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+Project Gutenberg's Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, by Cyrus Townsend Brady
+
+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: Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
+       A Romance of the Spanish Main
+
+Author: Cyrus Townsend Brady
+
+Illustrator: J. N. Marchand
+             Will Crawford
+
+Release Date: July 4, 2009 [EBook #29316]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY MORGAN, BUCCANEER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Jane Hyland and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Sir Henry Morgan--Buccaneer.]
+
+
+
+
+_Sir Henry Morgan, BUCCANEER_
+
+_A Romance of the Spanish Main_
+
+_BY_
+
+_CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY_
+
+_Author of "For Love of Country," "For the Freedom of the Sea," "The
+Southerners," "Hohenzollern," "The Quiberon Touch," "Woven with the
+Ship," "In the Wasp's Nest," Etc._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Illustrations by J.N. MARCHAND and WILL CRAWFORD_
+
+G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
+THE PEARSON PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
+G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1903, IN
+GREAT BRITAIN
+
+[_All rights reserved_]
+
+_Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer_      _Issued October, 1903_
+
+
+_TO MY ONLY BROTHER_
+
+COLONEL JASPER EWING BRADY
+
+_LATE U.S. ARMY_
+
+
+    "Woe to the realms which he coasted! for there
+    Was shedding of blood and rending of hair,
+    Rape of maiden and slaughter of priest,
+    Gathering of ravens and wolves to the feast;
+    When he hoisted his standard black,
+    Before him was battle, behind him wrack,
+    And he burned the churches, that heathen Dane,
+    To light his band to their barks again."
+
+    SCOTT: "Harold the Dauntless."
+
+
+
+
+_PREFACE_
+
+
+In literature there have been romantic pirates, gentlemanly pirates,
+kind-hearted pirates, even humorous pirates--in fact, all sorts and
+conditions of pirates. In life there was only one kind. In this book
+that kind appears. Several presentations--in the guise of novels--of
+pirates, the like of which never existed on land or sea, have recently
+appeared. A perusal of these interesting romances awoke in me a desire
+to write a story of a real pirate, a pirate of the genuine species.
+
+Much research for historical essays, amid ancient records and moldy
+chronicles, put me in possession of a vast amount of information
+concerning the doings of the greatest of all pirates; a man unique among
+his nefarious brethren, in that he played the piratical game so
+successfully that he received the honor of knighthood from King Charles
+II. A belted knight of England, who was also a brutal, rapacious,
+lustful, murderous villain and robber--and undoubtedly a pirate,
+although he disguised his piracy under the name of buccaneering--is
+certainly a striking and unusual figure.
+
+Therefore, when I imagined my pirate story I pitched upon Sir Henry
+Morgan as _the_ character of the romance. It will spare the critic to
+admit that the tale hereinafter related is a work of the imagination,
+and is not an historical romance. According to the latest accounts, Sir
+Henry Morgan, by a singular oversight of Fate, who must have been
+nodding at the time, died in his bed--not peacefully I trust--and was
+buried in consecrated ground. But I do him no injustice, I hasten to
+assure the reader, in the acts that I have attributed to him, for they
+are more than paralleled by the well authenticated deeds of this human
+monster. I did not even invent the blowing up of the English frigate in
+the action with the Spanish ships.
+
+If I have assumed for the nonce the attributes of that unaccountably
+somnolent Fate, and brought him to a terrible end, I am sure abundant
+justification will be found in the recital of his mythical misdeeds,
+which, I repeat, were not a circumstance to his real transgressions.
+Indeed, one has to go back to the most cruel and degenerate of the Roman
+emperors to parallel the wickednesses of Morgan and his men. It is not
+possible to put upon printed pages explicit statements of what they did.
+The curious reader may find some account of these "Gentlemen of the
+Black Flag," so far as it can be translated into present-day books
+intended for popular reading, in my volume of "COLONIAL FIGHTS AND
+FIGHTERS."
+
+The writing of this novel has been by no means an easy task. How to
+convey clearly the doings of the buccaneer so there could be no
+misapprehension on the part of the reader, and yet to write with due
+delicacy and restraint a book for the general public, has been a problem
+with which I have wrestled long and arduously. The whole book has been
+completely revised some six times. Each time I have deleted something,
+which, while it has refined, I trust has not impaired the strength of
+the tale. If the critic still find things to censure, let him pass over
+charitably in view of what might have been!
+
+As to the other characters, I have done violence to the name and fame of
+no man, for all of those who played any prominent part among the
+buccaneers in the story were themselves men scarcely less criminal than
+Morgan. Be it known that I have simply appropriated names, not careers.
+They all had adventures of their own and were not associated with Morgan
+in life. Teach--I have a weakness for that bad young man--is known to
+history as "Blackbeard"--a much worse man than the roaring singer of
+these pages. The delectable Hornigold, the One-Eyed, with the "wild
+justice" of his revenge, was another real pirate. So was the faithful
+Black Dog, the maroon. So were Raveneau de Lussan, Rock Braziliano,
+L'Ollonois, Velsers, Sawkins, and the rest.
+
+In addition to my desire to write a real story of a real pirate I was
+actuated by another intent. There are numberless tales of the brave days
+of the Spanish Main, from "Westward Ho!" down. In every one of them,
+without exception, the hero is a noble, gallant, high-souled,
+high-spirited, valiant descendant of the Anglo-Saxon race, while the
+villain--and such villains they are!--is always a proud and haughty
+Spaniard, who comes to grief dreadfully in the final trial which
+determines the issue. My sympathies, from a long course of reading of
+such romances, have gone out to the under Don. I determined to write a
+story with a Spanish gentleman for the hero, and a Spanish gentlewoman
+for the heroine, and let the position of villain be filled by one of our
+own race. Such things were, and here they are. I have dwelt with
+pleasure on the love affairs of the gallant Alvarado and the beautiful
+Mercedes.
+
+But, after all, the story is preeminently the story of Morgan. I have
+striven to make it a character sketch of that remarkable personality. I
+wished to portray his ferocity and cruelty, his brutality and
+wantonness, his treachery and rapacity; to exhibit, without lightening,
+the dark shadows of his character, and to depict his inevitable and
+utter breakdown finally; yet at the same time to bring out his dauntless
+courage, his military ability, his fertility and resourcefulness, his
+mastery of his men, his capacity as a seaman, which are qualities worthy
+of admiration. Yet I have not intended to make him an admirable figure.
+To do that would be to falsify history and disregard the artistic
+canyons. So I have tried to show him as he was; great and brave, small
+and mean, skilful and able, greedy and cruel; and lastly, in his crimes
+and punishment, a coward.
+
+And if a mere romance may have a lesson, here in this tale is one of a
+just retribution, exhibited in the awful, if adequate, vengeance finally
+wreaked upon Morgan by those whom he had so fearfully and dreadfully
+wronged.
+
+    CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.
+
+    BROOKLYN, N.Y., _December, 1902_.
+
+    NOTE.--The date of the sack of Panama has been advanced to comply
+    with the demands of this romance.
+
+
+
+
+_TABLE OF CONTENTS_
+
+
+BOOK I.
+
+    HOW SIR HENRY MORGAN IN HIS OLD AGE RESOLVED TO GO A-BUCCANEERING
+    AGAIN.
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+    I.--Wherein Sir Henry Morgan made good use of the
+    ten minutes allowed him                                          25
+
+    II.--How Master Benjamin Hornigold, the One-Eyed,
+    agreed to go with his old Captain                                45
+
+    III.--In which Sir Henry Morgan finds himself at the head
+    of a crew once more                                              65
+
+    IV.--Which tells how the _Mary Rose_, frigate, changed
+    masters and flags                                                81
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+    THE CRUISE OF THE BUCCANEERS AND WHAT BEFEL THEM ON THE SEAS.
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+    V.--How the _Mary Rose_ overhauled three Spanish treasure
+    ships                                                            97
+
+    VI.--In which is related the strange expedient of the
+    Captain and how they took the great galleon                     115
+
+    VII.--Wherein Bartholomew Sawkins mutinied against
+    his Captain and what befel him on that account                 128
+
+    VIII.--How they strove to club-haul the galleon and failed
+    to save her on the coast of Caracas                             145
+
+
+BOOK III.
+
+    WHICH TREATS OF THE TANGLED LOVE AFFAIRS OF THE PEARL OF CARACAS.
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+    IX.--Discloses the hopeless passion between Donna Mercedes
+    de Lara and Captain Dominique Alvarado,
+    the Commandante of La Guayra                                    161
+
+    X.--How Donna Mercedes tempted her lover and how he
+    strove valiantly to resist her appeals                          174
+
+    XI.--Wherein Captain Alvarado pledges his word to the
+    Viceroy of Venezuela, the Count Alvaro de Lara,
+    and to Don Felipe de Tobar, his friend                          190
+
+    XII.--Shows how Donna Mercedes chose death rather than
+    give up Captain Alvarado, and what befel them on
+    the road over the mountains                                     200
+
+    XIII.--In which Captain Alvarado is forsworn and with
+    Donna Mercedes in his arms breaks his plighted
+    word                                                            218
+
+
+BOOK IV.
+
+    IN WHICH IS RELATED AN ACCOUNT OF THE TAKING OF LA GUAYRA BY THE
+    BUCCANEERS AND THE DREADFUL PERILS OF DONNA MERCEDES DE LARA AND
+    CAPTAIN ALVARADO IN THAT CITY.
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+    XIV.--Wherein the crew of the galleon intercepts the two
+    lovers by the way                                               231
+
+    XV.--Tells how Mercedes de Lara returned the unsought
+    caress of Sir Henry Morgan and the means by
+    which the buccaneers surmounted the walls                       248
+
+    XVI.--In which Benjamin Hornigold recognizes a cross and
+    Captain Alvarado finds and loses a mother on the
+    strand                                                          265
+
+    XVII.--Which describes an audience with Sir Henry Morgan
+    and the treachery by which Captain Alvarado
+    benefited                                                       283
+
+
+BOOK V.
+
+    HOW THE SPANIARDS RE-TOOK LA GUAYRA AND HOW CAPTAIN ALVARADO FOUND A
+    NAME AND SOMETHING DEARER STILL IN THE CITY.
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+    XVIII.--Discloses the way in which Mercedes de Lara fought
+    with woman's cunning against Captain Henry
+    Morgan                                                          301
+
+    XIX.--How Captain Alvarado crossed the mountains, found
+    the Viceroy, and placed his life in his master's
+    hands                                                           326
+
+    XX.--Wherein Master Teach, the pirate, dies better than
+    he lived                                                        347
+
+    XXI.--The recital of how Captain Alvarado and Don Felipe
+    de Tobar came to the rescue in the nick of time                 354
+
+    XXII.--In which Sir Henry Morgan sees a cross, cherishes
+    a hope, and makes a claim                                       370
+
+    XXIII.--How the good priest, Fra Antonio de Las Casas, told
+    the truth, to the great relief of Captain Alvarado
+    and Donna Mercedes, and the discomfiture of
+    Master Benjamin Hornigold and Sir Henry
+    Morgan                                                          385
+
+    XXIV.--In which Sir Henry Morgan appeals unavailingly
+    alike to the pity of woman, the forgiveness of
+    priest, the friendship of comrade, and the hatred
+    of men                                                          402
+
+
+BOOK VI.
+
+    IN WHICH THE CAREER OF SIR HENRY MORGAN IS ENDED ON ISLA DE LA
+    TORTUGA, TO THE GREAT DELECTATION OF MASTER BENJAMIN HORNIGOLD, HIS
+    SOMETIME FRIEND.
+
+    CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+    XXV.--And last. Wherein is seen how the judgment of
+    God came upon the buccaneers in the end                         421
+
+
+
+
+_ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+
+BY J.N. MARCHAND
+
+    Sir Henry Morgan--Buccaneer                              _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+    With the point of his own sword pressed against the back
+    of his neck, he repeated the message which Morgan had
+    given him (_see page 39_)                                        41
+
+    Their blades crossed in an instant ... There was a
+    roar from Carib's pistol, and the old man fell (_see
+    page 87_)                                                        89
+
+    Morgan instantly snatched a pistol from de Lussan's hand
+     and shot the man dead (_see page 138_)                         139
+
+    Alvarado threw his right arm around her, and with a
+    force superhuman dragged her from the saddle (_see
+    page 217_)                                                      215
+
+    The moonlight shone full upon her face, and as he stooped
+    over he scanned it with his one eye (_see page 267_)            269
+
+    ... he reached the summit--breathless, exhausted,
+    unhelmed, weaponless, coatless, in rags; torn, bruised,
+    bleeding, but unharmed (_see page 332_)                         333
+
+    ... he threw the contents at the feet of the buccaneer,
+    and there rolled before him the severed head of
+    ... his solitary friend (_see page 412_)                        413
+
+    Hell had no terror like to this, which he, living,
+    suffered (_see page 443_)                                       441
+
+
+BY WILL CRAWFORD
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+    "To our next meeting, Mr. Bradley" (_see page 44_)               25
+
+    There was one man ... who did not join in the singing
+    (_see page 49_)                                                  45
+
+    Carlingford had risen in his boat ... and with
+    dauntless courage he shook his bared sword (_see
+    page 91_)                                                        81
+
+    The high poop and rail of the Spaniard was black with
+    iron-capped men (_see page 121_)                                115
+
+    "Wilt obey me in the future?" cried the captain (_see
+    page 143_)                                                      128
+
+    "Are you in a state for a return journey at once, senor?"
+    he asked of the young officer (_see page 173_)                  161
+
+    "The fault is mine," said Alvarado (_see page 183_)             174
+
+    Early as it was, the Viceroy and his officers ... bid
+    the travelers Godspeed (_see page 200_)                         200
+
+    During the intervals of repose the young man allowed his
+    party, the two lovers were constantly together (_see
+    page 224_)                                                      218
+
+    But de Lussan shot him dead, and before the others could
+    make a move, Morgan stepped safely on the sand (_see
+    page 239_)                                                      241
+
+    "Slay them, O God! Strike and spare not!" (_see
+    page 281_)                                                      265
+
+    "What would you do for him?" "My life for his," she
+    answered bravely (_see page 289_)                               283
+
+    "Hast another weapon in thy bodice?" (_see page 319_)           321
+
+    Quite the best of the pirates, he! (_see page 351_)             347
+
+    By an impulse ... she slipped her arms around his
+    neck ... and kissed him (_see page 366_)                        354
+
+    "Treachery? My lord, his was the first" (_see page 378_)        370
+
+    "'Tis a certificate of marriage of----" (_see page 400_)        385
+
+    "God help me!" cried Alvarado, throwing aside the
+    poniard, "I cannot" (_see page 386_)                            387
+
+    "I wanted to let you know there was water here.... There
+    is not enough for both of us. Who will get it?
