sail off there," waving his glass in the +direction, "and I wish to take a good look at her." + +"Doctor," continued Captain Brand, as they reached the little esplanade +facing the graves and church, "you will have no one left here on our +island save our dumb Babette, and the chances are rather remote for your +getting away, without, perhaps, some of the West India fleet should +happen to drop in here, which I do not think probable. I rely, however, +upon your keeping your oath, even if they do come, and not betraying the +secrets you are acquainted with." + +The pirate said this in an off-hand, friendly way, as he had his glass +leveled toward the sail he saw in the offing. + +"Captain Brand," replied the doctor, "I was deceived in coming here, as +you well know; but I shall religiously keep my oath for the twenty +years, as I swore to do. After that, if we both live so long, my tongue +and arm shall speak and strike." + +The pirate stepped back a little as he shut up the joints of the +spy-glass with a crash, and, with a scowl of hate and vengeance +combined, he said, in a loud voice, while his cold eyes gleamed like a +ray of sunlight on an iceberg, + +"And I, too, keep my oaths; and, without waiting twenty years, I strike +now!" + +Even while the treacherous villain spoke, two swarthy, sinewy scoundrels +crept stealthily from within the chapel, and, with the soft, slimy +movements of serpents, as their leader uttered the last word, they +sprang at the back of the doctor, and wound their coils around him, +twining strong strands of raw-hide rope about his arms, legs, and body. +Bound as in a frame of elastic steel, their victim was thrown, face +downward, upon the sand. + +"Be quick, Pedillo! the time is flying! Gomez, bring the corpse trestle +from the chapel." + +In a moment a wooden frame with legs, and stretched across with a bed +of light wire, which had been used to carry the mortal remains of +the pirates--and the poor women, too, beside them--to their last +resting-places, was brought out from the little church. Then the +bound victim was laid on it, face upward; again the hide thongs were +passed in numerous plaits until the body was lashed firmly to the +trestle. + +"Place it on the edge of that rock there, with his head toward the +cocoa-nut-tree. Take this silk rope, Gomez, and clove-hitch it well up +the trunk. There, that will do. I myself will perform the last act of +politeness." + +Saying this, the pirate widened the noose of the cord, and, slipping it +over the doctor's head, he placed the knot carefully under his left ear. +The victim gave no groan or sigh, and his dark, luminous eyes were fixed +on the blue sky above him in heaven. + +"_Monsieur le Docteur_," said Captain Brand, as he hurriedly looked at +his watch and raised his hat, "I have but one word of caution to give +you: if you struggle you will have your neck broken before you are stung +to death! Talk as much as you like; but, as Babette is a long way off, +and hard of hearing, I doubt if she comes to your assistance! Adieu!" + +[Illustration: "A DULL, HEAVY, BOOMING ROAR, THAT SHOOK THE CRAG TO ITS +BASE, ANNOUNCED THE RUIN OF THE PIRATES' DEN."] + +The retreating figures went leaping toward the inlet, and, as they +rushed through the sheds, applied a torch to the combustible material +deposited there, and then sprang on toward the Tiger's Trap. A few +minutes afterward the doctor turned his eyes in that direction, and saw +the sails of the brigantine sheeted home and run up like magic; and, +taking the last breath of the sea-breeze on her quarter, the sternfast +was cast off, and she slipped easily out of the gorge-like channel. +Still, as those dark stern eyes watched the receding hull of the +"Centipede," a sudden jar shook the island, a heavy column of white +smoke rose from below the crag like a water-spout, and, spreading out +like a palm-tree, came down in a deluge of timber, stones, and dust, +while sheets of vivid flame leaped out from the gloom, and an awful +peal, followed by a heavy, booming roar, that shook the crag to its +base, announced the ruin of the pirate's den. At the same time the red +fires gleamed in fitful flashes from the sheds, and, rapidly making +headway, all at once burst forth in wild conflagration, till the whole +nest was wrapped in flames. The shock of the explosion and the fires +killed the wind, and a lurid pall of smoke and cinders hung like a +gloomy canopy over the island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE MOUSE THAT GNAWED THE NET. + + "There passed a weary time. Each throat + Was parched, and glazed each eye. + A weary time! a weary time! + How glazed each weary eye! + When, looking westward, I beheld + A something in the sky." + + +As the powder vomited forth its dreadful thunder, and as the stones and +timbers from the blasted den were hurled high in air, and scattered by +the explosive whirlwind far and near, some of the splinters and +fragments came down in dropping hail upon the red-tiled sheds and the +doctor's dwelling. At the first shock the lonely child started up in his +little bed, and while the earth rocked and the stones came pelting and +crashing on the roof, he screamed, "Mamma! mamma!" No loving echo came +back to those innocent lips, and naught was heard save the crackling of +the flame beyond, licking its tongue along the dry timber and roaring +joyously as it was fed. "Mamma! _chere_ mamma!" + +Yet no answer, and still the savage flames came careering wildly on till +the very stones of the court-yard cracked like slates, while the burning +flakes and cinders loaded the air, and the eddying volumes of smoke +reeled in dense clouds, and poured their suffocating breath into the +room where the forsaken child was crying. + +One more panting, helpless cry, and the little fellow instinctively flew +through the open doorway, where, blinded and choking with the +devastating element around him, he staggered feebly beyond its +influence. Yet again a flurry of thick smoke lighted up the forked and +vivid flames, and chased the child before it. + +Oh, fond mother! in your poignant grief for the loss of your poor +drowned boy, you were spared the agony of seeing him, even in +imagination, struggling faintly before that tempest of fire and smoke, +calling plaintively for her on whose tender bosom his head had rested, +while his naked feet were cut and bruised by the sharp coral shingle +beneath them. But onward and onward the boy wandered, and fortunately +his footsteps took the path into a purer atmosphere which led toward the +chapel. Here he looked timidly around at the lurid glare behind him, and +then entered the church and sank down exhausted, his feverish, smarting +eyes closing in slumber on the hard pavement beneath the image of the +Virgin Mary. + +Then came the close and sultry night--no murmur of a land-wind to drive +the smoky canopy away--the black cinders falling in burning rain on +basin, thicket, and lagoon, till even the very lizards and scorpions hid +themselves deep within the holes and crevices of the rocks. Midnight +came. The dim and silent stars were obscured by a veil of heavy clouds, +and with a low, muttering sound of thunder, the vapory masses unclosed +their portals, and the rain fell in torrents. The flames, now nearly +satisfied with their work, leaped out occasionally from the fallen +ruins, but were quenched by the tropical deluge, and smouldered away +amid the charred and saturated timbers. Then the thunder ceased, the +lizards and scorpions came from their retreats, the teal fluttered over +the lagoon, and the noise of the waves bursting over the reef came again +to the ear. Still there was no breath of air; the atmosphere was thick +and damp; and out from the mangrove thickets and wide expanse of cactus, +swarms of insects, musquitoes, and sand-flies in myriads went buzzing +and singing in the sultry, murky night. + +So dragged on the weary hours until day broke again, and the sea-birds +floated off seaward for their morning's meal, and the flying-fish +skipped with their silvery wings from wave to wave, as the dolphins +glittered in gold and purple after them below the blue water. No bright +and blazing sun came over the hills of Cuba to light up this picture, +but all was blight and gloom, with murky masses of dead, still clouds +hanging low down over the island. + +The little suffering boy, lying there on the coral pavement, with his +head resting on the thin, delicate arm, with pale, sweet face turned +half upward toward the Virgin, gave a feeble cry and opened his eyes. He +rose to a sitting posture, with his little hands resting on his lap and +little ragged shirt. Then, with his dim hazel eyes fixed upon the +painting, while the tears coursed slowly down his pallid cheeks, he put +forth his hands in a childish movement of supplication, and murmured +again his tearful prayer, "Mamma! mamma!" + +Presently rising, he turned his feeble footsteps toward the doorway, and +as his eye caught the stone bowl of holy water standing on its coral +pedestal near the portal, he bent down his feverish head and slaked his +parched lips. Revived by this, he timidly looked out from the chapel, +and shuddering as he beheld the gloomy wilderness around, he once more +screamed in a thin piercing cry, "Mamma! oh, _ma chere_ mamma!" + +That was the last sad wail for help for many and many a long year that +those infant lips were destined to utter; and when he again called upon +that dear name, his manly arms would clasp a joyful mother to his +swelling heart. + +"Henri!" came back like an echo in a clear shout to the shriek of the +boy. "Henri! Henri!" was reiterated again and again, each time in a +voice that seemed to split asunder the canopy of clouds above. + +The boy started and listened. + +"Henri! Henri! this way to your good friend the doctor! Quick, my little +boy!" + +Now with the step of a fawn the child ran out upon the sharp sandy +esplanade, and following the voice as he tripped lightly through the +narrow pathway between the needle-pointed cactus, in a moment he +stopped, with a look of horror, beside the trestle on which the bound +and nearly naked man was stretched. + +Ay, it was a sight to make a strong and stalwart man turn pale with +sickness and horror, much less a baby-boy of three or four years old. +There lay the man, all through the dreadful night, with swarms on swarms +and myriads upon myriads of stinging insects, biting and sipping, and +sucking his life-blood with distracting agony away. Ah! think of the +hellish torture often practiced by those bloody pirates upon their +victims in the West Indies! The bound man's eyes were closed, the lips +and cheeks puffed and swollen out of all human proportions, and the +inflamed body was one glowing red and angry surface. No needle could +have been stuck where the venomous stings of a thousand sand-flies or +musquitoes had not already sucked blood. Ay, well might the child start +back with horror! + +"It is your friend the doctor, Henri," he said in French, still in a +strong but kindly voice. "I can not see you, but get me a knife. No, my +child, never mind--you can not find one; don't leave me." + +Here the child timidly put his little hands out and brushed away the +poisonous insects, and then touched the doctor's face. + +"Ah! Henri, see if you can not slip that pretty silk rope over my head; +yes, that is the way--_doucement_--easily, my child! Well, now, my +Henri, you are weak and sick, my poor little boy; but listen to me--yes, +I feel your little hands on my eyes. Well, bite upon that cord that goes +across my throat. Bite till it snaps asunder! I am nearly choking, +little one; but don't cry." + +True, the strips of raw-hide, which had partially slackened in the rain +that had washed the body of the victim, now began to tauten again in the +sultry heat of the morning, and lay half hidden in the swollen throat, +stomach, and limbs of the tortured sufferer. + +Henri's sharp little teeth fastened upon the strand, biting and gnawing, +until finally it was severed, and the doctor gave a great sigh of +relief. + +[Illustration: "AH! HENRI, SEE IF YOU CAN NOT SLIP THAT PRETTY SILK ROPE +OVER MY HEAD."] + +"Blessings on you, my poor boy!" he murmured, painfully. "Now bite away +on the strands which bind the arm. There! Don't! don't hurry! Rest a +little, my child! Ah! it is well!" + + Again those sharp little teeth of a mouse had gnawed through the net +which bound the lion-hearted man; the ends of the raw-hide drew back and +twisted into spiral curls, and the right arm, though numbed and four +times its original size, was free. + +"Thanks be to God for all His mercies!" exclaimed the doctor, as with +difficulty he raised his released arm to his face and pushed back the +swollen lids from his closed eyes--"and to you, my little friend, for +saving this wretched life!" + +Waiting a few moments to recover his strength, the doctor made a mighty +effort, and some of the coils whose strands had been cut by those little +teeth yielded and gradually unrove, so as to leave the upper part of his +body free. Then, while the child was once more cutting the lashings of +his feet, he himself unfastened the knots of his left arm, and by a +vigorous effort he tore the net from off him and sat upright. Clasping +his numbed and swollen hands together, he turned his face and almost +sightless eyes to heaven. + +"May this awful trial serve as a partial forgiveness of my sins, and +make me a better man!" + +He paused, and laid his heavy arms around the child, while warm and +grateful tears trickled down his cheeks. Slowly, and like a drunken man, +his feet sought the sand, and then, weak, trembling, and faint, he +staggered along the path, the boy tripping lightly before him, till he +fell exhausted on the floor of the chapel. + +"Water, my Henri! water!" + +The child scooped it out from the stone bowl with his tiny hands and +sprinkled it on his friend's face. + +"There, that will suffice, my brave boy! Lay your cheek to mine!" + +What a sight it was--that dark, swollen, yet powerful frame lying on the +coral pavement, and the innocent child, like a dewdrop on the leaf of a +red tropical flower, nestling close beside it! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE HURRICANE. + + "'Twas off the Wash--the sun went down--the sea looked black and + grim, + For stormy clouds with murky fleece were mustering at the brim; + Titanic shades! enormous gloom! as if the solid night + Of Erebus rose suddenly to seize upon the light! + It was a time for mariners to bear a wary eye, + With such a dark conspiracy between the sea and sky!" + + +Past a September noon. The great canopy of dark, murky clouds fell lower +and lower, until they nearly touched the earth, wrapping as in a blanket +the single cocoa-nut-tree on the crag, and shutting out the light and +air of heaven as they settled over the noxious lagoon, the mangrove +thickets, and pure inlet. The sea-birds came screaming in from seaward, +fluttering their wide-spread wings in the sultry atmosphere, and +alighting on the smooth rocks, where they furled their pinions and put +their heads together. The flying-fish no longer skimmed over the waves, +and the dolphin and shark sank deep down in the blue water, or lay still +and quiet beside the coral groves. The rolling, swelling ocean of the +tropic, with its glassy, greasy surface unruffled by the faintest air, +rolled heavily on until it struck the coral ledge, when, with a dull, +heavy roar, it broke over in creamy foam, and came sluggishly in to the +sandy beach. There the tiny waves lashed the shelly strand, and all was +still again. No sun; no breeze; and even the birds, and serpents, and +insects gasped for breath. The fish below the sea, the animated nature +above, and the very leaves and vines of the forests and thickets knew +what was brewing in the great vacuum around. + +Slowly and painfully the man in the chapel regained his feet, and with +the child by the hand, moved on to the farthest corner by the rude +altar, where he sank down again, and, clasping the boy to his heart, +waited in breathless awe. As if the powder and flames had not done their +destructive work, the wrath of heaven was to be poured out over the +devoted den of the pirates. + +Then came a bellowing roar as a current of wind swept over the sea, +cutting a pathway in the blue water, and scooping it up in an impalpable +mist, hurrying on to the low beach of the island, and tearing the sand +and shells up in heaps--and then a lull. Now, as if all the demons of +winds had let loose their cavernous lungs from the four quarters of the +earth, and like the shocks of artillery, volley upon volley, came the +hurricane. The sea became one boiling, seething, hissing surface of +foam, pressed and flattened by the weight of the tempest, which laid the +black rocks bare on the ledge, and drove the water into both mouths of +the inlet, until, with a crashing shock, it met in the basin, and broke +over and over the cove, and high up the wall of rocks on the other side. +Two or three streams of whirlwind meeting, too, over the island, drove +the lagoon hither and thither, catching up the white pond-lilies by +their long stems, twisting off the dense thickets of mangroves by the +roots, burrowing holes in the sandy beds of the cactus, and shearing off +their flat, thorny leaves and needle points by the acre together; then a +rushing whirl around the cocoa-nuts, bowing their tufted tops at first +till they nearly touched the earth, when, the stout trunks snapping like +glass, they would go pitching and tossing from base to crown, careering +and dancing aloft, borne away with sand and mangrove, cactus, flowers, +and sticks, into the flying clouds before the hurricane. Then another +lull; and from the opposite direction again thundered the terrible +breath of the demons, sweeping thousands of sea-birds, with broken +pinions, screaming amid the gale, hurling them against the crag, +stripping the feathers from their crushed carcasses, and in a moment +burying them a foot deep in clouds of sand. No more pauses or lulls now +in the hurtling tempest; but with a steady, tremendous roar, which made +the earth tremble, the rocks quake, and laid every vestige of vegetation +flat to the ground, it came on mightier and mightier, and fiercer and +fiercer, with black masses of never-ending clouds sweeping close down +like dark midnight, as if heaven and earth had come together. All +through the gloomy day and through the night this elemental war, with +its legions of careering demons, continued to lash the sea and smite the +land; until, as if satiated with vengeance, the clouds belched forth in +red lightning, vomiting out peal upon peal of awful thunder as a parting +salute, and then, moderating down to a hard gale from another quarter, +broke away. The blue sky appeared, and the glorious sun once more came +up in his majesty over the distant hills of Cuba. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE VIRGIN MARY. + + "A weary weed, tossed to and fro, + Drearily drenched in the ocean brine, + Soaring high and sinking low, + Lashed along without will of mine; + Sport of the spoom of the surging sea; + Flung on the foam, afar and near, + Mark my manifold mystery-- + Growth and grace in their place appear." + + +With the boy clasped to his heart, the doctor sat beside the altar of +the chapel during all the direful strife without, shielding his little +charge from the clouds of fine sand and rubbish that every few minutes +came swirling within the temple, dashing the padre's candlesticks into +battered lumps of brass on the pavement, and tearing to atoms the votive +offerings hung around the walls by the pirates. But, as if in mercy to +the trustful souls lying there, the Virgin Mary still looked down in +sweet pity upon them, and the little chapel stood unharmed. + +When at last, however, the hurricane's back was broken, and Aeolus had +reined up his maddened chargers and curbed their flying wings, and when +all the demons of the wind had gone moaningly back to their caverns in +the clouds, the doctor arose, and with the boy beside him, knelt +devoutly before the altar while he uttered a fervent prayer of +thanksgiving. + +"Come, my Henri, now we may go out and see if we can find something to +eat and drink. You are weak and hungry, my poor little boy; but you +shall not suffer much longer." + +That strong man, with the heart of a gentle woman, had no thought of how +ill, and famished, and thirsty he himself was from the terrible torture +he had endured. No, he only thought of the child who had saved him. + +In front of the chapel the sand and bushes were piled up in ridgy heaps, +the coral wall around the cemetery had been thrown down, while the flat +head-stones over the pirates' graves had disappeared entirely. Not so, +however, with the white slabs near by where those poor doomed women were +lying; for the hurricane had spared their tombs, and a pall of pure +white sand was sprinkled evenly over their remains. Bending over them +was the trunk of the cocoa-nut, with its top stripped and its leafless +branches quivering in the wind; while from below them streamed out the +long, thin green silk rope which had so often served Captain Brand, the +pirate, for his private executions. Near at hand lay the trestle on +which the doctor had been stretched--caught by the base of the cocoa-nut +column, and half buried in sand--while the cruel strips of raw-hide +which had lashed the victim down were tied and twisted into a maze of +complicated knots by the nimble fingers of the winds. + +The doctor started, and his half-closed eyes shot out gleams of anger as +he beheld the unconscious implements designed for his torturing murder; +and leaving the child at the doorway to the chapel, he sallied out, +detached the rope, loosened the trestle from its sandy bed, and placed +them in a corner of the chapel. + +Then carefully picking his way, with the boy in his great arms, over +the trees and debris which obstructed the pathway, he speedily +reached the site on which had stood the sheds of the "Centipede's" +crew. Fire, water, and wind had done their work effectually, though +the fire had partially spared the detached storehouse and shed which +he had shared with the infamous padre. All else was a ruin of loose +blocks of stone, broken tiles, nearly buried in banks of sand. From a +well in the once busy court-yard, and which had also escaped the +devouring elements, the doctor drew a bucket or two of water, in which +he slaked the boy's thirst and then his own, and afterward poured water +over their bodies. Then, from a still smouldering beam which puffed out +at intervals a thin curl of smoke from beneath one of the sheds, he +lit a fire in the court-yard, while from the wreck of the storeroom he +succeeded in rescuing some hard biscuit and a ham. This last he tore +in shreds, and placing them on sticks before the fire, they were +thus enabled to make a hearty meal, first providing for the wants of +the child, however--soaking the biscuit for him, as if it were his first +duty on earth. Again raising the boy in his arms, he passed from the +ruined sheds and bent his steps toward Captain Brand's former dwelling. +The road was heaped with shells and sand, strewed with shoals of dead +fish and wounded or dying birds, while the wreck of a boat, mingled with +the timbers and planks of the jetty to the basin, were lying pell-mell +on the beach of the little cove. Casting his eyes around in search +of the once spacious dwelling, with its vaults, veranda, and saloon, he +could hardly at first trace a vestige of the structure. The powder, +more destructive even than the hurricane, had tossed walls and +building into a confused heap of rubbish; then came the wind and sand +on top of the rocks which had tumbled down by the concussion of the +first explosion, and then the water, packing all together as if no +habitation had ever existed there. The doctor walked slowly around +until he came to the angle where the kitchen once was, and there, three +fourths hidden beneath a mass of blackened stones and charred timber, +peered forth the white skeleton of a human being. The flesh had been +seared and burned from the face and skull by the instantaneous flash +of the powder, and there lay the remains of Babette, whitely bleached, +as if she had been thrown a lifeless corpse on the sea-beach. A few +yards below this frightful spectacle lay a number of shattered boxes +and trunks, then a confused bundle of clothes, and a sandy saturated +collection of kitchen utensils and crockery. Yes, the poor dumb woman, +the creature and witness of many a cruel scene, ignorant or uncertain +of the warning given her by the master she loved, had fallen another +tribute to his long list of victims. + +The doctor only waited long enough to select a few necessary articles +from the heterogeneous heap before him, and then, with the child still +clinging contentedly to his shoulder, he returned to the chapel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE ARK THAT JACK BUILT. + + "Good heaven, befriend that little boat, + And guide her on her way! + A boat, they say, has canvas wings, + But can not fly away; + Though, like a merry singing-bird, + She sits upon the spray." + + +The land wind sighed and murmured; the sea-breeze wafted its rustling +influence over the waves; the long swells broke over the ledge; the +inlet flowed pure and limpid; and the gulls and sea-mews floated +gracefully over the reef, as if a hurricane had never poured its baneful +wrath upon it or the lonely island. + +Day by day and week by week, the man and boy, getting each hour stronger +and better, worked and worked. He with his great arms hewing and sawing, +and the child attending upon him like a shadow. By great toil and +exertion the doctor had succeeded in placing some of the timbers of the +jetty together as launching-ways, and on the cradle he had laid the +wreck of the old boat. Then, with an old saw and some tools he found +near the site of the mat sheds by the cove, he began to build the frail +ark which was to carry him and the child from the hated island. From the +storehouse, too, he obtained plenty of provisions to supply their wants, +and old sails and rope he found in abundance. Babette's collection of +worldly wealth provided them with linen and clothing, together with +utensils for eating and drinking; and he had made their dwelling in the +little chapel clean and habitable. Here they slept by night on an old +sail, and soundly too, the sleep of repentance and innocence. With the +early morning the man and the boy arose, and took their way to the cove. +The little fellow was clean and tidy now, dressed in a little loose +calico frock, and a queer contrivance of an old bonnet fashioned out of +Babette's gear, and on his feet were a pair of little canvas slippers, +stitched for him by his protector. After a bath in the basin of the +inlet the fire was kindled, and the simple breakfast prepared. Then, +while the strong man hewed, and sawed, and hammered beneath a temporary +awning which covered the open workshop, the boy would pick up shells +along the cove, or with a little rod and line, seated on a flat rock +near by, jerk out fish from the basin to serve for dinner. Sometimes he +would wander about in search of nails and spikes for the boat, or gather +sticks for the fire, but never out of hail, and never beyond the +watchful eyes of his friend. Yes, those watchful, kind eyes followed his +slightest movements; and while the hammer was going in vigorous blows on +the planks, or the axe chipping away a timber, his pleasant voice sang +Creole songs to the child, or encouraged his innocent prattle. A loaded +musket, which, with some ammunition, he had dug out from the wreck of +his old quarters, stood leaning against an upright post under the shade, +and woe to the man or beast that might have dared to approach the boy! +In the burning heat of the tropical day the labor ceased, and the child +either lay on his back on the soft sand beneath the awning, kicking up +his little legs, watching the small gulls as they skimmed across the +basin, or, with his brown curly head resting on the doctor's knees, +slept sweetly. Happy and contented he was, too, with the return of +health and strength; and if his budding memory looked back to her he had +lost, and the recollection of his faithful Banou, it was only for a +moment, and, like a childish dream, it passed away. + +[Illustration: BUILDING THE BOAT.] + +Every evening at sunset, when the work was done for the day, the doctor, +with Henri in his arms and the musket on his shoulder, would climb the +crag, and peer all around the island; but never a sail did he see from +the hour the "Centipede" spread her canvas, while he lay helplessly +bound on the trestle with the green noose around his neck. As the +twilight faded, the sole human occupants of the island returned to the +chapel, and when they had said a simple prayer, kneeling before the +Virgin, they laid themselves down on their canvas bed to rest till the +dawn. Many a silent hour in the watches of the tedious night did the +doctor lie awake, while the cool sweet breath of the child fanned his +cheek as he lay nestling beside him, pondering and wondering on the fate +of his charge. He knew absolutely nothing about his history save that he +had been pitched overboard from the brig the pirates were robbing; but +what was the name or nation of the vessel, where from, or whither bound, +he was in utter ignorance. He had questioned the leader Gibbs on that +occasion after the chase by the corvette, when he had lopped off the +brute's leg; but, what with suffering and drink, the ruffian had either +forgotten the brig's name, or feigned to, and all he could impart was +the belief that she was an English trader. Even from the boy, too, the +doctor could elicit nothing of importance, though day by day he tried +every means of leading the child's mind back to the past, but always +with the same result. + +"_Oui, ma chere mama! Bon Banou!_" and "_Ma petite cousine, Rosalie!_" +These were the only words the little fellow had to link his fate with +the future, and even they became fainter and fainter on his mind and +tongue as the time passed on. With this delicate web around the destiny +of the child, and that he spoke French, and had evidently been tenderly +nurtured, the doctor was forced to be content. + +Well, so the days and nights went by, and so the work went on, and the +little ark began to assume a wholesome look, and to be capable of +plowing the distant main. Then, when she was planked up, with a gunwale +on, and half-decked over forward, she was calked, and the seams payed +with pitch. When all ready for launching, early one morning the doctor +and the boy went gayly down to the cove. There, as the first golden rays +of the rising sun shot athwart the inlet, Henri stood up in the bows, +and with a large pearl-shell of pure spring water, he waved his tattered +bonnet round his curly locks, and with childish delight, as the vessel +began to move, he emptied the shell of its sparkling treasure, shouting, +as she slid off the ways into the basin, "_Ma petite cousine Rosalie!_" +The builder, too, took off his hat and shouted, in his deep bass, till +the rocks gave back the echo of "_Rosalie! Rosalie!_" + +Thus was the ark launched and christened by her captain and crew, +and there she rode on the basin, a little pinnace of about ten tons, +which had been once used to carry anchors, chains, and stores about the +harbor. A week or two more, and she was fitted with a single mast, +stepped well in the bows, for a jib and one square lug-sail. Then +ballast in bags of sand was laid along her keelson, and a couple of +breakers of fresh water got on board, together with a quantity of +cooked salt meat and hard biscuit stowed away under the half-deck +forward--where, too, was a cozy little nest of spare canvas, with an +oakum pillow, for the boy! Yes, there lay the good ship "Rosalie," +outward bound, with sails bent and gear rove, cargo on board, and +waiting for a wind. + +Meanwhile the doctor had tried her under sail, and satisfied himself +that every thing worked well, and that she was in proper trim. Then he +moored her within a fathom from the shore, and waited for a moon to +light him on his voyage. Whither? + +Carefully, too--like one who had passed a lifetime on the ocean, from +the China Seas to the broad Atlantic, under the suns of the tropics as +well as in the dim gloom of high latitudes--the doctor studied the +clouds and watched their course, noting the flight of the birds in the +air and the track of fish in the sea. At last the trade breezes began to +blow regularly and steadily; the land winds, too, in the gray of the +morning, fluttered timidly away out to sea, and the round pearly moon +shone bright and mellow over rock and water. + +"To-morrow, my brave boy, we shall sail away from the island. Ah! you +clap your hands, eh? Yes, we shall go to find mamma!" This was said as +man and child stood for the last time on the lofty crag, while the +former ranged his dark eyes scrutinizingly around the horizon. Nothing +in sight! + +Once more to their chapel of refuge, where, for the first time in all +their association, putting the child to sleep by himself, the doctor sat +down on the trestle by the entrance, and, lighted by the brilliant moon, +he caught up the tangled mazes of the hide net which had bound him, and +sedulously applied himself to a task before him. + +Any one who has seen the effect produced by a violent gale upon the +tattered shreds of a shivered main-top-sail, bound up into the most +tortuous knots that it is possible to conceive of, and so hard and solid +that you might saw the canvas balls in slices like boards, may form some +idea of the task the doctor had imposed upon himself to loosen the hide +strands tied together by the furious fingers of the hurricane. Patiently +and quietly, with no sign of temper, he applied himself to the work, and +with nothing but a sharp-pointed spike to aid his hands, he began to +unravel, bit by bit, the laced knots and bunches of raw-hide, without +ever cutting a strand, until, as the moon sank glimmering down, the +tangled mass lay in clear coils beside him--though in several pieces, +where it had been severed by the teeth of that little mouse purring +behind the altar--and the task was done. Then raising the trestle, he +bore it within the altar, and with the now unraveled coil of hide, and +the softer silk rope for a pillow, he again stretched himself upon what +once had been his bed of torture. + +For what possible object all this labor had been undertaken, or for what +future purpose--vague they must have been--no one but the persevering +man who did it can tell; and there he lay, no sound coming from his +compressed lips till the day dawned. Then he arose, and, kneeling over +the sleeping child, he again solemnly repeated the oath he had before +taken in his hut-- + +"Sleeping or waking, on land or sea, I devote the remainder of my +wretched life to returning this lost child to his mother. So help me +God!" + +The little boy stirred, as if the angels and the sweet Virgin were +whispering their protecting power over him, and, with a smile dawning +upon his rosy, dimpled cheeks, he raised the lids from his bright hazel +eyes, and put his fat round arms around the doctor's neck. If two great +drops fell upon that upturned innocent little face from the dark full +eyes bending over him, they were not tears of sorrow! Oh, no! It was the +dew of hope and trustfulness falling from the soul of a repentant sinner +relying upon an all-wise Providence. + +"Come, my Henri, say your little prayer of the morning, and we will go." +The man had taught the child that little prayer which he himself had +learned at his mother's knee. + +Up again to the crag, and down to the shelly margin of the shore; and a +long look the man gave at the ruin of shed and den, as he gently placed +the child on a sand-bag in the stern-sheets of the ark. Then he cast +off the rope which held the vessel to the hated strand, hoisted the +sail, and, as she bubbled along the inlet with the first sigh of the +land wind, he stood at the helm with his bare head lighted up by the +beams of the rising sun, and his lips moved in prayer. + +On, noiselessly through the Tiger's Trap sailed the little pinnace till +she bowed her rugged cutwater in the yielding waves, and with her square +lug-sail swelling gently to the freshening breeze, she held her course +to sea. I question much if the stanch brigantine, named the "Centipede," +which had preceded her through this tiger's gorge, with all the +ruffianly crew that manned her, and their villainous captain on her +quarter-deck, stood half the chance of a prosperous voyage as the tiny +ark, called the "Rosalie," which followed, with her noble, brave +commander, and his weak and boyish mate. Who can tell? + +END OF PART I. + + + + +PART II. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +LAYING UP THE STRANDS. + + "Ever drifting, drifting, drifting + On the shifting + Currents of the restless main, + Till in sheltered coves and reaches + Of sandy beaches, + All have found repose again." + + +It was in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and twenty-two, and in +the broad and commodious harbor of Kingston, a great mercantile haven, +crowded with shipping from all parts of the commercial globe; landlocked +by reef and ridge, with the rocks and heights crowned by frowning +batteries of heavy cannon; while beyond were spread the lower and upper +town, in masses of low two-story buildings, with piazzas, bright green +jalousies, stately palm, tamarind, and cocoa-nut-trees waving above +them. At the mouth of the harbor strait, where stands Fort Augusta, lay +a magnificent double-banked American frigate, with a broad blue +swallow-tailed pennant at her main, standing out stiff, like a dog-vane, +from the lofty mast, as the ship rode to the strong sea-breeze. + +The stays and rigging came down from trucks, cross-trees, and tops in +straight black lines, from the great length of lower masts and +enormously square yards fore and aft; and from side to side, till they +met the long majestic hull and taper head-booms; while below were two +rows of ports, with the guns run out and the brass tompions gleaming in +their muzzles. The awnings were spread in one flat extended sheet of +white cotton canvas from bowsprit to taffrail, and from the wide-spread +lower booms at the fore-chains boats were riding by their painters. +Within a cable's length of the frigate's black quarter lay a low rakish +schooner, like a minnow alongside a whale, with a thin little coach-whip +streaming from her main-mast head, a long brass gun amidships, and +looking as trig and tidy as a French maid beside her portly mistress. + +The bell struck in twin notes _eight_ on board the frigate, echoed back +from the pigmy schooner in a faint, double succession of tinkles; the +whistles resounded from deck to deck in ear-splitting notes, surging and +chirruping all together, and then suddenly ceasing with a rattling beat +of a drum and a short bellow of "Grog, ho!" + +Between the guns of the main deck, and about the spar-deck battery +forward of the main-mast, sat five hundred lusty sailors on the white +decks around their mess-cloths, bolting hot pea soup after their grog, +and chatting and laughing in a devil-may-care sort of a strain, as if +the grub was good and the timbers sound, as they were, of the stanch +frigate beneath them. No noise, no confusion, but just as polite and +courteous, in their honest, seamanlike way, as half a legion of French +dancing-masters, they whacked off the salt pork before them with their +sheath-knives, munching the flinty biscuit, and all as happy and +careless of the past and future as clams at high water. Ay, there they +clustered, those five hundred sailors, in their snowy duck trowsers and +white, coarse linen frocks, with the blue collars laid square back over +their broad shoulders, exposing their bronzed and hairy throats, wagging +their jaws, and ready at any moment, at the tap of the drum, day or +night, to spring to the guns, and make the battery dance a jig as the +solid iron food went amid sheets of flame toward a foe. Yes, and ready, +too, in the gentle breeze or the howling tempest, to leap at the shrill +pipe of the whistle from the busy deck or their snug hammocks, and, like +so many monkeys, jump up the shrouds, lie out on the enormous yards +while the frigate was plunging bows under in the tumultuous seas, grasp +the writhing canvas in their sinewy paws, and wrap it up close and tight +in the hempen gaskets. Man-of-war sailors, for battle, or gale, or +spree, every one of them. + +On board that little consort near were about forty more of the same +sort, only older, more bronzed, and more deliberate and methodical in +manner, sipping their pea pottage after blowing away the steam, cutting +their pork after much reflection, and cracking their biscuit tranquilly. +Their conversation, too, was slow and dignified, each word well +considered before it came out, and never interrupting one another in a +yarn, as did the younger harum-scarum chaps in the big ship near. But +yet those weather-beaten old sons of Neptune, who had each one of them +seen sights that would make your hair stand on end to think of, could +handle that schooner when her low deck was buried waist-deep to the +combings of the main hatch in angry water, and make that Long Tom +amidships there spin round on its pivot, and never threw away idly one +of its solid globular messengers. Ay, trust them for that. + +Then honor to them all, those gallant tars who have fought the battles +of our country by sea and lake, and upheld those Stars and Stripes +until they are respected to the uttermost ends of the earth! Glory to +them, ye wise legislators, who sit in council upon the nation's wealth +and grandeur! Think of the fearless arms that have shielded your +otherwise unprotected shores when circled in a ring of dreadful fire +from the guns of a haughty foe. + +[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES FRIGATE "MONONGAHELA."] + +And you, too, ye rich traders! whose valuable cargoes roll hither and +thither over the trackless deep, cared for by those toiling tars who +fight and bleed for the flag that waves o'er your treasure--in stinging +gale, with frozen fingers, or under burning suns, with panting +breasts--think of them when your noble ships come gallantly into your +superb ports, and unlade their floating mines of wealth into your +spacious warehouses, while you in your lordly mansions sip your wine! +Think of those arms grasping the shivering sail in the mighty tempest, +in the black night, and the coarse fare they eat, the sometimes putrid +water they drink, and the hard beds they lie upon, while you are +reposing on downy pillows with your wives and little ones beside you! +Ah! take pity on the sailor, and scatter your shining gold over him in +his distress. + +When the time comes, as come it may, when the cannon of a hostile fleet +are thundering at your ports; when your lumbering craft are flying +before the rapacious grasp of quick-heeled cruisers, and fiery bombs are +hissing through the pure air, bursting in your marble palaces and +blasting your stores of wealth to dust, _then_ you will turn with +blanched faces to the sea, and wonder why you have so long forgotten the +noble hearts and stalwart arms that once were thrown around you. But not +before. + +On the flush quarter-deck of the frigate, by the raised signal lockers +abaft, stood a bronzed old quarter-master, a spy-glass resting on his +arm, through which every minute he peered around the harbor, giving an +eye, too, occasionally to the half-hour glass, whose sands dribbled +steadily into the lower bulb on the locker beside him. + +What cared he--no wife or child to cheer him! No cares save but to see +that the ensign did not roll foul of the halyards, that the broad +pennant blew out straight, that the half-hour glass did not need +turning, and that no boat approached the frigate without his reporting +it to the officer of the watch. Naught else save, perhaps, whether the +other old quarter-master, Charley Holmes, down below there on the +gun-deck, had wiped from his lips the moisture of the midday grog, and +would be up in time to take the relief while the pea soup was warm. +Nothing else. + +The lieutenant of the watch briskly paced the solid deck, scrubbed white +as milk with lime-juice and molasses, the even seams between the planks +glistening like the strands of a girl's raven tresses as his profane and +rapid feet pressed upon them. What thought he in his careless walk, with +the gleaming bunch of bullion on his right shoulder, sword by his side, +white trowsers, and gilt eagle buttons on his navy-blue coat? + +He was thinking how his pittance of pay would support, in a scrimpy way, +his poor mother and sister, who looked unto him as their only hope and +refuge. And he thought, too, as he tramped that noble deck, made +glorious by many a battle and victory in which he had borne a humble +part, that his rich and powerful country would eventually reward him +with increased pay and promotion. Were the single dollar which lay alone +in his trowsers pocket, and the light mist which arose off there beyond +the Apostles' Battery, opposite Port Royal Harbor, an evidence of one or +a sign of the last aspiration? We hope not; but we shall see.[*] + +Three or four midshipmen, too, pranced over that frigate's white +quarter-deck, on the port side, in their blue jackets and duck trowsers. +Little gay madcaps they were, scarcely well into their teens, with +little glittering toasting-forks of dirks dangling at their sides, and +ready for any lark or mischief. + +And what thought those boyish imps of reefers? Did they trace the flight +of that tropic man-of-war bird, sailing high up in the heavens, heading +seaward, away into the distant future, through clouds and sunshine, rain +and storm? And did they think, as they fluttered along the deck, that +their own career might lead them in that direction, toward the star of +promotion which shone so brightly near at hand, and was never reached; +or else, by a chance shot, to come tumbling down with a crippled pinion, +and hobble out their lives on shore? No. Those gay young blades, whose +mothers were dreaming and sighing for them, had no reflections of that +kind. They were chattering about the little frolic they had on their +last liberty day, when the captain ordered them off to the frigate at +sunset, and planning another for the week to come. Happy little scamps, +let them dance their careless thoughts away! + +"Two bells, sir," said the quarter-master to the officer of the watch. + +"Very good! Young gentlemen, tell the boatswain to turn the hands to, +and have the barge manned. Let the first lieutenant and the marine +officer know that the commodore is going to leave the ship. There, no +larking on the quarter-deck, Mr. Mouse!" + +This last command was addressed to a tiny youngster who was hardly big +enough to go without pantalettes, much less to wear a jacket and order +half a hundred huge sailors about, any one of whom was old enough to be +his great-grandfather. But yet that small lad did it, and could steer a +boat, too, or fly about like a ribbon in a high wind up there in the +mizzen-top, while the men on the yard were taking the last reef in the +top-sail. + +"Go down to the cabin, sir, and let the commodore and his friend know +the boat is ready." + +Down the ladder skipped Mr. Mouse, and while he was gone, the guard, in +their white summer uniform and cross-belts, stood at ease, resting on +their muskets on the quarter-deck, eight side-boys and the boatswain at +the starboard gangway, with the first lieutenant and the officer of the +watch standing near. + +Presently there came up from the after cabin hatchway a fine, handsome +man, in the very prime of life, in cocked hat, full-dress coat, a pair +of gleaming epaulets, sword by his hip, and his nether limbs cased in +white knee-breeches, silk stockings, and pumps. The one who followed him +was apparently a much older man, with grizzled locks, a dark, stern +face, and without epaulets. The first raised his hat as he stepped on +the quarter-deck--not a thread of silver was seen in his dark hair--and +then both bowed to the officers, who saluted them as they moved toward +the gangway. The boatswain piped, the marines presented arms, the drum +gave three quick rolls, and the commodore went over the gangway, +preceded by his companion. + +----- + + [*] This was written before the "Pay Bill" was passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +OLD FRIENDS. + + "What though when storms our bark assail, + The needle trembling veers, + When night adds horror to the gale, + And not a star appears? + True to the pole as I to thee, + It faithful still will prove-- + An emblem dear of constancy, + And of a sailor's love." + + +The barge left the side of the frigate, a broad blue pennant with white +stars on a staff at her bow, with fourteen handsome sailors to man her, +all in clean white frocks and trowsers, with straw hats and flowing +black ribbons around them, on which was stamped in gold letters, +"Monongahela." + +The double bank of white ash oars flashed in the rippling waves of the +harbor as the barge was urged over the water, the current seething and +buzzing under her bows, and bubbling into her wake as she flew on toward +the town. In a mahogany box at the stern sat a bushy-whiskered coxswain, +whose body swayed to the stroke of the oars, while his hand grasped the +brass tiller as he steered amid the shipping. The commodore had settled +himself down under the boat's awning on the snow-white covered cushions +in the stern-sheets, and, with one foot resting on the elegant ash +grating beneath, he began to talk to the grave gentleman who sat +opposite to him. + +"It is many a long year since I last visited this superb harbor, but I +remember it as if it were yesterday. You never were here before, I +think? No? Well, if any of the old set I once knew, when I was first +lieutenant of the old 'Scourge,' are yet alive, we shall have a pleasant +time!" + +"One fine fellow," went on the commodore, "I know is. His name is Piron. +I had a note from him as soon as the frigate anchored yesterday, and I +shall ask him to dine sociably with me on board this evening. I hope you +will join us." + +The grave gentleman said that he had business which would detain him on +shore all night. + +The barge swept up to the mole, the oars were thrown up at a wave of the +coxswain's hand, and came into the boat on either side like shutting up +a pair of fans, while the boat-hooks checked her way, and she remained +stationary at the steps of the landing. The awning was canted, the +commodore and his friend got out and mounted the stairway, while the +boat's crew stood up with their hats off. On the mole were four or five +people in light West India rig of brown and white, and broad Guayaquil +sombreros. + +"Cleveland!" exclaimed a tall, handsome man, as he seized the +commodore by both hands, "how glad we are to see you! Here is Tom +Stewart, and Paddy Burns, and little Don Stingo, attorneys, factors, and +sugar-boilers, all of us delighted to welcome you back once more to +Jamaica!" + +Crowding about the commodore, shaking hands and slapping one another on +the back, standing off a step or two to see the effect of time on each +other's appearance, laughing heartily with many a happy allusion to days +gone by, those old friends and former companions, unmindful of the hot +sun, stood there with their faces lighted up and talking all together. + +"And you are a commodore, eh! Cleveland, with a broad pennant and a +squadron? Ah! we have kept the run of you, though. Read all about that +action you were in with the 'President,' and that bloody battle in the +'Essex' and 'Phebe' at Valparaiso, with Porter. And here you are again, +safe and sound, and hearty!" + +"And you too, Piron! The same as ever! Not tired of cane-planting yet? +But how is madame?" + +"Lovely a girl as ever, Cleveland, but never entirely got over that sad +loss of the little boy, you know. However, she will be overjoyed to see +you. She's been talking of you ever since we saw your appointment to the +station fifteen months ago. Apropos, we have her widowed sister with us, +whose husband was killed at Waterloo, and our little niece who came from +France--all out there at the old place of Escondido, where you must come +and pass a week with us. Nay, man, no excuse! The thing is arranged, and +it would be the death of Stingo, Tom Stewart, and Paddy Burns if you +disappoint us." + +"Well, Piron, I am your man, but not for a day or two, until I have made +some official calls here on the authorities. Meanwhile, gentlemen, you +all dine with me this evening on board the frigate, every mother's soul +of you! Coxswain, go on board and tell my steward to have dinner for +six. Stop at the schooner as you go off, and say to Mr. Darcantel that I +shall expect him to join us. Now, my friends, that matter is arranged, +and we will all go off in the barge at sunset." + +"Dry talking, isn't it, Stingo?" said Piron; "so, commodore, come, and +we'll have a sip of sangaree and a deviled biscuit to keep our mouths in +order. But, halloo! where is your friend, Cleveland? that tall man in +black? Parson or chaplain, eh?" + +"No," replied the officer; "an old friend of mine, my brother-in-law, +who takes a cruise with me occasionally; but he never goes in society, +and has taken himself off, as he always does when we get in port. He is +a glorious fellow, though, and I hope to present him to you yet. Never +mind him now." + +Arm in arm went the blue coat and bullion, locked in white grass +sleeves, along the busy quays, crowded with mule-carts and drays for +stores or shipping. Spanish dons, dapper Frenchmen, burly John Bulls, +standing at warehouse and posadas, all with cigars in their teeth, which +they puffed so lazily that the smoke scarcely found its way beyond the +brims of their wide sombreros. Negroes, too, with scanty leg gear, and +still scantier gingham shirts, having bales, or boxes, or baskets of +fruit on their heads, never any thing in their hands, chattering and +laughing one with another as they danced and jostled along the busy +mart; then through the hot, sandy ruts of streets, pausing now and then +to shake hands with some old acquaintance beneath the overhanging +piazzas; sedan-chairs moving about, with a negro in a glazed hat and red +cockade at either end of the poles, in a long easy trot, as they bore +their burdens of Spanish matron, or English damsel, or maybe a portly +old judge, or gouty admiral, on a shopping or business excursion to the +port; so on to the upper town, where the dwellings stand in detachments +by themselves--single or in pairs--with spacious balconies and bright +green Venetian blinds, all surrounded by gardens and vines; with noble +tamarind-trees, and cocoa-nuts swaying their lofty trunks, and rattling +their branches and leaves over the negro huts and offices below. Here +the party stopped, and, entering a house, were ushered into a cool, +lofty room, where there were a lot of mahogany desks, and a single old +clerk, who resembled a last year's dried lemon, with some few drops of +acid juice for blood, perched up on a hard stem of a high stool, with +four or five quill pens, like so many thorns, sticking out above his +yellow leafy ears. + +"All by myself here, Cleveland, as I told you. All my people are living +out there at Escondido. Very little business doing just now, and Paddy +Burns and Tom Stewart haven't had a suit or a fight for the last six +months. Inkstands dry, and my old clerk, Clinker, there, has forgotten +how to write English. + +"However," went on Piron, as the party threw themselves back on the +wicker arm-chairs, and enjoyed the breeze which fluttered merrily +through the blinds, "the cellar isn't quite dry yet; and I say, Clinker, +suppose you tell Nimble Jack, or Ring Finger Bill, to spread a little +luncheon here, with a bottle or two of Bordeaux, or something of that +sort!" The dried, fruity old gentleman dropped off his branch at the +desk like a withered nut, and then, with a husky kind of shuffle, betook +himself off. + +[Illustration: "QUEER OLD STICK, THAT!" SAID THE COMMODORE.] + + "Queer old stick, that!" said the commodore, as he unbuckled his +sword and laid it on the table. + +"Ah! he grew here, and will blow away one of these days. My father used +to tell me that he looked just the same when he first sprouted as he +does now. But he is a dear faithful old stump; and you must remember +hearing, Cleveland, of that frightful earthquake here in seventeen +hundred and eighty-three, which killed so many people? Yes? Well, it was +old Clinker who saved my sweet wife that is now--and her sister; though +he was nearly squeezed--drier, if any thing, than he is now--in doing +it. He lay, you know, Stingo, supporting the whole second story of the +house for seven hours, pressed as flat as a tamarind-leaf, while they +were getting those twin babies out of their cradle. Yes, God bless him!" +Starting up, while a flush of feeling darkened his face--"but, what is +more, he threw himself precisely where he did, as he saw the walls +giving way, so that not a hair of those children should be injured when +the beams came down. My father has told me since, that when they got a +lever under the timber and wedged old Clinker out, he gave a kind of +cackle; but, in my opinion, he has not drawn a breath from that day to +this. And, generally, he is a very taciturn old root, and rarely opens +his rind; but latterly he talks a good deal about the earthquake; says +he's sure there'll be another awful one before an interval of forty +years has passed, and wants us to go away. No objection, however, to +coming back when the thing is over, and then waiting forty years for +another. Don't laugh, you Paddy Burns, for if ever the '_Tremblor_' +gives you one little shake, you'll jump higher than you did when that +ugly Frenchman ran you through your waistcoat pocket, and you thought it +was your midriff. Now, Tom Stewart and Don Stingo, what are you grinning +about? Your teeth will chatter so fast at the next quake that you won't, +either of you, be able to deliver a charge to the jury over a false +invoice, or suck another drop of old Antigua rum." + +"But really, Piron," broke in the commodore upon this voluble harangue, +"do you give heed to these barkings of that old clerk?" + +"Why, yes, Cleveland," replied Piron, with rather a grave manner, "I do; +and, moreover, my sweet wife Rosalie out yonder, who has never got over +her grief for the loss of our boy, regards every word old Clinker says +as so much prophecy; and the upshot of the business is, I have made up +my mind to leave the island." + +"For where, my friend--back to France?" + +"No. Since the war and the peace, with Bonaparte at St. Helena, France +is no place for an Englishman, even with a French father, and I am going +to try America." + +"Truly, Piron, I am charmed to hear it. But what part of America?" + +"Why, I've bought a fine sugar estate at a bargain in Louisiana, and +there we shall pass the remainder of our days." + +"He! he!" sniggled Tom Stewart, while Don Stingo and Paddy Burns +cackled incredulously; but, at the same moment, Ring Finger Bill and +Nimble Jack, two jet-black persons, in loose striped gingham shirts +and bare feet, with an attempt at a grave expression of thick-lipped +coffee-coolers, the whites of their eyes turned up with becoming +decorum, and preceded by the old twig of a clerk, who seemed to +crackle in the sea-breeze as he again hung himself, stern on, to his +stool of a trunk, entered the cool counting-house, bearing trays, +fruits, and bottles, which they methodically arranged on the large +table. + +"Massa! him want small, red, plump snapper, make mizzible brile?" said +Nimble Jack. "S'pose Massa Ossifa him pick shell of land-crab, wid crisp +pepper for salad?" + +"No, no! Put those cool water-monkeys on the table and be gone! Come, +Clinker, take a bite with us!" + +Leaving this pleasant party to sip their claret and water, and nibble +their midday food, while they rambled back to the past or schemed into +the future, we will return to the frigate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE COMMANDER OF THE "ROSALIE." + + "The handsomest fellow, Heaven bless him! + Setting the girls all wild to possess him, + With his dark mustache and his hazel eyes, + And cigars in those pretty lips--" + + "That girl who fain would choose a mate, + Should ne'er in fondness fail her, + May thank her lucky stars if Fate + Should splice her to a sailor." + + +"The 'Rosalie's' gig coming alongside, sir," reported the quarter-master +to the officer of the watch. + +"Very well. A boatswain's mate and two side-boys. Mr. Rat, have the +barge manned, and send her on shore for the commodore. Mr. Martin, tell +the boatswain to call all hands to furl awnings." + +While these orders were being executed, the whistles ringing through the +ship, the sailors lining the white hammocks, stowed in a double line, +fore and aft, around the nettings of the frigate, in readiness to cast +off the stops and lacings and let fall the awnings, the officer on deck +stood near the gangway. At the same time there tripped up the +accommodation-ladder, lightly touching the snowy man-ropes, a young +fellow of about one-and-twenty, dressed in undress frock-coat, one +epaulet, smooth white trowsers, and shoes. Catching up his sword in his +left hand as he reached the upper grating of the ladder, he took off his +blue, gold-banded cap, and half bounded, with a springy step, on to the +frigate's deck. + +Observe him well, young ladies, as he stands there; for of all the +scarlet or blue jackets on whose arm you have leaned and looked up at +with your soft violet, blue, or dark eyes, you never saw a young fellow +that you would sooner give those eyes, or those warm hearts too, +throbbing under your bodices, or who would drive you wilder to possess +him, than that gallant young sailor standing on the "Monongahela's" +deck. Ay, observe him well, that tall, graceful youth, with a waist you +might span with one of your short plump arms; those slim patrician feet, +that might wear your own little satin slippers; then that swelling chest +and those elegantly turned shoulders, which will take both of your arms, +one of these days, to entwine and clasp around them! Ah! but the round +throat and chin, the smiling mouth, half hiding a double row of even +teeth, with the merest moonshine of a mustache darkening the short upper +lip, and then those large, fearless hazel eyes, sparkling with health +and fun, shaded by a mass of chestnut curls, which cluster about his +clear open forehead! Ay, there he stands, "a king and a kingdom" for the +girl who wins him! + +"Well, Harry, give us your fist, my boy! How do you get on aboard your +prize? Not so roomy as the old frigate, eh? And a little more work than +when you were playing flag-lieutenant, eh? Well, glad to see you, but +can't stop to talk. So jump down below there in the wardroom; the mess +are just through dinner, and yours won't be ready for an hour yet. Come, +bear a hand, or I'll let these awnings fall on your new gold epaulet." + +The new-comer tripped as lightly down the ladder to the gun-deck +as Mr. Mouse, and making another dive down to the berth-deck, +exchanging a rapid volley of pleasantry with the midshipmen in +the steerage, he opened the wardroom door and entered. There, in +a large open space, transversely dividing the stern of the ship, +with rows of latticed-doored staterooms on either side, lighted by +open skylights from above, with a barrel of a wind-sail coming +down between the sashes, and every thing, from beams to bulkheads, +painted a glistening white, and the deck so clean that you might +have rubbed your handkerchief on it without leaving a stain on +the cambric, around a large extension mahogany table stretching +from side to side, the cloth removed, decanters and wine-glasses +here and there, and water-monkeys in flannel jackets hanging like +criminals from a gallows from the beams above, sat the wardroom +mess of the frigate. + +"By all that's handsome, here's Darcantel! Why, Harry, we are delighted +to see you!" exclaimed half a dozen voices; "come, sit down here and +take a glass of wine with us!" + +As the handsome young fellow entered the wardroom, all faces lighted up +as they saw him. The old sailing-master, who seldom indulged in more +than a scowl since he lost his right ear by the stroke of a cutlass in +capturing the tender to the "Plantagenet" seventy-four off the Hills of +Navesink; the rigid old major of marines, who pipe-clayed his very +knuckles, and wore a stiff sheet-iron padding to his stock to encourage +discipline in the guard; the dear, kind old surgeon, who swallowed +calomel pills by the pint, out of pure principle, and who lopped off +limbs and felt yellow fever pulses all through the still watches of the +hot nights with never a sign or look of encouragement; and the staid old +chaplain, who had often assisted the surgeon and helped to fill +cartridges, contributing his own cotton hose for the purpose when those +government stores gave out in battle, and who never smiled, even when +committing a marine to the briny deep; the purser, too, prim and +business-like, looking as if he were a complicated key with an iron +lock of his own strong chest, calculating perpetually the amount of +dollars deposited in his charge, the total of pay to be deducted +therefrom, and never making a mistake save when he overcharged the dead +men for chewing tobacco; and the gay, young, roistering lieutenants, who +never did any thing else but laugh, unmindful of navigation, pipe-clay, +pills, parsons, or pursers, though standing somewhat in awe of the +sharpish, exacting executive officer at the head of the table--all +welcomed, each in his peculiar way, the bright, graceful young blade who +dawned upon them. And not only the mess were cheered by his presence, +but also a troop of clean-dressed sable attendants, whose wide jaws +stretched wider, while the whites of their eyes seemed painfully like +splashes of whitewash on the outside of the galley coppers, as they +nudged one another and yaw-yaw'd quietly away aft there in the region of +the pantry. + +"Here, my salt-water pet, come and sit down by me, where all those old +fellows can see you! Steward, a wine-glass for Mr. Darcantel! What? you +won't take a sip of Tinta, and you can only stop a minute because you +are to dine with your uncle the commodore, eh? Well, I'll drink your +uncle's health even if you don't!" said the first lieutenant, as he +familiarly laid his hand on the young fellow's shoulder and drained his +glass. + +"Why, Harry, what the deuce did you come down here for?" squeaked out +the purser, as he unscrewed his lips into a pleasant smile. "You've put +an end to that interesting account the master was giving us of how he +lay inside Sandy Hook for six months with a glass to his--" + +"Mouth," broke in the surgeon. + + "It was Sam Jones the fisherman, + Who was bound to Sandy Hook; + But first upon the Almanac + A solemn oath he took-- + That he would catch a load of clams!" + +"Silence there, you roarer!" said the surgeon, as he popped a filbert +into the wide mouth of the rollicking fourth lieutenant, which cut his +song short off. "Yes, Harry, that's what you have done in coming here +for a minute. But stay a week with us, and the master will tell it you +again. We've heard it once or twice before." + +The old grizzled sea veteran scratched the remains of his ear, and +growled jocosely while nodding to young Darcantel. + +"Ah! my dear boy, and I'll tell you how the surgeon and nipcheese there +were entertained by a one-eyed old Spaniard at St. Jago." + +"Let's hear it!" roared every body except the medico and purser. "Out +with it, master!" + +"Well, messmates, when we were in the old 'Scourge,' a long time ago, +one day we anchored in St. Jago de Cuba." + +Here the surgeon and purser smiled horribly, and implored the grizzled +old navigator not to go on; every body had heard that old story; he +might fall ill with the _vomito pietro_, and would require pills; or +else there might be found a mistake in his pay account, and he would +like, perhaps, to draw for the imaginary balance not due to him, and to +drink his grog and scratch the remains of his old ear, or turn his +attention to the load of clams waiting for him at Sandy Hook! But, for +mercy's sake, don't repeat that silly, long-forgotten yarn! + +"Well, messmates, in less than an hour after we had anchored in St. Jago +they went on shore, and made the acquaintance of a little thin, sharp +old villain, with one eye, who invited them to make him a visit, and +pass the evening on a fine estate he owned near the base of the Copper +Hills, some distance--about four leagues, I believe--from the town. He +was a most respectable person, very rich, and commanded a Cuban guarda +costa to boot. The _capitano_, Don Ignacio Sanchez--wasn't that his +name, doctor? Oh! you forget--all right! Off they started with a guide, +on hired mules; but when they pulled up at their destination they found +the Don wasn't there, though they were handsomely entertained by the +senora--a comely, fat, and waspish body, with very few clothes on--who +cursed her Don for sending people to see her, and the visitors too for +coming. However, as her guests had not dined, she fed them bountifully +on a supper of the nastiest jerked beef and garlic they had ever +smelled. You told me so, purser." + +Both Pills and Purser had forgotten all about it, and thought it would +be better to talk of something else; that there was plenty of good wine +to drink in place of drying his lips on such dusty old rubbish. + +"Well, messmates, after the supper the old lady demanded a little game +of monte, and she insisted, too, on making herself banker, though she +had no money on the table to pay with in case she lost--which she had no +intention of doing. So she won every ounce, dollar, real, and centavo +they had in their pockets! The doctor and purser told me they saw her +cheat boldly; but yet she not only bagged all the money, but she won +their mules into the bargain!" + +Here those individuals confessed roundly--standing on the defensive--that +the fat old senora had a false pack of cards always ready in her ample +bosom, and had cheated them in the barest manner conceivable; but yet +they had no appeal, and were inclined, out of gallantry for the sex, to +behave like gentlemen, though she did drink aguardiente. + +"Well, messmates, toward midnight that hospitable wife of the Don began +to abuse our friends for not bringing more cash with them when they +visited ladies, and then fairly kicked them out of the house! Yes, you +both told me so when I lent you the money to pay the boatmen, after +being obliged to tramp all the way back to the port on foot, nearly +missing their billets in the old 'Scourge.'" + +"Go on, master! Tell us all about it; don't stop!" + +"Well, messmates, I was on deck while beating out of the channel, and +just abreast the Star Castle I saw a boat with two gentlemen in the +stern, stripped to a girt-line, and howling at rather than hailing the +ship. Bear in mind, doctor, the men refused to take either of you unless +you gave them your coats and trowsers before shoving off. And don't you +remember, Hardy, how they yelled at us, and we thought they were +deserters from that English gun-boat in St. Jago? And how the captain +arrested the pair of them when they got on board for going out of signal +distance? This is the first time _I_ ever told this yarn," concluded the +old navigator, tugging away at the lobe of his lost ear. + +The young lieutenants shouted, and the old major of marines, forgetful +of his iron-stuffed stock, laughed till he nearly sawed his chin off, +rubbing his chalky knuckles into his eyes the while. + + "But first upon the Almanac + A solemn oath he took-- + That he would catch a load of clams--" + +"The barge is coming off, Mr. Hardy, with the pennant flying, sir!" +reported a reefer, in the midst of the conversation, to the first +lieutenant, as he shoved his bright face through the wardroom door. + +"Very good, Mr. Beaver; but hark ye, sir! the next time you go ashore in +the market-boat, look sharp that the men don't suck the monkey. Three of +them came off drunk this morning. And inform Mr. Rat and Mr. Mouse that +if I see their heels on the cutter's cushions again, I'll take a better +look at them from the main-top-mast cross-trees. You understand, sir? +Steward, a glass of wine for Mr. Beaver!" Saying this, the executive +officer, with Harry Darcantel, arose and went on deck to receive the +commodore. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +A SPLICE PARTED. + + "Oh! for thy voice, that happy voice, + To breathe its loving welcome now! + Fame, wealth, and all that bids rejoice, + To me are vain! For where art thou?" + + "What is glory--what is fame? + That a shadow--this a name, + Restless mortal to deceive. + Are they renown'd--can they be great, + Who hurl their fellow-creature's fate, + That mothers, children, wives may grieve?" + + +The drum rolled, the marines presented arms, the boatswain piped, the +side-boys and officers took off their caps; and as the colors dropped +with the last ray of sunset from the peak, and the broad blue +day-pennant came fluttering down from the lofty main truck, Commodore +Cleveland and his friends stood on the splendid deck of the flag-ship +"Monongahela." + +It must have been with conscious pride that the brave and loyal +commander gazed around him on the noble frigate and her gallant crew. +The white decks, the tiers of cannon polished like varnished leather, +with the breechings and tackles laid fair and even over and around them; +the bright belaying-pins, holding their never-ending coils of running +gear--the burnished brass capstan--the great boom--board to the boats +amidships with a gleaming star of cutlasses, reflecting a glitter on the +ring of long pikes stuck around the main-mast near, all inclosed by the +high and solid bulwarks; while towering above, like mighty leafless +columns of forest pines, stood the lofty masts, running up almost out of +sight to the trucks in the fading light, supported by stays and shrouds, +singly and in pairs, and braided mazes--black, and straight, and +taut--never a thread loose on rigging or ratlin--and spreading out as +they came down in a heavy hempen net, till they disappeared over the +rail, and were clenched and spliced, or seized and clamped to the bolts +and dead-eyes of the chain-plates outside. Holding up too, in +mid-heaven, on those giant trunks--like a child its toys--the great +square yards of timber branches, laying without a quiver, in their black +lifts and trusses, with their white leaves of sails crumpled and packed +in smooth bunts in the middle, and running away to nothing on either +hand at the tapering yard-arms. + +Grand and imposing is the sight. And well may you wonder, ye land +lubbers, why all that mass of timber, sails, and cordage, with its +enormous weight, does not crush with the giant heels of the masts +through the bottom of the ship like unto an egg-shell, and tear the +stanch live-oak frame to splinters! + +The commander of the frigate saw all this, and he beheld at the same +time the clusters of happy sailors, sauntering with light step and +pleasant faces up and down the waist and gangways; and he heard, too, +the scraping of a fiddle on the forecastle, the shuffling, dancing feet, +and the least notion of a jovial sea-song coming up from the gun-deck. +Yes, it must have been a glorious pride with which that gallant officer +gazed around him from the quarter-deck of the magnificent frigate. + +Did he say to himself, "I am monarch of this floating kingdom; my will +is law; I say but the word, and those sails are spread and the ship +moves to wherever I command. My subjects, too, who watch my slightest +look and whisper, with that flag above, will pour broadside upon +broadside--ay, they have!