+    I; look!" (_see page 436_)                                      437
+
+    "Harry Morgan's way to lead--old Ben Hornigold's to
+    follow--ha, ha! ho, ho!" He waded out into the
+    water ... (_see page 444_)                                      445
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+HOW SIR HENRY MORGAN IN HIS OLD AGE RESOLVED TO GO A-BUCCANEERING AGAIN
+
+
+_SIR HENRY MORGAN, BUCCANEER_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHEREIN SIR HENRY MORGAN MADE GOOD USE OF THE TEN MINUTES ALLOWED HIM
+
+
+His Gracious Majesty, King Charles II. of England, in sportive--and
+acquisitive--mood, had made him a knight; but, as that merry monarch
+himself had said of another unworthy subject whom he had ennobled--his
+son, by the left hand--"God Almighty could not make him a gentleman!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Yet, to the casual inspection, little or nothing appeared to be lacking
+to entitle him to all the consideration attendant upon that ancient
+degree. His attire, for instance, might be a year or two behind the
+fashion of England and still further away from that of France, then, as
+now, the standard maker in dress, yet it represented the extreme of the
+mode in His Majesty's fair island of Jamaica. That it was a trifle too
+vivid in its colors, and too striking in its contrasts for the best
+taste at home, possibly might be condoned by the richness of the
+material used and the prodigality of trimming which decorated it. Silk
+and satin from the Orient, lace from Flanders, leather from Spain, with
+jewels from everywhere, marked him as a person entitled to some
+consideration, at least. Even more compulsory of attention, if not of
+respect, were his haughty, overbearing, satisfied manner, his look of
+command, the expression of authority in action he bore.
+
+Quite in keeping with his gorgeous appearance was the richly furnished
+room in which he sat in autocratic isolation, plumed hat on head,
+quaffing, as became a former brother-of-the-coast and sometime
+buccaneer, amazing draughts of the fiery spirits of the island of which
+he happened to be, _ad interim_, the Royal Authority.
+
+But it was his face which attested the acuteness of the sneering
+observation of the unworthy giver of the royal accolade. No gentleman
+ever bore face like that. Framed in long, thin, gray curls which fell
+upon his shoulders after the fashion of the time, it was as cruel, as
+evil, as sensuous, as ruthless, as powerful an old face as had ever
+looked over a bulwark at a sinking ship, or viewed with indifference the
+ravaging of a devoted town. Courage there was, capacity in large
+measure, but not one trace of human kindness. Thin, lean, hawk-like,
+ruthless, cunning, weather-beaten, it was sadly out of place in its
+brave attire in that vaulted chamber. It was the face of a man who ruled
+by terror; who commanded by might. It was the face of an adventurer,
+too, one never sure of his position, but always ready to fight for it,
+and able to fight well. There was a watchful, alert, inquiring look in
+the fierce blue eyes, an intent, expectant expression in the craggy
+countenance, that told of the uncertainties of his assumptions; yet the
+lack of assurance was compensated for by the firm, resolute line of the
+mouth under the trifling upturned mustache, with its lips at the same
+time thin and sensual. To be fat and sensual is to appear to mitigate
+the latter evil with at least a pretence at good humor; to be thin and
+sensual is to be a devil. This man was evil, not with the grossness of a
+debauchee but with the thinness of the devotee. And he was an old man,
+too. Sixty odd years of vicious life, glossed over in the last two
+decades by an assumption of respectability, had swept over the gray
+hairs, which evoked no reverence.
+
+There was a heavy frown on his face on that summer evening in the year
+of our Lord, 1685. The childless wife whom he had taken for his
+betterment and her worsening, some ten years since--in succession to
+Satan only knew how many nameless, unrecognized precursors--had died a
+few moments before, in the chamber above his head. Fairly bought from a
+needy father, she had been a cloak to lend him a certain respectability
+when he settled down, red with the blood of thousands whom he had slain
+and rich with the treasure of cities that he had wasted, to enjoy the
+evening of his life. Like all who are used for such purposes, she knew,
+after a little space, the man over whom the mantle of her reputation had
+been flung. She had rejoiced at the near approach of that death for
+which she had been longing almost since her wedding day. That she had
+shrunk from him in the very articles of dissolution when he stood by her
+bedside, indicated the character of the relationship.
+
+To witness death and to cause it had been the habit of this man. He
+marked it in her case, as in others, with absolute indifference--he
+cared so little for her that he did not even feel relief at her
+going--yet because he was the Governor of Jamaica (really he was only
+the Vice-Governor, but between the departure of the Royal Governor and
+the arrival of another he held supreme power) he had been forced to keep
+himself close on the day his wife died, by that public opinion to which
+he was indifferent but which he could not entirely defy. Consequently he
+had not been on the strand at Port Royal when the _Mary Rose_, frigate,
+fresh from England, had dropped anchor in the harbor after her weary
+voyage across the great sea. He did not even yet know of her arrival,
+and therefore the incoming Governor had not been welcomed by the man who
+sat temporarily, as he had in several preceding interregnums, in the
+seats of the mighty.
+
+However, everybody else on the island had welcomed him with joy, for of
+all men who had ever held office in Jamaica Sir Henry Morgan, sometime
+the chief devil of those nefarious bands who disguised their piracy
+under the specious title of buccaneering, was the most detested. But
+because of the fortunate demise of Lady Morgan, as it turned out, Sir
+Henry was not present to greet My Lord Carlingford, who was to supersede
+him--and more.
+
+The deep potations the old buccaneer had indulged in to all outward
+intent passed harmlessly down his lean and craggy throat. He drank
+alone--the more solitary the drinker the more dangerous the man--yet
+the room had another occupant, a tall, brawny, brown-hued, grim-faced
+savage, whose gaudy livery ill accorded with his stern and ruthless
+visage. He stood by the Vice-Governor, watchful, attentive, and silent,
+imperturbably filling again and again the goblet from which he drank.
+
+"More rum," said the master, at last breaking the silence while lifting
+his tall glass toward the man. "Scuttle me, Black Dog," he added,
+smiling sardonically at the silent maroon who poured again with steady
+hand, "you are the only soul on this island who doesn't fear me. That
+woman above yonder, curse her, shuddered away from me as I looked at her
+dying. But your hand is steady. You and old Ben Hornigold are the only
+ones who don't shrink back, hey, Carib? Is it love or hate?" he mused,
+as the man made no answer. "More," he cried, again lifting the glass
+which he had instantly drained.
+
+But the maroon, instead of pouring, bent his head toward the window,
+listened a moment, and then turned and lifted a warning hand. The soft
+breeze of the evening, laden with the fragrance of the tropics, swept up
+from the river and wafted to the Vice-Governor's ears the sound of hoof
+beats on the hard, dry road. With senses keenly alert, he, also,
+listened. There were a number of them, a troop possibly. They were
+drawing nearer; they were coming toward his house, the slimmer house
+near Spanish Town, far up on the mountain side, where he sought relief
+from the enervating heats of the lower land.
+
+"Horsemen!" he cried. "Coming to the house! Many of them! Ah, they
+dismount. Go to the door, Carib."
+
+But before the maroon could obey they heard steps on the porch. Some one
+entered the hall. The door of the drawing-room was abruptly thrown open,
+and two men in the uniform of the English army, with the distinguishing
+marks of the Governor's Guard at Jamaica, unceremoniously entered the
+room. They were fully armed. One of them, the second, had drawn his
+sword and held a cocked pistol in the other hand. The first, whose
+weapons were still in their sheaths, carried a long official paper with
+a portentous seal dangling from it. Both were booted and spurred and
+dusty from riding, and both, contrary to the custom and etiquette of the
+island, kept their plumed hats on their heads.
+
+"Sir Henry Morgan----" began the bearer of the paper.
+
+"By your leave, gentlemen," interrupted Morgan, with an imperious wave
+of his hand, "Lieutenant Hawxherst and Ensign Bradley of my guard, I
+believe. You will uncover at once and apologize for having entered so
+unceremoniously."
+
+As he spoke, the Governor rose to his feet and stood by the table, his
+right hand unconsciously resting upon the heavy glass flagon of rum. He
+towered above the other two men as he stood there transfixing them with
+his resentful glance, his brow heavy with threat and anger. But the two
+soldiers made no movement toward complying with the admonition of their
+sometime superior.
+
+"D'ye hear me?" he cried, stepping forward, reddening with rage at their
+apparent contumacy. "And bethink ye, sirs, had best address me, who
+stand in the place of the King's Majesty, as 'Your Excellency,' or I'll
+have you broke, knaves."
+
+"We need no lessons in manners from you, Sir Henry Morgan," cried
+Hawxherst, angry in turn to be so browbeaten, though yesterday he would
+have taken it mildly enough. "And know by this, sir," lifting the paper,
+"that you are no longer Governor of this island, and can claim respect
+from no one."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"The _Mary Rose_ frigate arrived this morning, bringing Lord Carlingford
+as His Majesty's new Governor, and this order of arrest."
+
+"Arrest? For whom?"
+
+"For one Sir Henry Morgan."
+
+"For what, pray?"
+
+"Well, sir, for murder, theft, treason--the catalogue fills the paper.
+You are to be despatched to England to await the King's pleasure. I am
+sent by Lord Carlingford to fetch you to the jail at Port Royal."
+
+"You seem to find it a pleasant task."
+
+"By heaven, I do, sir!" cried the soldier fiercely. "I am a gentleman
+born, of the proudest family in the Old Dominion, and have been forced
+to bow and scrape and endure your insults and commands, you bloody
+villain, but now----"
+
+"'Tis no part of a soldier's duty, sir, to insult a prisoner,"
+interrupted Morgan, not without a certain dignity. He was striving to
+gain time to digest this surprising piece of news and thinking deeply
+what was to be done in this entirely unexpected crisis.
+
+"Curse it all, Hawxherst!" Ensign Bradley burst out, pulling at the
+sleeve of his superior. "You go too far, man; this is unseemly."
+
+Hawxherst passed his hand across his brow and by an effort somewhat
+regained his self-control.
+
+"Natheless 'tis in this paper writ that you are to go to England a
+prisoner on the _Mary Rose_, to await the King's pleasure," he added,
+savagely.
+
+"His Gracious Majesty hath laid his sword upon my shoulder. I am a
+knight of his English court, one who has served him well upon the seas.
+His coffers have I enriched by--but let that pass. I do not believe that
+King Charles, God bless him----"
+
+"Stop! The _Mary Rose_ brings the news that King Charles II. is dead,
+and there reigns in his stead His Gracious Majesty King James."
+
+"God rest the soul of the King!" cried Morgan, lifting his hat from his
+head. "He was a merry and a gallant gentleman. I know not this James.
+How if I do not go with you?"
+
+"You have ten minutes in which to decide, sir," answered Hawxherst.
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Then if I don't bring you forth, the men of yonder troop will come in
+without further order. Eh, Bradley?"
+
+"Quite so, Sir Henry," answered the younger man. "And every avenue of
+escape is guarded. Yield you, sir; believe me, there's naught else."
+
+"I have ten minutes then," said the old man reflectively, "ten minutes!
+Hum!"
+
+"You may have," answered the captain curtly, "if you choose to take so
+long. And I warn you," he added, "that you'd best make use of that time
+to bid farewell to Lady Morgan or give other order for the charge of
+your affairs, for 'twill be a long time, I take it, before you are back
+here again."
+
+"Lady Morgan is dead, gentlemen, in the room above."
+
+At this young Bradley removed his hat, an example which Hawxherst
+followed a moment after. They had always felt sorry for the unfortunate
+wife of the buccaneer.
+
+"As for my affairs, they can wait," continued Morgan slowly. "The game
+is not played out yet, and perchance I shall have another opportunity to
+arrange them. Meanwhile, fetch glasses, Carib, from yonder buffet."
+
+He nodded toward a huge sideboard which stood against the wall
+immediately in the rear of Ensign Bradley, and at the same time shot a
+swift, meaning glance at the maroon, which was not lost upon him as he
+moved rapidly and noiselessly in obedience.
+
+"Gentlemen, will you drink with me to our next merry meeting?" he
+continued, turning to them.
+
+"We're honest soldiers, honorable gentlemen, and we'll drink with no
+murderer, no traitor!" cried Hawxherst promptly.
+
+"So?" answered Morgan, his eye sparkling with baleful light, although he
+remained otherwise entirely unmoved.
+
+"And let me remind you," continued the soldier, "that your time is
+passing."
+
+"Well, keep fast the glasses, Carib, the gentlemen have no fancy for
+drinking. I suppose, sirs, that I must fain yield me, but first let me
+look at your order ere I surrender myself peaceably to you," said the
+deposed Governor, with surprising meekness.
+
+"Indeed, sir----"
+
+"'Tis my right."
+
+"Well, perchance it may be. There can be no harm in it, I think; eh,
+Bradley?" queried the captain, catching for the moment his subaltern's
+eye.
+
+Then, as the latter nodded his head, the former extended the paper to
+Morgan. At that instant the old buccaneer shot one desperate glance at
+the maroon, who stood back of the shoulder of the officer with the drawn
+sword and pistol. As Hawxherst extended the paper, Morgan, with the
+quickness of an albatross, grasped his wrist with his left hand, jerked
+him violently forward, and struck him a vicious blow on the temple with
+the heavy glass decanter, which shivered in his hand. Hawxherst pitched
+down at the Governor's feet, covered with blood and rum. So powerful had
+been Morgan's blow that the brains of the man had almost been beaten
+out. He lay shuddering and quivering on the floor. Quickly as Morgan
+struck, however, Carib had been quicker. As the glass crashed against
+the temple of the senior, the maroon had wrenched the pistol from the
+junior soldier's hand, and before he realized what had happened a cold
+muzzle was pressed against his forehead.
+
+"Drop that sword!" cried Morgan instantly, and as the weapon fell upon
+the floor, he continued, smiling: "That was well done, Black Dog. Quite
+like old times, eh?"
+
+"Shall I fire?" asked Carib, curling his lips over his teeth in what
+passed with him for a smile.
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Your Excellency," gasped poor Bradley, "I didn't want to come. I
+remonstrated with him a moment since. For God's sake----"
+
+"Silence, sirrah! And how much time have I now, I wonder?" He looked at
+his watch as he asked the question. "Three minutes! Three minutes
+between you and instant death, Ensign Bradley, for should one of your
+men enter the room now you see what you would have to expect, sir."
+
+"Oh, sir, have mercy----"
+
+"Unless you do exactly what I say you will be lying there with that
+carrion," cried Morgan, kicking the prostrate body savagely with his
+jewelled shoes.
+
+"What do you want me to do? For God's sake be quick, Your Excellency.
+Time is almost up. I hear the men move."
+
+"You are afraid, sir. There still want two minutes----"
+
+"Yes, yes, but----"
+
+"Go to the window yonder," cried the old man contemptuously--whatever he
+was he was not afraid--"and speak to them. Do you, Carib, stand behind,
+by the window, well concealed. If he hesitate, if he falter, kill him
+instantly."
+
+"Pistol or knife?"
+
+"The knife, it makes less noise," cried the buccaneer, chuckling with
+devilish glee. "Only one minute and a half now, eh, Mr. Bradley?"
+
+"They're coming, they're coming!" whispered Bradley, gasping for breath.
+"Oh, sir----"
+
+"We still have a minute," answered Morgan coolly. "Now, stop them."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"Tell them that you have captured me; that my wife is dead; that you and
+Lieutenant Hawxherst will spend the night here and fetch me down to Port
+Royal in the morning; that I have yielded myself a prisoner. Bid them
+stay where they are and drink to your health in bottles of rum, which
+shall be sent out to them, and then to go back to Port Royal and tell
+the new Governor. And see that your voice does not tremble, sir!"
+
+There was a sudden movement outside.
+
+"If they get in here," added Morgan quickly, "you are a dead man."
+
+Bradley, with the negro clutching his arm, ran to the window. With the
+point of his own sword pressed against the back of his neck he repeated
+the message which Morgan had given him, which was received by the little
+squadron with shouts of approbation. He turned from the window, pale and
+trembling. Moistening his lips he whispered:
+
+"I stopped them just in time."
+
+"Well for you that you did," said Morgan grimly. "Come hither! Face that
+wall! Now stand there! Move but a hair's-breadth, turn your head the
+thousandth part of a degree, and I run you through," he added, baring
+his sword. "Rum for the men without, Carib," he added, "and then tell me
+when they are gone."
+
+While the two were left alone in the room, Morgan amused himself by
+pricking the unfortunate officer with the point of the weapon, at the
+same time enforcing immobility and silence by the most ferocious threats
+of a speedy and cruel death. The men outside drank noisily and presently
+departed, and the half-breed came back.
+
+"Bind this fool," Morgan commanded briefly. "Then bid the slaves keep
+close in their cabins on pain of my displeasure--they know what it is.
+Then fetch the fastest horse in the stable to the front door. Get my
+riding-boots and cloak, and before you go hand me that little desk
+yonder. Be quick about it, too, for time presses, although I have more
+of it than these gentlemen would have allowed me."
+
+As the maroon, after carefully lashing the officer with a seaman's
+expertness, rushed out to busy himself in carrying out these commands,
+Morgan opened the desk which he had handed to him and took from it
+several rouleaux of gold and a little bag filled with the rarest of
+precious stones; then he made a careful examination of the body on the
+floor.
+
+"Not quite dead yet," he murmured, "but there is no use wasting shot or
+thrust upon him, he won't survive that blow. As for you, sir," looking
+at the paralyzed ensign, lying bound upon the floor, "you thought you
+could outwit the old buccaneer, eh? You shall see. I dealt with men when
+you were a babe in arms, and a babe in arms you are still. Ho! Ho!"
+
+He laughed long and loudly, though there was neither mirth nor merriment
+in his sinister tones. The blood of the poor listener froze in his veins
+at the sound of it.
+
+The brief preparations which Morgan had indicated as necessary for the
+journey were soon made.
+
+[Illustration: With the point of his own sword pressed against the back
+of his neck, he repeated the message which Morgan had given him.] He
+was always promptly obeyed by his own people; the slaves fled his
+presence when they could as if he had been a pestilence. At a sign from
+his taciturn body-servant at the open door that the horse was ready, he
+rose to his feet.
+
+"Shall I kill this one now?" asked the maroon.
+
+Morgan looked at the young man reflectively. The tongue of the ensign
+clave to the roof of his mouth; the sweat stood out on his forehead; he
+could not utter a word from fright. He was bound and trussed so tightly
+that he could not make a move, either. His eyes, however, spoke volumes.
+
+"Well," said Sir Henry deliberately, "it would be a pity to kill him--"
+he paused; "in a hurry," he added.
+
+"Dead men tell no tales."
+
+"Eh, well, we can take care of that. Just lay him near his friend, lock
+the doors when I am gone and set the place on fire. The people are all
+out of the house. See they remain away. 'Twill make a hot, glorious
+blaze. You know the landing opposite Port Royal?"
+
+The half-breed nodded.
+
+"Meet me there as quick as you can. Lose no time."
+
+"Aye, aye, sah," answered the Carib. "And Lady Morgan, sah?"
+
+"Let her burn with the other two. She is so saintly she may like the
+fire, for I am afraid there will be none where she has gone. Good-by,
+Master Bradley. You allowed me ten minutes. I take it that this house
+will burn slowly at first, so perhaps you may count upon--let us
+say--half an hour. I'm generous, you see. Harry Morgan's way! 'Tis a
+pity you can't live to take my message to Lord Carlingford. The next
+time he sends any one for me let him send men, not fools and--cowards."
+
+"You villain! You cursed, murdering villain!" gasped Bradley at last.
+
+"To our next meeting, Mr. Bradley, and may it be in a cooler place than
+you will be in half an hour!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HOW MASTER BENJAMIN HORNIGOLD, THE ONE-EYED, AGREED TO GO WITH HIS OLD
+CAPTAIN
+
+
+Close under the towering walls of the old Spanish fort, now for a
+quarter of a century dominated by the English flag, as if seeking
+protection from its frowning battlements with their tiers of
+old-fashioned guns, stood the Blue Anchor tavern. It had been a famous
+resort for the bold spirits of the evil sort who had made Port Royal the
+base of their operations in many a desperate sea venture in piracy in
+the two decades that had just passed; but times had changed, even if men
+had not changed in them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The buccaneer had been banished from the Caribbean. Whereupon, with a
+circumspect prudence, he had extended his operations into the South
+Seas, where he was farther from civilization, consequently harder to get
+at, and, naturally, more difficult to control. Since the sack of Panama,
+twenty-five years before, his fortunes had been rapidly declining. One
+of the principal agents in promoting his downfall had been the most
+famous rover of them all. After robbing his companions of most of their
+legitimate proportion of the spoils of Panama, Sir Henry had bought his
+knighthood at the hands of the venal Charles, paying for it in treasure,
+into the origin of which, with his usual careless insouciance, his
+easy-going majesty had not inquired any too carefully. And the old
+pirate had settled down, if not to live cleanly at least to keep within
+the strict letter of the law. There was thereafter nothing he abhorred
+so thoroughly as buccaneering and the buccaneer--ostensibly, that is.
+
+Like many a reformed rake this gentle child of hell, when the
+opportunity came to him with the position of Vice-Governor, endeavored
+to show the sincerity of his reformation by his zealous persecution. He
+hanged without mercy such of his old companions in crime as fell into
+his clutches. They had already vowed vengeance upon him, these sometime
+brethren of the coast, for his betrayal of their confidence at Panama;
+they had further resented his honor of knighthood, his cloak of
+respectability, his assumption of gentility, and now that he hanged and
+punished right and left without mercy, their anger and animosity were
+raised to the point of fury, and many of them swore deeply with bitter
+oaths that if they ever caught him defenceless they would make him pay
+dearly in torture and torment for these various offences. He knew them
+well enough to realize their feelings toward him, and blind fate
+affording him the opportunity of the upper hand he made them rue more
+bitterly than ever their wild threats against him.
+
+He had, moreover, so conducted himself in his official position that
+everybody, good, bad, and indifferent, on the island hated him. Why he
+had not been assassinated long since was a mystery. But he was a
+dangerous man to attack. Absolutely fearless, prompt, decisive,
+resourceful, and with the powers and privileges of the office he held
+besides, he had so far escaped all the dangers and difficulties of his
+situation. Charles had constantly befriended him and had refused to give
+ear either to the reiterated pleas of the islanders for his removal, or
+to the emphatic representations of the Spanish court, which, in bitter
+recollection of what he had done--and no more cruel or more successful
+pirate had ever swept the Caribbean and ravaged the Spanish Main--were
+persistently urged upon his notice. But with the accession of James the
+situation was immediately altered. The new monarch had at once acceded
+to the demand of the Spanish Ambassador, presented anew at this
+opportune time, and a new Governor of Jamaica was despatched over the
+sea with orders to arrest Morgan and send him to England. Hawxherst,
+who, in common with all the officers of the insular army, hated the
+bloodstained villain whom fortune had placed over them, had solicited
+Lord Carlingford to allow him to execute the order, with what success we
+have seen.
+
+The news of the long-wished-for downfall of the tyrant had been spread
+abroad and formed the one topic of conversation in Port Royal and the
+vicinity that day. Now the work of the day was over and, as usual, the
+Blue Anchor tavern was crowded with men from the frigate and other
+shipping in the harbor, mingling with others from the purlieus of the
+town. Fumes of rum and spirits pervaded the tobacco-smoked barroom which
+served as the main parlor of the inn. It was yet early in the evening,
+but the crowd, inflamed with liquor, was already in uproarious mood.
+Over in the corner a young Englishman was singing in a rich, deep voice
+a new song by a famous poet of London town:
+
+    "Let us sing and be merry, dance, joke and rejoice,
+    With claret and sherry, theorbo and voice!
+    The changeable world to our joy is unjust,
+            All treasure's uncertain,
+            Then down with your dust;
+    In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings and pence,
+    For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence.
+
+    We'll sport and be free, with Frank, Betty and Dolly,
+    Have lobsters and oysters to cure melancholy;
+    Fish dinners will make a man spring like a flea,
+            Dame Venus, love's lady,
+            Was born of the sea;
+    With her and with Bacchus we'll tickle the sense.
+    For we shall be past it a hundred years hence."
+
+It was a popular song, evidently, for the whole assembly joined in the
+chorus--
+
+    "In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings and pence,
+    For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence."
+
+They roared it out in the deep bass voices of the sea, marking the time
+by hammering in unison upon the oaken tables with their pewter mugs and
+flagons. The sentiment seemed to suit the company, if the zest with
+which they sang be any criterion. Care was taken to insure a sufficient
+pause, too, after the chorus between each of the verses, to permit the
+drinking, after all the essential part of the evening's entertainment,
+to be performed without hindrance.
+
+There was one man, however, from the post of honor which he occupied at
+the head of the table evidently held in high consideration among the
+habitues of the inn, who did not join in the singing. He was a little
+man, who made up for his shortness of stature by breadth of shoulder and
+length of arm. There was an ugly black patch over his left eye; no one
+had ever seen him without that patch since the day of the assault on the
+fort at Chagres; an Indian arrow had pierced his eye on that eventful
+day. Men told how he had gone to the surgeon requesting him to pull it
+out, and when the young doctor, who had been but a short time with the
+buccaneers, shrank from jerking the barb out in view of the awful pain
+which would attend his action, had hesitated, reluctant, the wounded man
+had deliberately torn out the arrow, and with oaths and curses for the
+other's cowardice had bound up the wound himself with strips torn from
+his shirt and resumed the fighting. His courage there, and before and
+after, although he was an illiterate person and could neither read nor
+write, had caused him to be appointed boatswain of the ship that had
+carried Morgan's flag, and he had followed his leader for many years
+with a blind devotion that risked all and stuck at nothing to be of
+service to him.
+
+It had been many years since Master Benjamin Hornigold, coming down from
+bleak New England because he found his natural bent of mind out of
+harmony with the habits and customs of his Puritan ancestors, had
+drifted into buccaneering under the flag of his chief. He was an old
+man now, but those who felt the force of his mighty arms were convinced
+that age had not withered him to any appreciable degree.
+
+Aside from Morgan, Hornigold had loved but one human creature, his
+younger brother, a man of somewhat different stamp, who had been
+graduated from Harvard College but, impelled by some wild strain in his
+blood and by the example of his brother, had joined the buccaneers.
+
+There were many men of gentle blood who were well acquainted with the
+polite learning of the day among these sea rovers from time to time, and
+it is related that on that same Panama excursion when "from the silent
+peak in Darien" they beheld for the first time after their tremendous
+march the glittering expanse of the South Seas, with white Panama in its
+green trees before them, the old cry of the famous Ten Thousand,
+"Thalatta! Thalatta! The sea! The sea!" had burst from many lips.
+
+All his learning and refinement of manner had not prevented young
+Ebenezer Hornigold from being as bad at heart as his brother, which is
+saying a great deal, and because he was younger, more reckless, less
+prudent, than he of riper years, he had incautiously put himself in the
+power of Morgan and had been hanged with short shrift. Benjamin,
+standing upon the outskirts of the crowd jesting and roaring around the
+foot of the gibbet, with a grief and rage in his heart at his impotency,
+presently found himself hating his old captain with a fierceness
+proportioned to his devotion in the past. For he had appealed for mercy
+personally to Morgan by the memory of his former services and had been
+sternly repulsed and coldly dismissed with a warning that he should look
+to his own future conduct lest, following in the course of his brother,
+he should find himself with his neck in the noose.
+
+Morgan, colossal in his conceit and careless in his courage, thought not
+to inquire, or, if he gave the subject any consideration at all,
+dismissed it from his mind as of little moment, as to what was the
+subsequent state of Hornigold's feelings. Hornigold could have killed
+Morgan on numberless occasions, but a consuming desire for a more
+adequate revenge than mere death had taken hold of him, and he deferred
+action until he could contrive some means by which to strike him in a
+way that he conceived would glut his obsession of inexpiable hatred.
+
+Hornigold had reformed, outwardly that is, and was now engaged in the
+useful and innocent business of piloting ships into the harbor, also
+steering their crews, after the anchors were down, into the Blue Anchor
+tavern, in which place his voice and will were supreme. He had heard,
+for Lord Carlingford had made no secret of his orders, that his old
+master was to be arrested and sent back to England. The news which would
+have brought joy to a lesser villain, in that it meant punishment,
+filled him with dismay, for such was the peculiarity of his hatred that
+he wanted the punishment to come directly from him--through his agency,
+that is. He desired it to be of such character that it should be neither
+speedy nor easy, and he lusted most of all that Morgan should know in
+his last hours--which Hornigold prayed Satan might be long ones--to whom
+he was indebted for it all.
+
+And, strange as it may seem, there was still a certain loyalty of a
+distorted, perverted kind, in the man's breast. No matter what Morgan
+had done, no one else should punish him but himself. He would even have
+fought for his sometime chief, were it necessary, against the King or
+his law, if need be. He was therefore very much disturbed over what he
+heard. Had it been possible he would have warned Morgan immediately of
+his purposed arrest, but he had been detained on the frigate by
+necessary duties from which he could find no means of escape until too
+late. He had, however, a high sense of Sir Henry's courage and address.
+He hoped and believed that he would not be taken by such men as
+Hawxherst and Bradley; but if he were, Hornigold made up his mind to
+rescue him.