--from those terrible guns upon whoever dares +to cross my track. Yes. They will fight for me so long as there is a +plank left in this huge ship to stand upon, and while there is a +rope-yarn left to hold the ensign--ay! even until my pennant, nailed to +the truck, sinks beneath the bloodstained waves?" Did the commander +think of all this? Perhaps he did. + +And yet, in all the pride of rank and power, bravely won and maintained +in many a scene of strife and deadly conflict, with visions of honest +patriotism and ambition for the future, did his thoughts go back long +years ago into the shadowy past, and was his spirit in the silent +church-yard, where the magnolia was drooping over a grass-green grave? +The sweet mother and her baby boy--the girl who had so fondly loved him, +and the child who played about his knees--oh that they could have lived +to share the wreaths of victory which were hung around his brow; that +they could have lived to see the sword his country gave him, to twine +but for one little moment their loving arms around his neck! No, the +magnolia waves its white flowers over mother and boy, and they sleep on +in their heavenly and eternal rest. + +Did Commodore Cleveland, as a saddened flash of thought swept over his +handsome face, while he stood on his quarter-deck, dwell on those +scenes? Yes, we know he did. By day and night, in war and peace, in gale +or calm, on deck or at banquet, in dream and action, the girl and mother +he so dearly loved was close clasped to his heart, and the child still +playing at his knee. + +"Gentlemen, let me make you acquainted with the first lieutenant, Mr. +Hardy; and permit me also to present my nephew, Mr. Darcantel, captain, +if you please, my friends, of the one-gun schooner 'Rosalie,' formerly +the slaver 'Perdita,' cut out of a river on the Gold Coast by the young +gentleman who stands before you." + +"Rosalie! why that's the name of my niece," exclaimed Piron; "and she is +prettier and whiter than your trim little craft, sir. But you must come +with the commodore to Escondido, and judge for yourself. But, bless my +soul! _you_ resemble our Rosalie, even if your schooner don't. Why, look +at him, Paddy Burns!" + +Don Stingo, and Tom Stewart, and the Paddy did look at him, and all +shook hands with him, laughing the while at Piron, and asking when old +Clinker looked for another earthquake. + +"Come, Piron, come, gentlemen, don't let us keep the soup waiting! By +the way, Mr. Hardy, will you do me the favor to take a glass of wine +with us after gun-fire?" + +"Thank you." + +"Suppose you bring little Mouse with you; I like children; and perhaps +you will excuse the younker from keeping his watch to-night? A little +extra sleep in hammock won't hurt him, you know." + +And so Commodore Cleveland raised his hat, followed by the eyes of +respect and devotion from officer and sailor, as he passed down the +ladder and entered his spacious cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE BLUE PENNANT IN THE CABIN. + + "To Bachelors' hall we good fellows invite + To partake of the chase that makes up our delight." + + "Ask smiling honor to proclaim + What is glory, what is fame? + Hark! the glad mandate strikes the list'ning ear! + 'The truest glory to the bosom dear, + Is when the soul starts soft compassion's tear.'" + + +"Now, gentlemen, let me get off this heavy coat and epaulets. There! all +right, Domino! put the sword in its case, and give me a white jacket. +Choose your own places, my friends. Piron, sit here on my right; Henri, +take the foot of the table." + +These last words were said in French; whereupon Piron started and +whispered to the commodore, "By George, Cleveland, is that youth's name +Henry, and does he speak French?" + +"Hush, Piron, he may hear you. His mother was French, and he speaks the +language like a native. She died when he was a baby, and he doesn't like +to allude to it. Come, steward, we are all ready. Serve the gumbo!" + +The cabin of the frigate was divided by a light lattice-work bulkhead in +two parts, running from quarter to quarter of the vessel. The after part +had a large sleeping stateroom on either side, resting on the quarter +galleries, and opening on to another gallery which hung over the stern +of the frigate. Inside, in the open space, was a round table, cushioned +lounges, a few chairs, with a bronze lamp pendent from a beam above, +while taking the curve of the stern over the after windows was a range +of bookcases, half hidden by the gilt cornice and curtains of the +windows. The entire fittings and furniture of cabin and staterooms, +including the neat Brussels carpet on the deck, were elegant and useful, +though by no means luxurious. The forward cabin, where no carpet graced +the floor, was much more spacious. It took in the two after ports of the +gun-deck; and the carriages and cannon within the sills of the ports +were painted a marble white, as were the ropes, in covered canvas, that +held them. In a recess forward was a large mahogany sideboard, or +buffet, the top fitted with a framework for glasses and decanters, which +were reflected from a large mirror let into the bulkhead. In the middle +of this space was the dining-table, lighted by a pair of globe lamps +hanging from above, while neat racks for bottles and water-jugs, moving +on sliding brass rods, were also suspended from the paneled beams and +carlines of the upper deck ceiling. On the right--the starboard +side--was a door leading into a roomy pantry, where the steward and +Domino, and the servants of the commodore, bestirred themselves at +dinner-time. + +"So, my friends," exclaimed the commodore, "you wish to hear what became +of me after I last parted with you?" + +"By all means, Cleveland! we are all dying to hear, and--" Here Piron's +appeal was interrupted by the heavy report of a bow gun, which gave a +slight, though almost imperceptible jar to the frigate. + +"Smithereens! Stingo! what noise is that?" exclaimed Burns. + +"Only the nine o'clock gun, sir," replied Darcantel. + +"Hech, mon!" said Stewart, "ye needna upset ma glass of auld Madeira in +yer mickle fright, for I've seen the time when ye ha' laughed at the +music in the report of a peestol and the ping of a bullet! But your +nervous seestem seems to be unstrung ever since the sma' French dancing +count untied the string o' your waistcoat with his rapeer." + +"You don't think, Paddy, the commodore here is going to bang a forty-two +pound shot into our stomachs after all the good prog he's filled them +with?" added Stingo, _sotto voce_, while the rotund Milesian threw his +head back and twinkled careless defiance at them all. + +Just then the orderly swung the port-cabin door open, and standing up as +rigid as a pump-bolt, with a finger to the visor of his stovepipe hat, +in cross-belts and bayonet, he announced "Lieutenant Hardy and +Midshipman Mouse!" + +"Ah! Hardy, glad to see you!" rising as he spoke; "squeeze in there +between Stewart and Burns, or Darcantel! Here, gentlemen, let me exhibit +to you Mr. Tiny Mouse! Don't move, Piron; I'll make a place for him near +me." + +Saying this, the commodore took the lad affectionately by the hand, and +as he sat him down on a chair at his elbow, and while the conversation +went on with his guests, he said, in a kindly tone, + +"Tiny, my dear, the first lieutenant tells me you are a good boy and +attend to your duty. I hope you pay attention to your studies also, and +write often to your dear mother. Ah! you do? That is right; for you know +you are her only hope since your brave father was killed. There, sir, +you may swig a little claret, but don't touch those cigars." + +"Come, Cleveland! Cleveland! you are forgetting your adventures, my +boy!" + +"Well, my friends, you shall hear them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE DEVIL TO PAY. + + "And how then was the devil dressed? + Oh! he was dressed in his Sunday's best; + His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, + And there was a hole where the tail came through." + + "Hairy-faced Dick understands his trade, + He stands by the breech of a short carronade, + The linstock glows in his bony hand, + Waiting that grim old skipper's command!" + + +"The last dinner I had in Jamaica, and a very jolly one it was, as you +all know, was out at Escondido, where we kept it up so late that I only +got on board the 'Scourge' at daylight, in time to get her under way +with the land wind. Well, we were bound to windward, and for a week +afterward we rolled about in a calm off Morant Bay, maybe twenty leagues +off the island, and one morning we discovered a sail. She was a large +merchant brig, heading any way, and bobbing about, as we were, in the +calm. Toward noon, however, a light air sprang up, and we got within +hail, and I went on board to say a word or two to the skipper, for we +had news before leaving Kingston that that infamous pirate Brand, in his +long-legged schooner 'Centipede,' had been seen off Guadaloupe; and, in +fact, we had actually chased him off Matanzas three months before; so I +was ordered to give the brig a warning, particularly as she had reported +a suspicious craft in sight that same morning at sunrise. When I got on +board of her I saw--" + +Here Piron placed both hands to his face as he leaned his elbows on the +table, and the commodore, checking himself, hurried on: + +"Ah! well, we kept the brig in sight all day, and ran round her once or +twice in the evening, but toward midnight the trade wind freshened, and, +as the coast seemed clear, and we were anxious to make up for lost time +in the calm, we gradually came up to our course, and went bowling away +to windward. + +"I remember going below at the time, and just as I was about to turn in, +I heard a quarter-master sing out to Hardy there, who was junior +lieutenant of the ship, and who had the middle watch, that he saw a +light going up to the brig's gaff. In five seconds I was on the poop, +where I met the captain. + +"This is his only son, gentlemen, and a braver or more skillful seaman +never trod a ship's deck," said the commodore, as he passed his hand +affectionately over the boy's head, who was sitting beside him. + +But he forgot, perhaps, to say that he, Cleveland, had stood by the +father when he was struck dead by a cannon-shot, and that afterward he +had the boy appointed a reefer, and, out of his own means, helped the +widow to eke out her pittance of a pension. Yes, Cleveland forgot all +that as he smoothed the youngster's soft hair, while, with the men +around him, he drained his glass in silence to the memory of his +departed friend and chief. Then resuming, he went on: + +"In less than no time after the light was seen--for you must know, +gentlemen, that it was an understood signal between us--the 'Scourge' +was flying off with a stiff breeze abaft the beam, the crew at quarters, +and the boats ready to be lowered from the davits. When we ranged up +alongside the brig, and even before, we felt certain that our misgivings +would prove true, and so they did; and merely slamming a shot over her, +and dropping a couple of armed boats into the water, we luffed round her +bows, and there we saw that cursed schooner--venomous snake as she +was--just hoisting her sails, and creeping away to windward. + +"We let her have two or three divisions of grape, and followed the dose +up with round shot. I am sure we hit her, and that pretty hard, for we +knocked away her fore-top-mast, and we saw the splinters fly in showers +from her hull. However, she was well handled, and lying nearer the wind +than the 'Scourge,' when day dawned she was clear out of range, and +leaving us every minute. So we up helm and ran down again to the brig, +to see what mischief had been done and to pick up our boats. + +"Ah! yes, you all know what had taken place, so I won't go over the +details; but the same afternoon, after seeing the brig pointed straight +for Port Royal, and while we were once more on our course, we fell in +with a water-logged boat, in which were half a dozen dead and dying men. +One, a mongrel Indian from Yucatan, who was frightfully torn by two or +three grape-shot, before he died on board--as did all the others--gave +us, in his confused dialect, some account of the pirate he had served +under, and the haunt he frequented. As near as we could learn, the haunt +was situated somewhere on the south side of Cuba, on a rocky island +having a safe and secure inlet; but as he did not know the latitude or +longitude, we were left somewhat in the dark. The last words, however, +the mangled wretch uttered, as the gasping breath was leaving his body, +were, that the spot could be distinguished by a tall cocoa-nut-tree +which grew from a craggy eminence in the middle of the island. We buried +them all, pirates as they were, decently, and then we clapped on all +sail on our course. + +"Steward, another bottle of the old Southside that Mr. March sent me +from Madeira! Here, Domino, take Mr. Mouse up gently, and lay him down +on my cot in the after cabin. Dear little fellow, he is sound asleep; +and mind you draw the curtains around him, lest he take cold from the +draught of the stern windows!" + +Rather a striking contrast this to the way Captain Brand, the pirate, +treated the little Henri in the den there in the Doce Leguas. + +"Well, gentlemen, for some weeks after these occurrences we sailed about +the islands, touching here and there, until at last we arrived at the +Havana, took in stores and water, and then continued the cruise. The +orders were to beat up the south side of Cuba, where we expected to fall +in with the Musquito fleet and some English vessels, especially detailed +to destroy two or three nests of pirates who had for some years swarmed +in those seas and infested that coast. In the course of time we beat all +around the south side of Cuba, and at last dropped anchor in St. Jago, +where we learned from the English consular agent that five or six +fellows, who had been wrecked on the Carvalo reef, were identified as +having been part of a piratical crew who had plundered an English vessel +with a free passport bound to Havana, and had been sent there in irons +for trial. + +"The truth was, that the Spanish colonial authorities had so long +connived, winked at, or been indifferent to what was going on during the +wars of the Continent, that they allowed these piratical hordes to exist +and thrive at their very doors. The matter had already been brought to +the notice of the administrador of the port, and all other ports as far +along the coast as Cienfuegos, and in such a threatening manner, too, +that the governor at St. Jago, fearful of having his town blown down, +exerted himself in the arrest of the rascals I have alluded to, and +likewise in procuring information by dispatching guarda costas along the +south side of the island. + +"Accordingly, the very morning we anchored I went ashore with the +captain of the custom-house, where we met the deputy administrador and a +little withered, one-eyed old rascal, who was in the colonial service, +and who professed to know the haunt, or at least he said he thought he +did, of that notorious villain Brand. + +"I remember distinctly spreading a chart before him, and while he traced +with the end of his cigarette a course for the captain to steer by, I +stood near, watching him narrowly. But the fact was, that he had the +very sharpest spark of an eye set, or rather standing out, beside his +nose that any body ever saw in a human being's head; and instead of me +watching him, he seemed to be looking straight through me, and divining +my thoughts and suspicions. However, the spot he pointed out, and the +way he described it, with a cocoa-nut-tree on top of a rock, and the +passage through the reef, so nearly corresponded with the confused +account the Yucatanese gave us before he died, that the captain was +entirely convinced we were on the scent, though I myself was not more +than half satisfied. The place indicated was near the Isle of Pines, +three hundred miles off; but, to make the thing more plausible, that +one-eyed old scoundrel was detailed to run along the Doce Leguas Cays, +see what information he could pick up there, and then follow down after +us. + +"That night, or early the next morning, we were off again, and ran down +the coast, with a good offing to keep the wind, until we got to the +ground, and passed in by Cape St. Francis, and doubled round into the +Bight of Pines. There we fell in with a whole fleet of English and +American cruisers and schooner craft, who informed us that they had +searched every accessible spot where a man could walk dry-shod upon, +from Guayabos to the Isle of Mangles; that they had destroyed several +old and deserted piratical nests, and hung two or three ostensible +fishermen by way of wholesome warning to their allies the pirates; but +that was all; and from what they had learned, there did not seem to have +been an established retreat in that maze of cays and reefs for four or +five years. + +"So you see we had our cruise for nothing, and then the captain agreed +with me that we had both been most egregiously deceived by the Spanish +commander of the guarda costa. Well, we hauled our wind once more, +standing well out to sea, and after a tedious beat of some days we again +edged in toward the coast, somewhere near the Boca Grande of the Twelve +League Cays on the westernmost side. It was in the morning when we made +the land, and, steering close in, we got a good slant off the shore, and +kept the glasses going from the topmost cross-trees down all through the +day. For my part, as Hardy may perhaps remember, I scarcely took the +glass from my eye for eight hours, and from the mizzen-top I feel quite +sure that there were not many objects, from the size of a blade of grass +to a mangrove bush, that I did not examine, from the coral reefs up to +the rocky heights, let alone the cocoa-nut-tree that we were in search +of. + +"Toward afternoon, however, the weather came up hazy, the wind began to +fall off, and the barometer began to exhibit very queer spasms indeed, +rising with a sort of jerk at first, and then dropping down the tenth of +an inch at a clip, with the atmosphere becoming close and sultry, and +the men gasping about the decks as if we were about to choke at the next +breath. It was during the hurricane months, and the indications +certainly should have led us as far as our legs could carry us to open +water, instead of being caught embayed perhaps with half a thousand +reefs around us on what might prove a lee-shore; but, nevertheless, the +captain decided to hold on till sunset, and then make an offing. The +breeze still held in the upper sails, and so we slipped on in smooth +water till about five o'clock, when I heard a fellow sing out from the +main royal yard, + +"'On deck there! I can see a tall cocoa-nut-tree on an island here on +the port bow!' + +"Before the words were well out of his mouth I too caught the object, +and I knew at the first glance that it was the spot we were looking for. +At the same time the haze lighted up a bit, and we saw the ridge of +rocks and every thing as the haunt of that pirate Brand had been +described to us. So, my friends, we were all alive once more on board +the 'Scourge,' and the captain resolved to dash in upon the scoundrel's +nest before he could have time to leave it. + +"The engine was rigged and water spirted over the sails from the trucks +down, to make the canvas hold the wind, and in an hour after we were +within two leagues of the island, and just as the sun fell below the +horizon we caught sight of the mast-heads of a large vessel sticking up +over some bluff rocks near the bold shore. Not five minutes later the +hull of the craft came slowly out from the gap, under all sail, and we +discovered her to be a long and rather lumbering-looking brigantine, +painted lead-color, and bearing no resemblance to the schooner we had +twice chased before. Simultaneously, however, with her coming out into +full view, as she rounded in her head-yards and got a pull of the +main-sheet, with the breeze abeam and heading to the eastward, we beheld +a great volume of white smoke spout up over the rock near the +cocoa-nut-tree, with a vivid sheet of flame at the base, and before the +vast column turned, like the crown of a palm-tree, in its descent, we +were greeted by a dull, heavy roar, the concussion of which fairly made +the 'Scourge' tremble. Then, as the white smoke partially broke away, an +avalanche of rocks and timbers was scattered far and near, and nothing +visible but a veil of dust and masses of heavy smoke. Nearly at the same +moment of this explosion wreaths of heavy black smoke arose from another +spot nearer to the gap, lit up in the fading, hazy twilight with forked +red fires, and soon after a great conflagration burst forth, swirling +flakes of burning cinders all over the island, and casting a lurid glare +upon the water around us." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +AND THE PITCH HOT. + + "He is born for all weathers; + Let the winds blow high or blow low, + His duty keeps him to his tethers, + And where the gale drives he must go. + + "The wind blew hard, the sea ran high, + The dingy scud drove 'cross the sky, + All was safe lashed, the bowl was slung, + When careless thus Ned Halyard sung." + + +Said the commodore, with a knowing shake of his head, "Ah! gentlemen, if +the fellow, whoever he was, who was creeping away so nimbly in that +lazy-looking brigantine, with English colors at the peak, had written +down in detail what he had been doing on that secluded nook of an +island, and sent the information off to us in a letter, we could have +read it without breaking the seal. We could have told him that that +little scoundrel with one eye had purposely misled us, and had given him +warning to quit his strong-hold; and that he had hastily got his plunder +and people on board his vessel, blown up and set fire to his nest, and +that the brigantine he was now on board of was once upon a time the +notorious schooner 'Centipede!' Yes, we knew all that by instinct." + +Piron sat with his eyes fixed upon the speaker, taking in every word as +it fell from his lips, the teeth set close together and the hand +clenched which supported his head on the table. Paddy Burns and Tom +Stewart, too, looked eagerly that way, as did Harry Darcantel, while +Hardy sipped his wine and puffed his cigar leisurely, as if he knew the +tale by heart. + +"It had fallen nearly calm. A light air perhaps in the royals, though +nothing down below. But as we hauled down our colors at sunset, which +had been hoisted to let the fellow know who we were, down came his also. +Then there we both lay looking at each other. He knew by instinctive +experience that we were the American corvette 'Scourge,' mounting +eighteen twenty-four-pounder carronades and two long eighteens in the +bow ports; for the brigantine had once or twice determined their exact +calibres, and that we were the fastest cruiser, with the wind a point or +two free, that had been seen in the West Indies for twenty years. + +[Illustration] + + "Yes, he knew all about us, but he was still a little in doubt +whether we knew all about _him_. He lay--unfortunately, perhaps, for +him--a little beyond the range of our long guns, or else he might have +been spared a good deal of time and uneasiness, and we a long chase and +considerable risk. Ah! as the night came, the very fires he had kindled +in his den on shore prevented his escape; for while the calm lasted the +bright flames shone upon him with the glare of hell! There we lay all +that night without moving a muscle or a mile until day dawned--and such +a day as did dawn! + +"Meanwhile the barometer had fallen an inch and a half, until the master +began to believe the bulb leaked, and the mercury was dropping into the +case. Then, through the murky gloom of daylight, with the sea one flat +greasy surface, with never the splash of a fish to disturb it, while the +lowest whisper of the topmen aloft could be distinctly heard on deck, as +if we were hung in the vacuum of an exhausted receiver where a feather +would drop like a bullet, suddenly there came a sound from the direction +of the cays. Suppose, Burns, you saw a forty-two pound shot coming +toward you, and without you dodged quick, your head would be flying off +with it in the same direction?" + +"Whist, mon!" said Stewart, with a groan, "dinna be calling up sic +peectures of the brain, Cleveland. Paddy, there, ne'er thinks of ony +meesals bigger than a peestol bullet." + +"Well, my friends, we ran precisely a similar risk, though the +cloudy embrasures over the island had not quite enough thunder to +reach us. However, the brigantine knew what would follow as well as we +did--better, perhaps--and before you could swallow that glass of wine +she was stripped as bare as a bone, and down came her yards too, but +keeping the sticks up, and spreading a patch of a storm staysail +forward that you might apparently have put in your pocket. Her decks +and rigging were crowded with men while she was doing all this, but +the moment it was done, and well done too, they ran into their holes +below like so many rats, and we could only see a man or two left on +deck near the helm. + +"All hands had been called on board the 'Scourge' at four o'clock, and, +with the exception of securing the battery, every thing was ready to +make a skeleton of the ship the moment we saw the brigantine begin; for +she was a wary fish, and we had no idea of letting her give us the slip +the third time. I had the trumpet, however, and with the captain at my +elbow, the instant he saw that the brigantine was once more rigged +nearly in her old way, he gave me the word, 'Now, Cleveland, work +sharp!' + +"With a hundred and twenty men aloft, jumping about like cats, the light +sails, studding-sail booms, royal and top-gallant yards came down, the +top-gallant masts after them, and the flying jib-boom rigged in. Then +the top-sails close reefed and furled with extra gaskets, and so with +the courses; preventer braces clapped on, rolling tackles hooked, and +the spare purchases set up by the lower pennants. Meanwhile the +divisions on deck had got hawsers over the launch amidships, the chains +unbent, the anchors lashed down on the forecastle, and the quarter boats +triced well inboard and secured with the davits. At the same time the +light stuff from aloft was got below, the hammocks piped down, and the +carpenters slapped the gratings on the hatches, and stood ready with the +tarpaulins to batten them down. I never beheld a smarter piece of work +done afloat--not even, Hardy, in the 'Monongahela.' + +"As I turned round an instant a hoarse, howling bellow struck my ear +from the island, and I just caught a glimpse of the tall cocoa-nut-tree +flying round and round in the air like an inverted umbrella with a +broken stick; while at the same time the men from aloft had reached the +deck, and, jumping to the battery, the guns were run in and housed, +spare breechings and extra lashings passed, and life-lines rove fore and +aft. After that, gentlemen, there was no farther need of a trumpet. + +"You all know pretty well what sort of a thing a hurricane is, and the +one I speak of must, I think, have given you a touch of its quality here +in Jamaica." + +"Ay, by the holy Moses! we remember it well, bad luck to it; and so does +Tom Stewart and Piron there, for it didn't lave a stick of sugar-cane +standing from Montego Bay to Cape Antonio." + +"Yes," said Stewart; "and to show ye what a piff of wind can do, the +whirl of it caught up an eighteen-foot Honduras plank, and laid it +crosswise, like an axe, full seven inches into an old tamarind trunk +standing in my garden, and then twisted off the ends like a heather +broom! Hech, mon, ye may see it there now any day!" + +Piron was thinking of the barks that were driving before that hurricane, +with no thought of the damage done to his own plantations. + +"Well, then, I shall spare you all prolix description of it; and you +need only fancy a ship blown every where and every how except out of +water--now with the lower yard-arms cutting deep into the sea like +rakes, the lee hammock-nettings under water, the stern boat torn away +into splinters, the main-top-sail picked, bolt by bolt, from the yard +until there was not a thread left, and the lee anchor twisted bodily out +of its lashings and swept overboard! + +"Then a lull, while the sea got up and the ship dashed down on the other +side on her bow; then staggering back and making a stern-board till the +water was plunged up in a deluge over the poop. Recovering herself +again, and almost quivering on her beam-ends, the guns groaning and +creaking as the terrible strain came upon the breechings, with the shot +from the racks bounding about the decks, dinting holes in the solid oak +waterways big enough to wash your face in, and then hopping out of the +smashed half-ports to leeward. The spar-deck up to your armpits in +water, and every man of us holding on to the life-lines or standing +rigging like grim death, while all the time the roaring, thundering yell +of the hurricane taught us how powerless we were, by hand or voice, to +cope with the winds when they were let loose in all their might and +fury! + +"Nor need I relate to you the scene presented below--mess-chests, bags, +tables, crockery, flying from deck and beam to stanchion, smashing about +in the most dangerous way, pell-mell, while the worst of the tempest +lasted. But, gentlemen, the 'Scourge' had a frame of live-oak, to say +nothing of two or three acres of tough yellow-pine timber in her, a good +deal of fibrous hemp to hold the masts up; and, moreover, she was well +manned, and, though I say it myself, she had a skillful captain and +thorough-bred officers, in whose sagacity the crew could rely, to manage +that old 'Scourge.'" + +"That she had," exclaimed Hardy; "and the most skillful and the coolest +of them all was the first lieutenant!" The "Monongahela's" executive +officer here bounced off his chair as if he was prepared to fight any +man breathing who did not subscribe to that opinion. + +"Well, my friends, that awful hurricane continued for about twenty +hours, from late one morning till the beginning of the next. As for day, +there was none; for the sea and black clouds made one long night of it. +Fortunately, too, we had been driven off shore, and when the murky gloom +broke away, and we were able to look around, our first anxiety was to +see what had become of the brigantine. + +"Yes, and I truly believe, in all that turmoil of the elements, while we +were on the brink of foundering and going down to old Davy's locker, +that there was not an officer or man, from the captain to the cook, who +was not thinking of that pirate, and hoping that he might go down first. +I myself, however, felt a sort of confidence, as I was held lashed on +the poop to the mizzen rigging, that the brigantine might be caught and +whirled about--so long as she was above water--by the same blows of the +hurricane that beat upon the 'Scourge;' and when the tornado broke, and +some one sang out 'Sail ho!' I knew by instinct it must be the +'Centipede.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE CHASE. + + "With sloping masts and dipping prow, + As who pursued with yell and blow + Still treads the shadow of his foe, + And forward bends his head, + The ship drove past, loud roared the blast, + And southward aye we fled." + + "Clap on more sail, pursue, give fire-- + She is my prize, or ocean whelms them all." + + "So many slain--so many drowned! + I like not of that fight to tell. + Come, let the cheerful grog go round! + Messmates, I've done. A spell, ho, spell!" + + +"It was all hands again, gentlemen. The hurricane had settled +down into a moderate gale from northeast, though it was some time +before the awfully confused sea got to roll regularly. Then we +judged ourselves--for reckoning and observation had been out of +the question--to be a long way south of Jamaica, and even to the +southward of the great Pedro Bank. We did not wait this time for +the pirate to lead us in getting ready for a race, but we got up +a bran-new suit of top-sails and courses out of the sail-room, +and, so soon as the men could go aloft with safety, they were +ordered not to unbend the few tattered rags still clinging to the +yards, but to cut away at once. Up went the top-sails and courses, +and they were soon brought to the yards and set close-reefed, with +a storm-jib to steady the ship forward. Presently we gave her the +whole fore-sail and main-sail, and I think that even then, for +some hours, but one half the corvette's upper works could have been +visible as she plunged through the angry heaving seas. + +"It left us dry enough, however, to pay some heed to the brigantine +ahead of us. She was about four miles off, a little on our weather bow, +and as she rode up--splendid sea-boat that she was--like a gull on the +back of a mighty roller, we could see that her bulwarks--mere boards and +canvas, probably--had been washed away, the house between her masts gone +too, and, no doubt, her long gun, or whatever else had been lying hid +under it. And now she was once more the schooner 'Centipede,' long +and sharp, and without any rail to speak of, so that we could see her +deck from the stem to her taffrail at every lurch she made. The only +difference in her appearance was a short fore-mast with cross-trees, and +a top-mast for square sails. Almost as soon as our top-sail sheets were +hauled home, her own yards went up and the sail was spread, while with +the bonnet off her fore-sail, the whole jib and a close-reefed +main-sail, she went flying to the southward with the gale a point abaft +the beam. + +[Illustration: THE STERN CHASE.] + +"Thus we went on, the sea getting more regular every hour, so that we +could send up the top-gallant masts, get the yards across, shake a reef +or two out, and put the 'Scourge' in order. The schooner needed no +encouragement from us, but cracked on more sail until her long main-mast +reeled and bent over, as she came up on the breaking ridge of a wave, +like a whip-stalk. By noon the clouds had gone, and left us a clear sky, +with the gale going down into a full top-gallant breeze, sending the +corvette along good eleven knots. We got an observation for latitude, +and five hours later we determined the longitude and our position to be +a few leagues to leeward of the Sarrana Keys, with that bird of a +schooner before us heading for the Musquito coast. + +"If _we_ had caught a cataract of water as it rolled over our bows in +the morning, the schooner was taking _her_ bath in the afternoon, for +occasionally, for five minutes at a time, there was nothing seen of her +deck, and only the masts and broad white canvas above, like jury-sticks +out of a raft. But when she did slide up with her low, long hull +shooting clean out of water, till nearly half her keel, with the copper +sheathing flashing in the sun, was visible, she looked like a dolphin +making a spring after a shoal of flying-fish. And then on her narrow +deck we could see a few fellows lashed about the fore-mast, and a couple +more abaft steering her like a thread through a needle. + +"We began to gain upon her now, and whenever she kept a little away +before the wind the gap between us closed more rapidly; for the ship +could evidently outcarry the schooner, and, had the breeze freshened and +the sea kept up, we could have run her under if her masts didn't go out +of her, as we hoped and expected every minute they would. Gradually, +however, she watched her chance and hauled up till she brought the wind +barely abeam, and steered true for the Musketeers--a bad cluster of low +keys nearly surrounded by as terrible ledges and reefs as any to be +found in the Caribbean Sea. + +"Her captain was evidently bent upon playing a desperate game, but, if +he thought he would not find another ready to lay down the same stake, +he was greatly mistaken! It was about sunset when we made the keys, and +there we went--the schooner leading us about a mile--at a rate which +would have made both vessels leap clear over the first ledge they +struck, and perhaps have thrown summersaults of us into the bargain. I +asked the captain, who had never left my side on the poop, if we should +keep on. + +"'Yes, sir,' he replied, 'so long as we have a gun and a plank to float +it!' + +"And, by Saint Paul! we kept on. And there was not a soul on board the +'Scourge,' from the drummer-boy up, who did not agree with the captain. +How those villains on board the pirate relished this decision we could +only surmise; but, at all risks, he held his course with a nerve that +might have made the devil himself shudder. + +"By this time the sun was well down, and a brilliant moon was riding +high in the heavens; but, as bright as it was, the fellow who commanded +that schooner required an eye as keen as an albatross and a hand as +steady as an iron bar to guide his craft in the direction he was +going--too late for either of us to think of hauling off. + +"He must, too, have had a thorough knowledge of the reefs and keys, and +trusted, perhaps, if he got clear himself, that the corvette, drawing +eighteen feet water and ignorant of the channel, might touch something +which would throw the game in his hands. Our men had the ropes stretched +along the decks and the battery clear on both sides, so as to be ready +to wear, or tack, or fire, as our pilot ahead might require. + +"The reefs were to leeward of the string of low keys, which made the +water comparatively smooth, though the wind still swept strongly over us +and sang through the rigging; and it was here the 'Centipede' entered, +going like wild pigeons the pair of us. The outer reef had a fair, deep +passage, and so had the next; but the inner one presented but one narrow +gateway, scarcely wide enough for a ship to scrape through, with the +whole reef one uninterrupted fringe of black pointed rocks and roaring +white breakers, which toppled over, and boiled and eddied like a +thousand whirlpools into the smoother water inshore. + +"As the 'Centipede's' stern gave a sharp pitching jerk when she entered +this boiling gorge, we saw, in the moonlight, her head-yards laid +square, the fore and aft sails flowing in the sheets as she fell off +with wide wings and the wind on her quarter, and flew down inside the +reef. + +"Five minutes after we too entered this maelstrom chasm, and, though the +helm was hove hard up, and the after-sails shivered, yet, before the +'Scourge's' bows, going at the rate she was, could turn the sharp angle +of that water-gate, her port bilge grated against a coral ledge, and +grooved and broomed the planks and copper away like so much sea-weed! +But yet that slight graze never stopped us a hair's weight, and, with +additional sail, we rushed after our pilot, mile after mile, through +reef, ledge, breakers, inlets, and keys, now braced sharp up, and again +going free, until at last the fellow, having run us a dance of full ten +miles, once more emerged into the open water, close jammed on the wind, +steering nearly due east. + +"There, Hardy!" exclaimed the commodore, "I am tired of talking; suppose +you take up the thread of the yarn. Domino, another bottle of tinta!