+
+There was a little islet in the Caribbean just below Hispaniola, in
+whose wooded interior still lurked some of the old-time buccaneers,
+proscribed men, who, from time to time, did pirating in a small way on
+their own account; just enough to keep their hands in. If the worst
+came, Hornigold, who with his little pinnace had kept in touch with them
+secretly, could assemble them for the rescue of their old captain. Then
+the former Governor, in his power and in their possession, could be
+disposed of at their leisure and pleasure. All these things had busied
+the man during the evening, and he sat even now in the midst of the
+revelry about him, plunged in profound thought.
+
+Unobserved himself, he had taken account of every man who was present.
+He knew all the habitues of the port, and enjoyed a wide acquaintance
+among the seamen whose vessels frequented the harbor. He decided there
+were then in that room perhaps twenty men upon whom he could depend,
+proper inducement being offered, for almost any sort of service. Among
+these were five or six superior spirits whom he knew to be tried and
+true. There was young Teach, the singer of the evening, a drunken,
+dissolute vagabond, who had been discharged from his last ship for
+insubordination and a quarrelsome attack upon one of his officers, for
+which he had narrowly escaped hanging as a mutineer. The man was as bold
+as a lion, though; he could be trusted. There, too, was Rock Braziliano,
+a Portuguese half-breed, and hobnobbing with him was Raveneau de Lussan,
+a Frenchman--prime seamen and bold fellows both. Further down the table,
+the huge Dutchman, Velsers, was nodding stupidly over his rum.
+
+These men and a few others were veterans like Hornigold himself. They
+were the best of the lot, but for the most part the assemblage was made
+up of the sweepings of the town, men who had the willingness to do
+anything no matter how nefarious it might be, their only deterrent being
+lack of courage. Hornigold's single eye swept over them with a fierce
+gleam of contempt, yet these were they with whom he must work in case of
+necessity.
+
+One or two others in whom he reposed confidence, men who composed the
+crew of his own pinnace, he had sent off early in the evening to Spanish
+Town to gather what news they could. One of them came in and reported
+that the squadron of horse which had gone up with the officers to bring
+back Morgan had come back without him and without the officers. The
+spy's insignificance prevented him from learning why this was, but hope
+instantly sprang up in Hornigold's breast upon receipt of this news.
+Knowing Morgan as he did, he was convinced that he had found some means
+to dispose of the two officers and send away the cavalry.
+
+He was not unprepared, therefore, when he saw the tall form of the
+maroon appearing in the doorway through the smoke. No one else noticed
+the silent Carib's entry, and he stood motionless until Hornigold's eye
+fastened upon him. Then by an imperceptible move of his head he
+indicated a desire to speak with him without the room. The one-eyed
+nodded slightly in token that he understood, and the maroon vanished as
+silently as he had come. Waiting a few moments, Hornigold rose from his
+seat and began threading his way through the boisterous crowd toward the
+door. Thrusting aside detaining hands and answering rude queries with an
+old sailor's ready banter, bidding them on no account to cease the
+festivities because of his departure, and in fact ordering a new draught
+of rum for all hands, he succeeded in breaking away under cover of the
+cheers which greeted this announcement.
+
+It was pitch dark outside and he stopped a moment, hesitating as to what
+he should do. He had no doubt but that the maroon had a message for him
+from his master. But a second had elapsed when he felt a light touch on
+his shoulder. His hand went instantly to the seaman's hanger at his side
+and he faced about promptly. A ready man was Master Hornigold.
+
+"It's I, bo's'n," whispered a familiar voice.
+
+"You, Black Dog? Where's your master?"
+
+"Yonder."
+
+"Let me see him."
+
+A tall, slender figure muffled in a heavy riding-coat sat in the stern
+sheets of a small boat in the deepest shadow of one of the silent and
+deserted piers.
+
+"Captain Morgan?" whispered Hornigold softly, as followed by the maroon
+he descended the landing stairs leading toward the boat.
+
+"'Tis you, Master Hornigold," answered the man, with an accent of relief
+in his voice, thrusting the pistol back into his belt as he spoke. He,
+too, was a ready man with his weapons and one not to be caught napping
+in any emergency.
+
+"Me it is, sir," answered the boatswain, "and ready to serve my old
+captain."
+
+"You heard the news?"
+
+"I heard it on the frigate this afternoon."
+
+"Why did you not send me warning?"
+
+"I had no chance. I'd 'a' done it, sir, if I could have fetched away."
+
+"Well, all's one. I've laid those two landlubbers by the heels. Eh,
+Carib?"
+
+"Where are they, sir?"
+
+"I might make a guess, for I left them bound and the house blazing."
+
+"'Tis like old times!"
+
+"Ay! I've not forgot the old tricks."
+
+"No, sir. And what's to do now?"
+
+"Why, the old game once more."
+
+"What? You don't mean----"
+
+"I do. What else is there left for me? Scuttle me, if I don't take it
+out of the Dons! It's their doing. They've had a rest for nigh twenty
+years. We'll let it slip out quietly among the islands that Harry
+Morgan's afloat once more and there's pickings to be had on the Spanish
+Main--wine and women and pieces of eight. Art with me?"
+
+"Ay, of course. But we lack a ship."
+
+"There's one yonder, man," cried Morgan, pointing up the harbor, where
+the lights of the _Mary Rose_ twinkled in the blackness.
+
+"To be sure the ship is there, but----"
+
+"But what?"
+
+"We've no force. The old men are gone."
+
+"I am here," answered Morgan, "and you and Black Dog. And there are a
+few others left. Teach is new, but will serve; I heard his bull voice
+roaring out from the tavern. And de Lussan and Velsers, and the rest.
+I've kept sight of ye. Curse it all, I let you live when I might have
+hanged you."
+
+"You did, captain, you did. You didn't hang everybody--but you didn't
+spare, either."
+
+It would have been better for the captain if it had been lighter and he
+could have seen the sudden and sharp set of Master Hornigold's jaws,
+which, coupled with the fierceness which flamed into his one eye as he
+hissed out that last sentence, might have warned him that it would be
+safer to thrust his head into the lion's mouth than altogether to trust
+himself to his whilom follower. But this escaped him in the darkness.
+
+"Listen," he said quickly. "This is my plan. In the morning when
+Hawxherst and Bradley do not appear, the new Governor will send more
+men. They will find the house burned down. No one saw us come hither.
+There will be in the ruins the remains of three bodies."
+
+"Three?"
+
+"Yes. My Lady Morgan's."
+
+"Did you kill her?"
+
+"I didn't have to. They'll think that one of them is mine. No hue or cry
+will be raised and no search made for me. Do you arrange that the crew
+of the _Mary Rose_ be given liberty for the evening yonder at the Blue
+Anchor. They've not been ashore yet, I take it?"
+
+"No, but they will go to-morrow."
+
+"That's well. Meanwhile gather together the bold fellows who have
+stomach for a cruise and are willing to put their heads through the
+halter provided there are pieces of eight on the other side, and then
+we'll take the frigate to-morrow night and away for the Spanish Main.
+That will give us a start. We'll pick up what we can along the coast
+first, then scuttle the ship, cross the Isthmus, seize another and have
+the whole South Seas before us--Peru, Manila, wherever we will."
+
+"The King has a long arm."
+
+"Yes, and other kings have had long arms too, I take it, but they have
+not caught Harry Morgan, nor ever shall. Come, man, wilt go with me?"
+
+"Never fear," answered Hornigold promptly. "I've been itching for a
+chance to cut somebody's throat."
+
+He did not say it was Morgan's throat, but the truth and sincerity in
+his voice carried conviction to the listening captain.
+
+"Thou bloody butcher!" he laughed grimly. "There will be plenty of it
+anon."
+
+"Where will you lay hid," asked the boatswain, "until to-morrow night?"
+
+"I have thought of that," said Morgan promptly. "I think the best place
+will be the cabin of your pinnace. I'll just get aboard, Black Dog here
+and I, and put to sea. To-morrow night at this hour we'll come back here
+again and you will find us here at the wharf."
+
+"A good plan, Master Morgan," cried Hornigold, forgetting the title as
+the scheme unfolded itself to him. "What's o'clock, I wonder?"
+
+As he spoke the sound of a bell tapped softly came floating over the
+quiet water from the _Mary Rose_.
+
+"Four bells," answered Morgan listening; "at ten of the clock, then, I
+shall be here."
+
+"Leave the rest to me, sir," answered Hornigold.
+
+"I shall. That will be your boat yonder?"
+
+"Ay. Just beyond the point."
+
+"Is anybody aboard of her?"
+
+"No one."
+
+"Is there rum and water enough for one day?"
+
+"Plenty. In the locker in the cuddy."
+
+"Good! Come, Carib. Until to-morrow night, then!"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said Hornigold, leaning over the pier and watching the
+boat fade into a black blur on the water as it drew away toward the
+pinnace.
+
+"He's mine, by heaven, he's mine!" he whispered under his breath as he
+turned and walked slowly up to the house.
+
+Yet Master Hornigold meant to keep faith with his old captain. He was
+sick and tired of assumed respectability, of honest piloting of ships to
+the harbor, of drinking with worthy merchantmen or the King's sailors.
+The itch for the old buccaneering game was hard upon him. To hear the
+fire crackle and roar through a doomed ship, to lord it over shiploads
+of terrified men and screaming women, to be sated with carnage and drunk
+with liquor, to dress in satins and velvets and laces, to let the broad
+pieces of eight run through his grimy fingers, to throw off restraint
+and be a free sailor, a gentleman rover, to return to the habits of his
+earlier days and revel in crime and sin--it was for all this that his
+soul lusted again.
+
+He would betray Morgan, yet a flash of his old admiration for the man
+came into his mind as he licked his lips like a wolf and thought of the
+days of rapine. There never was such a leader. He had indeed been the
+terror of the seas. Under no one else would there be such prospects for
+successful piracy. Yes, he would do all for him faithfully, up to the
+point of revenge. Morgan's plan was simple and practicable. De Lussan,
+Teach, Velsers and the rest would fall in with it gladly. There would
+be enough rakehelly, degraded specimens of humanity, hungry and
+thirsty, lustful and covetous, in Port Royal--which was the wickedest
+and most flourishing city on the American hemisphere at the time--to
+accompany them and insure success, provided only there would be reward
+in women and liquor and treasure. He would do it. They would all go
+a-cruising once more, and then--they would see.
+
+He stayed a long time on the wharf, looking out over the water,
+arranging the details of the scheme outlined by Morgan so brilliantly,
+and it was late when he returned to the parlor of the Blue Anchor Inn.
+Half the company were drunk on the floor under the tables. The rest were
+singing, or shouting, or cursing, in accordance with their several
+moods. Above the confusion Hornigold could hear Teach's giant voice
+still roaring out his reckless refrain; bitter commentary on their
+indifference it was, too--
+
+    "Though life now is pleasant and sweet to the sense,
+    We'll be damnably moldy a hundred years hence."
+
+"Ay," thought the old buccaneer, pausing in the entrance, for the
+appositeness of the verses impressed even his unreflective soul, "it
+will be all the same in a hundred years, but we'll have one more good
+cruise before we are piped down for the long watch in."
+
+He chuckled softly and hideously to himself at the fatalistic idea.
+
+By his orders, enforced by the vigorous use of seamen's colts, the inn
+servants at once cleared the room of the vainly protesting revellers.
+Those whose appearance indicated a degree of respectability which
+promised payment for their accommodation, were put to bed; the common
+sort were bundled unceremoniously out on the strand before the door and
+left to sober up as best they might in the soft tropic night. Teach,
+Raveneau, and the Brazilian were detained for conference with the
+boatswain. To these worthies, therefore, Hornigold unfolded Morgan's
+plan, which they embraced with alacrity, promising each to do his share.
+Velsers was too stupidly drunk to be told anything, but they knew they
+could count upon him without fail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH SIR HENRY MORGAN FINDS HIMSELF AT THE HEAD OF A CREW ONCE MORE
+
+
+The next morning, after waiting a reasonable time for a message from the
+two soldiers at Spanish Town, Lord Carlingford, the new Governor, who
+had taken up his residence temporarily at Port Royal, summoned his
+attendants, and himself repaired to the seat of Government to ascertain
+why no further report had been received from his officers. Great was his
+astonishment when he found that the residence of the Vice-Governor had
+been destroyed by fire during the night. The frightened slaves could
+tell nothing. Morgan and Carib had taken care that no one had marked
+their departure. Consequently when the search of the ruins revealed the
+remains of three bodies, so badly charred as to be unrecognizable, it
+was naturally inferred at first that they were those of the buccaneer
+and the two unfortunate officers. It was known among the people of the
+place, however, that Lady Morgan had been seriously ill, so ill that
+she could not have been removed, and there were some who suspected that
+one of the bodies was hers and that the arch-fiend himself had by some
+means disposed of the officers and escaped. Therefore a hue and cry was
+raised for him and a strict search instituted by order of the Governor,
+who, after setting affairs in motion, returned to Port Royal.
+
+Troops were accordingly ordered out, and even details of surly seamen,
+growling at being deprived of their accustomed shore liberty, were
+detailed from the frigate, which happened to be the only war vessel in
+commission in the harbor. Hornigold, Raveneau, and one or two of the
+others known to be former companions of the buccaneer, were closely
+interrogated, but they stoutly declared they did not know his
+whereabouts and had seen nothing of him. Later in the afternoon it was
+observed that Hornigold's pinnace was not in the harbor. Indeed, with
+cunning adroitness that master mariner himself called attention to the
+fact, cursing the while his old commander for his alleged theft of the
+boat, and declaring his willingness to join in the search for him. It
+was known to the authorities that the execution of the boatswain's
+brother by Morgan had shattered the old intimacy which subsisted between
+them; consequently his protestations were given credence and suspicion
+of collusion was diverted from him.
+
+Lord Carlingford finally determined to send the _Mary Rose_ to sea in an
+endeavor to overhaul the pinnace, in the hope that the former
+Vice-Governor might be found on her, although the chances of success
+were but faint. The frigate, however, was not provisioned or watered for
+a cruise, after her long voyage from England. There had been
+considerable scurvy and other sickness on the ship and she was in no
+condition to weigh anchor immediately; she would have to be re-supplied
+and the sick men in her crew replaced by drafts from the shore. Besides,
+in accordance with the invariable custom, the great majority of the men
+had been given shore leave for that afternoon and evening, and those few
+who were not on duty were carousing at the Blue Anchor Inn and similar
+taverns and would be utterly unable to work the ship, should they be
+called upon to do so, without being given a chance to sober up. This
+would take time, and Lord Carlingford upon the representations of his
+sea officers decided to wait until the morrow before commencing work.
+One secret of Morgan's success was the promptness with which he struck.
+Nobler and better men could have learned a lesson from this old
+buccaneer, notably the Governor.
+
+As he could do so, not only personally but through his able
+lieutenants, Hornigold busied himself during the day and the preceding
+night in enlisting as vicious a gang of depraved ruffians as could be
+gathered together in what was perhaps the wickedest city in the world.
+It had been decided after conference between the leaders that there was
+no place within the confines of Port Royal itself where so many men
+could meet without exciting suspicion. He had accordingly appointed a
+rendezvous for the night across the narrow entrance to the harbor,
+opposite the fort, under the trees which overshadowed the strand, some
+distance back from high-water mark. Singly or in groups of two or three,
+the men had gone across in boats after sunset, successfully eluding
+observation, for the night was moonless and very dark.
+
+There was no room, indeed, for suspicion on the part of the authorities,
+save in the bare fact of the possible escape of Morgan; but it had been
+twenty years since that worthy had gone buccaneering, and, except in the
+minds of his former companions and participants, much of the character
+of his exploits had passed out of mind. No special watch was kept,
+therefore, in fort or town or on the ship. Morgan was gone certainly,
+but nothing was feared from a single proscribed man.
+
+There was rum in plenty under the trees on the point, but care was taken
+by Rock Braziliano, Raveneau, and the others, even including Velsers,
+that no one should drink enough to lose entire control of his faculties
+or to become obstreperous. Just enough was given to make the timid bold,
+and the hardy reckless. They knew the value of, and on occasion could
+practise, abstinence, those old buccaneers, and they were determined to
+keep their men well in hand. No fires were lighted, no smoking
+permitted. Strict silence was enjoined and enforced. It was perhaps ten
+o'clock before all were assembled.
+
+When morning had cleared their brains of the rum they had taken, there
+had been ferocious opposition on the part of the older men. Not that
+they objected to buccaneering. They were eager for the chance once more,
+but the memory of Morgan's betrayals of his old comrades rankled deep.
+There were many beside Hornigold who had promised themselves the luxury
+of vengeance upon their old commander. There were none, however, who had
+so dwelt upon it as the boatswain, nor were there any whose animosity
+and determination compared to his fierce hatred. He was therefore able,
+at last, to persuade them into a surly willingness to accept Morgan as
+their captain in this new enterprise. Indeed, without him they could do
+nothing, for there was no one who possessed the ability or experience to
+lead them save he. The best men of the old stamp were now in the South
+Seas and far away; they had been driven from the Caribbean. It was not
+difficult for Hornigold to show them that it must be Morgan or no one.
+
+Their feelings of animosity were, perforce, sunk beneath the surface,
+although they smouldered still within their breasts. They would go with
+him, they said. But let him look to himself, they swore threateningly.
+If he betrayed them again, there were men among them who would kill him
+as remorselessly as they would stamp on a centipede. If he behaved
+himself and the expedition on which he was to lead them proved
+successful, they might forgive him--all but old Hornigold. Truth to
+tell, there was no one among them who felt himself so wronged or so
+badly treated as the one-eyed envenomed sailor.
+
+The bulk of the party, which numbered perhaps one hundred men, were
+simply plain, ordinary thieves, cut-throats, broken-down seamen, land
+sharks and rascals. Not much was to be expected of them. They were not
+of the stuff of which the old-time buccaneers had been made, but they
+were the best to be obtained at that time in Port Royal. Even they would
+not have been so easily assembled had they realized quite what was
+expected of them. They knew, of course, that they were committing
+themselves to some nefarious undertaking, but to each recruit had been
+vouchsafed only enough information to get him to come to the
+rendezvous--no more. They were a careless, drunken, dissolute lot.
+
+By Hornigold's orders they were told off in five parties of about twenty
+each, commanded respectively by himself, Velsers, Raveneau, the
+Brazilian, and the last by Teach, who, though the youngest of the
+leaders, had a character for daring wickedness that would stop at
+nothing. With much difficulty the boatswain had succeeded in obtaining
+five boats, each capable of carrying one band. Every one brought his own
+arms, and in general these men did not lack a sufficiency of weapons.
+Those who were deficient, however, were supplied from a scanty stock
+which the leaders had managed to procure.
+
+All was in readiness, when one of the men who had been stationed on the
+extreme edge of the beach toward the channel reported the approach of a
+small boat looking like the pinnace.
+
+The wind, fortunately for the enterprise, happened to be blowing fresh
+out of the harbor and it was necessary for the pinnace to beat up toward
+the entrance. She showed no lights, but, as she tacked in close to the
+shore, between the watcher and the lights of the town, he observed her.
+The boat was handled with consummate skill; she dropped anchor and
+hauled down her sails noiselessly just abreast the pier which had been
+appointed the rendezvous by the two men on the night before. As soon as
+Hornigold learned of the approach he took a small boat, leaving Velsers
+in command of the band on shore, and repaired with the other leaders to
+the wharf on the other side. As the boat approached the wharf it was
+hailed in a sharp whisper.
+
+"Who comes?" cried the voice on shore.
+
+"Hornigold!" answered the boatswain in a low tone, as the boat swept
+alongside.
+
+"So, 'tis you, is it?" cried Morgan, attended by the maroon as usual,
+again putting his pistol back into his belt. "Seeing so many of you in
+the skiff, I feared a trap until you gave the word."
+
+"I've brought along Raveneau, the Brazilian, and young Teach," said the
+boatswain.
+
+"Welcome, my hearties, all!" said the Vice-Governor softly. "We're off
+to the Spanish Main with a good ship, plenty of liquor beneath the
+hatches, brave hearts to run her. There will be plenty of pickings meet
+for any man. Are you with me?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!"
+
+"We are," answered one and another.
+
+The place where they stood was lonely and deserted at that time of
+night, but Hornigold suggested that they immediately repair to the other
+side, there to perfect their further plans. Indeed, they had no plans
+as yet. There was not head enough among them to concoct the details of
+the scheme, although no better instruments for an expedition than the
+chief and those assembled under him could be gathered together. They had
+waited for Morgan.
+
+"You speak well," answered the captain. "Are all preparations made?"
+
+"All we could make without you, captain," replied Hornigold as the party
+re-entered the boat.
+
+"How many men have you gathered?"
+
+"About five score."
+
+"Boats?"
+
+"Five."
+
+"Will they carry all?"
+
+"With a little crowding."
+
+"Who leads each boat?"
+
+"I, one, sir, with your permission; Raveneau here, another; the
+Brazilian, the third; young Teach, a fourth, and Velsers----"
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"With the rest of the men--the fifth."
+
+"Good! Are they all armed?"
+
+"Every man has a sword and a pistol at least."
+
+"What of the men?"
+
+"A poor lot," answered Teach, recklessly. "A dastardly crew."
+
+"Will they fight, think ye?"
+
+"Curse me, they'll have to fight; we'll make them!" said Hornigold.
+
+"Do they know what's up?"
+
+"Not exactly," answered Raveneau, the Frenchman, a man of good birth and
+gentle manners, but as cruel and ruthless a villain as any that ever cut
+a throat or scuttled a ship. "Have no fear, captain," he continued
+smoothly. "Once we start them, they will have to fight."
+
+"Did you ever know me to show fear, de Lussan?" cried the captain
+bending forward and staring at the Frenchman, his eyes glittering in the
+darkness like those of a wildcat.
+
+"No, captain."
+
+"No, nor did any other man," answered Morgan, and from where he sat
+Hornigold marked the little dialogue and swore in his heart that this
+man who boasted so should beg for his life at his hand, with all the
+beseeching pity of the veriest craven, before he finished with him. But
+for the present he said nothing. After a short pause, Morgan resumed:
+
+"Have they suspected my escape?"
+
+"They have," answered the boatswain. "They found the remains of the
+three bodies in the burned house this morning. At first they thought one
+of them was yours, but they decided after a while that one was a woman,
+and they guessed that you had made away with the officers and escaped.
+I told them you had stolen my pinnace and got away."
+
+"You did, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And he swore and cursed you roundly, captain," interposed the Brazilian
+chuckling maliciously. "Aye, sir, he swore if he got hands on you he
+would give you up."
+
+Morgan turned this time to Hornigold. He was by no means sure of his
+position. He knew the enmity of these men, and he did not know how far
+their cupidity or their desire to take up the old life once more under
+such fortunate auspices as would be afforded under his command would
+restrain them.
+
+"Master Ben Hornigold, said ye that?" he queried. "Would ye betray me?"
+
+His hand stole to his waist and his fingers closed around his pistol
+grip.
+
+"No fear, captain," answered that worthy composedly, sustaining the
+captain's searching gaze. A braver man never stepped a deck than he. "I
+did it to divert their attention. You see, they fancied at first that we
+old sea-dogs might have something to do with your escape, but I
+undeceived them. They reckoned that you had been hard on us and that we
+might be hard on ye----"
+
+"No more of this, gentlemen, the past is gone. We begin again," cried
+Morgan fiercely. "And mark me, the man who betrays Harry Morgan will not
+live many minutes to boast of it! I'd kill him if he sat on the steps of
+a throne. Easy there!" he called out to the oarsmen, assuming the
+command as by right, while the boat's keel grated on the shingle. "All
+out now and lead the way. Nay, gentlemen, you shall all precede me.
+Carib, here, will bring up the rear. And it may be well for you to keep
+your weapons in your belts."
+
+Much impressed, the little party disembarked and walked rapidly toward
+the place of assemblage, under the trees. Morgan and the maroon came
+last, each of them with a bared sword and cocked pistol.
+
+"Lads," said Hornigold, as they approached the men, "here's your
+captain, Sir Henry Morgan."
+
+"The Governor!" cried one and another, in surprise and alarm. The man
+had been a terror to evildoers too poor to bribe.
+
+"Nay, men, Governor no more," Morgan answered promptly. "A free sailor
+who takes the sea against the Spanish Dons. We'll go buccaneering as in
+the old days. These men here," pointing to the group of officers, "can
+tell you what it means. You have heard tales of the jolly roving life of
+the brethren-of-the-coast. We'll do a little picking in the Caribbean,
+then over the Isthmus, and then down into the South Seas. There's wine
+and women and treasure to be had for the taking. The Spaniards are
+cowards. Let them hear that Harry Morgan is once more on the sea under
+the Jolly Roger and they will tremble from Darien down to the Straits of
+Magellan. It will be fair play and the old shares. Who's with me?"
+
+"I!" "I!" "I!" broke from the bolder spirits of the crowd, and the rest,
+catching the contagion, finally joined in the acclaim.
+
+"Easy," said the captain, "lest we be heard. Hornigold, is there
+liquor?"
+
+"Plenty, sir."
+
+"Let each man have a noble draught, then to the boats."
+
+"But, captain," spoke up Sawkins, one of the boldest recruits, who was
+not in the secret, "be ye goin' buccaneerin' in boats? Whar's the ship?"
+
+"I have a ship in the harbor," cried Morgan, "well found and provided."
+
+"Ay, but what ship?"
+
+"Confusion, sir!" shouted Morgan. "Begin ye by questioning me? Into the
+boat with your comrades! Velsers, de Lussan, Rock see that the men get
+into the boats as soon as they have their dram. And hark ye, gentlemen,
+a word with ye!" calling them apart while the rest were being served.
+"Put the boldest men in the stern sheets with yourselves, the rest at
+the oars, and do you have your weapons ready. The _Mary Rose_ lies just
+within the bar. You, Velsers and Rock, gain the fo'c'sl from larboard
+and starboard. You, Teach and Raveneau, board at the different gangways.
+Hornigold, I'll go in your boat and we'll attend to the cabin. Let all
+be done without noise. No pistols, use the blade. Take no prisoners and
+waste no time. If we gain the deck without difficulty, and I think we
+can, clap to the hatch covers and we'll cut cable and get under way at
+once."
+
+The men had been embarking in the boats rather reluctantly as he spoke,
+but presently all was ready. Finally Hornigold and then Morgan with the
+maroon stepped into the last boat, first making sure there were no
+stragglers left behind, and Morgan gave the command:
+
+"Shove off!"
+
+Sawkins, the bold spirit who had spoken before, presumed, in spite of
+the commander's threat, to open his mouth again as the boats slowly left
+the beach, rowing through the passage and up the harbor against the ebb
+just beginning; he pulled the stroke oar in Hornigold's boat.
+
+"Before I go further," he cried, "I want to know what ship we're goin'
+aboard of."
+
+"Ay!" came in a subdued roar from the men behind him, who only needed a
+leader to back out of the enterprise, which, as it threatened to involve
+fighting, began to seem not quite so much to their taste. "What ship?"
+
+"The frigate," answered Hornigold shortly.
+
+"What! The _Mary Rose_! The King's ship!" cried the men, ceasing to row.
+In an instant Morgan's pistol was out. His motion was followed by
+Hornigold and the maroon.
+
+"Row, you dogs!" he cried fiercely.
+
+The stroke oarsman hesitated, although the others tried to pick up the
+stroke.
+
+"I give you one minute, then I blow out your brains, pull out the plug
+in this boat, and we'll all go to hell together," said Morgan
+truculently to the recalcitrant men.
+
+"Row, for your life's sake!" cried the man behind Sawkins, hitting him
+in the back with the haft of the oar.
+
+"It's the King's ship!"
+
+"What do we care for the King?" said Morgan. "He is the law, and none of
+us love the law. Two-thirds of her crew are drunk, t'other third are
+ashore or sick. They are unprepared, asleep. There'll be naught but the
+anchor watch. One sharp blow, and we have the frigate--then away. What
+fear ye, lads?"
+
+By such words as these, but more by the threatening appearance of the
+weapons pointed from the stern sheets, Morgan inspirited his men; and by
+similar language and threats, the men in the other boats did the same.
+After rowing a short distance the flotilla separated. Those approaching
+from the farther side of the ship necessarily made a wide detour, for
+which the others waited, so they would all arrive simultaneously. After
+a suitable time the order was passed softly to give way again. In
+perfect silence, broken only by the "cheep" of the oars in the locks,
+the five boats swept down on the doomed frigate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WHICH TELLS HOW THE "MARY ROSE" FRIGATE CHANGED MASTERS AND FLAGS
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The _Mary Rose_ was a ship with a history. The battle roster of the
+English navy had borne many of her name. In each instance she had been
+found in the thickest of the fighting. The present vessel was an old
+ship, having been built some thirty years before, but she was still
+stanch and of a model which combined strength with speed. The most
+conspicuous expedition she had participated in had been a desperate
+defence of a convoy in the Mediterranean against seven Sallee rovers, in
+which, after a hard engagement lasting four hours, the _Mary Rose_
+triumphed decisively without losing a single sail of her convoy. A rude
+song was made about the action, and the two lines of the ballad, summing
+up the results, were painted around the wheel:
+
+    "Two we burnt, and two we sank, and two did run away,
+    And one we carried to Leghorn Roads, to show we'd won the day."
+
+The commander of the ship on this memorable and heroic occasion had been
+knighted on his return to England, and on the accession of James had
+been sent to Jamaica with Lord Carlingford as Vice-Governor, to take
+command of the naval station and supersede Morgan. Admiral Sir John
+Kempthorne was an elderly man at this time, but his spirit was the same
+that had enabled him to withstand so successfully the overwhelming
+onslaught of the Algerine pirate ships.