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE WRECK OF THE "CENTIPEDE." + + "Gun bellows forth to gun, and pain + Rings out her wild, delirious scream; + Redoubling thunders shake the main, + Loud crashing falls the shot-rent beam. + The timbers with the broadsides strain; + The slippery decks send up a steam + From hot and living blood; and high + And shrill is heard the death-pang cry!" + + "She struck where the white and fleecy waves + Looked soft as carded wool; + But the cruel rocks they gored her side + Like the horns of an angry bull." + + +Piron turned his gaze toward the first lieutenant, moved away the full +glasses of wine, which he had never raised to his lips since the +commodore began, and, resting his bloodless cheek on his other hand, +listened. + +"It's vera interesting indeed." "Tear an' ages, boy! Fire away!" quoth +the Scotchman and his Milesian crony in a breath. + +Hardy threw his arm over the shoulder of Harry Darcantel as if it was a +pleasant Corinthian column to lean upon, and breaking off the ashes of +his cigar on the rim of a wine-glass which he had specially devoted to +that purpose, he forthwith began: + +"I am quite confident, gentlemen, that I can not describe what afterward +took place so well as Commodore Cleveland, but, at all events, I'll do +my best. Nor do I remember very distinctly the events of the night after +we got out of the Musketeers Keys; for I was pretty well fagged out +myself, and all of us who had the watch below turned in to take the +first wink of sleep we could catch for forty hours. + +"The next morning, however, when I took the deck, I found the corvette +under royals and flying-jib, with a fresh trade wind blowing from about +east-northeast, and a smooth sea; though close hauled as we were, and +going ten knots, the spray was flying well up the weather leech of the +fore-sail. The 'Centipede' was about a mile and a half ahead, jammed on +the wind, and trying all she could to eat the wind out of us; but, as +the commodore there said at the time, he had thrown that trick away when +he cut off eight or ten feet of his fore-mast, and made a brigantine of +the craft, so that he could not brace his head-yards sharper, or lie +nearer the wind than we did. + +"I remember, also, that two or three of the officers and half a hundred +of the sailors were very anxious to pitch shot at the chase from the +long eighteen in the weather bridle port; but the captain refused, and +said we might lose a cable's length or two in yawing off to fire, and it +would be better to save the powder until we could slam a broadside into +him. But all the while that 'Centipede' was handled and steered in such +a thorough seamanlike manner, and proved herself such a beautiful +sea-boat, that I doubt if there was a man on board the 'Scourge' who +would not have given a year's pay to have taken her whole, and only +expended a spare top-mast studding-sail halliards for the necks of her +crew. + +"From the top-gallant forecastle we could see every thing that took +place on the schooner's deck: sometimes a lot of fellows forward reeving +some fresh gear, peering about the low bowsprit, or putting on a seizing +to a traveler on the jib-stay; with a chap or two aloft stitching a +chafing-mat on the lee backstays; and then aft a man shinning up the +main shrouds with a tin pot hung around his neck, greasing the jaws of +the main gaff, and twitching a wrinkle out of the gaff-top-sail, so that +it would lie as flat as this dining-room table set on end. + +"But always, from the very first moment we descried her--before the +hurricane and afterward--there were two fellows abaft by the taffrail. +One a large fat man, in a long dark dress, who appeared at times to be +leaning over the rail as if he were sea-sick; and the other a spare, +tall-built fellow, who sat there with a quadrant in his hands and +smoking cigars, measuring the distance between the two vessels as if he +were a government surveyor, and especially appointed to make a +hydrographical chart of the Caribbean Sea. Occasionally, too, we could +see him approach the binnacle, spread a chart on the deck at his feet, +examine it closely with a pair of dividers in his hands, and then he +would return to his seat on the taffrail, cigar in his mouth and +quadrant to his eye as before. + +"Nor were we idle on board the 'Scourge;' for when the breeze lulled we +slacked up the lower rigging and stays, got down all extra weight and +hamper from the tops, sent the watch below to the berth-deck with a +round shot apiece in their hammocks, moved a couple of carronades about +the spar-deck till we got the ship in the best sailing trim, and then we +went skipping and springing through the water with the elasticity of an +India-rubber ball. + +"At noon the sailing-master reported the position of the ship to be two +hundred and eighty miles from the nearest land, which was the Darien +Coast. So all that day and all that night, with a moon to make a lover +weep to see, we went bowling after our waspish consort in hopes before +long of taking the sting out of her. No kite ever pursued its quarry +with a keener eye than we did. No hound ever leaped after a wolf with +the froth streaming from his jaws and blood-red thirsty eyes, than did +the 'Scourge' chase that infamous pirate. The delay only made our eyes +sparkle and our teeth sharper in expectation; for we knew we would have +our prey sooner or later, and it was only a bite and a pleasure +deferred. + +"The next morning and all the day there was no change to speak of in our +respective positions. The 'Centipede' went skimming on over the water +with every thread of canvas she could spread, reeling over on her side +at times when the breeze freshened, while the spray flashed up joyously +and sparkled in the sun, leaving a bubbling current of foam in her wake, +which, before it had been entirely lost in the regular waves of the sea, +the corvette's sharp bows would plunge into, and again make it flash +high up to her fore-yard, and then go seething, and hissing, and kissing +her black sides until it rippled around her rudder and was lost again in +the wake astern. + +"And all the time that man sat with a cigar in his mouth on the pirate's +taffrail, while Commodore Cleveland there stood with a spy-glass to his +eye on the poop of the 'Scourge.' + +"You may imagine, gentlemen," continued Hardy, as he again knocked the +ashes off his cigar, "that going to sea is attended with some few +discomforts, such as battening down the hatches in a sirocco in the +Mediterranean off Tripoli; a simoom in the China Seas; a bitter +northwest gale off Barnegat, with the rigging and sails frozen as hard +as an iceberg; but if a man can catch forty winks of sleep once in a +while, whether in a hammock, or on an oak carronade slide with the +breech of a gun for a pillow, he may manage to weather through it. But +from the moment we first saw that pirate till we saw the last of him, +neither the first lieutenant of the 'Scourge' nor the commander of the +'Centipede' once closed their eyes, unless--well, I won't anticipate." + +Piron reached over his hand and shook that of his friend Cleveland +convulsively. + +"Vera weel, mon! vera weel!" "He's the very man to do it!" said Stewart +and Burns to Stingo, nodding backward at the commodore. + +Another striking contrast to the hand-shaking, virtuous compact between +Captain Brand and his friend, the pious padre Ricardo! I wonder if they +are shaking hands now! Probably not. + +"Gentlemen," resumed Hardy, as he shook the ashes level in his +wine-glass, as if he wished to preserve them to clean his teeth with +after smoking, "I will not detain you much longer. Both vessels were +making great speed, and long before sunset we had been keeping a bright +look-out for the land. At last it was reported, trending all around +both bows, low and with a trembling mirage of pines and mangroves +looming up, and a multitude of rocky keys dead ahead. We were steering +directly for Las Mulatas Islands, a cluster then little known to any +navigators save, perhaps, the buccaneers of the Gulf of Columbus, and +perhaps, too, with the intention of running us just such another dance +as our pilot had a night or two before. However, we were again all +prepared to explore the unknown reefs; and, moreover, we got the +starboard anchor off the bow, and bent the cables to that and the spare +anchors amidships, so as to be all ready to moor ship in case our pilot +required us to do so. And likewise the cutters were hanging clear from +the davits--the same boats which had once before paid a complimentary +visit to some of his friends--supposing he would like to entertain us in +person. + +"The sun went down again in a fiery blaze, and with its last ray there +slowly rose to the main truck of the pirate a swallow-tailed black flag, +with a white skull and cross-bones in the dark field. It fluttered for a +moment out straight and clear, and then twisted itself around the thin +mast, never more to be released by hands or halliards! That was the last +glimpse those pirates ever caught of the murderous symbol they had so +often fought and sailed under; and it was the last sun that a good many +aching eyes ever looked upon who were sailing there in that half league +of blue water. The moon, however, was riding bright and beaming, as +clear as a bell, overhead, and that was all the light we cared for. The +'Centipede,' no doubt, would have preferred no moon at all, with a +cloudy sky and a bit of a rain squall, to pursue the intricate +navigation before her; but Heaven arranged the atmospheric scenery +otherwise. + +"'By the deep eight!' sang out the leadsman in the port chains. 'The +mark five!' came from the opposite side. 'Another cast, lads--quick!' +'And a half four!' 'Six fathoms, sir!' + +"'We must have stirred up the sand, Cleveland,' said the captain; but +even as he spoke the man in the starboard chains cried, 'Three fathoms, +sir!' and while each instant we expected the ship to bring up all +standing, and the masts to go by the board, the other leadsman sung out, +joyfully, 'No bottom with the line, sir!' + +"Well, we were safely through that bed of coral, doing, no doubt, some +trifling damage to the tender shoots and branches, as we flew through a +narrow channel, with the waves breaking and moaning on the sandy shores +over the keys, out into deep water again. + +"Four or five miles beyond stood out a bluff rock, looking in the +moonlight like a dozing lion with his paws crossed before him, ready to +bound upon any who should approach his lair in the dense jungle of pines +and tangled thickets which stood up like a bristling mane on the ridge +behind. + +"The 'Centipede' was now but a short half-mile ahead of us, her deck +alive with men, and manifestly ready for some desperate devilment. On +her after rail, too, stood that man, tall and erect, his feet steadied +by the cavil of the main boom, a spy-glass to his eye, and looking at +the rocky lion now close aboard him, still with a cigar in his mouth; +and we thought we could even see the thin puffs of smoke curling around +his face. Suddenly, too, we saw the spy-glass whirled around his head, +and at the instant the vessel fell dead off before the wind, the great +main-sail flew over with a stunning crash and clatter of blocks and +sheets as the wind caught it on the other quarter, making the long +switch of a mast to spring like a bow, while the weather-shrouds slacked +up for a moment in bights, and then came back taut with a twang you +might have heard a mile! We could now see, as the space opened behind +the rock, another frightful jagged ledge, on which the rollers were +heaving in liquid masses high up a precipitous rock, and where the +channel was not a cable's length wide, leading into a foaming gloomy +inlet, where not even the beams of the moon could penetrate! I heard the +captain say, in his old decided way, + +"'Now for it, Cleveland! You take the battery, and I'll look out for the +ship!' + +"Then, gentlemen," said Hardy, with unusual animation, as he waved his +right arm aloft with an imaginary cutlass swinging over his head, "came +the word 'Fire!' + +"Yes, the entire starboard broadside, round shot, grape, and canister, +all pointed toward a centre, were delivered with one simultaneous +shock--the hurricane a mere cat's-paw in comparison--which shook the +corvette as if she had struck a rock, while the smoke and sheets of +flame spouted out from the cannon, half hiding the black torrent which +gushed forth from so many hoarse throats; and as the roar of the +concussion was taken up in terrible echoes from the lion on the rock, a +peppering volley of musket-balls from the marines on the poop and +forecastle made a barking tenor to the music. + +"Meanwhile the helm of the 'Scourge' was hove hard down, and as she just +swirled, by a miracle, clear of the ledge under our lee, and came up to +the wind with the sails slamming and banging hard enough to send the +canvas out of the bolt-ropes, the courses were clewed up, every thing +aloft came down by the run; anchor after anchor went plunging to the +bottom, and before the cables had fairly begun to fly out of the +hawse-holes with their infernal jar and rattle, high above the sounds of +flapping sails, snapping blocks, running chains, and what not, came +another clear order, 'Fire!' + +"Then pealed out the port broadside at a helpless, dismasted hulk within +two hundred yards of our beam, rolling like a worm-eaten log on the top +of a ruffled broad roller, going to break, in ten seconds, on the ledge, +whose pointed rocks stood up like black toothed fangs to grind its prey +to atoms! But before the fangs closed upon it our own teeth gave it a +shake; and as the breath of our bull-dogs was swept aft by the fresh +breeze, we could see the sluggish mass almost rise bodily out of water +as it was torn and split by the round iron wedges, the fragments flying +up in dark, ragged strips and splinters with squirming ropes around +them, looking, in the moonlight, like skeletons of gibbeted pirates +tossed, gallows and chains, into the air, and then coming down in dips +and splashes into the unforgiving water. + +"A minute later, all that was left of the shattered hull fell broadside +into the open fangs of the ledge, which ground it with its merciless +jaws into toothpicks. But in all the lively music and destruction going +on around us--which takes longer to tell than to act--we heard no human +voice save one, and that came in a loud, terrified yell amid the +crunching roar of the ledge, + +"'_O Madre! Madre dolorosa!_' + +"This, gentlemen, was the last sound that came from the piratical +schooner 'Centipede.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +VULTURES AND SHARKS. + + "Oh ho! oh ho! Above! below! + Lightly and brightly they glide and go; + The hungry and keen on the top are leaping, + The lazy and fat in the depths are sleeping!" + + "Ah! well-a-day! What evil looks + Had I from old and young; + Instead of the cross, the albatross + About my neck was hung." + + +When Hardy had concluded his part of the tale, he stuck the stump of his +cigar into the wine-glass of ashes, as if he had no farther use for +either, moistened his throat with a bumper of tinta, and almost +unconsciously passed his left arm around Harry Darcantel's neck. + +Stingo drank two bumpers, as if he had a particularly parched throat; +but Paddy Burns and Tom Stewart, strange to relate, never wet their +lips, and passed their hands in a careless way across their eyes, as if +there were moisture enough there--as, indeed, there was; feeling, as +they did, in the founts of their own generous natures, for their dear +friend who sat opposite. + +Piron's head rested, face downward, on his outspread hands, and a few +drops trickled through his close-pressed fingers, but they were not +wine. And as he raised his head and looked around the board, where +glowing, sympathizing eyes met his, he said, in a low, subdued voice, + +"I trust I may thank Heaven for avenging the murder of our child!" + +Even as he uttered these words, his gaze rested on the face of +Darcantel; and striking the table with a blow that made the glasses +jingle, he started back, as he had done on the frigate's quarter-deck, +and exclaimed, + +"Great God! can it be possible that that boy was saved from the clutches +of the drowned pirate!" + +Not so fast, good Monsieur Piron--not so fast. Your boy was saved, and +Captain Brand was not drowned. So keep quiet for a time, and you shall +not only see that bloody pirate, but hear how he departed this life; +only keep quiet! + +Paddy Burns said, with a violent attempt at indignation, "Wirra, ye +spalpeen! is it thinking of old Clinker and his 'arthquake ye are?" +While Tom Stewart ejaculated, "Heeh, mon! are you for breaking the +commodoor's decanters and wine-glasses, in the belief that ye are the +eerthquak yersel?" Stingo, who was more calm, and a less excitable +Creole, merely murmured, "Commodore, we want to hear more of what took +place, and then what became of you for the past sixteen or seventeen +years." + +"You shall hear more if you are not tired, gentlemen, though I have very +little to add to what Hardy has already related of the 'Centipede.' +Steward, let the servants turn in; and brew us, yourself, a light jorum +of Antigua punch! Now, then," said Commodore Cleveland, "I'm your man! + +"After we had scaled the guns on both sides of the 'Scourge,' as Hardy +has told you, the captain thought it an unnecessary trouble to lower the +boats to pick up the chips floating about the mouth of the channel; and, +besides, it would have been a bit dangerous, since the sea was coming in +savagely, boiling about the ship, with a very uncertain depth of water +around and under us; and, moreover, we had our hands full the best part +of the night in reeving new running-gear, bending a new sail or two that +had flapped to pieces when every thing was let go by the run in coming +to anchor. However, before morning, we were in cruising trim once more, +and ready to cut and run in case it was expedient to lose our +ground-tackle, and get out of what we afterward learned was the Garotte +Gorge. But by sunrise the wind fell away into a flat calm, and with the +exception of the long, triple row of rollers heaving in occasionally +from seaward, we lay as snug and quiet as could be. + +"After breakfast the quarter boats were lowered, and Hardy took one, and +I got in the other, and we pulled in toward the jaws of the channel, +between the Lion Rock and the ledge on the opposite side. + +"There were still a good many fragments of the wreck, which had +escaped the reacting current out to sea, floating about on the +water; some of the timbers, too, of the hull were jammed in the black +gums of the ledge, shrouded in sea-weed and kelp, as if all had +grown there together. Farther on was part of the fore-mast and top-mast, +swimming nearly in mid-channel, anchored as it were by one of the +shrouds--twisted, perhaps, around a sharp rock below. The top-sail +was still fast to the yards, hoisted and sheeted home, and laid in +the water transversely to the masts, just as it fell under the raking +fire of our first broadside, jerking over the main-top-mast with it. + +"A myriad of sea-birds, from Mother Carey's chickens to gulls and +cormorants, and even vultures and eagles from the shore, were clustered +on the wreck as thick as bees--screaming, croaking, and snapping at each +other with their hard beaks and bills, while thousands more were +hurrying in from seaward, and either swooped down over the ledge, or +tried to find a place on the floating spars. + +"The gorge, too, was alive with barracoutas and sharks, leaping out of +water, or with their stiff triangular fins cutting just above the +surface, and sometimes even grazing the blades of the cutter's oars. I +pulled slowly toward the wreck of the fore-mast, and hooked on to the +reef-cringle of the fore-top-sail. The birds did not move at our +approach, and one old red-eyed vulture snapped on the polished bill of +the boat-hook, leaving the marks of his beak in the smooth iron. Down in +the clear green depths, too, the water was alive with ravenous fish, and +we could see at times hundreds of them with their heads fastened on to +some dark object, rolling it, and biting it, and pulling every way, with +now and then the glance of a clean-picked bone shining white in the +limpid water as the mass was jerked out of our sight. + +"The bowmen, however, attracted my attention, and one of them sang out, +as he pointed with his finger, 'I say, Mr. Cleveland, here's the captain +and his priest lying in the belly of the top-sail!' + +"I walked forward, while the men fired a few pistols to scare away the +birds, and looked in. There, about a foot below the water, lay one +drowned man and half the body of another, who had evidently been cut in +twain by a twenty-four pound shot at the stomach, leaving only a few +revolting shreds of entrails dangling beneath the carcass. The other +corpse was a large, burly, fat man, wrapped in a black cassock, with a +knotted rope to confine it at the midriff, and around his thick bare +neck was a string of black beads, holding a gold and ebony crucifix, +pendent in the water. The eyes of the one with half a body had been +picked out by the gulls, but he still possessed a fang-like tusk, +sticking through a hare-lip under a fringe of wiry mustache, which gave +me a tolerable correct idea of his temper even without seeing his eyes. +The truck and shivered stump of the main-top-mast, too, with the +piratical flag still twisted around it, lay across his chest; but, as we +approached, an eagle seized it in his beak, and, tearing it in tattered +shreds, flew aloft, with the remains of the parted halliards streaming +below his talons. + +"The large lump rolling slowly over beside him had the crown of the head +shaved, and the mouth and eyes were wide staring open, as if it was +chanting forth a misericordia for his own soul. As I stood gazing at +these revolting objects, and while the men were firing pistols and +slashing the oars and boat-hooks around to drive away the greedy birds, +a huge pelican, unmindful of powder or ash, made one dashing swoop into +the sail, and as he came up and spread his broad pinions--nearly as +broad as the sail itself--he held in his pouch the crucifix from the +padre's neck, and as he slowly flapped his great wings and sailed away, +with the beads dropping pit-a-pat-pat on the glassy surface of the +water, a cloud of cormorants, gulls, and vultures took after him to +steal his plunder. + +"At the same time the sharks--many of them resting their cold, sharp +noses on the very leech of the top-sail--waiting like hungry dogs for a +bone, with a thousand more diving and cutting in the water beneath, at +last cut through the canvas belly of the sail, and, before you could +think, the floating corpses were within their serrated jaws. In another +moment the bodies rose again to the surface outside the sail and wreck; +then another dash from the monsters, and a greedy dive and peck from the +birds; a few bubbles and shreds of black threads, and that was the last +of those wretches until the sea shall give up its dead. + +"As for Hardy, he pulled higher up the gorge, and examined the rocks and +pools on both sides, but saw nothing living or dead, and we both +returned to the ship." + +Had Dick Hardy landed at the flat rock where the eddy swept in under the +Lion's paws, he might have seen the footprint of a man, with a straw +slipper in it; and following the track a few yards farther, he would +have passed his sword through a villain lying bleeding in a mangrove +thicket; and found, too, in his belt, snugly stowed away, a lot of +gleaming jewels, with a sapphire gem of priceless value on the finger of +his bloody hand. But never mind, Hardy! You will hear more of that man +one of these days, and you will have no cause for regrets--though he +will, perhaps; and, meanwhile, let him wander in quest of fresh +villainies over Spanish South America. + +"Well, gentlemen," resumed Commodore Cleveland, "although I have doubts +whether the mangled carcass we saw in the sail was the captain of that +notorious 'Centipede,' yet I felt confident at the time, and do now, +that it was scarcely possible for him or a man of his crew to have +escaped our fire and the water and rocks combined. So that evening, when +the land-wind made, we tripped anchor and sailed away from the coast of +Darien." + +"Come, my friends," said Piron, in a low, tremulous voice, rising as he +spoke, "we must not push Cleveland too far to-night, for it is getting +late, you know, and they keep early hours on board men-of-war." + +"No hurry, Piron! I'll talk to you all night, if you have the patience +to listen to me. No? Then I'll have the boat manned." He touched a +bell-rope which hung over his head, and the cabin door opened. "Orderly, +my compliments to the officer of the watch, and desire him to call away +the barge." + +While some of the gentlemen in the forward cabin left the table, and +stood about in groups chatting till the boat was reported, Piron put his +arm around the commodore's belt, and they moved aft into the starboard +stateroom. Little Mouse was lying sound asleep on the elegant cot, with +all his clothes on, but with a smile on his lips, and dreaming, maybe, +of the dear widowed mother he would one of those days make proud of +him. + +"Cleveland, my old friend, tell me more of that young Darcantel!" + +"Hist! Piron, don't wake little Tiny! There's nothing to tell more than +he is my adopted nephew, and the son of the gentleman who occupies that +stateroom opposite. But when we go out to Escondido I'll tell you about +his father, who has led a very adventurous life." + +"Well, good-night! You will bring young Darcantel with you, and this +little rogue, too, here in the cot. My wife and her sister will be +delighted to see you all. Good-night!" + +As the "Monongahela's" bell struck eight for midnight, the commodore's +guests got in the barge and pulled toward the shore. + +At the same time, a light gig, with handsome Harry Darcantel, went +alongside the "Rosalie," and Commodore Cleveland turned into his +friend's cot opposite, leaving small Mr. Mouse to sleep his dream out +till morning; while, as the barge ran up to the landing at Kingston +Harbor, and a gold ounce was slipped into the old coxswain's honest paw, +what did they all think about? Good-night! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +ESCONDIDO. + + "They bore her far to a mountain green, + To see what mortal never had seen; + And they seated her high on a purple sward, + And bade her heed what she saw and heard; + And note the changes the spirits wrought, + For now she lived in the land of thought." + + "'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out, + And force him to restore his purchase back, + Or drag by the curls to a foul death, + Cursed as his life." + + +Hidden in a cleft of the hills of Jamaica, fifteen hundred feet above +that blue tropical sea below, on the brow of a cool valley, where that +bounding stream of white water rushes from the tall peak in the sky in +tiny cataracts, till it forms a pool there, held in by the smooth rim of +rocks, where the cane-mill is lazily turning its overshot wheel, with +the spray flying off in streaming mist, and the happy blacks stacking +the sugar-cane in even fagots as they unlade the huge carts with solid +wheels cut out of a single drum of a cotton-tree; the six or eight yoke +of oxen ahead ruminating under the shade of the tropical foliage, with +never a switch to their tails; while the lively young sea-breeze comes +flurrying up the valley, whistling among the coffee bushes below, +bending the standing cane on the slopes, rattling the tamarinds, +cocoa-nuts, and plantains, and then climbing with noisy wings up the +mountain, is lost with a whirl in the heavy cloud which obscures the +lofty peak. + +Below the mill, where the mule-path crosses the foaming torrent by the +shaky bridge, which stands on cocoa-nut stilts, and never yet has been +thrown down by an earthquake, nestling under a precipitous crag, stood +the mountain seat of Escondido. Vines and parasitical plants, mingled +with scarlet creeping geraniums, made a living wall of dewy green and +red on the face of the hoary rock, falling over here and there at some +projecting acclivity in leafy torrents, and then forming a glowing green +cornice along the topmost edges of the height. + +The buildings stood on a flat esplanade below, looking down the gorge as +from the apex of a triangle, and taking in the overseer's houses on the +plantations, with their cone-shaped roofs, the fields of cane and coffee +groves, the cataract between, down to the white snowy beach at the +sea-shore, and the blue water crested by waves as far as the sight could +reach. + +The main house was square--standing on stilts, too, like the shaky +bridge--the lower part fenced in by straight bamboos, of one story, with +a broad roomy veranda going all round, where half a dozen grass hammocks +were slung between the windows which opened into the dwelling. A great +airy saloon and dining-room faced the valley, while six or eight cool +bedchambers looked out from the rear up at the green wall of the +precipice, and down on the sparkling stream of the mill. + +But there were no loopholes for musketry, nor vaults and dungeons. + +The sun had long passed the tall peaks of the blue mountains above, and +the shadows had fallen down the valley until even the patch of white +pebbly cove at the shore had become dim; and no sounds were heard save +the rustling of the sea-breeze, the splash of the torrent as it fell off +from the rickety old wheel of the cane-mill, mingled with the shrill +cries and songs of the negroes as they unloaded the carts. + +Yes; but there _were_ other sounds--the low, sweet tones of women's +voices--inside the villa of Escondido. Two lovely matrons were sitting +within that lofty saloon, hand clasped in hand, and gazing with glowing +pride upon a lovely girl, who waved lithe as a lily on its stem before +them. + +It is about seventeen years since we last saw this charming trio. And +now look at them, old bachelors, and tell me if, while old Time has been +scraping the hair off your own selfish heads, and pinching the noses, +too, of the ancient maids beside you, has not the scything old wretch +spared these lovely matrons? Look at their rounded forms, those soft +dimpled cheeks, and those bands of brown tresses, kissing the +pear-shaped ears before they are looped up in one magnificent knot of +satin at the back of the head. Look at them, you miserable old +procrastinators, and then kneel down before the ancient damsels you have +sneered at, even if they have the pelican gout and a crow's-foot at the +corners of their eyes! They are better than you are, any day; so bear a +hand, send for the parson--and now stand back. + +But come here, my young gallants, and take a peep at that Bordelaise +demoiselle standing before those fair matrons. Strange to say, she is +nearly a blonde, with large blue eyes, so very blue that--fringed with +lashes that cast a shade over the cheek--they seem almost black. Then, +too, that low, pure forehead, with great plaits of hair going round and +round her elegant head like a golden turban, and thin hoops of rings +quivering in the pearl-tipped ears. Tall and waving in figure, as +maidens are; with slim, arched feet, dimpled at the ankle; and round, +tapering fingers too, with a wrist so plump and soft that no manacles of +bracelets could press it without slipping off the ivory hand. Dressed +she was in a light mousseline, coyly cowering in loose folds around her +budding bosom to the slender waist, where, clasped by a simple buckle of +mother-o'-pearl, it fell flowing in gauzy, floating waves to her feet. +Look at her, my gallants, for she is Rosalie! + +"They are coming to-day, my aunt; and Uncle Jules says that our dear old +Captain Blunt has just arrived at Kingston, and is coming with them." + +"What else, my daughter?" + +The girl held a letter before her face, maybe to hide a little blush +which suffused her cheeks. + +"Why, mamma, he writes that the spring-cart, with Banou, was to start +overnight with the 'traps'--that means trunks, I suppose--and that--" + +"What, Rosalie?" + +"That there is a handsome young officer, the nephew of Commodore +Cleveland--_merci_, mamma! some of Uncle Jules's nonsense!" + +No such great nonsense, after all, mademoiselle, when your uncle Piron +tells you to keep that fluttering little heart safe within your bodice, +for there are thieves in blue jackets in the island of Jamaica. Strange, +too, as she spoke--with her animated face, large blue eyes, and +graceful, wavy figure--how much she resembled both those lovely women, +with their darker coloring, who sat smiling sweetly upon her. + +"Oh! here comes Uncle Banou. Well, my good Banou, what news of your +master?" said Madame Piron, as she put out her hand to the black, who +raised it respectfully to his lips. + +"He will be here with his friends at sunset, eh! And Mademoiselle +Rosalie must place the gentlemen's things in their rooms, and see that +the billiard-house has some cots made ready in it." + +"Nothing more?" + +"No, madame." + +"_Allons!_ Rosalie, we have no time to lose." + +Winding through the mazes of the tropical forest, over the broken stony +road, leading through a brilliant labyrinth of wild fig and acacia, +plume-like palms, white shafts of silk and cotton, and lance-wood, +mahogany, and ebony, parasitical plants in green and red, with endless +varieties of gay flowers strung and laced in superb festoons on trunk +and branch; singing birds and paroquets making the forest alive; while, +mingled with the delicious fragrance of orange-blossoms, cinnamon, and +pimento, the fresh breeze wheeled through clump and leaf, changing the +hues of plant and flower from white to crimson, green, purple, and gold, +as Nature painted them in gorgeous dyes. + +Through this brilliant vegetation, along the uneven road, came the sound +of horses' feet, with hearty shouts and laughter; and presently appeared +a cavalcade, mounted on mules and horses, all making the forest ring +with merriment. + +Ahead came Tom Stewart, on a small, sure-footed pony; and beside him Mr. +Tiny Mouse, reefer, on a high mule, with a scrubbing-brush mane, looking +like a fly pennant at the mast-head of the frigate, kicking his little +heels into the old mule, as if that mule minded it even so much as to +shake his long ears! Then straggling in the centre were Darcantel, +Stingo, and Paddy Burns; and behind them came a tall, muscular man, on a +mettled barb, which he controlled by a touch of his little finger. And +at his side, on the most diminutive of the donkey breed, with feet +touching the ground, clung stout Jacob Blunt, the sailor, in a more +dreadful trepidation than he had ever known on board his old teak-built +brig, lying there in the Roads of Kingston; while the rear was brought +up by Piron and Commodore Cleveland. + +"Now, you little madcap, look sharp when we turn the curve of the +mountain, and you'll catch a peep at Escondido; and don't you pinch that +old mule again on her back, or she'll pitch you up into that silk +cotton-tree." + +"If it pleases Providence to restore me safely to my dear old 'Martha +Blunt,' I'll take my davy never to sit astride of any d---- brute on +four legs again!" This mild vow came from the lips of Jacob Blunt, and +he honestly meant every word he said. + +"Give us another jolly song, Stingo; it will keep your throat clear for +the claret." + +"For the sake of my old timbers, sir, and as you vally my wife's +blessing, don't sing! There, you infarnal beast, you've yawed sharp up +into this ere bush, and put my starboard glim out forever! I say, Don +Spanisher, don't sing--_I'm_ going fast enough!" shouted the poor +skipper, as he passed his paws around the little brute's neck, with his +hat over his eyes. + +"Colonel," said Burns, as he reined up, and gave the perverse little +donkey a cut with his whip, which elicited another hoarse roar from the +old sailor as the animal half doubled himself up, and then ambled away +like a yawl in a short sea, until he came up to the people ahead, when +he stood stock-still and brayed maliciously, "have you another cigar, +colonel? Thankee! Fine scenery this about here--never visited Jamaica +before? Ye have been off the island, eh? It's a nate little spot Piron +has there, that it is; and the whole of us will be mighty sorry to lose +him. Is he going to lave? Yes, he is; and, what is worse, he is going to +take his swate wife and her sister. Is the sister handsome? Begorra! +handsome? Why, man, she's a beauty! And didn't I crack the elbow-joint +of that ugly, abusive divil, Peter Growler, for saying he had seen a +gray hair in her head, when I knew it was only a loose thread from her +lace cap--and me in love with her all the time. Bad luck to him! he's +never fired a pistol since." + +Here Paddy Burns's small eyes twinkled as he slowly raised the stock of +his riding-whip at a slender lance-wood-tree about twelve yards off, and +gave the lash a sharp crack. + +The person on the spirited barb almost unconsciously put his right hand +in his pocket. + +Take care, Paddy Burns; the colonel has a cool hand and a colder eye, +and has made a study of pistols--cannon and swivels too, perhaps. Knows +the cutlass exercise as well, and has had considerable experience in +bullets, knives, and ropes. Has murdered women--lots of them. Wouldn't +stick at killing a child with a junk bottle. And as for men--pshaw! Keep +a bright look-out, Paddy. Why, he'd drown your mother if you had a +sister to love. For didn't he drag his own old father and mother down to +a dishonored grave? and do you think, you brave, honest little Irishman, +that he would sleep a wink the less sound for putting you to death? Bah! +man. Shoot all the game you spring, but don't waste powder on a tiger or +a shark. You would like to take a mutual shot with him, though? Of +course you would--who doubts it? But then, gentlemen fight gentlemen; +and this colonel at your elbow is a scoundrel, miscreant, villain, +assassin, and--pirate! So you can't take a crack at him, Paddy Burns. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +PAUL DARCANTEL. + + "From the strong will, and the endeavor, + That forever + Wrestles with the tide of fate; + From the wrecks of hope far scattered, + Tempest shattered, + Floating waste and desolate." + + +"Well, Piron, as I have told you, after the peace was made in 1815, I +had command of a brig, and took a cruise on the coast of Brazil. After +that I was appointed to a thirty-six gun frigate--the old 'Blazer'--and +went, for three years, to the East Indies, and round home by the +Pacific. When we were paid off I made a tour in Europe with that boy's +father, Dr. Darcantel, and--" + +"But you promised to tell me, Cleveland, something about him." + +"Nothing easier; and, if we have half an hour before we get to +Escondido, I will give you all I know, in a general way, of his history. +Yes? Well, then, Darcantel is descended from one of the oldest and best +Creole families in our State of Louisiana, and the plantations of my +family and his father were contiguous to each other on the Mississippi, +some leagues up the coast above New Orleans. We had the same tutor when +we were children, and we grew up from infancy to boyhood together. He +was passionate and ungovernable even as a child; but as he was the heir +to a large estate, and his father dead, his weak mother humored and +allowed no one to curb him. I myself, one of a numerous family, was put +in the navy, and I went away on cruise after cruise, and did not get +home again to the old plantation for full seven years. I was a man then, +had seen some active service, and I held a commission as a lieutenant in +the navy. + +"In the mean while, Paul Darcantel, who had taken, at the time I left, a +strong fancy for medicine and surgery, had been sent to France to begin +his studies. How he applied himself we do not know; but with a large +letter of credit he spent a great deal of money; and we heard that, with +great talents and wonderful skill in his profession, he was yet unfitted +for close application, and plunged madly into the vortex of dissipation +around him. I heard, too--or at least my brothers told me--that his +extravagances had seriously impaired his fortune, and that his duels +had been so numerous and desperate as to make his name dreaded even in +Paris. On one occasion, at a cafe, he had cut a bullying hussar's head +clean off with his own sabre for knocking a woman down; and in another +duel, where he had detected a French count cheating him at cards, he +shot his nose off for a bet. With this unenviable reputation, and at the +urgent solicitations of his agent, after years of absence he returned to +his ancestral home. We met as of old--it was Paul and Henry--and though +still the same restive, hot-headed spirit as he had ever been, he yet +always listened patiently to what I said, and I could, in a manner, +control him. He paid very little attention to his property, however, and +when he did go to the city to consult with his factor or trustee, he got +into some wild frolic, duel, and scrape, and came back worn out with +fatigue and dissipation. He was a fine, stern-looking youth in those +days, with great muscular power, which, even with the endurance put upon +it by gaming and drinking, seemed not to be lessened. + +"After one of these visits to New Orleans, where his long-forbearing +agents had at last awakened him to a bitter sense of his delinquencies, +and when mortgage upon mortgage were laid with all their shocking truth +before him, he returned and came to me. With all his vices and faults, +he was truthful and generous. He told me all, and how he would try to do +better, and soothe the declining years of his too indulgent mother. + +"I always had great faith in the companion almost of my cradle, and I +loved him, I think, better than my own brothers. Well, he spread all his +affairs before me, and in my little den of an outhouse on the plantation +we both went systematically over the papers. We were two days and nights +at the business; and when, at last, I showed him that he would still, +with a little prudent economy, have a fair income, and eventually, +perhaps, redeem his hereditary property, he burst out in a wild yell of +delight, and hugged me in his arms. When he had put away the papers, I +said, + +"'Paul, you know I am engaged to be married, and I have not seen my +sweetheart for two whole days; she has a sister, too, prettier than my +Fifine, whom you have never seen since we were boys together. Come, will +you go with me? We can pull ourselves across the river.' + +"He hesitated; and it would have been, perhaps, better had he refused to +accompany me, for dreadful misery came of it." + +The commodore gave a deep sigh, and touched his horse with the spur. + +"I don't know, though, Piron; there is a fate marked out for us all, and +we should not exclaim against the decrees of Providence. Paul went with +me across the river. There, on the bank, was a little bower of an old +French-built stone house, where dwelt the last of a line of French +nobility who dated back to the days of Charlemagne. It was an +impoverished family, consisting of a reckless brother and two sisters, +who, with a few acres of sugar-cane and some old faithful servants, +managed to make both ends meet, and to support the establishment in a +certain air of elegance and comfort to which they had been accustomed. +They were of a proud and haughty race--the brother a disdainful and +imperious gentleman, smarting and brooding over the reverses of his +family, and rarely visiting his neighbors. His sisters--and they were +twins--were trustful, happy girls, and Josephine had been my childish +love." + +Here Cleveland bent over his saddle-bow, and if the quiet old horse he +bestrode believed the large drops which fell upon his sleek neck came +from the clouds, or the drooping foliage of the forest, that animal was +never more deceived in his quadruped life. We know that fact, for it +stands upon the angelic record. + +"Well, my dear Piron, as we entered the little saloon where Fifine was +seated at the piano, playing the sweet airs she had sung to me when a +little bit of a girl, and her beautiful sister bending over a table +near, absorbed in a book, while the candles under the glass shades +lighted up her dark passionate eyes and brunette complexion, Paul +approached her. It was not love at first sight, because they had played +together when children; but it was such a love as only begins and dies +with man or woman. The brother came in soon afterward, but there was no +love exchanged between him and Paul, and they met in a manner which +seemed to revive the early dislike they had entertained one toward the +other in boyhood. + +"So the time passed, and in the course of a few months Josephine and I +were married, and our home was made on my own old place. Still, night by +night, in storm, calm, or freshet, Paul pulled himself in a skiff across +that mighty river, and we could see the lights shining to a late hour in +the little bower. He had changed a great deal, for he loved with the +whole force of his fiery and impetuous nature. Pauline loved too, though +still she feared him. The brother, however, bitterly opposed their +union, and stormy scenes arose. Josephine and I did all we could to put +matters on a happy footing, but Jacques, the brother, grew more +determined as his sister refused to cast off her lover, till at last his +feeling against him broke out into open scornful insult; and though Paul +still persisted in seeing Pauline, yet we feared that the impetuous +spirits of the two men would, at any moment, burst out into open +violence. + +"Darcantel, however, controlled himself, avoided as much as possible any +altercations with Jacques, applied himself to the duties of his +plantation, and always promised me that he would wait and see if time +would not induce the brother to give his consent to the marriage. +Meanwhile Paul's mother died. A year passed. Fifine gave me a little +boy, who was called after me, and then I went again to sea. Nearly three +years later I returned, and the very night before I reached the +plantation a dreadful tragedy had occurred. I might, perhaps, have +prevented it had I been there, but it was ordered otherwise. + +"It seems that two days previously Jacques wrote to Paul--I saw the +letter--and it was something painful to read; for he not only +recapitulated his vices and follies, but he taxed him with being a +ruined gambler, who had brought his mother in sorrow to the grave, and +ended by swearing, in the most solemn manner, that if he dared again to +speak to his sister or darken their doors, he would shoot him like a +dog! + +"That evening, as usual, the skiff pursued its way across the river, and +late at night when it returned there was a fluttering white dress in the +stern. Scarcely, however, had the skiff left the bank than a boat shoved +out from the other side manned by four negroes, and came swiftly over in +pursuit. What afterward transpired I heard from an old married couple of +servants who had passed their lives with the family. It appears that +Paul, with Pauline in his arms, had barely reached the hall of the great +house, and was giving orders to close the doors, when Jacques rushed in +with a naked rapier in one hand and a pistol in the other. Paul adjured +him, by all he held sacred, not to attack him, as his blood was up, and, +unarmed as he was, he would do him a mischief. Pauline, too, implored +him by a sister's love to desist; but seeing him still advance, as she +partially shielded Paul, she told him that the man she loved was her +husband. + +"Blinded with haughty rage, this last admission rendered him ungovernable, +and he lunged with all his force at Darcantel. Paul parried his rapid +passes, though receiving some sharp thrusts in his arm and shoulder, and +still supporting his drooping, terrified wife on his left arm till, by a +quick spring, he got within Jacques's guard, and, seizing him by the +wrist, wrenched the weapon from his grasp. This was enough to make the +brother totally insane by passion from baffled revenge, when he leveled +his pistol and fired. There was a faint cry with the report, and a groan +from Jacques as the sword went through his body and heart, till the hilt +struck hard against his ribs as he fell, a dead man, on the marble +pavement. But the bullet from his pistol had pierced the fair forehead +of his sister, and she lay a bridal corpse in her husband's arms. It was +horrible. + +"I spare you all the afflicting details, Piron, and will only add that +Paul left the plantation that night, and when I got home I found an +envelope post-marked 'New Orleans,' inclosing a paper, which constituted +me his sole executor, and leaving our little boy his heir. I had but a +short leave of a month, and duty called me again away. It was on the +anniversary of the day the tragedy occurred, after another long +interval of four years in the 'Scourge,' that I again returned, and then +there was wailing and moaning in my own dwelling. My poor Josephine had +never recovered from the shock; she drooped away like a lily, her little +boy by her side, and both died during my absence." + +What makes the strong man's eyelids quiver and voice tremble--those eyes +that have looked calmly on death and carnage in every shape, with his +deep, calm voice cheering on the men to battle at his side? Ah! + +"It was midnight, and I walked out to the little grave-yard where my +fathers had been buried, and bending my steps to a cluster of magnolias +on a little mound by itself, I--I--a--kneeled down beside the sod where +reposed all I had loved on earth! I do not know how long I remained +there, but presently I heard a groan near by, and a tall man rose up +from where he had been stretched, face downward, on the ground, and I +beheld Paul Darcantel! I could hardly recognize him at first, for he +seemed fifty years older than when we had last parted. + +"'Cleveland,' he said, in a hollow, choking voice, 'forgive me! I am a +changed, and, I trust, a better man. I have been drawn to this holy spot +by the same errand which brought you hither, and though I did not expect +to meet you, yet I am glad of it now. Speak, and say you forgive me, and +you will shed a ray of hope and salvation into the heart of one who will +suffer unto the end! Speak!' + +"Old memories crowded around me, and I saw before me the child in the +cradle, and with our arms round each other's necks as we played +together. I forgot, for the moment, the sisters lying there--bride, +mother, and baby-boy. The magnolias bowed their white flowers in the +light of the waning moon, and we fell again into each other's arms. + +"After a time he said, 'My only friend, I have brought home with me a +little helpless boy; he is named Henry, after you, and will take the +place of the lost little one lying here. Whoever of us survives shall +inherit that estate. Come with me and look at him!' + +"He led me to the other mound, and there, beside the tree, a beautiful +child lay calmly sleeping, wrapped in a sailor's jacket, with his curls +escaping from a straw hat, and the head resting on one arm on the grave +beneath him. + +"'Be good to him,' Paul went on, 'for the sake of those we have lost +ourselves! His mother's name was Rosalie.' + +"He stooped down as he said this, and, raising the boy in his arms, he +kissed him passionately, and then put him gently in mine. 'Let him kneel +sometimes at this grave, my friend, and pray for me.' + +"In another moment Paul Darcantel had gone. The little fellow partly +woke, and put his arms affectionately around my neck, and whispered +'Mamma! mamma!' That dashing, brave young fellow ahead there was once +that boy. + +"Well, I took the child to the house, where my good mother and sisters +went wild over him, and there he passed a happy boyhood. Years went by, +and he grew apace, the pride and delight of us all; and as he evinced +the greatest fondness for me and the accounts I gave him of my life at +sea, I had him appointed a reefer in the navy. Since that he has seen a +great deal of service; been distinguished in action; and, on shipboard +as well as on shore, liked and respected by all who know him. + +"In the mean while his father went away, nobody knew whither, for years +and years. He wrote to me, however, and to his son, from all parts of +the world; and when I made the tour in Europe I spoke about, Darcantel +was my companion. But while there he passed a retired life, never went +into society, but visited every hospital in every sea-port from the +Mediterranean to Aberdeen in Scotland; for he is not only a surgeon, as +I have reason to know, of wonderful skill, but a thorough-bred seaman +too; and when he has been with me on board ship there is no one whose +opinion of the weather, or other nautical matters, do I place greater +reliance on. I could tell you of half a dozen times when his advice to +me has saved serious damage. And during all these years Darcantel's +estates, under the careful supervision of my eldest brother, have been +redeemed from their load of debt, and now he enjoys a noble income--or, +rather, he spends nothing on himself, but devotes it to widows and +orphans, and sick or worn-out sailors. + +"In the seventeen years which have gone by since he brought his child to +me he has made several visits of a month or two's duration to the +plantations, but only when Henry was on leave from duty. Then it was a +pleasant sight to see them both together, and the touching air of +affection which bound the youth to his father. Henry, from a child, +often went and prayed beside the grave under the magnolias, and to this +day he believes that his own mother lies buried there. Perhaps it is as +well that he should cherish this early belief; for I may tell you in +confidence, Piron, that we believe there at home that he is the +illegitimate offspring of some erring passion of Darcantel, though none +of us have ever learned it positively from his father's lips. He is not +a person to be questioned by any one, not even by me; and as he seems +anxious to throw a thick veil over the past, we never venture to draw it +aside. + +"When, however, I was appointed to my present command, Darcantel +desired to sail with me, and see the West India Islands, which he had +not visited for an age. I was only too happy to have him, especially as +Harry there--whom I love like a father--was named to the little +schooner he had cut out in Africa on his last cruise, and ordered to +join my squadron. But whenever we get into port his father goes +quietly on shore; passes his time, I think, among the sailors of the +foreign shipping, spending money freely among the deserving, and +again coming back in his calm, stern way. He told me, however, Piron, +yesterday, that perhaps he might accept your kind invitation to come +up here, though not for some days. By George!" said the commodore, +"that must be Escondido!" + +Piron sighed as if a pleasant dream had vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +INSTINCT AND WONDER. + + "'Ho! sailor of the sea! + How's my boy--my boy?' + 'What's your boy's name, good wife, + And in what good ship sailed he?'" + + "Through the night, through the night, + In the saddest unrest, + Wrapped in white, all in white, + With her babe on her breast, + Walks the mother so pale, + Staring out on the gale, + Through the night!" + + +As the cavalcade trotted round the curve of the peak, and then walked +the cattle down the steep zigzag road of the beautiful valley, the +commodore said, "But, Piron, tell me who that large man is with the +black hair and blue eyes." + +"Why, Cleveland, all I know of him is that he landed at Kingston in a +vessel from the Isthmus of Panama, and is going to Cuba on his way to +England. He came to me, hearing that I was the consignee of old Blunt's +older brig, bound to New Orleans, and so home, to know if he could be +dropped at St. Jago, where he has some property or debts to collect; and +since the old skipper has no objection, he has taken passage in the brig +when she goes with me and my family. I have since met him--he calls +himself Colonel Lawton--at dinners of our set, and he seems to be an +Englishman or Scotchman. Tom Stewart thinks the latter from his accent, +and for his liking for snuff; but Paddy Burns differs, and believes he +don't like snuff, but only takes it to show his splendid box. Any way, +he speaks all languages, Spanish, French, Italian, and English, and can +talk slang in them all like a native. He has served, too, from his own +account, with Bolivar there on the Spanish Main; and he was with +Cochrane in that desperate affair of cutting out the 'Esmeralda' in +Callao Bay. A very amusing, entertaining vagabond he is, and I asked him +to join us to make the acquaintance of my people on our last frolic to +the valley; but, somehow, I am rather sorry that I gave him a passage +with us in the brig, for I don't altogether like his looks." + +"Neither do I, Piron; his hair is too black for his light blue eyes. +However, we must make the most of him." + +Over the shaky bridge of the torrent, where Jacob Blunt prayed earnestly +for Martha Blunt, and d----d his donkey as if he had never rocked on +water before; Mr. Mouse, with a last tiny kick on the saddle-flaps of his +lofty mule, tumbled off; Colonel Lawton swinging himself from the saddle +of his barb as if he had been part of him; Tom Stewart, Paddy Burns, and +Don Stingo sliding off any way; Harry Darcantel trying to descend in +fine style, and failing miserably; Piron and the commodore doing the +thing leisurely; Jacob Blunt pulled off bodily; while the laughing +blacks took the beasts and led them away. + +There were three pair of eyes that watched all this grace and clumsiness +from the windows of the saloon. Two pair of dark ones smiled, and the +pair of blue opened until they seemed like azure globes, and then they +closed until the fringe of chestnut lashes nearly hid them from sight. + +"Colonel Lawton, do me the favor to follow my old friend Banou--you too, +Captain Jacob, and Lieutenant Darcantel and Mr. Mouse; Paddy Burns and +Stingo, here, will show you your quarters in the old billiard-room. +Come, commodore, the rest of us will find quarters in the casa." + +An hour later the saloon and sala were all alight, and the sashes of the +jalousies closed, for it was cool at times up there at Escondido. There, +too, stood the party of gentlemen, Mr. Mouse being a prominent figure in +the background. Then came a rustling of robes, and as the great folding +doors swung open, the three ladies lit up the saloon in a halo of +loveliness with brighter rays than were shed from the wax-lights in the +chandelier. Two fair hands were placed in those of Cleveland, and the +look which accompanied went back to the happy morning on the old brig's +deck, away off there to sea. + +"Oh, monsieur, I can not say how glad I am to see you once more! Let me +present you to my sister, Madame Nathalie Delonde, and _our_ daughter. +Ah! my dear Captain Blunt, both your children before you again, and you +have come to take us away." + +"Colonel Lawton, _ma chere_," said Piron. + +"And, mesdames," said the commodore, "let me also present my nephew, +Lieutenant Darcantel, and Mr. Mouse." + +What caused that woman to start as the girl took the tiny reefer by the +hand, and impulsively clasped those white hands together, while her +heart beat in yearning throbs, and her bosom rose and fell like billows +by the shore? Why did she then raise one hand to her fair neck, and, as +if in a dream, feel for the golden links of the chain, with the other +hand pressed to her panting heart for the locket which once reposed +there? How was it that, bewildered by a mother's instinct, she gazed at +the youth before her, and then turned her eyes hopelessly around in +search of her husband in the crowd? + +"Yes, madame. This is my nephew, Henry Darcantel." + +"Ah! Henri! Excuse me, _monsieur_. I am charmed to see you!" + +Why, now, did the touch of his hand make her heart beat faster, and send +a thrill of joy through her frame? Only be a little calm, madame, for a +while longer, and don't be sad and ponder all night, like your good +Jules Piron does habitually. Wait; Jules will tell you all _he_ knows +when you are alone to-night. + +The doors of the sala were thrown open. The broad pennant leading with +Madame Rosalie; the military chieftain marching beside Madame Nathalie, +much to the animosity of Paddy Burns. Then Mr. Mouse convoying +mademoiselle, to the infinite disgust of the commander of the "Rosalie," +one-gun schooner, formerly the "Perdita." But what made that old negro +in spotless white, standing at the door, jerk his head back and open his +great eyes till there was no black left in them? And why did he blunder +about the table afterward, and pour wine over the colonel's richly-laced +coat, while staring like an ogre at the young blue-jacket opposite? That +old Banou, perhaps, did not like to see his young mistress too much +attended to by every gay scamp who came near her. Oh no; of course not. +But then, if that brawny negro in white had only known over whose arm +and mutilated hand he was pouring light wine in his abstraction, he +would have crammed that heavy cut decanter in powdered glass splinters +down the chieftain's throat. There would have been claret of a different +color spilled then--quantities of it. You needn't feel in your pockets, +colonel, or look round the sala to see if perchance there is a green +silk rope squirming from the ceiling. We don't keep any of those pretty +things out at Escondido. So go on with your dinner, you cold-eyed +scoundrel, and tell all the lies you can to that lovely woman at your +elbow; how you wanted to save Bolivar's life, and it was saved without +you. Don't forget, either, to tell her how that patriot had you drummed +out of his army, suspecting you of having assassinated the officer near +you in the confusion of battle, and robbing him of his watch to replace +the one presented to you by the captain general. Paddy Burns is watching +you, Colonel Lawton, and that whole-souled little Irishman is not the +man to be trifled with. Now remove the covers. But take care, Banou--you +nearly twitched off the military gentleman's hair. Tom Stewart saw it, +and he noticed, too, a broad red seam, like the track of a musket +bullet--honorable wound, no doubt--under your black glossy wig. + +Mr. Mouse had fallen desperately in love with the perfumed damsel beside +him, and he knew she was up to her rose-tipped ears in love with him, +oh! fifty fathoms deep; but his mother liked girls, and he would leave +her half-pay! Still he didn't forget his adoration for the roast duck; +and he slyly swigged some Madeira too, with a wary eye on the broad +pennant through the flowers of the epergne. Talked, too, did that +reefer--ay, chattered--and said that the quiet young officer on her left +was very well liked in the steerage, and commanded a pretty little craft +named the "Rosalie." She knew that before, did she? Well, his father was +a cold, stern man, but he was kind and generous, and had been very good +to his poor mother, God bless him! + +Commodore Cleveland talked in a low tone, all through the dinner, to the +lady who did not eat at the head of the table, but who occasionally +rested her white hand, with a trustful reliance, on the great +tanned-leather paw of Jacob Blunt, that honest mariner not wishing to +talk to any body, man or woman. That ancient mariner was mentally +cursing donkeys; speculating how he should get back to the "Martha +Blunt" brig, in Kingston harbor; and praying for Martha Blunt, wife, +riding at single anchor near Plymouth beach. Piron took wine with every +body, said a word or two all around the table, and talked to Tom Stewart +about certain business matters connected with the plantation when he had +gone. + +Then came the last course, and the dessert of delicious fruits, which +quite stopped Mr. Mouse's mouth, and even his palpitating heart ceased +beating; while Mademoiselle Rosalie nibbled some lady-finger biscuit, +and bent her graceful head to listen to the music of the earnest lips +beside her. + +We told you, miss, how it would be; and, in spite of the warning, there +you are--the color coming and going over your girlish cheeks, and never +saying a word! "What a couple that would make!" thought Madame Nathalie. +And what a resemblance in expression there is between them--he with his +dark hair and eyes, and she fair and blue. Be careful, my sweet Rosalie! +And so thought her sister and her sister's husband; Stingo, too, old +Banou, and every one save Tiny Mouse, who had no rivals but Rat, Beaver, +and Martin, and he could take the wind out of their sails any day. + +The party of ladies rose from the table, and leaving the men--all +except the captain of the "Rosalie" and Mr. Mouse, who would have +remained had he not seen a shake of the broad pennant's finger--went +into the saloon. Then there was a brilliant prelude on the piano, a +touch of a guitar by stronger fingers, an air from an opera, a song or +two, much conversation--while Reefer Mouse slept on the sofa--and +coffee. Then it was late; every one was fatigued, _bon soirs_ were said, +and the party--coffee and all--separated. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +TRUTH AND TERROR. + + "In slumbers of midnight the sailor-boy lay, + His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind; + But watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away, + And visions of happiness danced o'er his mind." + + "And how the sprites of injured men + Shriek upward from the sod; + Ay! how the ghostly hand will point + To show the burial clod; + And unknown facts of guilty acts + Are seen in dreams from God!" + + +In a great square room, standing, as usual, on cocoa-nut stilts, which +had once been used for a billiard-room, were half a dozen iron-framed +cots, ranged along the walls, in which some of the Escondido's guests +were to bivouac. Every thing, however, was tidy and comfortable; +snow-white bedclothes and gauze musquito nets, lots of napkins and +ewers, and things for bathing behind a screen of dimity curtains; and +not forgetting a large table--vice the billiard-table--in the centre, on +which stood plenty of sugar and limes, cinnamon and nutmeg, bottles and +flasks, red and white, and--very little water, in jugs. + +The occupants of this bivouac had turned in, and the lights had been +doused. Conversation, however, was kept up, especially by the thin +little voice of Mr. Mouse, who, having enjoyed a nap in the early +evening, and having been danced and tumbled about on the trip to the +lodge by Harry Darcantel, who was in tiptop condition, the reefer was as +wide awake as a blackfish. Don Stingo chanted a few convivial airs and +snored; so did Jacob Blunt, with a spluttering groan intermixed; and +Paddy Burns fell off into a doze, saying blasphemous words addressed to +the world at large, with a mutter against the military, hoping he might +look at a Bolivian patriot edgewise with a friend and companion of his, +Mr. Joe Manton, at his side; he would put an end to any more lies about +charges of cavalry, and cutting out frigates in Callao Bay. That Paddy +Burns would, though he didn't wear a wig and a large sapphire on the +only finger he had left on his left hand, and with a diamond snuff-box, +too! Presented to you by a connection of your family, was it? Take a +pinch out of it? D---- him, no! Begorra, the snuff is not Lundy Foot's, +and the box is brass, sir, brass! + +"I say, Mouse, keep quiet, will you, and let me go to sleep!" Harry +Darcantel did not think of going to sleep; that was a fib he told the +reefer; he wanted merely to shut his eyes and dream of--you know who--a +tall, graceful girl with blue eyes and light hair, who looked at him +once or twice such looks that there was no sleep for him for ever so +long. What did she say? Why, she never opened her pouting lips to show +those even pearly teeth. She only looked out of those soft blue eyes. +That was all! + +"Mr. Darcantel, I think of getting married." + +"The d---- you do! And who to, pray?" + +"Why," said Mr. Mouse, as he rolled over and kicked the sheet off his +slate-pencil built legs, "I haven't made up my mind; but do you know +that that pretty girl up there at the big house has taken quite a fancy +to me, and when you were presented to her mother she gave me _such_ a +squeeze of the hand! Oh my!" + +Here Mr. Mouse's narrative was cut short by a pillow hitting him plump +on the mouth, clean through his musquito net. + +"Very charming young lady, Mr. Mouse," said a quiet voice, in a cool +tone, on the other side of him; "she did seem to take a violent fancy to +you." + +Mr. Mouse rolled over, and then, sitting up in his cot, replied, "Yes, +sir! and that was her mother sitting by you when the big nigger in white +capsized the wine over your sleeve, and nearly pulled your a--hair +off." + +Look out, Mr. Mouse! If that man there beside you once gives a twitch at +your curls, he'll pull something more than hair--perhaps a little scalp +with it! + +"Oh!" was the sound that came back. + +"Yes, sir; and the other beautiful lady next the commodore is her +sister. She had a son just mademoiselle's age, who was murdered by +pirates off Jamaica ever so many years ago, and Commodore Cleveland +chased them in a ship he was first lieutenant of--my father commanded +the ship--she was the old 'Scourge.'" + +"Hold your tongue!" came from the cot where the spare pillow was thrown +from. + +"Ho!" said the military chieftain; but if the room had not been so dark, +the way his eyes opened and emitted an icy glare of surprise would have +made Tiny Mouse shiver with cold. + +"Oh dear, yes, colonel, I heard the commodore tell all about it the +other night on board the frigate. He thought I was asleep, but I kept +awake through the best part of it." + +"The best part of it?" + +"Why, sir, how an old one-eyed Spaniard deceived my father, and sent +him on a fool's errand from St. Jago down to the Isle of Pines, and +afterward how the 'Scourge' chased the piratical schooner in a hurricane +for ever so long, clear away to the coast of Darien, where they blew her +out of water, and killed every scoundrel on board!" + +Not every one, Mr. Mouse. There is the very greatest of those scoundrels +grinding his teeth and glaring your way at your elbow. + +"What was the name of that cape, Darcantel, where the schooner was +destroyed? No, I won't be quiet; the colonel wants to hear all about it. +There's a good fellow, tell me!" + +"Garotte Cape." + +The listener slowly raised the mutilated hand, and put the finger with +the sapphire ring to his throat, evidently not liking the name of that +cape, for it caused a choking sensation to utter it--"Ho! Cape +Garotte!" + +"Yes, sir; and Darcantel's father here once chartered a vessel, and went +all the way down there to explore the place, and was gone fifteen +months! Wasn't he, Darky?" said the boy, familiarly. + +"Mouse, I tell you what it is, if you don't shut up that little flytrap +of yours, I'll make Rat lick you when you go on board!" + +"Rat lick me?" said Tiny, as he jumped straight up in the cot; "I gave +him and Martin a black eye apiece only on our last boat-duty day for +saying your father, the doctor, had killed his brother-in-law in a +duel!" + +"Hush, my dear little fellow! you did a very foolish thing. There, say +no more on that subject; it gives me pain, my Tiny. So talk on as much +as you like." + +"My dear friend," exclaimed the lad, in a broken voice; as he plunged +through his net and put his arms around Darcantel, "I wouldn't grieve +you for the world; but do you suppose, little as I am, that I wouldn't +fight for the doctor, who is so kind to me, and has done so much for my +poor dear sweet mother?" + +Here there was a sob as he wound his arms closer round his friend's +neck, and cried like a child, as he was. + +"Well, never mind, Tiny; go to sleep, now! I am not angry. There, turn +in!" + +"I won't speak another word to-night, Harry, for any soul +breathing--little fool that I am!" + +"I beg your pardon, monsieur," said the colonel, in French, with a +slight quiver on his tongue, "but did your father really go all the way +down to Darien out of mere curiosity?" + +"Yes, sir, he did go there to see if by any chance one of the pirates +had escaped; and he traveled, too, a good deal about among the Indians, +making inquiries." + +"Ho! and did he pick up any information there?" + +"Why, sir, I am not positive, but I believe that he got a hint that a +European had wandered over that country who had been wounded in the head +and hand, and was almost naked; but the natives could give him but very +meagre accounts. He continued on, however, down the Isthmus, on the +Pacific side, by sea, as far as Chili, when he went into the interior to +Peru, crossed the Andes, and followed down the Orinoco to Para, when he +sailed again for England." + +"Oh! no other motive than curiosity?" + +"Perhaps he had; for he once told me he had some old scores to settle +with the man who commanded the pirate, and if he was alive he felt quite +sure he would, one of those days, put him to death. My father, sir, is a +very determined person, and never forgets an oath." + +"Truly, monsieur, you interest me. But what sort of a man in appearance +is your father--a doctor, I think you said?" + +"He is a tall gentleman of about fifty, sir, though he looks much older; +for he has suffered deeply in early life, when my mother--a--died; but I +shall have the pleasure of introducing him to you, colonel. He is now on +board our frigate at Kingston, and told me he would be up here to-morrow +or the next day." + +"Ah! thank you extremely, Monsieur Darcantel. I shall have--a--much +curiosity to see him." + +No more words that night; but much thinking and moving of thin lips, and +eyes staring in the dark, wide open. There was low grating of teeth, +too! And a man lay in that large room on a narrow cot, surrounded by a +gauze net; and, so far as mental torture went, it was not unlike a +trestle net we once saw without gauze, where a gaunt frame was +stretched, with myriads of sand-flies, musquitoes, and stinging +insects sucking his heart's blood. Sometimes the eyelids closed, as if +they were a film of ice forming over the blue cold orbs within; and +again the fabric cracked, and they were wide open once more. They +could read, too, those frozen orbs; and like heavy flakes of snow +falling on bloodstained decks, till it covered with a weight of lead the +stark, stiff corpse beneath, they yet tried to pierce into the dark +region beyond. And the heart beat with a slow and measured tramp, like +a moose crunching through the sharp, treacherous crust of snow, and +then stood stock-still! Had a letter, traced with the fingers of an +icicle, been congealed a hundred feet deep in the heart of a toppling +iceberg on the coast of Labrador, those eyes could have read it as +clear as day! + +"You infamous pirate, Captain Brand!" it began--"the son of the man who +destroyed the 'Centipede' and her crew, and the boy whom your brutal +mate tore from the mother you saw at dinner to-day, are near you! That +calm, stern, determined doctor, too, whom you laced down on the trestle +for poisonous insects to kill, has been on your track for the past +seventeen years, and will soon hold you in his iron gripe! There will be +no mercy then!" + +The eyes closed, the heart stopped beating, and the thin lips and +tongue, as dry as cartridge-paper, now took up the strain, while the +mutilated hand clutched convulsively, as if there were fifty fingers +fingering knives and pistols. + +"Shall I assassinate my old doctor, and run the risk of being arrested +and hung? No! He thinks me dead, and I will go back to the island, +redeem my treasure, and pass the remainder of my life tranquilly in the +highlands of Scotland!" + +Don't be too sanguine, Colonel Lawton; for, though your ten thousand +pounds in gold is still in the vault, yet there is Don Ignacio Sanchez, +whose estates have been confiscated, and who has just got out of ten +years' imprisonment in the Moro of Havana, glad to save his neck from +the iron collar, and, without the little jewel-hilted blade up his +sleeve, is now turning about to see how he may redeem his lost fortunes. +Don't be an hour too late, I pray you, Captain Brand, for that sharp eye +of Don Ignacio has already, perhaps, looked at the shiny cleft in the +crag, and thinks he knows what lies hidden there! Oh, _si_! nothing but +mouldy beans and paper cigars to live upon for ten years, and fond of +more substantial food, even though it were yellow greenish gold, +mildewed by damp, but yet solid and refreshing. _Cierto_--certainly! +_Quien sabe_--who knows? + +But be careful, Don Ignacio! Don't take your old wife with you on that +projected expedition, for you have treated that old woman--who resembles +a rotten banana--badly! You have won back in monte all she ever won by +cheating, besides the half ounces you used to give her for the +Church--cheated her by drawing two cards at a time when you saw the +numerals with that spark of an eye, and when you knew that she would win +if you drew fairly! Yes, you have, you old sinner, for more than two +score of years! And she hates you now--though you don't think it--worse +than you did Captain Brand! Have an eye to that old banana! + +So passed that short night--long enough, however, for somebody--and +before the fresh land-wind had woke up to creep down the valley, there +was a mettled barb, with open nostrils, galloping up the broken road as +if he had the devil on his back--as perhaps he had, or Colonel Lawton, +or Captain Brand, possibly all three, but it makes very little odds to +us. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +PEACE AND LOVE. + + "And many a dim o'erarching grove, + And many a flat and sunny cove; + And terraced lawns, whose bright cascades + The honeysuckle sweetly shades; + And rocks whose very crags seem bowers, + So gay they are with grass and flowers." + + +It was a delightful breakfast with the merry party at Escondido as they +sat under the wide, cool piazza in the shade, with the sun throwing his +slanting rays through the vines and clusters of purple grapes, and +through the orange-trees, where the yellow fruit was fast losing its +fragrant dew--all the men once more in summer rig, and the ladies in +flowing muslin and tidy caps. + +"My dear," said Piron to his wife, "we have lost one of our guests, +Colonel Lawton; he went away at daylight this morning, and left a +message to me, and compliments to you all, that business of importance, +which he had forgotten, demanded his immediate return to Kingston." + +There was no sorrow expressed by the lady or her fair sister, and even +the men treated it with indifference, except Mr. Burns, who remarked, as +he snapped a tooth-pick in twain, that, for his part, he was glad the +fellow had gone; he didn't like his looks at all, though he did make +himself so fascinating to the beautiful widow who sat next him. + +"Ah! Monsieur Burns, think you I would prefer a scarlet coat when--" + +"You might get a blue!" broke in Paddy, with a comical twinkle of his +eye, as he winked in the direction of Commodore Cleveland, who sat +opposite. + +"No, no," exclaimed the pretty widow, hastily, as she shook her finger +at her despairing admirer, "that is not what I was going to say--when +those red coats there from England killed my poor husband at Quatre +Bras." + +"Ah! yes, my dear--bad luck to them! But an Irishman would never have +been so cruel, you know, though, 'pon me sowl," went on Paddy, as he +stuck a fork in an orange and began to divest it of its peel, West +India fashion, to present it to the matron beside him, "I fear I should +like to kill any man who loved ye, Madame Nathalie, myself." + +"What a droll man you are, Monsieur Burns," replied the widow, laughing +outright, "when you know you would prefer a jug of Antigua punch, any +day, to me. Stop, now! didn't you say, at your grand dinner in Kingston, +that you would never allow a woman to darken your doors?" + +"I--a meant--a black woman, my dear; as true as me name's Paddy Burns, I +did!" + +"What are you two laughing at, my sister?" + +"Why, here is Mr. Burns making love to me at breakfast, and before night +he will be abusing me for not pouring enough rum in his punch!" + +"That's his caractur, Madame Nathalie; for I, Tom Stewart, am the only +person he ever loved, and he sometimes offers to shoot me for giving him +unco' good advice." + +"Howld yer tongue, ye divil ye! and you too, Stingo, or the pair of ye +shall niver taste another sip of the old claret. Ye've ruined me cause +entirely! But I'll lave ye me property, madame, when I'm gone." + +"He's been talking of going, Nathalie," said Piron, "for the last twenty +years, and has left his estate to at least thirty women, to my certain +knowledge; but he hasn't got off yet, and--" + +"Tom Stewart, ye miserable limb of the law! make out me will this very +night." + +Jacob Blunt unclosed his salt-junk mouth, and roared out in a peal of +laughter that would have shivered his old brig's spanker, and caused, +perhaps, Martha Blunt, sposa, to have spanked him, Jacob, had she heard +and seen that mariner wagging his old bronzed face at the lovely woman +facing him. + +Mr. Tiny Mouse, who could not touch bottom on his high chair, with his +little heels dangling about, forgetful of discipline, fairly kicked the +broad pennant on the shins of his white ducks, screaming joyously; the +three women made the piazza vibrate with their musical trills; Stingo +and Stewart choked; Cleveland and Darcantel were amused; and old black +Banou looked at his master, and grinned till his double range of teeth +seemed like a white wave breaking at the cove. And then Paddy Burns took +up the chorus, and after one or two Galway yells his friends took him +up, thumped him smartly on the back, and stood him up against one of the +posts of the piazza to have his laugh out. When he did, however, recover +the power of speech, he wiped his eyes and looked around till they +rested on Madame Nathalie, when, with his white napkin held up like a +shield beside his rubicund visage, he spluttered, + +"By me sowl, Tom Stewart, I mane what I say; and Paddy Burns's word is +his bond!" + +Ay, and so it was, you generous, whole-souled Milesian! And you did this +time make a will. Tom Stewart and Stingo witnessed it, with handsome +legacies therein set forth; and when one night you tumbled down--Well, +we won't mention the particulars; but Paddy kept his word. + +As the party rose from the breakfast table to get ready for a stroll +down to the mill and around the plantation, one fair woman's hand was +placed with a confiding, friendly clasp in that of Monsieur Burns; and +then, as a graceful girl reached up to pull down her great flat straw +hat from the post, Paddy Burns kissed her on the forehead, and she +returned it too, as if she knew how to perform that ceremony even before +people. Mr. Reefer Mouse had some thoughts of getting jealous, and +calling Mr. Burns out, at ten paces, ships' pistols, and all that sort +of thing; but the round, red-faced gentleman kissed him too, declaring +the while, as he held him aloft, that he was first-rate kissing--that he +was; nearly as good as mademoiselle, which quite disarmed Tiny's wrath, +and then he hooked on to the damsel's delicate flipper, and tripped away +with her down the valley. + +Harry Darcantel exchanged a nod--not of defiance--with Paddy Burns, as +much as to hint that those were not dangerous kisses--oh, not at all; +and passing his hand over his brown mustache, he followed after the +couple before him. Yes, Harry, Tiny's legs will get tired soon, and he +will be hungry, and come back to old Banou for luncheon, while you will +be putting aside the coffee bushes, and imploring mademoiselle to keep +her straw hat about her lovely face, and not to get tanned by the sun. +And when she turns her humid eyes toward you, you begin to believe the +sky is never so blue as those eyes! + +Tom Stewart, Stingo, and Burns never walked; they preferred lounging +about the veranda, smoking cigars, and talking over the price of sugar +and coffee, together with minor matters connected with factors' profits +and suits at law. Jacob Blunt leaned over the bridge, thinking of the +"Martha Blunts," brig and wife--not unfrequently confounding the two +together--thinking this was to be his last voyage by land or sea, and +that young Binks, his mate, should take command, and steer that old +teak-built vessel carefully--oh, ever so keerful--or else the old hulk +might come to grief. + +Piron and his wife going mournfully down the valley--she with her +mother's eyes gazing far out to sea, and he with his strong arm around +her, whispering words of consolation; both looking, night and morning, +out over the blue water, from chamber and piazza, and seeing nothing but +a breaking wave and a baby-boy drowning beneath it--nothing more! + +Madame Nathalie and Cleveland went on gallantly ahead--he with his blue +pennant flying, and she with a black silk widow's ribbon around the +frill of her cap, and a broader band about that muslin waist--talking of +those they had both lost years ago, and trusting they were in heaven, as +they believed they were; hope to meet again themselves in Louisiana, and +see a great deal of one another in time to come--not a doubt of it! Yes, +the cruise was more than half over, and he was quite tired of the sea. +She, however, thought the sea beautiful, and never tired of looking at +it. True, not rolling on top of it all the time--liked to sleep without +rocking. + +When the sea-breeze came fluttering up the gorge again, through the +canes and the coffee-trees, and shaking up the superb foliage of the +tropical forest, with the brilliant feathered tribes nestling close +together on the lofty branches, and before the first salt breath had +been exhaled in the clouds about the topmost peaks of the Blue +Mountains, thousands of feet in the air, the party at Escondido had +again returned to the broad piazzas, where, with blinds open, and +swinging in cool grass hammocks, the men took siesta, while the ladies +sought the pretty bowers within. + +So passed one happy day, like the one gone before; and before the close +of the week Dr. Darcantel joined the party, to take the place of Colonel +Lawton; and a few days after old Clinker crackled up, very dry and +thorny, with parchment in his pockets to take inventories, and do musty +business generally. + +Then the fair women, escorted by the navy men, and the Droger and +Stingo, took their departure for the town house and ships in Kingston, +leaving Paddy Burns, and Tom Stewart, and Clinker with Piron to close up +matters, prior to his leaving the island. Paul Darcantel said he would +remain with them likewise, since he had got through his business in +Spanish Town and Port Royal, and wanted quiet. Madame Rosalie was the +last to leave; and before her husband lifted her into the saddle, they +stood together on the piazza, she looking with that still yearning gaze +over the sea, and seeing nothing but breaking waves. That was the last +look from Escondido! + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +SNUFF OUT OF A DIAMOND BOX. + + "Hark! a sound, + Far and slight, + Breathes around + On the night; + High and higher, + Nigh and nigher, + Like a fire + Roaring bright." + + "Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace-- + Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place; + I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight, + Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right; + Rebuckled the check-strap, chained slacker the bit, + Nor galloped less steadily, Roland, a whit." + + +Another week rolled on. Old Clinker had pounded the parchment down as +flat as last year's palm-leaves, rustling himself like the leaves of an +old book, and began to squeeze out a few dry remarks about earthquakes. +He at last got Paddy Burns, who was a round, fat man, with much blood in +him, in such a state of excitement, by talking about cracks, and yawning +chasms, and splits in the earth, clouds of dust, sulphureous smells, and +beams falling down and pressing people to powder over their wine, that +Paddy declared he thought he was swallowing sawdust and eating dried +codfish at every sip of Antigua punch and suck of orange he took. + +Tom Stewart, likewise, said he couldn't sleep a wink for quaking, and +had cut a slice clean out of his chin while shaving, because his glass +shook by a slamming door, and he thought his time had come. + +Darcantel said nothing, but he took a quiet fancy to old Clinker, and +talked for hours with him of the effect earthquakes had upon ships, and +especially of general matters connected with the shipping interest, +being withal very particular with regard to the appearance of the +crews. + +Piron looked grave, and heard the old clerk out, as if dried fruit were +better than fresh, and limes sweeter than oranges. + +Well, they were all sitting over their dessert at their last dinner at +Escondido, for they were all going to leave old Clinker in the morning. + +[Illustration: "HIS RIGHT ARM POISED WITH CLENCHED HAND ALOFT," ETC.] + + "Well, Clinker," said Piron, kindly, "don't let us talk any more +about the earthquake. You told me yesterday that you had a note from +Colonel Lawton, saying he would not take passage in the brig with us to +New Orleans, as his business obliged him to leave before we could +sail?" + +Clinker choked out something like "Yes," as if it were the last sound a +body could sigh with three or four hundred tons on his back. + +"I'm dooced glad to hear it, Piron; for your military friend didn't +enlist my fancy at all, and I don't believe any more of his patriot +sarvice than I do in Clinker's earthquake. That colonel is a baste; and +if my words prove true, I'll lave a thousand pounds to old Clinker +there." + +Paddy Burns's words did prove true; and old Clinker was with him when he +gave a quake the earth had nothing to do with, it being entirely of an +apoplectic nature; but he got the thousand pounds nevertheless. + +"For once in your life, Burns, I agree with ye; and if that military mon +went to shoot grouse with me in the Hielands, I'd tramp behind him, and +keep both barrels of me gun cocked. The devil take his black wig and his +green eyes! and he passing himsel' aff for a Scot, too! Tut, mon!" + +"By the way, Clinker," said Piron, during a pause in the conversation, +"if the colonel is not going with us, I must take him back his +magnificent snuff-box he forgot when he left us so suddenly the other +morning. Here it is, with the letters of his name on it in brilliants. I +thought it too valuable to send by one of the blacks, and I kept it to +carry myself." + +How singular it was that the colonel should have forgotten his royal +treasure! Keep your wits about you, Captain Brand, or one of these days +you'll be forgetting your pistols. + +"Given to him by a connection of his family, was it, Paddy? Weel, mon, +let's take a peench for the honor of Sackveel Street, and then push it +along to Meester Darcantel." + +The doctor was sitting in his calm, grave way, listening to the +disjointed words--like dry nuts dropping on the ground--from the +shriveled lips of Clinker; but as he abstractedly put his fingers in the +box, and turned his eyes languidly as he pushed down the lid, he gave a +bound from his chair--with the box clutched in his left hand--giving a +jar to the room and table that even made Clinker believe the forty-year +earthquake had come before its time. + +Standing there, with his tall, majestic figure, like a statue of bronze, +his right arm poised with clenched hand aloft in a threatening attitude, +his dark, grizzled locks bristling above his head, the black eyes +flaming with an inhuman light, as if prepared to crush, with the power +of a god, the pigmies around him, he said, in a deep low voice, which +made the glasses ring and shudder, + +"Who owns this bawble?" + +"It belongs to a Colonel Lawton who has been staying here!" exclaimed +Piron, quickly and hurriedly. + +"What sort of man?" came again from those terrible lungs, without +relaxing a muscle of his frame. + +"A square-built, tallish fellow, of about feefty, with greenish-blue +eyes, a black wig, and a glorious sapphire ring on the only finger of +his left hand!" roared Burns and Stewart together. + +Again came the jar of the earthquake to make the building, table, +glasses, and all shake, as Paul Darcantel strode with his heels of +adamant out of the sala and to the veranda; then a bound, which was +heard in the room; and after five minutes' stupid silence Banou +appeared. + +The buckra gentleman had torn rather than led his master's barb from the +stable, and scarcely waiting for a saddle, had thrown himself like an +Indian across his back. There! his master might hear the clattering of +the hoofs up the steep. + +"The mon's daft--clean daft, mon!" "Be me sowl, it's the only pair of +eyes I iver wouldn't like to look at over me saw-handled friend, Joe +Manton!" "He's taken the box with him," crackled Clinker. + +But that was the last that Paddy Burns, or Stewart, or Clinker ever saw +of man or box. Piron rose and listened to the sound of the receding +hoofs from the veranda; and when he resumed his place his lips were +sealed for the night. _He_ saw, however, and the rest of them heard a +good deal about the man and the box in time to come. + +Did that blooded horse, as he dashed round the curve of the peak, with +his thin nostrils blazing red in the dark night, know who his rider was, +and on what errand he was bound? It was not snuff that distended those +wide nostrils as he plunged down the broken road, through the close, +deep forest, over rocks and water-courses, without missing a step with +his sure, ringing hoofs; and mounting the sharp gorge beyond with the +leap of a stag, his mane and tail streaming in the calm, thick night; +the eyes lanterns of pursuing light, flashing out before his precipitous +tread in jets of fire, as his feet struck the flinty stones, with a +regular, enduring throb from his heaving chest, as an encouraging hand +patted his shoulder and urged him onward. + +Down the mountain again, with never a shy or a snort--the horse +knowing the rider, and the man the noble beast; the lizards wheetling +merrily, and the paroquets on the tree-tops waking up to chatter with +satisfaction. Then into the beaten track along by the sea-shore, the +horse increasing his stride at every minute, the spume flying in +flakes from his flaming nostrils, and the man bending to his hot +neck, smoothing away the white foam, until, with a panting stagger, +horse and rider stood still in the town of Kingston. + +"Here, my boys, rub this your master's horse down well, and walk him +about the court-yard for an hour. There! Take this between you!" + +One last pat of the steed's arched neck, a grateful neigh as the dark +face pressed against his broad head, and Paul Darcantel strode away in +the gray light of the morning. + +"Gorra mighty! Nimble Jack, look at dis! Bress my modder in hebben, it +am one gold ounce apiece, sure as dis gemman's name Ring Finger Bill! De +Lord be good to dat tall massa! Him must hab plenty ob shiner to hove +him away on poor niggers!" + +Even while the tall man strode on toward the port, and as the happy +blacks were chattering over their yapper, and walking the gallant steed +up and down the paved court-yard, a dull, heavy-sailing Spanish +brigantine was slowly sagging past Gallows Point and the Apostles' +Battery, when, creeping on by the frowning forts of Port Royal, she held +her course to sea. + +Very different sort of craft from the counterfeit brigantine, with +clean, lean bows, slipping out from the Tiger's Trap one sultry evening +before a hurricane, which went careering, with a sea-hound after her, +down to the Garotte Gorge. Different kind of a crew too; and Captain +Brand must have remarked the contrast, with his keen, critical, nautical +eye--that is, if he chanced to sail in both brigantines, as there is +much reason for believing he did--with great disgust, on board the +dirty, dumpy old ballahoo now just clear of Drunkenman's Cay, and +heading alongshore for Helshire Point, bound for St. Jago de Cuba. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +LILIES AND SEA-WEED. + + "Oh leave the lily on its stem! + Oh leave the rose upon the spray! + Oh leave the elder bloom, fair maids, + And listen to my lay!" + + "When descends on the Atlantic + The gigantic + Storm-wind of the equinox, + Landward in his wrath he scourges + The toiling surges, + Laden with sea-weed from the rocks." + + +By day and night, under sun or moon, and in breeze or calm--by the +resounding shore--on the rippling water--in saloon and grove, picnicking +and boating--under vine or awning--all around in the whirling waltz, the +measured contra-danza--amid the tinkle of guitar or trill of piano, the +rattle and crash of the full band on board the frigate--gently rocking +on the narrow deck of the "Rosalie," or down in the brig of teak, there +was ever a white arm linked in the arm of blue--now timidly, then with a +confiding pressure--now a furtive look of blue eyes into dark, then a +fixed, steady gaze from the brown to the light--here a palpitating +pause, and then the blue arms wound around the waving stem--two white +arms clasping, with a passionate caress, the neck of the weed--and, yes! +the lily floating on the white cheek of the pond had been caught by the +strong weed, and with the reacting tide was going out to sea! Ay! the +sailor had won the maiden! + +But while the lily rocked hither and thither on the pond, with its blond +leaves and petals of blue, and its pliant stem in danger at every tide, +did the fond mothers watch it from the bank? That they did, thinking of +the time when they were lilies of the pond themselves, with no fears of +danger near. But at last it came, and, like blooming flowers, they swung +to and fro in the rain, dropping a tear or two from their own rosy +leaves--more in dewy sorrow than in fear--and waiting for sunshine; +bending their beautiful heads of roses the while one toward another, +peeping out with their dark violet eyes, and listening, as the wind +shook them, with a tremble of apprehension, and clinging hopefully to +the straight support on which they reclined. + +By day and night, in burning sun with not a drop to drink, and in the +sultry night with no morsel of food to eat--through the searing sand in +the streets and lanes, down by the quays--to every vessel in the crowded +harbor--in every hotel and lodging-house in Kingston--up and down +Spanish Town--away off to Port Royal--occasionally going on board the +frigate for gold, then on shore again--in ribald wassail and drunken +dance, gaming hells especially, and low crimping houses, maroon and +negro huts, and wretched haunts of vice--scattering gold like cards, +dice, rum, and water--no end to it--in large yellow drops too--and still +striding on, questioning, gleaming with those revengeful eyes--never +resting brain or body, without drink or meat--went Paul Darcantel. + +Oh, Paul, that cowardly villain saw you from the very moment you took +that pinch of snuff out of his blue enameled box--ay, even before, when +you walked your mule slowly up the broken road, while a goaded barb was +curbed back in the gloomy forest till you had passed, with his rider's +finger in his waistcoat pocket. And in all your ceaseless wanderings, by +day and night, that now timid, terror-stricken villain has been +following you; dodging behind corners--under the well-worn cloths of +monte banks--in the back rooms of pulperias--hiding in nests of +infamy--every where and in all places steering clear of you. + +Oh, Paul! what a deceived man you are! + +And while you are doing all this, just turn your eyes out to the calm +spot off Montego Bay, where that leaky old brigantine is bobbing about. +The dirty, surly _capitano_ kicking and beating the hands from taffrail +to bowsprit, particularly one great tall fellow, without a hat, and but +a few dry thin hairs to shield his skull from the scorching sun; cursing +him, as he puffs a cigarette, for being the most idle scoundrel of a +skulk on board! But he--the scoundrel!--laughing with a hollow laugh up +the sleeve of his filthy shirt, with never a dollar in his belt or an +extra pair of trowsers in the forecastle, with bare feet, and still, +cold eyes, now turned to green--eating nasty jerked beef and drinking +putrid water--never sleeping for vermin--kicked and cuffed about the +decks. + +But yet he smiled with a devilish satisfaction, Paul, for he has escaped +_you_, and was bound to St. Jago de Cuba! From there he would +charter--steal, perhaps--a small boat, and run over to the Doce Leguas +Cays, where there were ten thousand pounds in mildewed gold!--if nobody +had discovered it, which was not probable--and he--the scoundrel!--would +gather it up in bags, and slink away to some other part of the world. + +You must be very quick, Captain Brand, for the leaky brigantine does not +sail so fast as the "Centipede," and your ancient compadre, Don Ignacio, +is just out of prison. His old, fat, banana wife is very sorry for it, +but that's none of your business. + +And you, Doctor Paul! don't you pity that flying, dirty wretch, with his +mutilated hand, and soul-beseeching gaze out of those greenish frozen +eyes, where a ray of mercy never entered, but whose icy lids fairly +crack as your shadow stamps across them? + +No, not a ray of pity or mercy for the infamous villain; not even a +twitch of the little finger of his bloody, mutilated white hand! No, not +the faintest hope of pity! He shall die in such torments as even a +pirate never devoted a victim. + +But you are worn out, Darcantel; your prey has escaped you. The people +think you mad, as you are, for revenge; and though your stride is the +same, and your frame still as nervous as a galvanized corpse, yet flesh +and blood can not stand it. Go on board the "Monongahela," and talk to +that true friend whose counsels you have ever listened to since you were +rocking in your cradle; or take that noble, gallant youth in your arms +and console him--for he needs consolation--and think of the mouse who +gnawed the net years and years ago. + +Well, you will, Paul Darcantel; but before you do, you will step into +that jeweler's shop and buy a trifle for old Clinker there, out at +Escondido. You want a ring, the finest gem that can be found on the +island of Jamaica. There it is--its equal not to be bought in the whole +West India Islands, or the East Indies either. + +"I gave a military man an ounce for the setting alone, but the +sapphire-looking stone may be glass. He was going to sail the next +morning in a Spanish brigantine for St. Jago de Cuba, and wanted the +money to pay his bill at the lodging-house adjoining. The senor might +take it for any price he chose to put upon it." + +What made that old dealer in precious stones and trinkets turn paler +than his old topaz face as he yelled frantically for his older Creole +wife? The senor had seized the ring as he broke his elbows through the +glass cases which contained the time-honored jewelry, and dashed a +yellow shower of heavy gold ounces over the floor of the little shop, +smashing the glass door of that too in his exit! And when the little +toddling fat woman appeared in the most indecent dress possible to +conceive of, with scarcely time to light her paper cigar, she +exclaimed, + +"_Es lunatico, hombre! ay, demonio con oro!_ A crazy man--a demon with +gold!" And forthwith she picked up the pieces and looked at them +critically to be sure of their value. "_Son buenos, campeche!_ All +right, old deary; we'll have such a podrida to-day! Baked duck, with +garlic too! So shut the door. There's the ounce you gave the officer man +for the ring, and I'll guard the rest." + +That old woman did, too; and that very night she won--in the most +skillful way--from her shaky old topaz, in his tin spectacle setting, +his last ounce, and locked all up in her own little brass-nailed trunk +for a rainy season for them both, together with their daughter's +pickaninnies. + +Paul Darcantel whirled and spun round the corners and along the sandy +streets till he reached the landing, moving like a water-spout, and +clearing every thing from his track. There he sprang into the first boat +he saw, seized the sculls, despite the shrieks and gesticulations of the +old nigger whose property it was, and who jumped overboard with a howl +as if a lobster had caught him by the toe, and paddled into a +neighboring boat, where, with the assistance of another ancient crony, +they both let off volley upon volley of shrieks, which alarmed the +harbor, while the boat went shooting like a javelin toward the +men-of-war. + +However, those old stump-tailed African baboons found a gold ounce in +their boat after it had been set adrift from the American frigate. What +a jolly snapping of teeth over a tough old goose stuffed with onions +that night, with two respectable colored ladies and a case-bottle of rum +beside them! You can almost sniff the fragrant odor as it arises, even +at this distance. I do, and shall, mayhap, many a time again, in lands +where stuffed goose and comely colored ladies abound. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +PARTING. + + "The very stars are strangers, as I catch them + Athwart the shadowy sails that swell above; + I can not hope that other eyes will watch them + At the same moment with a mutual love. + They shine not there as here they now are shining; + The very hours are changed. Ah! do ye sleep? + O'er each home pillow midnight is declining-- + May one kind dream at least my image keep!" + + +There had been a small party on board the "Monongahela" the night before +to bid the commodore good-by--all old friends of both parties--the +Pirons, Burns, Stewart, Stingo, and Jacob Blunt. Clinker was not there, +for he never went where it was damp, and if he got musty it must be from +mildew on shore. The "Martha Blunt," under the careful management of +young Binks, the mate, with Banou and all the baggage on board, was +being towed by two of the frigate's boats down the harbor, with her +yards mast-headed, all ready to sheet home the sails when the black +pilot should say the land-wind would make and the passengers to come on +board. + +The lights were twinkling from lattice and veranda in the upper and +lower town, the lanterns of the French and English admirals were shining +from the tops of their flag-ships, and the revolving gleams from the +beacon on the Pallissadoes Point flickered and dazzled over the gemmed +starlit surface of the water. The awning was still spread on the +after-deck of the "Monongahela;" and there, while the officer of the +watch paced the forward part of the deck with the midshipmen to leeward, +the sentries on the high platform outside and on the forecastle, the +party of ladies and gentlemen stood silently watching and thinking. + +There is no need explaining their looks or their thoughts; we know all +about them. How Paddy Burns and Tom Stewart, with little Stingo, were +going over the time, thirty years or more back, when with Piron there, +boys together, they all swam on the beach of that fine harbor. The old +school-house, too, with the tipsy old master, who whacked them soundly, +drunk or sober; their frolics at the fandangoes in Spanish Town; their +transient separations in after life on visits to France or the Old +Country; the hearty joy to meet again and drink Jamaica forever. And now +their companion in tropical heat and mountain shade was going to part +with them, and sail away over that restless ocean, never, perhaps, to +meet again! + +Even old Clinker, as he sat on his stem by the old worm-eaten desk, with +his dried old lemon of a face lying in his leaves of hands--with no +light in the dark, deserted old counting-house--looked out between his +fibres of fingers and saw the cradle, with the sleeping twins within it, +while the rafters pressed him as flat as the old portfolio before him. +And now, as a drop or two of bitter juice exuded from his shriveled +rind, he saw those lovely twins floating away, never more to be saved +from an earthquake by old Clinker. + +Mr. Mouse, likewise, was wide awake, and hopping about with a kangaroo +step, a little in doubt why Miss Rosalie was so pale, why those blue +eyes were so dim, and why she said to him "Go away, little one," with a +quivering, tremulous voice and hand. Mouse told Rat, and Rat told Martin +and Beaver, that the poor girl was in love with him, Tiny, and that he +would make it all right one of these days, when he got an epaulet on his +little shoulder. + +Softly, like the cool breath of a slumbering child, came a faint air +from the land. The bell of the frigate, clanging in its brassy throat, +struck for midnight. The sentinels on their posts cried "All's well!" +The old brig was letting fall her top-sails, and the sound of the oars +in the cutter's row-locks ceased. + +"Cleveland," said Piron, quietly, "while the ladies and our friends are +getting into the barge, come down with me in your cabin. I wish to have +a parting word with you." + +So they go down. + +"Now, my dear friend, you have seen as well as I how wildly those young +people are in love with each other; so has my wife and her sister; and, +indeed, _my_ sweet Rosalie seems more in love with him than our niece. I +have not had the heart to put a thorn in the path of their happiness, +and God grant it may all come right. But, Cleveland, you know that we +come from an old and noble stock, where the bar sinister has never +crossed our escutcheon, and I can not yet make up my mind to an +immediate engagement. This our niece has consented to--Stop, Cleveland, +hear me out. I do not, however, carry my prejudices to any absurd +extent, nor have I spoken on this subject to the girl, and only to her +mother and my wife; but I wish you to explain the way we feel, in your +own kind manner, to your friend's son. Say to him what a trial it has +been to us--how we all love him"--he pressed his handkerchief to his +eyes--"and after he has learned all, if he still persists in urging his +suit when the cruise is over, he shall have our consent and blessing. +Time may work changes in them both; and meanwhile I shall not mention +the matter to our little Rosalie, as we fear for the consequences." + +"Spoken like a true father and a noble gentleman, my dear Piron! I have +thought as you and your excellent wife do on this matter; but, like you, +I have not had the courage to give even a hint of warning to Henry. I +shall, however, break the matter gently to him, and send my coxswain for +his father also, whom I have not seen for a week, and who, they tell me, +has been raging about Kingston ever since he ran away from you at +Escondido. His son loves him devotedly, and a word from him will do more +than I could say in a lifetime." + +"The ladies are in the barge, commodore," squeaked Midshipman Mouse, as +he popped his tiny head into the cabin. + +"Very well, sir. And tell Lieutenant Darcantel that I wish to see him +to-morrow morning, before church service. Come, Piron!" + +On the lower grating of the accommodation-ladder stood the commodore, +with his first lieutenant, as the barge shoved off. + +"I am heartily obliged to you, Commodore Cleveland," said Jacob Blunt, +"for your kindness to me; and if Mr. Hardy will permit, I'll give the +boats' crews a glass of grog for their trouble in towing the old brig." + +Certainly! Jacob knew what was proper under the circumstances, and liked +a moderate toss himself after a hard night's work as well as the lusty +sailors in the boats, and the youngsters, Rat and Martin, who steered +them. + +So the barge shoved off, with no other words spoken, though there were +white handkerchiefs wet with women's tears, and red bandanas, too, +somewhat moist; while following in the barge's wake went a light +whale-boat gig, pulled by four old tars, who could make her leap, when +they had a mind, half out of water, for it was in those brawny old arms +to do it. But now they merely dipped the long oar-blades in the water, +and could not keep up with the barge. + +They knew--those corrugated old salts--that their gallant, considerate +young captain there in the stern-sheets, with the tiller-ropes in his +hands, who steered so wildly about the harbor, had something more +yielding than white-laced rope in his flippers; and that the sweet +little craft under white dimity, with her head throwing off the +sparkling spray as she lay under his bows, was in no hurry to go to +sea--not caring much, either, to what port she was bound, so long as she +found good holding-ground when she got in harbor with both bowers down, +and cargo ready for another voyage--not she! + +Finally, old Jacob Blunt, master, again in full command of brig +"Martha," with Mr. Binnacle Binks catting the anchor forward, all sail +made, sheets home, and every thing shipshape, with a fresh, steady +land-wind, and a light gig towing astern, went steering out to sea, +bound to New Orleans by way of the Windward Passage. + +At the first ray of sunrise the gig's line was cast off; and with the +waves breaking over her, those four old sons of Daddy Neptune bared +their tattooed arms--illustrative of ships, anchors, and maidens--and +bent their bodies with a will toward the harbor. + +"Take keer, sir, if it's the same to you, or we'll be on that ledge off +the ''Postles' Battery.' It looks jist like that 'ere reef in the +Vargin's Passage as I was wunce nearly 'racked on, in the 'Smasher,' +sixteen-gun brig." + +"No fear, Harry Greenfield." + +"Beg your parding, Mr. Darcantel, but that 'ere wessel you is heading +for is that old clump of a Spanish gun-boat; our craft is off here, +under the quarter of the 'Monongaheelee.'" + +"Oh yes, Charley; I see the 'Rosalie.'" + +What made these old salts slew gravely round one to the other, as their +sixteen-feet oars rattled with a regular jar in the brass row-locks, and +shut one eye tight, as if they enjoyed something themselves? Probably +they were thinking of a strapping lass, in blue ribbons, who lived +somewhere in a sea-port town long years ago. But yet they loved that +young slip of sea-weed, whose head was bent down to the buttons of his +blue jacket, his epaulet lopsided on his shoulder, his sword hilt +downward, and his brown eyes tracing the lines of the ash grating where +pretty feet had once rested, while he jerked the tiller-ropes from side +to side, and his gig went wild by reef and point toward the "Rosalie." + +When the gig's oars at last, in spite of her meandering navigation by +her abstracted helmsman, trailed alongside the schooner, and while her +crew were cracking a few biscuits and jokes on deck, with the sun high +up the little craft's masts, her captain hurried down to his small +cabin, and changed his rig for service on board the frigate. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +DEVOTION. + + "To walk together to the kirk, + And all together pray, + While each to his Great Father bends-- + Old men and babes, and loving friends, + And youths and maidens gay!" + + "Farewell! farewell! but this I tell + To thee, thou wedding-guest, + He prayeth well who loveth well + Both man, and bird, and beast!" + + +Sunday morning in Kingston harbor. The deep-toned bells from cathedral +and church were wafted off from the town; the troops at Park Camp +marching with easy tread to their chapel; matrons and maidens, with bare +heads, fans, and mantillas, going along demurely; portly judges, +factors, and planters trudging beside palanquins of their Saxon spouses; +negroes in white; Creoles in brown, cigarettes put out for a time; while +swinging censers and rolling sound of organs and chants, or prayers and +sermons from kirk and pulpits, told how the people were worshiping God +according to their several beliefs. + +On the calm harbor, too, and in Port Royal, lay the men-of-war, the +church pennants taking the place of the ensigns at the peaks, the bells +tolling, and the sailors--quiet, clean, and orderly--were attending +divine service. + +On board the "Monongahela" the great spar-deck was comparatively +deserted--all save that officer with his spy-glassing old quarter-master, +and the sentries on gangway and forecastle. The ropes, however, were +flemished down in concentric coils, the guns without a speck of dust +on their shining coats, the capstan polished like an old brass +candlestick, and every thing below and aloft in a faultless condition. + +As Harry Darcantel came rather languidly over the gangway, and went down +to the main deck, where the five hundred sailors in snowy-white +mustering clothes were assembled, Commodore Cleveland beckoned to him +with his finger as he stood talking at the cabin door to his first +lieutenant. + +"Hardy, I do not feel well this morning; make my excuses to the +chaplain, and go on with the service. Come in, Harry. Orderly, allow no +one, not even the servants, to enter the cabin--except Dr. Darcantel, in +case he should come on board." + +The stiff soldier laid his white-gloved finger on the visor of his hat. +Then the chaplain, standing on his flag-draped pulpit at the main-mast, +with those five hundred quiet, attentive sailors seated on capstan-bars +and match-tubs between the silent cannon, and no sound save his mild, +persuasive voice, as he read the sublime service from the good lessons +before him. Then, after a short but impressive sermon, adapted to the +comprehension of the honest tars around him, with a kindly word, too, +for the sagacious officers who commanded them, he closed the holy book +and delivered the parting benediction. + +As he began, a shore boat, in spite of the warning of the sentry at the +gangway, came bows on to the frigate's solid side, and as she went +dancing and bobbing back from the recoil of the concussion, a tall, +powerful man leaped out of her, and, by a mighty spring, caught the +man-ropes of the port gangway, and swung himself through the open port +of the gun-deck. Bowing his lofty head with reverential awe as the last +solemn words of the benediction were uttered by the chaplain, he joined, +in a deep, guttural voice, the word "Amen," and strode on and entered +the cabin. + +The curtains were closely drawn of the after cabin, even to shut out the +first whisper of the young sea-breeze which was fluttering in from Port +Royal; and there stood that noble officer, with his strong arm thrown +around the gallant youth--the picture of abject woe--talking in his +kind, feeling accents, trying to console him, painting the sky bright in +the distance, and begging him, by all the love and affection he bore him +through so many years, to be a man, and trust to his good conscience and +his right arm to cleave his way through the clouds and gloom which +surrounded him. + +"There, Henry, you are calmer now. Sit down here in my stateroom, and +while you think of that fond girl, give a thought to that poor bereaved +mother, Madame Rosalie, who loves you for the resemblance she thinks you +bear to her little boy, who was murdered by pirates just seventeen years +ago off this very island." + +"What do you say, Cleveland?" said a voice behind him, with such deep, +concentrated energy that the commodore fairly started. "What did you say +about a lost child and a Madame Rosalie?" + +Paul Darcantel stood there in the softened crimson light, with his +sinewy, bony hands upraised, his gaunt breast heaving, with unshorn +beard and tangled, grizzly locks, the iron jaw half open, and his dark, +terrible eyes gleaming with unearthly fire. + +"Speak, Harry Cleveland! For the wife you have lost, speak!" + +"My dear, dearest friend, do be calm! Why have you been so long away +from me? I wanted you here, but you did not come. Our poor boy has had +_his_ first lesson in this world's grief, and I have felt obliged to +tell him all--yes, every thing! That the grave he has so often wept +over, under the magnolia, does not contain his mother; and that--" + +"Merciful God!" said Paul Darcantel, sinking down on his knees, with his +hands clasped together, while the first tears for more than twenty years +streamed from his agonized eyes. "There is a Providence in it all! That +boy is not my son! I saved him from the pirate's grasp, and that woman +must be his mother!" + +Lower and lower the lofty head bent till it touched the deck, the bony +hands clasped tight together, and those eyes--ah! those parched eyes--no +longer dry! + +"Paul, Paul, what is this I hear? For the love of heaven and those +angels who are waiting for us, speak again!" + +"My father--my more than father, I am not illegitimate, then! No such +shame may cause your boy to blush for his mother?" + +While strong and loving arms raised the exhausted man from the deck, and +while he becomes once more the same determined Paul Darcantel, and with +hand grasped in hand is rapidly recounting unknown years of his +existence, let us leave the cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +ALL ALIVE AGAIN. + + "Among ourselves, in peace, 'tis true, + We quarrel, make a rout; + And having nothing else to do, + We fairly scold it out; + But once the enemy in view, + Shake hands, we soon are friends; + On the deck, + Till a wreck, + Each common cause defends." + + +Down in the steerage, where a bare cherry table stood, and upright +lockers ranged around, with a lot of half-starved reefers devouring +their dinner--not near so good or well served as the sailors' around +their mess-cloths on the upper decks--with a few urchins utterly +regardless of steerage grub, and a dollar or two in their little fists, +all nicely dressed in blue jackets and white trowsers, waiting for the +hands to be turned to and the boats manned, to go on shore for a lark. + +Abaft in the wardroom, two or three of the swabs, the surgeon's mates, +and the jaunty young marine lieutenant were getting into their bullion +coats and fine toggery, and buckling on their armor to do sad havoc +among the planters' families in the evening, away there in Upper +Kingston. As for the first lieutenant, the purser, the fleet surgeon, +the sailing-master, and the old major of marines, they had been ashore +before, and didn't care to go again; growling jocosely among themselves +on board the frigate, and glad to get rid of the juvenile gabble. + +Presently, and before the hands were turned to from dinner, the cabin +bell rang so violently that the orderly's brass scale-plate fixtures on +his leather hat fairly rang too as he opened the sacred door. + +"Tell the first lieutenant I want him." + +The dismayed soldier forgot to lay his white worsted finger on his visor +as he slammed to the door and marched out on the gun-deck. + +"Mr. Hardy, unmoor ship! Hoist a jack at the fore and fire a gun for a +pilot! Get the frigate under weigh, sir, and be quick about it!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" + +As Hardy rapidly passed his old cronies, who were tramping along the +deck as he mounted the after-ladder, he said, with a nod, + +"By the Lord! I haven't seen the commodore in such a breeze since he +blew that pirate out of water at Darien." + +In a minute the "Monongahela's" bell struck two, and the boatswain and +his mates, piping as if their hairy throats would split, roared out, +"All hands!" and a moment later, "All hands unmoor ship!" + +"What does that mean?" said a cook of a mess to Jim Dreen, the old +quarter-master, who had just come down from his watch. + +"Mean? why, you lazy, blind duff b'iler, it means that I've lost my +blessed dinner." + +"Hallo!" says Rat to Beaver, "what's that? Unmoor ship on my liberty +day! I swear I'll resign!" + +No you won't, reefers, but you'll trip aloft as fast as your little legs +will carry you--Mouse in company--up to the fore, main, and mizzen tops, +and squeak there as much as you like; but jump about and look sharp that +nothing goes wrong, or Mr. Hardy will be down upon you like a main +tack. + +Bang from the bow port and the union jack at the fore! + +"God bless my soul, fellows, this is the most infernal tyranny I ever +heard of!" came from the wardroom; "all of us engaged to dine and dance +in Kingston this evening, and--" + +"It's 'All hands up anchor, gentlemen!'" and away they all went. + +Down went the mess-kids, and down came the awnings, and up came the +boats to their davits; in went the bars to both capstans, the nippers +clapped on, and the muddy cables coming in to the tunes of fifes; while +above the running gear was rove, the Sunday bunts to the sails cast off, +and the five hundred sailors dancing about on the decks, spars, and +rigging of that American double-banked frigate, as if they could always +work her sails and battery to the admiration of their good commodore +there, who was looking at them from the quarter-deck. + +"Massa captan," said the shining ebony pilot, in his snowy suit, as he +took off his fine white Panama hat, "dis is de ole pilot, sa, Peter +Crabreef--name after dat black rock way dere outside. Suppose you tink +ob beating dis big frigate troo de channel? Unpossible, wid dis +breeze!" + +"Peter Crabreef," said the old sailing-master, to whom these observations +were addressed, "you had better not give such a hint to that gentleman +there in the epaulets; for if you do, you'll never see Mrs. Crabreef +again! You had better keep your wits about you, too, and plenty of +water under the keel, for the commodore is fond of water!" + +"Sartainly, massa ossifa! I is old Peter, and never yet touch a nail of +man-of-war copper battam on de reefs!" + +On board the pigmy black schooner near, half a dozen old salt veterans +were squinting at the flag-ship and holding much deliberate speculation +as to what all the row meant. Old Harry Greenfield, however, with Ben +Brown, who were the gunner and boatswain of the little vessel, observed +that, "In the ewent of our bein' wanted, ye see, Harry, it will be as +well to have the deck tackle stretched along for heavin' in, and get the +prop from under the main boom." + +Even as they spoke, a few bits of square bunting went up in balls to the +mizzen of the frigate, and, blowing out clear, said, as plain as flags +could speak, "Prepare to weigh anchor!" + +At the same moment the "Rosalie's" gig came bounding like a bubble over +the water with the tall gentleman beside the young commander in the +stern-sheets. There was a great, nervous, bony hand now holding his, but +with as an affectionate pressure as the soft dimpled fingers he himself +had held the night before. Gig not steered at all wild now, but going as +straight as a bullet to the schooner. + +The stirring sounds of the fifes as the sailors danced round with the +bars in the capstans, with a beating step to keep time to the lively +music, were still heard on board the frigate, and then came from the +forecastle, + +"The anchor's under foot, sir!" + +"Pawl the capstan! Aloft, sail-loosers! Trice up! Lay out! Loose away!" +Almost at the instant came down the squeaks from aloft of, "All ready +with the fore! the main! the mizzen!" "Let fall--sheet home! hoist away +the top-sails!" + +Again were heard the quick notes of the fifes on both decks, and in less +than five minutes more the anchors were catted, and the "Monongahela," +under a cloud of canvas, began to move. + +But where was the "Rosalie," late "Perdita," all this time? Why, there +she goes, with never a tack, through the narrow strait, lying over under +the press of her white dimity like a witch on a black broomstick, as she +shoots out to sea. + +And who is that tall man, on that narrow deck, clapping on to sheet and +tackle, though there was no need of assistance, or skill, or seamanship +to be displayed on board that craft, except by way of love of the thing? +And why does he, during a pause when there was nothing more that could +possibly be done, stand by the weather rail, shaking a great huge old +seaman by both hands till he almost jarred the schooner to her +keel?--Ben Brown, the helmsman, whom you have heard of on board the +"Martha Blunt," who, by some accidental word he dropped near to the tall +gentleman, caused that hand-grasping collision. + +It was not another five minutes before the other thirty-nine old +sea-dogs knew all about every body, and where they were bound, and so +on. They did not care a brass button for the thousand silver dollars +they were to have from the tall gentleman--not they! They wanted merely +to lay their eyes along that Long Tom amidships, and to have a cutlass +flashing over their shoulders--so fashion! Pistols and pikes! Fudge! + +But where was the "Martha Blunt?" Oh, that old teak brig was bouncing +along past Morant Point, with a good slant from the southward, pretty +much where she was some seventeen years before, with a few more +passengers in her deck cabin, reading their Bibles, and praying for +those who go down to the sea in ships on that Sabbath day--one looking +with her sad eyes out of the stern windows, and another doing the same, +and both thinking of the same boy who had been dashed out of one of +those windows; and though both of them knew the other's thoughts, yet +they did not dream they were thinking of the same person at the time. + +And where was the Spanish brigantine, with the exacting _capitano_--who +was a slaver in dull times--and his pleasant mate, who would think no +more of sticking a knife into you than he did of kicking that skulking, +icy-eyed sailor on board--detesting as he did the entire Saxon race ever +since Cadiz was bombarded--and feeding him on rotten jerked beef? There +were no prayers, only curses, on board that brigantine as she dropped +anchor in St. Jago that fine Sunday morning. + +And where was our ancient one-eyed mariner, formerly in command of the +colonial guarda costa felucca, the "Panchita," named after his fat +banana of a sposa? Oh, the Don--simply Ignacio now--had had a quiet +confab with the deputy administrador all about some treasure which he +knew was concealed, and where--for he had seen with his bright eye the +light of a torch in a cleft of a crag--and he would go shares with that +official if he would give him a little assistance. + +"_Oh, cierto!_" Why not? And there was an old launch, with a torn lateen +sail, which Columbus might have been proud to command; and, in this fine +weather, he might sail back to Port Palos in her. + +Oh yes! But, to keep all secret, he would merely take old Pancha, his +wife, for crew. And so, with a few bundles of paper cigars, and some +dried fish and water--the only property they possessed, save his eye +and a pack of cards, and those valuables rescued with difficulty--they +sailed the night before the blessed Sunday. _He_ never came back, +though. No blame attributable to the eye--that was as bright and +wary an old burning spark of suspicious fire as ever; but then old +Pancha held the cards, and this time she won. Very singular it was, +_cierto_. If Ignacio had not gone back again for another bag which +was not there, why, the _sota_ of a knave being the next card--Ah! we +won't anticipate. + +But we are all alive yet, except those murdered women, whose white coral +head-stones still stand up there in the cactus, and poor Binks, and +those slashing blades of the poisonous, many-legged "Centipede," who +were eaten by the sharks--all alive the rest of us, and wide awake! + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE ROPE LAID UP. + + "The captain is walking his quarter-deck + With a troubled brow and a bended neck; + One eye is down the hatchway cast, + The other turns up to the truck on the mast." + + "The breeze is blowing--huzza, huzza! + The breeze is blowing--away, away! + The breeze is blowing--a race, a race! + The breeze is blowing--we near the chase." + + +Well, the positions of all hands were simply these. The icy-eyed man, +without snuff-box, or ring on that mutilated flipper, with two under +pockets in his shirt, and something in them, a pair of filthy old canvas +trowsers, and no hanger by his side, where there had been so much +hanging in the good old times, slipped overboard like a conger eel, and +swam on shore at St. Jago de Cuba. Without a _real_ of wages--for he was +to work his passage--and because he didn't feel inclined to work, the +_capitano_ in command assisted his agile subordinate to kick him all the +voyage. + +Had, however, the mate presented that cold eel his knife for a moment +before he jumped overboard and squirmed to the shore, that cuchillo +would have found a redder sheath than the crimson sash which usually +held it. Fortunately perhaps for the mate, he was not of a generous +disposition, save with kicks and ropes'-ends, or else he might have +regretted his philanthropy. + +So soon as the icy-blue man had congealed, as it were, in the sun until +he was quite dry and frozen again, he slunk away to the ditch of the old +fort, where he thawed till nightfall, and then entered the town; hanging +round the pulperias, smacking and cracking his parched lips for a +measure of aguardiente, only two centavos a cup, and not caring for that +fine, generous, pale, amber-colored old Port sent to him by the good +Archbishop of Oporto! But, not having the copper centavos--though his +own coppers stood so much in need of moisture--he continued to skulk +on. + +Presently, coming to the wide streets and to the outskirts of the town, +he spied a large mule, ready caparisoned for the road, hitched to the +door of a house, waiting for his owner to mount him. The icy green-eyed +individual, disgusted for the time with blue salt water, and being, as +we know, a capital cavalry-man--in dashing charges among the patriots, +and caprioling also up the Blue Mountains to Escondido--thought he would +take another gallop on the dry ground, just to keep his hand and little +finger in; so he quietly cast off the mule's painter, and flung his +canvas legs over the beast as if he belonged to him. And so he did; for +he told the man at whose place he passed an hour or two that night, and +who thought he knew the master to whom the mule had once belonged, that +it had been presented to him by an old friend, whose name--as had the +mule's--escaped him. + +All this time the one-eyed man, with his banana woman, Pancha, were +creeping along the water part of the land--with the Peak of Tarquina in +sight--toward Cape Cruz, bound round that peninsula, and so on to the +Doce Leguas Cays; while the man on the mule navigated by the Sierras del +Cobre of St. Jago, steering by bridle for Manzanillo, and then to take +water again for the same secret destination. + +The cargo that both expected to take in there was about ten thousand +pounds sterling in mildewed coin of various realms and denominations; +but it was there, and would pass current any where. + +So they sailed and navigated. It was tedious work, though; and it took a +week for the old launch with the torn sail to get into the Tiger's +Trap--fine weather, and no sea--and there make fast to the rocks. At the +same evening hour the mule with his passenger planted his fore feet, +like a pair of kedges over his bows, in the fishing village near +Manzanillo, and foundered bodily, going down with his freight slap-dash +in the mud. The passenger, however, escaped, and skulled along by the +shore, where he fell in with a poor fisherman who was about to shove off +in his trim, wholesome bark for professional recreation on the Esperanza +bank. + +Glad was old Miguel Tortuga to have a strong man to assist him for the +privilege of joining in a sip of aguardiente and catching a red snapper +or two; so they jumped on board and spread the sail. + +Had old Miguel, however, seen the sharklike eyes of his assistant in the +sunlight, or dreamed what a snapper was about to catch _him_, he would +not have gone fishing that night, and it would have saved him much +tribulation at daylight the next morning, when he was picked off a small +rock by a fisher acquaintance of his from Manzanillo. + +But we have nothing to do with old Miguel; and need only say, to console +him, that his stanch boat went safely through the blue gateway of the +roaring ledge of white breakers, and late Sunday night lay calmly in the +inlet abreast Captain Brand's former dwelling. + +To go back again for a week, the "Monongahela"--double-banked leviathan +as she was--came plunging out to sea from Kingston, every man and boy, +from Jack Smith on her forecastle to Bill Pump in the spirit-room, and +from Richard Hardy to Tiny Mouse, knowing from the first plunge the +frigate made what they all sailed for. + +With her proud head toward the east, she went dashing on past the White +Horse Rocks, and woe to the small angry waves which did not get out of +her way, for she smashed them contemptuously in foaming masses from her +majestic bows, sending them back in sparkling spray and bubbles to hiss +their angry way to leeward in her wake. On she went, far off to sea, +where the trade wind was strongest, disdaining gentle zephyrs near the +land, with her great square yards swinging round at every watch while +beating to windward--the tacks close down, yards as fine as they would +lay, and the heavy sheets flat aft. + +Every evening the surgeon, the purser, the chaplain, the major, and the +old sailing-master were in the cabin, going over the chase of a certain +pirate in a schooner "Centipede" away down on the Darien Coast, with +Cape Garotte there under their lee, and the vultures and the sharks +grinding the bones and tearing the flesh of the half of a man with the +tusk gleaming out of his wiry mustache; and the padre, with his eyes +staring wide open, and the crucifix, borne away by the carnivorous birds +of prey. + +All of those dreadful particulars, together with matters that had gone +before--of a lost boy, a heart-broken mother, and a murdered mate, Mr. +Binks, on board the brig "Martha Blunt"--the party at Escondido, the +snuff-box, and Paul Darcantel--all about him, too, from the tragedy on +the plantation, his despair, and reckless life afterward, when he served +in slavers, where he did something to allay the sufferings of the poor +wretches; and afterward how he was trepanned to the "Doce Leguas," went +a cruise with Mr. Bill Gibbs, whose leg he hacked off with a hand-saw, +not knowing at the time about the locket; the little child he had saved; +how that child had saved him from his torture on the trestle with his +mouselike teeth; how he had wandered the wide world over searching and +searching for the mother of that boy! + +And there the boy was--the manly, brave young fellow now--whom officers +and sailors had always loved, flying away with the dark doctor--no +longer Darcantel, but Harry Piron--with his fond father and mother in +the distance, and the sweet girl he adored with her blonde head resting +in her mother's lap. + +[Illustration: THE OLD WATER-LOGGED LAUNCH.] + +Ay, every soul in the ship knew all about it, and talked of it, and +drank to the happiness of the young couple--all save Dick Hardy, who +moved energetically about the frigate's decks, with his eyes every +where, below and aloft, prompt, sharp, and quick, quite like Cleveland, +there, beside him, when they were together in the old "Scourge" +during the hurricane, and chased, to her destruction, the "Centipede." + +"Sail ho!" sang out the man on the fore-top-sail yard. + +"Where away?" + +"Right ahead, sir. A brig on the starboard tack!" + +Ay, the old "Martha Blunt" bouncing along under all sail, squaring off +at the short-armed seas, and striking them doggedly, as she beat up for +the Windward Passage between Hayti and Cuba. + +But there was an old sea-bruiser of a different build, who wore the belt +in the West Indies, and was after that sturdy old brig with teak ribs +for a hearty set-to; and when she came up alongside, in the friendly +sparring-match which ensued while both squared their main yards, and lay +for an hour side by side, there was considerable conversation; so much +talk, in fact--boats going to and fro, mingled with roars and shrieks, +and clasping of hands on board the brig--never a sound on board the +ship--that the blue pennant fluttered in such a way it was hard to tell +whether it was Jacob, or Piron, or the sweet wife, or mademoiselle, or +her lovely mother, who threw their arms around that pennant's truck. + +Then yard-arm and yard-arm, the frigate with her canvas canopy of upper +sails furled, and the brig in her best bib and tucker, they both filled +away and moved side by side. + +For a day or two they went on, talking and laughing to one another in +these friendly shakes of the hand over blue water, until one day, the +brig being to windward, she came upon an old water-logged launch, with a +broken mast and a torn sail hanging over her side. + +It fell calm, and Jacob Blunt ordered young Binks to get into the yawl +and tow the boat alongside, and to be smart about it; for the breeze +might make so soon as the fog rose, and the commodore was not the man to +be kept waiting in a big frigate. Mr. Binks was smart about it, and +presently he returned--though there was no hurry, for the calm lasted a +long time--with his water-logged prize. + +There was no human being in this prize; but when she came alongside, and +a yard tackle was hooked on to let the water drain out of her, Jacob +Blunt and the people on board gave a pleasant yell of astonishment. + +It was not the soiled pack of Spanish cards, or the few bundles of +saturated paper cigars floating about, which caused this excitement. No, +it was several canvas bags lying there in the stern-sheets, strapped +with strands of a woman's red petticoat to the empty water-cask beneath +the thwarts; and not one of those canvas bags, or what was in them, +injured in the least by salt water. Very carefully were those bags--and +they were weighty--lifted on board the brig, over the rail where the +pirates swarmed some long years ago, on to the quarter-deck; and then +there was another joyous shout from Jacob Blunt, as when he had hailed +the trade wind in that long past time. + +"By all that's wonderful, here is my old bag of guineas, and some few +Spanish milled dollars! Look at the mark, my darlings!" + +Another weighty bag was set aside for Mrs. Timothy Binks, and the rest +were devoted, with some large doubloon reservations for crew, to Martha +Blunt and Jacob Blunt in their declining years. + +Then, the weather being still calm and foggy, Jacob and his passengers +went on board the double-banked frigate for church service, where they +all prayed with much hope and thanksgiving for what had passed and what +was to come; and then they went into the commodore's cabin, where they +remained ever so long a time. + +Let us go back this same week again--a very long seven days it has been +for every body, particularly so for the icy-eyed man, who was extremely +anxious, as he kicked and lashed his mule, and kept looking round the +south side of Jamaica, from Portland Point to Pedro Bluff and San +Negril, throwing a ray of cold frost there day and night, expecting that +tall doctor to come striding along in that deep water, heading due +north. + +And at last the dark figure hove in sight, in the schooner "Rosalie"--the +sweet little craft skimming exultingly over the seas, kissing them +occasionally with both her dainty, glistening cheeks, reeling joyously +over on her side, with her tidy dimity laced and spread in one flat sheet +of white, while the slender arms bent like whalebone to the freshening +breeze, and she left the dancing bubbles sparkling and flashing lovingly +in her wake. + +Two hundred miles to go, and the breeze fell from fresh to light, until +at last, shrouded in a thick fog, one Sunday morning, when there was no +air at all, only a flat calm, the sea as smooth as a glass mirror with +the quicksilver clouded. + +Then out sweeps, my lads! Ten of a side, and two of those bronzed old +lads at each sweep! All except the two after ones, where Ben Brown and +the tall doctor handled one apiece. + +Thus, with sails down and bare arms, the light little "Rosalie" +continued gliding rapidly over the mirrored surface--a little ashamed of +herself, perhaps, at being seen in such a scanty rig--while her +commander guided her graceful course, and Harry Greenfield peered about +forward to see that no harm should arrest her dainty footsteps. + +Presently was heard the toll of a bell. The sweeps paused, the hide +gromets resting on the thole-pins, and the water raining from their +broad blades. + +"That must be a man-of-war off here on the quarter," exclaimed the young +officer at the tiller, "ringing for church." + +The old seamen at the sweeps unconsciously took off their hats, wiped +the sweat from their brows, and listened. + +"It can hardly be the 'Monongahela,'" said Ben, "though p'raps she took +more of a breeze to wind'ard, off the island." + +Still the schooner glided on noiselessly over the sea, until, a minute +later, Harry Greenfield sang out, + +"Port, sir! or we'll be plump into a vessel here ahead." + +The helm was put down, and the "Rosalie" sheered off to starboard within +a biscuit-toss of a large brig. + +"By my grandmother's wig!" said Ben, "that's the old 'Martha Blunt!'" + +"Henri," said Paul Darcantel, in French, in his deep voice, "the last +request I shall ever make is to keep on. There is not a moment to +lose!" + +"Give way, men!" shouted the officer, in a decided tone, as the words +came with a stifled gasp from his heaving breast, while the sigh that +followed was drowned in the splash of the sweeps in the water as they +again chafed in their gromets, and the foam flashed away from the blades +astern. + +But there was another splash. A white object sprang with a bound over +the brig's quarter, dipping below the surface of the calm sea, and when +it came up, two great flippers, with a large black head between them, +struck out like the paws of an alligator, breasting the water with a +speed that soon brought him within a few fathoms of the schooner's low +counter. Then, seizing hold of the slack of the main sheet, which was +thrown to him, he came up, hand over hand, as if he could tear the stern +frame out of the schooner. A vigorous grasp caught him by one paw, and, +with the other laid on the taffrail, he leaped on deck as if his feet +had pressed a springboard instead of the yielding water. + +Again, as in the olden time, he held his little Henri aloft in his giant +arms; but this time it was Banou who was dripping from a souse, and not +his little master. + +"Give way, my souls! Another thousand dollars if we get up to the Key +before dark!" said the deep, low tones of the tall doctor. + +"Good Lord!" roared a voice from on board the brig, now shut up again +all alone in the fog--"if that old nigger has not gone and jumped +overboard, my name's not Binks!" + +"All right, Mr. Binks; Banou is safe! Send a boat on board the +'Monongahela,' and report that the schooner 'Rosalie' has passed ahead," +went back in a clear note. + +It was some considerable time before Binks could believe that he had not +been hailed by David Jones himself, for he had seen nothing, being at +the time in the lower cabin reading his Bible, and writing his name, +"Binnacle Binks, Master of brig 'Martha Blunt,'" on the fly-leaf; and he +was only disturbed in this praiseworthy occupation by a heavy body +plunging overboard, and by one of the drowsy crew, who had, with his +comrades, been sleeping near, reporting that circumstance with his eyes +half shut. + +Then young Binks took considerable more time to get a boat lowered, and +send her, with the cabin-boy, to the large frigate close on his beam, +whose bell had just struck seven. + +The boat, too, with four sleepy hands to pull her, took considerable +time to find the ship, and then the whistles were piping to dinner, and +all the good people from the brig, with the flag-officers, had retired +to the commodore's cabin for luncheon. + +When Jacob Blunt heard the news, regardless of sherry and cold tongue, +he himself got in his boat, leaving his passengers in an excited frame +of mind, but rather comfortable on the whole, and returned to the teak +bosom of his "Martha." + +There he took young Binks firmly by the shoulder, and walked him aft to +the rail where his father--long since dead and murdered--had been used +to sit and sing sailor ditties. + +Then he impressively told him that "this 'ere sort of thing wouldn't do! +even if he was a readin' the Bible, which was all very good on occasion, +sich as clear weather out on the broad Atlantic; but in fog times, when +schooners was creepin' about in among the Antilles, and partick'larly +off Jamaiky or the south side of Cuby, mates and men should be wide +awake and lookin' every wheres. And harkee, Binnacle! when you commands +this 'ere old brig, or maybe a bran-new 'Martha Blunt,' and me and my +old woman lying below together in narrow cabins, you must bear in mind +these my words! Well, my boy, don't rub that 'ere sleeve over your eyes +no more, and it will be all right." + +Young Binks promised "that from that 'ere minnit he would never sit on +no rails, or sip no grog, or even read his old mother's Bible when he +wos on watch, but always be as keerful as if there wos no lady +passengers or children on board, or bags of shiners in the lower cabin +stateroom--that he would! And his blessed old second father might take +his davy he, young Binks, would never be caught foul again." + +Meanwhile the girlish schooner tripped away far out of sight, and when +the fog lifted and the breeze came to blow it to leeward she was once +more tidily dressed in snowy white, and splashing the water from her +black eyes, as the last rays of the setting sun showed her the Tiger's +Trap in the distance. + +"Henri, my boy, put your arms around me again as you did when I lay in +torture on the trestle on that island. Have no fears for me; we shall +meet again. There! now listen to me. Here is a packet which I wish you +to carry to Porto Rico with this letter. The old judge is alive, I +think, to whom this letter is addressed, and it may perhaps soothe his +declining years. I wish to take your little gig, with Banou and Ben +Brown--no more force--and if, as I believe, that villain has returned to +his former haunt, I will fulfill my oath to its very letter. Meanwhile, +so soon as we have shoved off, while the breeze still holds, run down to +the frigate--she is not three leagues off--and you will be in your +yearning parent's arms, and those of the girl you love, before they +sleep. There! I know you will think of me. Farewell!" + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +ON A BED OF THORNS. + + "An orphan's curse would drag to hell + A spirit from on high; + But oh! more horrible than that + Is the curse in a dead man's eye!" + + "O Heaven! to think of their white souls, + And mine so black and grim!" + + +"Ho, ho!" said Captain Brand, as he stretched out his straight legs in +their canvas casings on the sand of the little cove, "safe and sound, +and not a soul to share this nice supper of that good old man Miguel! + +"Ho, ho!" continued he; "here at last! No Babette to cook for me--no +'Centipede'--nothing but that stanch little boat presented me by that +generous fisherman, who, I fear, is drowned by this time. Well, let us +enjoy ourselves! Excellent real snapper this! Sausage rather too much +garlic perhaps; but the brown bread and the aguardiente unexceptionable. +Blaze away, my little fire; your sticks cost me much labor to dig out of +my once comfortable house, but you are better than gunpowder any day. + +"Just to think of the years that have passed! That great bank of sand +there over the sheds, nearly as high as the crag, where my brave fellows +once caroused; the young cocoa-nut springing up on the crag itself--not +a vestige of my old habitation left, or the bright blades or pleasant +guests to dine with me!" + +Here there was something of the old cold murderous scowl on the +captain's face as he twisted the point of his nose. + +"Ah! yes, there may be my wary-eyed Sanchez left, though the last +I heard of him he was in the Capilla dungeon of the Moro. And +that"--grating his teeth, and glaring with his icy eyes at the +fire, as if those two blocks of ice would put it out--"cursed +doctor who pursues me! + +"Well, well, neither of those old friends are here yet, and before +another sun sets I shall bequeath the old den to them both! Ho, ho! with +those solid bags of clinking metal, I shall leave them as much sand and +rocks as they choose to walk over. What a sly devil I was to stow that +treasure away for a rainy day! Never told a living being! Poisoned the +fellow, too, who made the lock! Capital joke, 'pon my soul!" + +This was the very last of the very few jokes that Captain Brand ever +enjoyed. + +"And, now I think of it, I wonder if my thirsty old mate's bones are yet +lying there in the vault. What _was_ his name? such a bad memory I have! +Oh! Gibbs--Bill Gibbs--with one leg! Ho, ho!" + +Here Captain Brand drained some more aguardiente out of a cracked +earthen pot, and slapped his fine legs with rapture. + +"And those dear girls who married me! Lucia, too!" + +The dirty wretch started as the wing of a sea-bird swooped down over the +pure inlet; and he thought he saw a white fore finger beckoning him on +to his doom. + +"Pshaw!" said he, smoothing down his filthy tattered shirt with the +finger of his mutilated left hand, "how nervous I am! But what a bungle +Pedillo made of that marriage! And my good Ricardo, too! What a feast +the sharks must have had on his oily, well-fed carcass! Misericordia! +Ho, ho! I believe I'll bid my friends good-night." + +Captain Brand stretched himself out at full length on the shelly strand, +his boat secured by a clove-hitch round his right leg, which rode calmly +in the little inlet; his bald head, with the few dry gray hairs on his +temples, resting on Miguel's sennit hat, and the thin scum of frosty +eyelids drawn over his frozen eyes--cracking their covering at +times--until at last the pirate, aided by fiery aguardiente, slept. + +A few late cormorants and sea-birds sailed over him in his fitful +slumber, and uttered a cold cry, as if their pecking-time had not come +yet, but would shortly, as they sought their silent retreats on the wall +of rocks opposite. + +And Captain Brand dreamed, too--of the old laird, his father, in prison; +his mother weeping over forged notes; the sleeping, unsuspecting people +he had treacherously murdered; the pillages he had committed; the men he +had slain in open conflict; those he had executed with his own private +cord; the poor woman who had died in worse torments, when, indeed, even +knife or pistol, rope or poison, would have been a mercy; the agony and +sufferings of those who survived them; with all the concomitant horrors +which make the blood run cold to think of, and which made the pirate's +almost freeze in his veins--living years in minutes--did Captain Brand, +as he lay there on the chill sand in his troubled nightmare of a sleep. + +"Ah! _Dios! Dios!_" chattered the Senora Banana Pancha, at the other +outlet to the inlet, rolling over on the ledge of the rocks at the +Tiger's Trap. + +"What has become of my Ig--Ig--nacio--the one-eyed old villain who has +persecuted me for forty years? Why did I cut the old launch adrift +before I got in myself? And here I am alone and desolate on this cursed +island, and my Ig--Ig--nacio--bless his spark of an eye--not come back +to me! Ah! _Dios! Dios!_ what has become of the little man? He will kill +me, _cierto_, when he comes back and finds the boat gone with all the +money, which nearly broke his thin back to bring here; but, _Dios! +Dios!