+
+The English navy, however, was then in a state of painful decay. The
+famous Test Act, which excluded James from the naval service while he
+was Duke of York, because he was a Roman Catholic, had deprived the navy
+of its most influential and able friend. The greedy rapacity with which
+Charles II. had devoted the money assigned by the Commons for the
+support of the fleet to his own lustful and extravagant purposes, the
+favoritism and venality which he allowed in the administration of the
+Admiralty, and the neglect with which he viewed the representations of
+Pepys and others as to the condition of his fleets, had reduced the
+navy of England, which had won such immortal glory under Blake, to the
+very lowest depth it ever reached. The ships were in bad repair and
+commanded by landsmen who shirked going to sea; they were ill-found, the
+wages of the seamen not paid--in short, they presented pictures of
+demoralization as painful as they were unusual.
+
+Kempthorne, having been a tried and a successful naval commander in his
+younger days, had striven, with some success so far as his own ship was
+concerned, to stem the prevailing tide of ruin, and the _Mary Rose_ was
+perhaps one of the best frigates in the service, which, however, was not
+saying a great deal. He could not, of course, better the character of
+the crew which had been provided for him, nor could he entirely
+re-supply the ship, or make good her faulty and deficient equipment, but
+he did the best he could. Under ordinary circumstances he could have
+given a good account of himself if engaged with even the perfectly
+appointed ships of the Dutch Republic, or of the Grand Monarch himself.
+Indeed, in spite of the horrible degeneracy, the prestige of victory was
+still, as it has ever been, with England. King James, a successful, even
+brilliant naval commander in his youth, had decided to rehabilitate the
+navy with a view to putting it on its old footing, and with that object
+in view he had sent one of his best admirals across the sea to the
+important island of Jamaica, then the headquarters of the West India
+Squadron.
+
+Kempthorne had welcomed the duty, and had determined that so far as the
+station at Port Royal was concerned he would make it the model one of
+the colonies, of the kingdom itself for that matter, provided he were
+sustained by the King as had been promised. Lord Carlingford, with the
+zeal of a new appointee, had promised his cooperation.
+
+The admiral was seated in the cabin of the frigate that night cogitating
+upon his plans, when his thoughts were interrupted by the rattle of
+oars, indicating the arrival of a boat. The sound of the approaching
+boat came faintly through the open stern windows of the cabin under the
+high poop-deck.
+
+The ship was more or less deserted. The sick men had been put ashore;
+most of the crew, and the officers as well, had followed them. They
+would not be back until the morrow, when Sir John had orders to get away
+in pursuit of Hornigold's pinnace. With the captain in the cabin,
+however, was the old master of the ship, a man who had been promoted to
+that rank after the famous fight with the Algerines because of his
+gallantry in that action. Kempthorne was consulting with him about the
+necessary arrangements before sailing the next day.
+
+As the admiral heard the noise made by the oars in the oarlocks he
+raised his voice, and calling a sentry, for there was half a platoon of
+soldiers on board who had not yet been allowed liberty (the beginnings
+of the Royal Marine of England, by the way), he bade him ascertain if
+the approaching boat was that containing the Governor. It was still
+early evening, and Lord Carlingford had announced his intention of
+sleeping in the ship, for the weather was intensely warm and he thought
+it might be cooler in the harbor than in the crowded low-lying town of
+Port Royal.
+
+At the same time the admiral arose, buckled on his sword, and made ready
+to go on deck to meet Lord Carlingford, should it prove to be his
+expected visitor. Pausing a moment to say a final word to the master, he
+was conscious of something striking the ship. Before he could formulate
+the idea that a boat must have been hit in the bends, there were several
+similar shocks. The old master, who happened to be unarmed, stepped
+forward.
+
+"That will be a boat, sir," he said quickly, "striking against the side
+of the ship. There's another, and another!"
+
+His voice indicated surprise and some apprehension. What could it be?
+
+"Let us go on deck at once," said Kempthorne, stepping forward. As he
+did so the silence was broken by a wild, terrified cry. A moment after,
+the sentry on the quarter-deck outside the entrance to the poop cabin
+fired his piece. The shot was followed by the sound of a fierce blow,
+and then a heavy fall. A sharp, imperious voice cried quickly:
+
+"The ship is ours! Waste no time! Overboard with him! Clap to the hatch
+covers!"
+
+The necessity for concealment outside was apparently at an end. The
+heavy covers were flung down upon the hatches and secured. The ship was
+filled with a confused babel of many voices and trampling feet. At the
+sound of the shot, the admiral and the master sprang to the door, but
+before they could pass the entrance it was flung violently open, and a
+man richly dressed after the fashion of Jamaica, followed by a tall,
+savage-looking half-breed, a compound of negro and Indian, clad in a
+gorgeous livery, each with pistol and sword, sprang into the room and
+forced the two men back. As soon as he could recover himself Kempthorne
+whipped out his sword. He found himself covered, however, as did the
+master, with a pistol.
+
+"Throw down your sword!" cried Morgan fiercely, "and yield yourselves
+without quarter."
+
+"Who are you that ask?"
+
+"Sir Henry Morgan."
+
+"You bloody villain!" cried Kempthorne. "Dare you attempt to take the
+King's ship?"
+
+"That for the King!" answered Morgan, waving his sword. "Who are you?"
+
+"Sir John Kempthorne, Admiral and Vice-Governor of Jamaica."
+
+"You would fain fill my station, would you, sir?"
+
+"I would not descend to the station of a pirate, a robber, a murderer,
+a----"
+
+"S'death, silence!" roared Morgan furiously. "The ship is ours! I've a
+message for the King. Wilt carry it?"
+
+"I would not insult my royal master by carrying a message from such as
+you."
+
+"You will have it!" shouted Morgan, white with rage, lunging forward at
+him.
+
+Their blades crossed in an instant, and at the same moment the old
+master, reckless of what happened, flung himself between the two. There
+was a roar from Carib's pistol, and the old man fell. As Kempthorne
+relaxed his guard slightly in the confusion Morgan ran him through. The
+admiral fell so suddenly that he jerked the blade, buried in his breast,
+out of the buccaneer's hand.
+
+"God--" he gasped, as he lay upon the body of the old sailor, "God--save
+the--King."
+
+"Would'st sit in my place, eh?" cried Morgan, laughing truculently as
+he turned on his heel and left the cabin.
+
+Beneath the hatches, the platoon of soldiers and the men there
+imprisoned were yelling and making a tremendous racket. They were
+helpless, however, and could do nothing. The men of the boarding parties
+were clustered in groups forward and aft and around the closed
+passageways into the interior of the ship, waiting for the next order.
+
+The noise and confusion which had followed the sentry's bold shot had
+awakened the attention of the people of the town. Lights twinkled on the
+ramparts of the fort, and the long roll of a drum could be heard coming
+faintly up the harbor against the wind. Lord Carlingford had just
+entered his boat to board the ship. There was not a moment to lose.
+
+"Hornigold, go forward with your men to the forecastle. Velsers, come
+you hither with yours for the after guard. Teach, to the fore; Raveneau,
+to the main; and Rock, to the mizzenmast. Loose sail. Lively now. We
+must get out of this before the fort's awake," cried Morgan.
+
+[Illustration: Their blades crossed in an instant.... There was a roar
+from Carib's pistol, and the old man fell.]
+
+Instantly the shrouds were covered with nimble forms making their way
+aloft where the wide yard-arms stretched far over the sea. The men were
+in good spirits. The capture of the ship had been so easy; there had
+been only the anchor watch and the sentry on deck to deal with, and
+they had been murdered unsuspecting, although the cabin sentry had
+killed one of the attacking party and wounded another before he went
+down. They jumped with alacrity, therefore, to obey their captain's
+commands. As the ponderous sheets of canvas fell from the yards, the men
+lay down from aloft, and sheets and halyards were manned, the cable that
+moored the vessel to the anchor was cut, the ship swung to starboard,
+the yards were braced in, and she began to slip through the water toward
+the narrow mouth of the harbor. There were other war vessels in the
+harbor, but they were all dismantled and laid up in ordinary, so the
+buccaneers had no pursuit to fear.
+
+The guns of the fort commanded the harbor mouth, and under ordinary
+circumstances would have made it impossible for a ship to enter or leave
+without permission. The mouth was narrow and dangerous, but the best
+pilot in the West Indies stood forward leaning over the knightheads,
+conning the ship. Raveneau and Velsers, than whom no better seamen ever
+held a spoke, by Morgan's orders were stationed at the wheel to steer
+the frigate. Rock and Teach distributed the best of the men among the
+guns of the spar-deck battery on the port side. As was usual, the guns
+were already charged. There were no loggerheads available, no matches
+with which to fire them, but Morgan instructed those who seemed to have
+some skill in gunnery, whom he placed in temporary charge of the cannon,
+how to fire them by snapping their pistols at the touch-holes, which
+were primed from a powder horn that had been brought by the pirates.
+
+The land breeze was fresh and strong, and the _Mary Rose_ vindicated her
+claim to be considered a fast sailer. She fairly ripped down the harbor,
+threading her way through the channel under Hornigold's nice pilotage
+until she came near to the narrow entrance. By Morgan's orders each man
+remained motionless at the place where he had been stationed, and the
+ship, so far as human noise was concerned, was as still as death. Even
+the soldiers below, finding no attention paid to their cries, had
+subsided into comparative quiet. The silence was broken only by the
+creaking of cordage, the dashing of water against the bows, and the
+groaning of the timbers. Ever and anon Hornigold's deep voice, crying
+"Larboard" or "Starboard" as the case might be, rolled along the deck to
+the watchful men gripping the wheel. Suddenly the old buccaneer cried
+out sharply:
+
+"There's a boat right ahead, sir."
+
+"Run her down!" answered Morgan instantly.
+
+"Ay, ay! Starboard! Starboard again! Let her go off another half-point.
+Steady! Very well dyce. Now! Meet her! Meet her!"
+
+The ship swept around slightly and rushed directly at the boat. It was
+the boat of the Governor. Instantly wild cries arose from the men on the
+thwarts. They were stopped by a stern voice.
+
+"Ahoy, the _Mary Rose_!"
+
+Silence.
+
+"Ahoy, the frigate! What are you doing? Where is Admiral Kempthorne?"
+
+At that instant the soldiers beneath the hatches suddenly resumed their
+commotion, thus apprising the men in the boat that something was sadly
+wrong.
+
+"Larboard your helm!" cried a voice from the boat, "or you'll be on us.
+Who's in command? What are you about?"
+
+"Sir Harry Morgan!" shouted a voice out of the darkness. "And we mean to
+run you down."
+
+"Back water, for God's sake! Stern, all!" cried Lord Carlingford to the
+paralyzed rowers; but before they could move the looming bow of the
+frigate was upon them. Carlingford had risen in his boat before the
+collision, and with dauntless courage he shook his bared sword in the
+darkness toward the ship.
+
+"The King will triumph!" he cried.
+
+"You can go to hell!" shouted Morgan, "with Hawxherst and Bradley and
+Kempthorne and all who oppose me."
+
+A terrible, smashing crash cut short his words, and, amid the ripping,
+tearing sound of the parting timbers of the overridden boat, and shouts,
+cries, and appeals for mercy, the _Mary Rose_ swept on. One or two
+beneath her forefoot leaped frantically at the bobstays, but they were
+driven from their holds by savage pike thrusts from Hornigold's men.
+
+A wild yell of elation broke from the pirates. They were completely
+possessed by their success now, but Morgan stopped the noise in an
+instant.
+
+"Silence!" roared the captain. "We are not yet free. Back to your
+stations! Stand by the larboard battery!"
+
+At that time the entrance to the harbor was very narrow, and the channel
+swept close under the Port Royal shore. Everybody in the town knew that
+something had happened on the frigate. The garrison of the fort was out
+and the guns were loaded and bore fair upon the channel. Softly, for
+they were within earshot distance of the fort, Morgan passed the word to
+train the guns of the battery on the parapet of the fort. He also told
+off all the men with small arms to line the side, with instructions for
+them to fire at the port-holes of the fort as they passed, and he
+charged every one, under pain of death, to keep all fast until he gave
+the word. Hornigold bent all his mind to getting the ship safely out of
+the harbor. Two or three reliable men were stationed in the gangway,
+whose sole business it was to repeat his commands without fail during
+the confusion, no matter what happened. They were right in the entrance
+now, and coming opposite the fort. The men below were still keeping up a
+great noise, but a hail which came across the water from the rampart was
+entirely audible, the distance not being more than half pistol shot.
+
+"Hello, the _Mary Rose_! Hello, the frigate!"
+
+"Ay, ay! What is it?"
+
+"Where are you going? Where's Lord Carlingford?"
+
+There was no answer. The rapidly moving ship was fairly abreast the fort
+now. In thirty seconds she would be beyond it.
+
+"We have killed the Governor and Kempthorne, and this is the ship of Sir
+Henry Morgan, bound for the Spanish Main on a buccaneering cruise.
+Fire!"
+
+A perfect hail of shot at point blank range belched forth from the
+twenty-four guns of the larboard battery of the onrushing ship. In the
+surprise and confusion caused by this murderous discharge at short
+range, the frigate slipped by, and although every gun in the fort,
+whether it bore or not, was finally discharged by the infuriated
+soldiery, no serious damage was done to the ship. Here and there a man
+fell. The starboard main topsail sheet was cut, a few ropes parted, but
+that was all. Pouring a perfect hail of musketry and pistol fire upon
+the surprised garrison, which did execution, the frigate slipped through
+the channel. Before the cannon could be reloaded they were out of range.
+There before them lay the open sea, bounded to the southward by the rich
+and unprotected cities of the Spanish Main.
+
+"We're out of the harbor, sir," cried Hornigold, coming aft to where
+Morgan stood triumphant on the poop.
+
+"That's well!" said the commander. "Secure the guns and muster the crew.
+We'll divide into watches and bear away to the southward."
+
+"Long live Sir Henry Morgan, King of the Buccaneers!" cried a voice out
+of the darkness, and amid a tremendous roar of cheers the vessel swept
+away, leaving the lights of Port Royal twinkling faintly in the distance
+far behind them.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+THE CRUISE OF THE BUCCANEERS AND WHAT BEFEL THEM ON THE SEAS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOW THE "MARY ROSE" OVERHAULED THREE SPANISH TREASURE SHIPS
+
+
+Ten days after her departure from Port Royal the _Mary Rose_ was
+tumbling southward before a gentle breeze through the blue and languid
+seas. Much had happened in the interval. In the first place, Morgan had
+organized and drilled the ship's crew relentlessly. With the aid of the
+five principal adventurers, whom he had constituted his lieutenants, he
+had brought the motley crowd which he had shipped into a state of
+comparative efficiency and of entire subjection to his iron will. Years
+of quasi-respectability, of financial position, of autocratic power as
+Vice-Governor had modified the ideas of the old buccaneer, and the
+co-operative principle which had been the mainspring of action as well
+as tie which produced unity among the brethren-of-the-coast had ceased
+to be regarded, so far as he was concerned. He took care, however, to be
+upon fairly amicable terms with the officers in command and the
+veterans, though he treated the rest of the riff-raff like the dogs they
+were. They murmured and raged but did not revolt, although it was quite
+possible that if he pushed them too far, and they found a leader, they
+might make trouble.
+
+In accordance with Hornigold's advice, after deliberation between Morgan
+and the leaders, the _Mary Rose_ had first run up to La Vaca Island,
+south of Hispaniola, and the number of original marauders had been
+increased by fifty volunteers, all those, indeed, who could be reached,
+from the small pirates who made that delectable spot their rendezvous.
+In addition to those, the crew had also been reenforced largely from
+those of the unpaid and discontented seamen and soldiers of the frigate
+who had happened to be under hatches the night of the capture. Presented
+with the choice of instant death or adherence to the band, most of them
+had accepted the latter alternative, although, to their great credit be
+it said, not until one or two of the loyal veterans, who had hotly
+refused to have anything to do with their ruffianly captors, had been
+forced to walk the plank as an example to the rest should they prove
+recalcitrant. Partly through terror, partly through discontent, partly
+on account of promises of the great reward awaiting them, speciously
+urged by Morgan himself, for he could talk as well as he could fight,
+and, most of all, because even at that date it was considered a
+meritorious act to attack a Spaniard or a Papist under any circumstances
+or conditions, especially by persons as ignorant as the class in
+question, some seventy cast in their lot with the rest.
+
+Among the two hundred and twenty members of the heterogeneous crew so
+constituted, were to be found natives of almost every race under the
+sun, even including one or two Spanish renegados, and it would be safe
+to say that the lowest and meanest representatives of the several races
+were assembled on that very ship. The officers and men who had been
+recruited from Isla La Vaca, as well as the older original members of
+the crew of the _Mary Rose_, together with a select few of the
+remainder, were men of approved courage. The officers, indeed, bore
+reputations for hardihood and daring not to be surpassed. Most of the
+rest, however, were arrant cowards. As a body the band could not
+compare, except in leadership, with the former bands of buccaneers who
+had made themselves and their names a terror to Latin civilization in
+the New World.
+
+Morgan himself, however, almost made up for all deficiencies. Age had
+not quenched his ardor, diminished his courage, or deprived him of that
+magnetic quality which had made him an unquestioned leader of men. His
+eye was as keen, his hand as steady, his soul as reckless, and his
+skill as high as when he had led the greatest buccaneer fleet that had
+ever assembled, on the famous Panama expedition. Everybody on the ship
+hated him except young Teach and the faithful Black Dog; the old
+buccaneers because he had betrayed them, the soldiers and sailors of the
+crew because he had captured their ship and forced them to become his
+allies, the mean and lowly body of rascals because he kept them
+ruthlessly under hand. But they all feared him as much as they hated him
+and they admired him as much as they feared him.
+
+So far as he was concerned discipline was absolute. He still seemed to
+fancy himself the Vice-Governor and the representative of that King
+against whom he had taken up arms. He demanded to be treated
+accordingly. No admiral of the fleet was ever served more promptly and
+respectfully than he. Even his nearest associates were treated with a
+certain haughtiness, which they bitterly resented and which they would
+have called in question had the situation been other than it was. Truth
+to tell, influenced by Hornigold, they had embarked upon a mad
+enterprise, and they needed Morgan to bring it to a successful
+conclusion. Without him the slender coherence which already existed
+would fail, and anarchy would be the state upon the ship. There would
+be nothing left to them but to scatter if they could make an unheeded
+landing at some convenient place, or be captured, if they could not,
+with a certainty of being hung forthwith. So long as they remained
+together, it was certain that Morgan would lead them on some successful
+enterprise and they might get some reward for their risks and crimes. In
+his safety lay their safety.
+
+The buccaneer was entirely aware of this, and therefore counted freely
+upon the backing of the veterans among the officers and crew. He would
+take care of the rest.
+
+The ship, however, was a floating colony of suspicion, treachery, and
+hatred. Morgan himself never appeared without being loaded with weapons,
+not for bravado but for use should occasion rise, and his back was
+always protected by the silent and gigantic maroon, whom the sailors,
+catching the title from those who had known him of old, referred to with
+malignant hatred as "Black Dog." That was a name, indeed, which the
+taciturn half-breed rather rejoiced in than resented. Morgan had been
+able to awaken love in no hearts except those of young Teach, whose
+feeling was admiration rather than affection, and this half-breed
+maroon. Whether it was from his black African mother or from his fierce
+red Carib father he inherited the quality of devotion was not apparent.
+Devoted he had been and devoted he remained.
+
+Close association in the narrow confines of the ship with the man who
+had, as he believed, wronged him, had but intensified Hornigold's
+hatred. The One-Eyed found it difficult to dissemble, and took refuge in
+a reticence which was foreign to his original frank and open character.
+Morgan half suspected the state of affairs in his old boatswain's moiled
+and evil soul, and he watched him on account of it more closely than the
+others, but with no great disquiet in his heart. Truth to tell, the old
+pirate was never so happy as in the midst of dangers, imminent and
+threatening, which would have broken the spirit of a less resolute man.
+There was one among the officers he was sure of and upon whom he could
+depend in an emergency, and that was young Teach. He had flattered him
+by unusual marks of kindness, and alone among the officers this fellow
+did not seem to cherish the rancor and suspicion of the others. He was
+too young to have experienced a betrayal as had the rest; this was his
+first venture in actual piracy and he found it marvelously pleasant.
+
+The officers, too, were all suspicious of one another. As each one
+nursed his own private designs he suspected the others of doing
+likewise--and with reason. But there was as yet little outward friction
+among them. Raveneau, for instance, was most scrupulously polite to the
+captain and his associates. Velsers was too stupid in his cups--and he
+was generally in them--to do more than growl, and the Brazilian had all
+the capacities of his race for subtle concealment.
+
+Although the necessary orders for working the ship were obeyed and
+Morgan personally imposed implicit obedience and respect for his
+commands, no duties other than those required were performed by the men.
+During the day when not at work or at drill, they drank, smoked,
+gambled, and fought at pleasure, although, as the captain mercilessly
+exercised them during long hours at the great guns and with small arms,
+they did not have any too much leisure for play. During the night they
+kept watch and watch, of course, but in it all they took no care of the
+ship, and filth and dirt abounded. If they had anticipated a long cruise
+things would necessarily have been different, but as they had gone far
+to the southward now, and might make a landfall at any moment there was
+no necessity for bothering about mere cleanliness, which, as it is
+supposed to be next to godliness, was naturally far removed from this
+band of cut-throats. Morgan had not communicated his ultimate purposes
+to his men as yet, but as he was the only navigator on the ship he was,
+perforce, allowed to have his own way.
+
+Breakfast had been served--a meagre breakfast it was, too, for all hands
+were on short allowance of everything but spirits, on account of the
+unprovided state of the ship. Fortunately for their contentment, there
+was plenty of rum on board. The men were congregated forward on the
+forecastle or in the waist, wrangling and arguing as usual. The officers
+gathered on the quarter-deck, and Morgan paced the high raised poop
+alone, overlooking them, when the lookout suddenly reported three sail
+in sight. The half-drunken sailor who had been sent aloft at daybreak
+had kept negligent watch, for almost as soon as he had made his report
+the ships were observed from the deck of the frigate.
+
+The _Mary Rose_ had the wind on her quarter, her best point of sailing,
+and she was covered with canvas from her trucks to her decks, from her
+spritsail yard to her huge mizzen crossjack, a lateen sail. The wind was
+light, but she was making rapid progress toward the approaching
+strangers, who, with their larboard tacks aboard, were beating up toward
+the English.
+
+Attended by the maroon, Morgan, pistol in hand, went forward to the
+forecastle, kicking his way clear through the sullen, black-browed mass
+of sailors. He ran a short distance up the weather fore-shrouds and
+took a long look at the strangers. They all flew the yellow flag of
+Spain. One was a huge galleon, the other two smaller ships, though
+larger in each instance than the _Mary Rose_, and all heavily armed.
+
+One of the plate ships from Porto Bello was due in this latitude about
+this time, and Morgan instantly surmised that the galleon was she, and
+that the two others were Spanish frigates to give her safe convoy across
+the ocean. Spain was at peace with all the world at that time, and the
+two frigates would have been ample to ward off the attack of any of the
+small piratical craft which had succeeded the buccaneer ships of the
+Caribbean. The Spaniards had no idea that such a vulture as Morgan was
+afloat; therefore, although they had sighted the _Mary Rose_ long before
+she had seen them because they kept better watch, they came on
+fearlessly and without hesitation. It was evident to the experienced
+officers among them that the vessel was an English frigate, and as
+England was a country with which there was profound peace at the time
+they apprehended nothing.
+
+The position of the approaching ships with reference to one another was
+somewhat peculiar. The first and smallest frigate was perhaps half a
+mile ahead of her consorts, who were sailing side by side, a cable's
+length apart. Morgan at once determined to attack them. He knew that he
+possessed the handiest ship, and he believed that he had discovered a
+way to master the other three. The two frigates were the most dangerous
+antagonists. If he could dispose of them the galleon would be at his
+mercy. He did not hesitate to encounter such odds, and even in the minds
+of the craven part of the crew one English ship was thought to be good
+for any three Spaniards that ever floated.
+
+The interest of the crew had been excited by the approaching strangers,
+which were rapidly drawing nearer. They ceased their arguments and
+strife, therefore, and crowded forward, looking alternately from the
+foreign ships to their own leader, lightly poised on the sheer-poles
+scanning the enemy. There were plenty of men of sufficient experience
+among them to pronounce them Spanish ships immediately, and they
+therefore anticipated that work lay before them that morning. Presently
+Morgan sprang down upon the forecastle and faced his men.
+
+"Lads," he said, "those are Spanish ships."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," came from one another as he paused a moment to let the
+significance of his announcement sink in.
+
+"And," he continued, raising his voice so that it was audible throughout
+the ship, "the great one will be one of the plate ships homeward
+bound--but she'll never get there--from Porto Bello!"
+
+A perfect yell of delight drowned his further remarks. The men shrieked
+and shouted and hurrahed at the joyous announcement, as if all they had
+to do was to go aboard and take the ships. When the hullabaloo had
+subsided, Morgan continued:
+
+"I'm glad to see you take it so bravely, for while there is treasure
+enough under her hatches to make us all rich, yet we'll not get it
+without a fight, for yonder are two heavily armed frigates. We'll have
+to dispose of them before we get at the galleon. But, hearts of oak, I
+never saw the buccaneer who wasn't worth three or a dozen of the Dons,
+and with a stout ship like this one under my feet and a band of brave
+hearts like you I wouldn't hesitate to tackle the whole Spanish navy. It
+means a little fighting, but think of the prize!" he cried, playing
+skilfully upon the cupidity of his men. "Some of us will lose the number
+of our messes, perhaps, before nightfall; but," he continued, making a
+most singular and effective appeal, "there will be more to divide for
+each man that is left alive. Are you with me?"
+
+"To the death!" cried young Teach, who had come forward and mingled with
+the crowd, lifting a naked cutlass as he spoke. His cry was taken up and
+repeated, first by one and then another until the whole body was
+yelling frantically to be given a chance to fight the Spanish ships.
+
+"That's well," said Morgan grimly. "Master Teach, here, will command
+forward on the fo'c'sl. Raveneau and Velsers shall attend to the
+batteries in the waist. I appoint you, Hornigold, to look after the
+movements of the ship. See that the best hands are at the wheel and have
+sail trimmers ready. My Portuguese friend, you may look to the after
+guns. Now to your stations. Cast loose and provide! Man the larboard
+battery! See every thing is ready, but hold your fire and keep silence
+under pain of death! Yon frigate over there, we'll strike first. She'll
+be unprepared and unsuspecting. One good blow ought to dispose of her."
+
+As he spoke, the men hurried to their stations. There was no lack of
+skill on the frigate, and now was seen the value of Morgan's constant
+drilling. The cannon of the ship were cast loose and loaded, loggerheads
+and matches lighted, small arms distributed and primed, pikes were
+served out, cutlasses loosened in their sheaths, and such as had armor,
+still worn in greater or less degree even in that day, donned it, and
+the ship was full of busy preparation.
+
+"We've no flag flying, sir," said Hornigold as the men settled down to
+their stations, grim and ready.
+
+"Ay," said Morgan, "show the English flag. We'll make as much trouble
+for his gracious majesty, King James, as possible."
+
+In a short time the glorious colors of England, which had never waved
+over so despicable a crew before, rippled out in the freshening breeze.
+As they were rapidly approaching the Spanish ship now, Morgan descended
+from the poop-deck to make a personal inspection of his frigate before
+beginning action. He found everything to his taste, and passed along the
+lines of silent men congregated around the guns with words of stern
+appreciation.
+
+The crews of the guns had been constituted with great care. The gun
+captains in each instance were tried and proved seamen, men as fearless
+as they were capable. The weaker and the more wretched portion of the
+band had been so placed that opportunity for showing cowardice would be
+greatly circumscribed, and the stern command of the captain that the
+officers and petty officers should instantly shoot any man who flinched
+from duty was not without effect. He did not hesitate to remind the men,
+either, that they fought with halters around their necks. As even the
+craven becomes dangerous when pushed to the wall, he felt they would
+give a good account of themselves.
+
+"Hornigold," said Morgan, as he stepped up on the quarter-deck again,
+"I want the frigate to pass as close to windward of that Spanish ship as
+you can bring her without touching. Let her not suspect our desire, but
+whirl into her as we get abreast. Don't fall foul of her as you value
+your life!"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," answered that veteran, squinting forward along the
+jib-boom with his one eye as if measuring the distance, "I'll bring her
+close enough for you to leap aboard and yet never touch a rope yarn on
+her."
+
+He spoke with the consciousness and pride of his skill.
+
+"Now, lads," cried Morgan, "have everything ready, and when I give the
+word pour it in on yonder ship. I want to settle her with one broadside.
+It'll be touch and go, for we've got to dispose of her in an instant.
+Stand by for the word! Now, lie down, all, behind the bulwarks and
+rails. Let us make no show of force as we come up. We must not arouse
+suspicion."
+
+The two ships, the _Mary Rose_ going free, the Spanish frigate close
+hauled on the port tack, were now within hailing distance. As they
+approached each other the buccaneer could see that the other ship was
+crowded with men. Among her people the flash of sunlight upon iron helms
+denoted that she carried a company of soldiers. The Spaniards were
+entirely unsuspecting. The men had not gone to their quarters, the guns
+were still secured; in short, save for the military trappings of the
+soldiers on board and the tompioned muzzles of her cannon, she was in
+appearance as peaceful a vessel as sailed the seas.