_ I am dying of thirst, and not a shred of dried fish or jerked +beef has gone into my old mouth--" + +Yes there has, Dona Pancha, for just then a piece of hawser-laid +rope--rather dry, perhaps, for mastication--was placed across your +crying mouth that you might bite upon, if you would only stop your old +tongue. + +For while you were screaming on the rocks, and yelling for your +Ig--Ig--nacio, who went back for the last bag of gold that wasn't there, +a light gig glided in like a blackfish, and a bigger blackfish jumped up +and stopped your old mouth, Pancha, with that bit of hide rope. But if +you will keep quiet, Pancha, and not exorcise Banou for the Evil One, +that old nigger will give you a cup of liquid not known in the devil's +dominions, and treat you also to some white biscuit to nibble upon. + +Ah! you will, eh? and tell all about that thin curl of smoke, which you +believe to have been made by that coal-eyed Ig--Ig--nacio, away up there +by the inlet? Now keep quiet again, old Lady Banana; and while your +screaming mouth is gagged, don't cut this small gig away, or else she +may navigate herself out to sea, as did your Ig's launch, and you be +left desolate again. + +The tropical night was still; the lizards wheetled, the breakers roared +on the outer ledge, the ripples washed musically on the shelly shores, +the alligators flapped about on the surface of the lagoon, the insects +buzzed around the mangrove thickets; and as the gray dawn of morning +appeared, and the rain began to fall, a steaming hot mist arose, through +which the sea-birds flapped their wings and sailed away in search of +their morning's meal. The sharks and the deep-sea fish, however, lay +still and motionless low down by the base of the reefs, and watched with +their cold, round eyes. Captain Brand, too, arose, and, opening _his_ +green-bluish eyes, smoothing his moulting feathers, and splashing his +fins in the wet sand, took an observation. + +This was the rainy day for which Captain Brand had laid by all that +money to spend it in! + +It was a Monday morning--Black Monday for Captain Brand--when, after +divesting his leg of the clove-hitch, he secured old Miguel's boat to a +large stone, and then, according to his own ancient practice, he +clambered with difficulty up to the venerable crag. Captain Brand had no +spy-glass, and there was a good deal of rain falling, but yet he thought +he saw a large ship, a brig, and a small schooner in the offing. + +So Captain Brand scrambled down again, a good deal disconcerted, knowing +it would be hours and hours before those vessels got up to the island, +even were they so inclined; but, nevertheless, he bestirred himself. +Fortifying his inner man with the last half pint of aguardiente for +breakfast, which quite refreshed him, he went to work. + +First, he took Miguel's copper coffee-pot, into which he emptied that +disciple of the net's shark-oil jug, which Miguel himself used for a +torch to attract the fish. Then, with a strip of old canvas--part of one +leg to Captain Brand's trowsers; to such straits was he reduced--seized +like a ball on the end of a stick, and a match-box, he was all ready for +Black Monday's work. + +Captain Brand, however, made one serious omission; he snugly stowed away +his beautiful pistols in a locker of the boat to keep them dry, never +having been wet but twice before in all his marine excursions--the first +time at Cape Garotte, and the next when he jumped overboard from the +brigantine at St. Jago. He set great store by these valuable implements, +for they had done him good service in time of need. Miguel came into +possession of them afterward, and sold them almost for their weight in +gold. + +But, for the first time, Captain Brand forgot his personal friends and +bosom companions. It was a great oversight; and he was extremely sorry +when it was too late to go back for them. However, with the copper +oil-pot dangling from his little finger, where the sapphire once shone, +and the torch-stick in the other hand, he marched boldly over the sandy +ridges toward the crag. + +But, Captain Brand, there had been three pairs of open eyes watching you +through every mouthful of snapper you snapped, and every drop of fiery +white rum you swallowed. Ay! and while you tossed about on the shelly +beach, with the red glow of the embers of the fire lighting up your +cold-blooded, wrinkled face--while, twisting your nose, you muttered ho! +ho's! of murderous satisfaction--there was not a bird that swooped over +you, or a lizard on the rocks with jet beads of eyes, that watched you +so sharply as did those attentive beholders from the crag. + +And when you made your observations from the young cocoa-nut clump, +those watchers retired down the opposite side, and two of them clambered +through a hole in the roof of the decaying little chapel, while the +other moved to the little cemetery of coral gravestones, and there +scooped a place in the sand and cactus behind the one cut with the +letter L. + +Captain Brand meanwhile came on, picking his way through the dense +cactus, which lacerated his legs, and sadly tore the remains of his +loose canvas. The rain came down in torrents, the thunder growled and +crashed as the tropical storm burst over the island; and just as a vivid +sheet of forked lightning seemed to stride the crag, and the awful peal +that followed shook it to its base, Captain Brand crept for shelter +within the cleft of the rock, and sat down to prepare for a more +extended research. + +He may have been gone twenty minutes; but when he again emerged the rain +had ceased, the clouds were breaking away, and the gentle sea-breeze +blowing, while Captain Brand looked a thousand years older. He seemed to +have borrowed all the million of wrinkles from his compadre, in addition +to those he already possessed. The thin lids of his frozen green--now +quite solid--eyes had apparently exhaled by intense cold, and left +nothing but a stony look of horror. + +What caused our brave captain to reel and stagger as he plunged with a +bound out into the matted cactus, without his tattered hat, like a wolf +flying from the hounds? Had he trodden on a snake, or seen his compadre, +or had that white finger waved him away? Yes, all three. But the +interview with his one-eyed compadre had shocked him most. + +On he came, driving the hot, wet sand before him, toward the Padre +Ricardo's chapel. There he paused for breath, though it was only by a +spasmodic effort that he could unclose his sheet-white lips, where his +sharp teeth had met upon them, and held his mouth together as if he had +the lockjaw, while he snorted through his nostrils. + +"Ho!" he gasped, "the spying old traitor has sacked the cavern, and the +gold must have gone in that launch I saw the night I came over the reef. +Ho! the traitor has found the torture I promised him; but I would like +to have killed him a little slower." + +Here Captain Brand, having regained some few faculties and energy, moved +on beyond the church, till he came to the white coral headstone, where +he stood still. + +It was his last walk on deck or sand! Shading his still horror-stricken +eyes by both hands, he glared to seaward. + +"Ho, ho! there you are, my Yankee commodore, with that old brig under +convoy, and that pretty schooner! Reminds me of my old 'Centipede.' +_Bueno!_ there are other 'Centipedes,' and I must begin the world anew. +I am not old; here is my strong right arm yet; and who can stop me?" + +Captain Brand made these remarks in a loud tone, as if he wanted the +whole world to hear him; and as if he had failed in early life, and come +to a strong resolution to retrieve his past errors. + +As he waved his strong right arm aloft, while, in imagination, blood +rained from the blade of his cutlass after cleaving the skull by a blow +dealt behind the back of an unsuspecting skipper or mate, suddenly he +paused, and the arm fell powerless at his side, where it hung dangling +loose like a pirate from a gibbet on a windy night. + +He caught sight of the old broken cocoa-nut trunk to which he had +hitched the green silk rope, with its noose around his victim's neck, +and he endeavored to prevent himself falling to the sand. + +"Ho!" he choked out, his jaws rattling like dry bones, "I see it all +now. The column was snapped just where the rope was hitched, and the +trestle must have been torn to pieces by the hurricane. Ho, ho! That's +the way my man escaped, to dog me all over the world. Ho! I have no time +to lose; he may be here at any moment." + +This was the last connected speech that Captain Brand ever made in this +world, or in the world to come, perhaps, for at the last word Paul +Darcantel rose in all his revengeful majesty before him. With folded +arms he bent his dark, stern eyes upon the pirate, wherein the revenge +of twenty years was gleaming with a concentrated power. + +"You palsied villain! the oath I took to you, and for which I have been +accursed, expired yesterday! I took another myself, when we stood here +last together, and I am come to fulfill that oath, and--strike!" + +His terrible voice and words came back in an echo from the crag, and +they seemed with their intense energy to pierce and shrivel the man +before him into sleet. And the pirate would have fallen had not two +huge, black, lignum-vitae paws grappled him about the body, pinioning his +arms to his sides as if they had been bolted through and through, while +at the same moment another pair of tough, sea-weed flippers wound a +lashing round his straight legs, and they laid him gently down on the +sandy esplanade. + +"The trestle, Banou. And you, Ben, bring the hide strands, the faded old +cord, and that black altar-cloth!" + +The pirate lay on his back, his eyes wide open--for he could not shut +them, since the lids had gone in frost--but the solid balls, light green +now in the light, rolled from side to side. He recognized the old +apparatus too, though it was in different hands than those of Pedillo +and his confederate; and he saw, also, that, though the pale green rope +was rotten, yet his knowledge of nautical matters taught him that it yet +might bear a taut strain, and that those coils of hide thongs never gave +way by any amount of tugging, and he saw as well that they had been +recently dipped in grease. + +But what was to be done with that rotten, moth-eaten old cloth, which +the men used to play monte on on Saturday nights in the sheds, and on +which the good padre played _his_ cards likewise in the chapel? It was +not to keep the cold air away from him, or shield his half-naked body +from the poisonous insects. Then what could it be for? + +"Lift him up, men, and when you lash him down, leave only that little +finger free!" + +Ben Brown squatted himself on a stone beside the bier, and with his +cutlass unbuckled and laid on the sand, and sleeves rolled up, began +his work as if he had a chafing-mat to make for the dead-eyes of the +frigate's lower shrouds, and, though in a hurry, still intended to make +a neat job of it. He had a small and rather sharp-pointed marline-spike, +too, which he wore habitually, like a talisman, round his neck, and +which stood him in hand in the intricate parts of his task. + +Taking in at a glance the exact amount of hide stuff he required, he +middled the coils, and passing each strand fair and square, his old +bronzed arms went backward and forward, under and over--sometimes +pricking a little hole by accident in the pirate's own thin hide as he +passed the strips by the aid of his marline-spike, but always +apologizing in his bluff, rough way, though without squirting +tobacco-juice into his victim's face, as did Mr. Gibbs to Jacob Blunt. + +"Beg pardon, ye infarnal pirate! but that stick will do ye no harm. +It'll heal much sooner than the iron spike one of yer crew drove through +both cheeks of my watch-mate when you gagged him on board the brig. + +"I say, old nigger, hand us a little more of that slush, will ye? this +'ere strand won't lie flat. Thankee, old darkey! Kitch hold on that +lower end, will ye? and draw it square up between his pins, and +straighten out that 'ere knee-joint a bit--so fashion. + +"I wouldn't hurt ye, you ugly villain, for a chaw of tobaccy. + +"Warm work, shipmate! suppose you just toddle down to the boat for that +'ere grafted bottle lyin' in the starn sheets, and bring a tin pot of +fresh water with you; the gentleman might be thirsty, you know. _I +am_--Benjamin Brown, of Sandy Pint, seaman." + +So Benjamin plaited Captain Brand, late of the "Centipede," down on his +bier; not a thong too little, or one in the wrong place. A strand +between each of his toes, and the big ones turned up in quite an +ornamental way, and worked around with a Turk's-head knot. + +"Breathin' works all reg'lar, too, no bit of hide bearin' an onequal +strain over his bread-basket. Throat and jaw-tackle in fair talkin' +order, little finger free; and there, Capting Brand, jist let old Ben +reward ye, good for evil, ye child-murdering scoundrel, for the lick +your mate gave him with the pistol on the head, by placing this soft +pillow of green silk rope under your bare skull. There! a little this +side, so as ye can look at your finger, while I pass this broad piece of +stuff over your ear. Don't ye look at me, ye infarnal scoundrel, or I'll +let this 'ere copper spike slip into one of yer junk-bottle glims! + +"Now," continued Ben, "I'll take a spell till the doctor and the old +nigger come back." + +Ay, the job was done, and the mat over the dead-eyes of the shrouds! + +[Illustration: "NOW CAPTAIN BRAND KNEW WHAT WAS COMING."] + +During this neat and seamanlike operation Paul Darcantel wandered away +on the tracks of the flying wolf till he came to the cleft in the +rock. There he picked up and lighted the torch and stalked on. Presently +he came to the stones before the low cavern, and pushed his way in with +the blazing torch before him. Had Paul Darcantel had nerves, they would +have shaken at what he saw; but having none to shake, he calmly fixed +his eyes upon the sight. + +There lay the head of the ancient Ignacio, caught, as he tried to creep +out of the treasure-chamber, by the falling of the stone slab. It must +have been sudden, for the stump of a paper cigar was still seized in his +wrinkled lips, while the snakelike curls twined about his ears, and his +wary eye looked out with its usual suspicious intensity, and seemed to +throw out a spark of fire in the reflection of the torch. Rising from a +coil in a slimy bed of sand before the head was a venomous serpent, with +his graceful neck curved into the broad flat head, all like an ebony +cane, straight, motionless, and elegant to the curved top--fascinated by +that single living orb of the dead man. + +The human intruder left this well-matched pair to their own venomous +devices, and winding his way on, he soon came to the open door to the +vaults. A powerful kick smashed in the door of the dungeon, and while +the rusty bolts were still ringing on the stone pavement, Paul Darcantel +entered the loathsome chamber. + +He saw nothing at first save a few fragments of broken crockery and a +rusty metal pot--not even a rat. But flaring the torch down upon the +mouldy floor something sparkled in the light. This he snatched, and it +was the long-lost locket and chain which had last rested around the +baby-boy's neck. + +When the doctor strode back to the esplanade of the chapel he found +Benjamin Brown and Banou taking a friendly sip out of the tin pot. + +"Well, sir," said Ben, as he got on his pins and strapped on his +cutlass, "there he is, sir! and as neat a piece of cross-lashing as ever +I did. He looks as if he growed there, jist like a hawk-bill turtle +a-bilin' in the ship's coppers, only he can't paddle about. + +"I did it marciful, too, sir, and tried to convarse with him, in case he +had any presents to make to his friends. + +"Why, sir, and would you believe it? I offered to pour a drop of +grog--mixed or raw--down his tight mouth, but he never had the +perliteness to thank me or ax me a question, but only looked wicked at +me. Consarn him! if he had only winked, I wouldn't mind it!" said Ben, +with much indignation; "but, howsever, I don't b'lieve he's any think to +leave or any friends left!" + +But Captain Brand, though speechless without being tongue-tied, and +unable to wink, still thought. And what did the doctor propose to do +with him in case he was not to be stung to death by insects, sand-flies, +musquitoes, and what not? + +"Lift the trestle for the last time, men, and stand it here over this +thick bed of cactus, so as the little finger may touch the letter on +this white tomb-stone." + +Now Captain Brand's doubts were relieved, and he knew what was coming. +Oh ho! ho! + +"There! that is right! Now collect stones and rocks, and wall this +trestle up solid to the edge of the frame, so that a hurricane can't +loosen it." + +Big Banou went to work now, and presently his job was done--coral rocks, +and loose head-stones of pirates, well packed down with sand, made the +sides of the living tomb. Then the black pall was drawn over the body, +and they left the pirate to his inevitable doom. + +Soon the three executioners reached the Tiger's Trap. + +"Banou, take this locket and chain--ah! you know it well--to your young +master. Brown, the two thousand dollars will be placed in your and +Greenfield's hands for distribution among the schooner's crew; make a +good use of it! Tell the commodore that I shall take an old woman we +have found here away with me in a stolen fisherman's boat to Manzanillo, +and within the year I shall be at home! There! shove off, my lads!" + +As the gig skimmed through the Tiger's Trap, Paul Darcantel, with the +widow of Ignacio, sailed out by the Alligator's Mouth, and as they +crossed that roaring ledge, the sun sank in its unclouded glory in the +west, and the young moon, with its thin pearly crescent, looked timidly +down upon the island. + +And the night passed, and the next and the next, with scorching days and +blazing suns between them; while the mangrove, the palm, the cocoa-nut, +and the cactus--ah! that luxuriant plant throve apace--shooting up its +steel-pointed bayonets two inches of a night in thorny needles as thick +as pins in a paper, growing clean through the hide of ox or man like +blood, till their hard-edged leaves met resistance, when, turning flat +side up, they put forth a score for one of the needle bayonets! No +escape from them. From shoulder to heel one long, hopeless agony. The +fierce sun flaming down, absorbed by the black pall of death! The moon +glimmering in pale white rays of splendor through the moth-eaten holes +upon the finger and the white tomb-stone! All the day and all the +night! + +Was it a dream, Captain Brand? No, a frightful reality! Don't you feel a +fresh thorn at every slow pulse of the heart they are aiming at? And +don't you hear those dread croakings of gulls and cormorants flapping in +the air, who have left their prey on the reef to join the vultures in +their feast on the shore? You may almost catch the grating sounds of the +rasping jaws of the sharks as they crowd into the inlet, and rest their +cold noses on the shelly cove where you slept! + +Flesh and blood, and pinions and beaks can endure it no longer. A cloud +of carnivorous birds swoop down at last, snap the black pall in their +talons and bills, and fly fighting and screaming away with it. Another +cloud, darker than the rest, light upon the body, and while the +needle-points pierce the palpitating heart, and the breath flutters on +the still clenched lips and nostrils, the eyes are picked out, and the +flesh is torn piecemeal, hide strands and all, till nothing is left but +a hideous white skeleton, with the long bony finger pointing to the +letter L. + +The lizards wheetled on the rocks, the alligators lashed the lagoon amid +the steaming mist of the mangrove roots; the sharks and birds returned +to the reefs, the cocoa-nuts waved their tufted tops, the palms crackled +in the shower and gale, and the pure inlet murmured musically on the +shelly shore for years and years over and around the deserted key, until +the whitened bones crumbled into dust, and were borne away by the four +winds of heaven. + + * * * * * + +The hemp has been tarred and spread, the strands twisted, and the rope +laid up. The knots have been turned in between good sailors and +bad--between pirates and men-of-war's-men--and here Harry Gringo hauls +down his pennant until his reading crew care again to take a cruise with +him in blue water. + + + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + + + + + Standard Works + OF + =Discovery and Adventure in Africa=. + + PUBLISHED BY + HARPER & BROTHERS, Franklin Square, N. Y. + + _Sent by Mail, postage pre-paid, on receipt of price._ + + _The amount of travel literature which HARPER & BROTHERS have + published relating to Africa makes a curious list, and + illustrates the bent of geographical and political examination + for some time past. The octavos of Burton, Barth, Livingstone, + Du Chaillu, Davis, and a number of other celebrated travellers, + form a small library, all the result of the last few years' + devotion to African exploration_--N. Y. JOURNAL OF COMMERCE. + +=Speke's Africa.= Journal of the Discovery of the Sources of the Nile. +By JOHN HANNING SPEKE, Captain H.M. Indian Army, Fellow and Gold +Medalist of the Royal Geographical Society, Hon. Corr. Member and Gold +Medalist of the French Geographical Society, &c. With Map and Portraits, +and numerous Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings by Captain GRANT. 8vo, +Cloth, $3 50. + +=Reade's Savage Africa.= Western Africa: being the Narrative of a Tour +of Equatorial, Southwestern, and Northwestern Africa; with Notes on the +Habits of the Gorilla; on the Existence of Unicorns and Tailed Men; on +the Slave Trade; on the Origin, Character, and Capabilities of the +Negro, and of the future Civilization of Western Africa. By W. WINWOOD +READE, Fellow of the Geog. and Anthropological Soc. of Lond., and Corr. +Member of the Geog. Soc. of Paris. With Illustrations and a Map. 8vo, +Cloth, $3 50. + +=Du Chaillu's Equatorial Africa.= Explorations and Adventures in +Equatorial Africa; with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the +People, and of the Chase of the Gorilla, the Crocodile, Leopard, +Elephant, Hippopotamus, and other Animals. By PAUL B. DU CHAILLU, Corr. +Member of the Amer. Ethnological Soc.; of the Geog. and Statistical Soc. +of New York, and of the Bost. Soc. of Nat. Hist. Maps and numerous +Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 75. + +=Baldwin's African Hunting.= African Hunting from Natal to the Zambesi, +including Lake Ngami, the Kalahari Desert, &c., from 1852 to 1860. By +WILLIAM CHARLES BALDWIN, F.R.G.S. With Map, Fifty Illustrations by Wolf +and Zwecker, and a Portrait of the Great Sportsman. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + +=Andersson's Okavango River.= The Okavango River: A Narrative of Travel, +Exploration, and Adventure. By CHARLES JOHN ANDERSSON, Author of "Lake +Ngami." With Steel Portrait of the Author, numerous Wood-cuts, and a Map +showing the Regions explored by Andersson, Cumming, Livingstone, Burton, +and Du Chaillu. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. + +=Andersson's Lake Ngami.= Lake Ngami; or, Explorations and Discoveries +during Four Years' Wanderings in the Wilds of Southwestern Africa. By +CHARLES JOHN ANDERSSON. With numerous Illustrations, representing +Sporting Adventures, Subjects for Natural History, Devices for +destroying Wild Animals, &c. New Edition. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. + +=Livingstone's South Africa.= Missionary Travels and Researches in South +Africa; including a Sketch of a Sixteen Years' Residence in the Interior +of Africa, and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loando on the +West Coast; thence across the Continent, down the River Zambesi, to the +Eastern Ocean. By DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D., D.C.L. With Portrait, Maps, +and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. + +=Davis's Carthage.= Carthage and her Remains: Being an Account of the +Excavations and Researches on the Site of the Phoenician Metropolis in +Africa and other adjacent Places, under the Auspices of Her Majesty's +Government. By Dr. N. DAVIS, F.R.G.S. Profusely illustrated with Maps, +Wood-cuts, Chromo-Lithographs, &c., &c. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. + +=Burton's Central Africa.= The Lake Regions of Central Africa. A Picture +of Exploration. By RICHARD F. BURTON, Capt. H.M.I. Army; Fellow and Gold +Medalist of the Royal Geographical Society. With Maps and Engravings on +Wood. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. + +=Barth's North and Central Africa.= Travels and Discoveries in North and +Central Africa. Being a Journal of an Expedition undertaken under the +Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government in the Years 1849-1855. By HENRY BARTH, +Ph.D., D.C.L. Profusely and elegantly illustrated. Complete in 3 vols. +8vo, Cloth, $9. + +=Cumming's South Africa.= Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Interior +of South Africa. With Notices of the Native Tribes, and Anecdotes of the +Chase of the Lion, Elephant, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, Rhinoceros, &c. By +GORDON CUMMING. With Illustrations. 2 vols. 12mo, Cloth, $2 50. + +=Wilson's Western Africa.= Western Africa: Its History, Condition, and +Prospects. By REV. J. LEIGHTON WILSON, Eighteen Years a Missionary in +Africa. With numerous Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $1 25. + + Mr. Wilson, an American missionary, has written the best book I + have seen on the West Coast.--Dr. LIVINGSTONE, _Rivershire, W. + Africa_, Feb. 20, 1863. + +=Discovery and Adventures in Africa.= Condensed Abstracts of the +Narratives of African Travellers. By Professor JAMESON, JAMES WILSON, +and HUGH MURRAY. 18mo, Cloth, 50 cents. + +=The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller.= By Major Sir +FRANCIS B. HEAD. 18mo, Cloth, 50 cents. + +=Lander's Niger Expedition.= Journal of an Expedition to explore the +Course and Termination of the Niger. With a Narrative of a Voyage down +that River to its Termination. By R. and J. LANDER. Engravings. 2 vols. +18mo, Cloth, $1 00. + +=Urquhart's Pillars of Hercules.= The Pillars of Hercules; or, A +Narrative of Travels in Spain and Morocco in 1848. By DAVID URQUHART, +M.P. 2 vols. 12mo, Cloth, $2 50. + +=Owen's Voyages.= Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and +Madagascar: performed under the Direction of Captain W. F. W. OWEN, R.N. +2 vols. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + +=Mungo Park's Central Africa.= Travels of Mungo Park, with the Account +of his Death, from the Journal of Isaaco, and later Discoveries relative +to his lamented Fate, and the Termination of the Niger. 18mo, Cloth, 50 +cents. + + +=MADAGASCAR.= + +=The Last Travels of Ida Pfeiffer=: inclusive of a Visit to Madagascar. +With an Autobiographical Memoir of the Author. Translated by H. W. +DULCKEN. Steel Portrait. 12mo, Cloth, $1 25. (Uniform with Ida +Pfeiffer's "Second Journey round the World"). + +=Three Visits to Madagascar=, during the Years 1853-1854-1856. Including +a Journey to the Capital, with Notices of the Natural History of the +Country and of the Present Civilization of the People. By the Rev. +WILLIAM ELLIS, F.H.S. With a Map and Wood-cuts from Photographs, &c. +8vo, Cloth, $3 00. + + * * * * * + + + + +=HARPER'S WEEKLY FOR 1864.= + +HARPER'S WEEKLY is devoted to Art, Literature, General Information, and +Politics. It will contain a carefully condensed and impartial record of +the events of the day, pictorially illustrated wherever the pencil of +the Artist can aid the pen of the Writer. In Politics it will advocate +the National Cause, wholly irrespective of mere party grounds. Its +Essays, Poems, and Tales will be furnished by the ablest writers of both +Continents. A new Novel, by Mr. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA, entitled "QUITE +ALONE," will, by special arrangement with the Author, appear in the +WEEKLY simultaneously with its publication in Mr. DICKENS'S "_All the +Year Round_." The Publishers will see to it that the current Volume +shall justify the favorable opinions expressed by the loyal Press upon +the Volume which has just closed. + + +=Extracts from Notices by the Press.= + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY is the best publication of its class in America, and so +far ahead of all other weekly journals as not to permit of any +comparison between it and any of their number. Its columns contain the +finest collections of reading matter that are printed. Thus, if you look +into the Volume for 1863, you will find that its stories, and +miscellaneous articles, and poetry are from the minds of some of the +leading writers of the time. Its matter is of a very various character +from elaborate tales and well-considered editorial articles to the +airiest and briefest jests, good-humored hits at the expense of human +follies, which proceed from the liveliest of minds. It is a vigorous +supporter of the war--discussing all questions that concern the contest +in which we are engaged with an amplitude of perception and a breadth of +patriotism that place it very high indeed on the roll of loyal and +liberal publications. Its illustrations are numerous and beautiful, +being furnished by the chief artists of the country. Most of the +illustrations are devoted to the war, including battle-pieces, scenes +made renowned by great events there occurring, and portraits of eminent +military and civil leaders. Even a person who could not read a line of +its letter-press could intelligently follow the history of the war +through 1863 by going over the pictured pages of this volume,"--_Evening +Traveller_ (Boston.) + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY, besides being a literary paper of the first class--the +only one among American or European Pictorials with a definite purpose +consistently and constantly carried out--is at once a leading political +and historical annalist of the nation."--_The Press_ (Philadelphia). + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY.--In turning over its pages, we were struck anew with +the fidelity with which it delineates passing events: a true picture of +the times. The scenes of the war, portrayed by the graphic pencils of +artists on the battle-field and in the camp, are re-produced in excellent +wood-cuts with marvelous promptness and accuracy. The letter-press +furnishes an appropriate accompaniment to the illustrations; presenting +a pleasing variety, sprightly and entertaining. We can not wonder at the +popularity of the _Weekly_ when we observe the spirit and enterprise +with which it is conducted."--_Journal_ (Boston). + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY FOR 1863.--From a careful examination of this work, as +it came out in it weekly form, we can honestly advise our readers to +purchase the stately and pictured volume. We dare not say how many +duodecimo volumes of matter, and of good and interesting matter, it +contains. As a record of the events and opinions of the past year, and +as literally a picture of the time, it has a permanent value, while its +wealth of excellent stories and essays makes it an endless source of +entertainment. The original editorial articles are of a very high order +of merit, and relate to subjects which attract the attention of all +intelligent and patriotic minds. Soundness of thought, liberality of +sentiment, and thorough-going loyalty find expression in the most +exquisite English. Altogether, we should say that _Harper's Weekly_ is a +necessity in every household."--_The Transcript_ (Boston). + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY and MAGAZINE, with their immense circulation, are +grandly loyal and influential. The _Weekly_ especially has been true to +the cause; and while it gives in admirable correspondence and accurate +pictures a complete illustrated history of the war, with all its +battles, incidents, and portraits of generals, it has splendidly +enforced by argument and example its principles. Closer reasoning is not +to be found than that to which its editors might fairly challenge +answer."--_City Item_ (Philadelphia). + +_Notices of Harper's Weekly._ + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY, of which the Seventh Volume is now issued in neat, +substantial binding, shows the industry and zeal with which the cause of +the Union has been maintained in its columns during the year 1863. It +has continued to increase the fervor of patriotic sentiment as well by +its appropriate pictorial illustrations as by its able editorial leaders +commenting on the events of the day. In its present shape, the journal +furnishes copious materials for the history of the war, and can not fail +to find a place in public and private libraries as an important volume +for permanent reference."--_Tribune_ (New York). + +"HARPER'S WEEKLY _for_ 1863--a journal of the year, kept in the most +interesting way; and as we turn over the pages we revive many now +almost forgotten sensations, and see, bit by bit, how history has +grown. The volume closed and bound up becomes history; but it would +not be just to this publication to omit a remark on the influence +which it has exerted during the year, and which it continues to exert. +An illustrated journal like _Harper's Weekly_, which circulates, as +we have heard, over one hundred and twenty thousand copies per week, +chiefly among families, and which has probably a million of readers, has +necessarily a great influence in the country. The _Weekly_ has +consistently and very ably supported the Union, the Government, and +the great principles to develop which the Union was founded. Unlike most +illustrated journals, _Harper's Weekly_ has displayed political and +literary ability of a high order as well as artistic merit. Its +political discussions are sound, clear, and convincing, and have done +their share to educate the American people to a right understanding of +their dangers and duties. In its speciality--illustrations of passing +events--it is unsurpassed; and many of the pictures of the year do +honor to the genius of the artists and engravers of this country. +Thus complete in all the departments of an American Family Journal, +_Harper's Weekly_ has earned for itself a right to the title which it +assumed seven years ago, 'A JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION.'"--_Evening Post_ +(New York). + +HARPER'S WEEKLY.--This periodical merits special notice at the present +time. There is probably no weekly publication of the country that equals +its influence. More than one hundred thousand copies fly over the land +weekly: they are read in our cars, steamboats, and families. Our youth +especially read them; and as _the_ family newspaper of the nation, its +power over the forming opinions of the next generation of the American +people is an important item. + +It is abundant, if not superabundant, in pictorial illustrations--a +means of strong impression, especially on the minds of the young. Both +by its illustrations and its incessant discussion of the occurrences and +questions of the war it is a "current history" and "running commentary" +on the great event, and there is probably no literary agency of the day +more effective in its influence respecting the war in the families of +the common people. Most happy are we then to be able to say that this +responsible power is exerted altogether on the side of loyalty. No paper +in the land is more outspoken, more uncompromising for the Union, for +the war, for even the policy of the President's "great Proclamation." +When the rebellion broke out we did the publishers the injustice of some +anxious fears about their probable course on the subject. + +Steadily have they kept up with the Providential development of its +events and questions; not only abreast of them, but, in important +respects, ahead of them. No periodical press in the nation deserves +better of the country for its faithfulness and "pluck" in all matters +relating to the great struggle. And we should do it injustice were we +not to add that, with its outright loyalty and bravery, it combines +commanding ability. The editorial leaders which it continuously +flings out against all political traitors and flunkies strike +directly at their mark. They are evidently from pens both strong and +polished. On even the astuter subjects of policy, finance, &c., it +is eminently able. And it makes no mistake in supposing its readers +capable of an interest and of intelligence in these respects. +American families look keenly into such questions, and with such a +really educational force as this paper wields, it is especially right +and commendable that it seeks to elevate the common mind to the higher +questions of the times. The American people will not fail to notice +and to remember the courageous and patriotic course of _Harper's Weekly_ +in these dark times of hideous treason, and of more hideous, because +more contemptible, semi-treason.--_The Methodist, N. Y._ + + + TERMS. + + One Copy for Four Months $1 00 + One Copy for One Year 3 00 + Two Copies for One Year 5 50 + "Harper's Weekly" and "Harper's Magazine" one year 5 50 + + +_An Extra Copy of either the Weekly or Magazine will be supplied gratis +for every Club of TEN SUBSCRIBERS, at $2 75 each; or, Eleven Copies for +$27 50._ + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's note: + +The author's archaic spelling is preserved, including creative +Spanish spelling such as "Guantamano" and "Hasta huego". + +The author's punctuation style is preserved. + +Hyphenation has been made consistent. + +In addition to making hyphenation consistent, the following +changes were made to the original text: + + Page 18: =Escondide= standardized to =Escondido= (Why, + madame, it is only a week ago that a lot of us dined with + him at his estate of =Escondido=) + + Page 19: Added quote (he continued, turning toward the + skipper, as the clear sound of the cruiser's bell struck his + ear, ="I must= not forget what I came for.") + + Page 29: Added tilde ("_El Doctor =Senor=, con tres de + nosotros._") + + Page 34: Removed extra end quote from "ho!" (sputtered the + ruffian, as he pulled a pistol from his belt, ="ho!= you + mean fight, do ye?") + + Page 49: Removed accent from "e" ('_=Bueno=!_' There's more + fish in the sea--and under it too!) + + Page 85: Changed from single quote (="But= the best of the + joke was, the moment he spoke) + + Page 86: Added accent (In the centre arose a huge =epergne= + of silver, fashioned into the shape of a drooping + palm-tree) + + Page 92: Added tilde ("And the =senorita's= too, I + think,") + + Page 136: Removed dash from =money--you= (I wouldn't remain + another hour in this filthy hole for all the =money you= + have cheated me out of, you old rascal.) + + Page 166: =hirtling= changed to =hurtling= (No more pauses + or lulls now in the =hurtling= tempest) + + Page 185: =epaulettes= standardized to =epaulets= (in + cocked hat, full-dress coat, a pair of gleaming =epaulets=, + sword by his hip, and his nether limbs cased in white + knee-breeches) + + Page 205: Added quote (="Well=, gentlemen, for some weeks + after these occurrences we sailed about the islands) + + Page 205: =Mosquito= standardized to =Musquito= (The orders + were to beat up the south side of Cuba, where we expected to + fall in with the =Musquito= fleet and some English vessels) + + Page 225: =is= changed to =its= (A minute later, all that + was left of the shattered hull fell broadside into the open + fangs of the ledge, which ground it with =its= merciless + jaws into toothpicks.) + + Page 252: Removed repeated "at all" (he didn't like his + looks =at all=, though he did make himself so fascinating to + the beautiful widow who sat next him) + + Page 261: =believeing= changed to =believing= (as there is + much reason for =believing= he did--with great disgust, on + board the dirty, dumpy old ballahoo) + + Page 284: =tholl-pins= changed to =thole-pins= (The sweeps + paused, the hide gromets resting on the =thole-pins=, and + the water raining from their broad blades.) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN BRAND OF THE "CENTIPEDE"*** + + +******* This file should be named 29047.txt or 29047.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/0/4/29047 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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