+
+The two ships were near enough now to make conversation possible, and
+the _Mary Rose_ was hailed by a tall, richly dressed officer in
+glistening breastplate and polished steel cap, standing on the
+forecastle of the other ship.
+
+"What ship is that?" he cried in broken English.
+
+"This is the frigate _Mary Rose_." The usual answer to such a hail would
+have been: "This is His Britannic Majesty's frigate _Mary Rose_," but
+the Spaniards suspected nothing as Morgan continued, "carrying Sir Henry
+Morgan, sometime Vice-Governor of the Island of Jamaica."
+
+"I have the honor to wish the Vice-Governor a very good morning,"
+answered the Spaniard, courteously waving his hand in salutation.
+
+"Now, Hornigold, now!" said Morgan in a fierce whisper.
+
+The old boatswain sprang himself to the wheel. With his powerful hands
+he revolved it quickly until it was hard up. The frigate answered it
+instantly. She swung away toward the Spaniard to leeward of her with a
+suddenness that surprised even her steersman.
+
+"And I salute the Vice-Governor," continued the Spanish captain, just as
+the English ship swept down upon him; and then he cried in sudden alarm
+and excitement:
+
+"Have a care, senor! What mean you? You will be aboard of us! Hard up
+with the helm!"
+
+As soon as the _Mary Rose_ had begun to fall off, ay, even before her
+motion had been perceptible, Hornigold had reversed the helm.
+
+"Flow the head sheets there," he cried, shoving the wheel over spoke by
+spoke with all the force of his arms. "Flatten in aft a little, here!
+Steady! Very well dyce. We're right abreast now, Captain," he said.
+
+Almost as quickly as she had fallen off the nimble frigate, beautifully
+handled, came to the wind again. She was now almost in touch with the
+other ship. Hornigold's seamanship and skill had been magnificent. He
+had done all that was asked of him and all that he had promised.
+
+"Ay, ay," answered Morgan in triumphant commendation. "Handsomely done.
+I could leap aboard!"
+
+The Spanish ship was filled with confusion. The captain, with his face
+black with rage, stood on the forecastle shaking his fist.
+
+"This is outrageous, sir!" he shouted. "You have nearly run us down!
+What do you want?"
+
+"I want to return your salute," answered Morgan suavely. "Up, lads!" he
+cried. As the men sprang to their feet, he roared out fiercely: "Stand
+by! Fire! Pour it into them!"
+
+The _Mary Rose_ was almost in contact with the Spanish ship, when a
+perfect tornado of fire burst from her side. Every gun in her broadside,
+and she was a forty-eight gun frigate, was discharged point-blank at the
+astonished enemy. Not waiting to reload the guns, the crew seized the
+small arms ready charged to hand, and as they slowly swept by poured a
+withering fire upon the Spaniard's crowded decks. Out of the flame and
+smoke the _Mary Rose_ burst upon the astounded eyes of the officers and
+men of the two remaining ships. The first frigate was a wreck on the
+water. Some of the pirate guns had been depressed, great holes had been
+opened by the shot, the masts had been carried away, and the devoted
+ship was sinking, her decks covered with dead and dying.
+
+"We wish you the compliments of the morning, senor," roared Morgan,
+facing aft toward the battered and ruined frigate. "How like you our
+salute?"
+
+But the captain of the Spanish vessel lay dead upon his bloody deck, and
+if any answered the jeering taunt it was drowned by the laughter and
+cheering of the English crew. They had eliminated the first ship from
+the game. They had diminished their enemies by a third, and full of
+confidence they swept down upon the other two.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH IS RELATED THE STRANGE EXPEDIENT OF THE CAPTAIN AND HOW THEY
+TOOK THE GREAT GALLEON
+
+
+Although they could not comprehend the reason for the vicious attack
+upon their consort by a ship of a supposedly friendly power, it was
+evident to the Spaniards in the two remaining ships that the English
+frigate was approaching them with the most sinister and malevolent
+purpose. One glance at the sinking remains of their ruined and battered
+consort established that fact in the most obtuse mind. Consequently the
+exultant men on the _Mary Rose_ could hear the shrill notes of the
+trumpeters on the two other ships calling their men to arms.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+With a confidence born of success, however, Morgan resolutely bore down
+upon the enemy. Even the dastards in his crew had been excited by the
+ease and success of the first treacherous blow and plucked up courage,
+believing that their captain's invincible skill, address, and seamanship
+would carry them safely through the next encounter.
+
+The Spanish had little warning after all, for the breeze was rapidly
+freshening, and in what seemed an incredibly short time the English
+frigate was close at hand. Though they worked with a desperate energy
+they had not entirely completed those preparations required by the shock
+of battle. As usual, Morgan was determined to lose no time. If he could
+have thrown his vessel upon them out of the fire and smoke of the first
+broadside he would have gained the victory with scarcely less difficulty
+than he had seized the first advantage, but that was not to be, and it
+was with considerable anxiety that he surveyed the crowded decks of the
+two remaining ships.
+
+He had no fear of the armament of either one, but if those Spanish
+soldiers ever got a footing upon his own deck it was probable they could
+not be dislodged without a tremendous sacrifice of life; and as he gazed
+over his motley crew he even questioned their ability to contend
+successfully with such a mass of veterans. He had hoped that the
+remaining frigate would detach herself from the galleon, in which event
+the superior handiness and mobility of his own ship, to say nothing of
+his probable advantage in the way in which his batteries would be
+fought, would enable him to dispose of her without too much difficulty.
+Then he could with ease place the huge and unwieldy galleon at his
+mercy. But the two Spanish ships stuck close together, too close indeed,
+Morgan thought, for their own safety. They were both on the wind with
+their larboard tacks aboard, the frigate slightly ahead of and to
+windward of the galleon, on the side, that is, whence the _Mary Rose_
+was approaching. So far as he could divine it, the Spanish plan, if they
+had formulated any in their hurry, appeared to be for the frigate to
+engage the _Mary Rose_, and while she had the latter ship under her
+battery, the galleon would tack across the English vessel's bows, or
+stern as might be, rake her, get her between the two ships, run her
+aboard, and thus effect her ruin. The plan was simple, practicable, and
+promised easy success, provided the Englishman did what was expected of
+him.
+
+Morgan was not to be caught napping that way. As he rushed down upon
+them there came into his head one of the most daring ideas that has ever
+flashed across a seaman's brain. Hastily summoning Braziliano he bade
+him take a dozen of his men, descend to the after magazine, procure two
+or three barrels of powder from the gunner, and stow them in the cabin
+under the poop-deck. He charged him to do it as quietly as possible and
+take only men for the purpose upon whom he could depend. While this was
+being done young Teach was also summoned from the forecastle, his place
+being taken by old Velsers, whose division in the battery was placed
+under the command of Raveneau. There was a whispered colloquy between
+the chieftain and his young subordinate, after which the latter nodded
+his head, ran below, and concealed himself in one of the staterooms
+under the quarter-deck. In a little space the Portuguese reappeared with
+his men and announced that they had completed their task; whereupon they
+were directed to return to their stations.
+
+Meanwhile the crew had been recharging the battery and reloading the
+small arms. Morgan addressed to them a few words of hearty approval of
+their previous actions and predicted an easy victory over the two ships.
+The Spanish captain naturally supposed--and indeed the courses upon
+which the three ships were sailing if persisted in would have brought
+about the result--that the _Mary Rose_ would pass along his larboard
+side, and the two vessels would engage in the formal manner of the
+period, yard-arm to yard-arm, until the galleon could get into action
+and so settle it in the purposed way. He intended, of course, if it
+could be brought about, to throw the masses of soldiers he was
+transporting home upon the English decks, and carry the frigate by
+boarding.
+
+Again Morgan put Hornigold in charge of the manoeuvering of the ship,
+and again that old worthy chose to handle the spokes himself. There was
+a brief conversation between them, and then the English captain ran
+forward on the forecastle. The ships were very near now. In a moment or
+two they would pass each other in parallel courses, though in opposite
+direction, and their broadsides would bear; but when the _Mary Rose_ was
+about a cable's length from the Spanish frigate something happened.
+
+The astonished Don heard a sharp command ring out from the approaching
+English ship, after which she made a wide sweep and came driving
+straight at him at a furious speed. The English captain intended to run
+him down! Here was to be no passage along his broadside. The other was
+upon him! The cutwater of the onrushing ship loomed up before him
+tremendously. Instantly all was confusion on the Spanish ship! The
+steersman lost his head, and without orders put his helm up sharply;
+some one cut the sheet of the after-sail on the huge lateen yard, and
+the frigate went whirling around on her heel like a top, in a violent
+and fatal, as well as vain, effort to get out of the road.
+
+It was a most foolish manoeuvre, for close at hand on the lee side of
+her the galleon came lumbering along. Her captain, too, had seen the
+peril, and had elected to meet it by tacking under his consort's stern.
+But he was too near, and the other ship fell off and was swept to
+leeward too rapidly. His own ship, cumbersome and unwieldy, as they
+always were, was slow in answering the helm. The frigate and galleon
+came together with a terrific crash. The shock carried away the
+foretopmast of the frigate, which fell across the head yards of the
+galleon. The two ships were instantly locked together. They swung
+drifting and helpless in the tossing waters.
+
+Morgan had counted upon this very catastrophe. A twist of the helm, a
+touch of the braces, and the prow of the _Mary Rose_ swung to windward.
+As her batteries bore she hurled their messengers of death into the
+crowded masses on the Spanish ships. Although dismayed by the collision,
+the gunners on the frigate made a spirited reply with a discharge which
+at such close range did much execution.
+
+Unfortunately for her, the _Mary Rose_ had rushed so close to the two
+entangled ships that it was impossible for her to escape hitting them.
+The English captain would have given anything if he could have gone
+free of the mass, for he could have passed under the stern of the two
+helpless ships, raked them, and probably would have had them at his
+mercy; but his dash at them had been an earnest one, and in order to
+carry out his plan successfully he had been forced to throw his ship
+right upon them. Therefore, though the helm was shifted and the braces
+hauled in an effort to get clear, and though the ship under Morgan's
+conning and Hornigold's steering was handled as few ships have ever been
+handled, and though it was one of the speediest and most weatherly of
+vessels, they could not entirely swing her clear. The stern of the
+frigate crashed against the stern of the nearest Spanish ship drifting
+frantically to leeward.
+
+The Spanish captain, mortified and humiliated beyond expression by the
+mishap, instantly realized that this contact presented them with a
+possibility of retrieving themselves. Before the ships could be
+separated, grappling irons were thrown, and in a second the three were
+locked in a close embrace. Morgan had anticipated this situation also,
+although he had hoped to avoid it, and had prepared for it. As the two
+ships became fast the high poop and rail of the Spaniard were black with
+iron-capped men. They swarmed over on the lower poop and quarter-deck of
+the _Mary Rose_ in a dense mass. Fortunately, the small arms on both
+sides had been discharged a moment before and there had been no time to
+reload. The remainder of the engagement to all intents and purposes
+would be fought with the cold steel.
+
+Morgan had gained an advantage in throwing the two ships into collision,
+but he appeared to have lost it again because he had been unable to
+clear the wrecks himself. The advantage was now with the Spaniards,
+whose force outnumbered his own two or three to one. Surprising as it
+was to the old buccaneers and the bolder spirits among his crew, whose
+blood was up sufficiently to enable them to long for the onset, Morgan
+had run to the waist of the ship when he saw the inevitable collision
+and had called all hands from the poop and quarter. The _Mary Rose_ was
+provided with an elevated quarter-deck and above that a high poop.
+Massing his men in the gangways just forward of the mainmast and on the
+forecastle itself, with the hardiest spirits in the front line and
+Morgan himself in advance of all sword in hand, the two parties
+contemplated each other for a little space before joining in the onset.
+
+The poop and quarter-deck were crowded so thick with Spanish soldiers
+and sailors that room could scarcely be found for the increasing
+procession, for, anxious to be in at the death, the men of the galleon
+clinging to the frigate ran across and joined their comrades. Here were
+trained and veteran soldiers in overwhelming numbers, with the advantage
+of position in that they fought from above down, to oppose which Morgan
+had his motley crew behind him.
+
+"Yield, you dastardly villain!" shouted the captain of the Spanish
+frigate, who was in the fore of his men.
+
+"Shall I have good quarter?" cried Morgan.
+
+A low growl ran through the ranks of the buccaneers at this question.
+Yet the rapscallions among the crew back of him instantly took up the
+cry.
+
+"Quarter! Quarter! We surrender! We strike! For heaven's sake----"
+
+"Silence!" roared Morgan--an order which was enforced by the officers
+and veterans by fierce blows with pistol butts, hilts of swords, and
+even naked fists. "I would hear the answer of the Spanish captain."
+
+"We give no quarter to pirates and murderers," the other shouted.
+
+"That's what I thought," said Morgan triumphantly, and as he spoke he
+drew from his pocket a silver whistle like a boatswain's call. He blew
+it shrilly before the wondering men.
+
+At that instant Teach, followed by the few men who had remained below in
+the powder division, came running up to Morgan from the hatchway
+between the two forces.
+
+"Is't done?" cried the captain.
+
+"Ay, sir. In another----"
+
+"Forward, gentlemen!" shouted the Spanish captain, dropping from the
+quarter-deck to the main-deck. "God and St. Jago! Have at them!"
+
+Before he had taken two steps the terrific roar of a deafening explosion
+came to the startled buccaneers out of the blast of flame and smoke, in
+the midst of which could be heard shrieks and groans of the most
+terrible anguish. Teach had connected the powder with the fuse, and when
+he had heard the sound of Morgan's whistle, the agreed signal, he had
+ignited it and blown up the stern of the frigate.
+
+The Spaniards were hurled in every direction. So powerful was the
+concussion that the front ranks of the buccaneers were also thrown down
+by it. Morgan happened to fall by the side of the Spanish captain, and
+the latter, though badly wounded, with determined and heroic valor
+raised himself on his arm and strove to kill the buccaneer. But the
+faithful Carib, who had reserved one charged pistol by his master's
+command for such an emergency, shot him dead.
+
+Morgan struggled to his feet and looked at the scene. Some of his men
+did not rise with the others, for they had been killed by the falling
+splinters and bits of iron. The whole stern of the _Mary Rose_ was gone.
+There wasn't a Spaniard left before them. A few figures shrieking vainly
+for help, clutching at floating pieces of timber, might be seen
+struggling in the sea. The Spanish frigate had a great hole in the port
+side of her after-works. She was on fire. The three ships were rocking
+as if in a hurricane.
+
+Panic filled the minds of the greater part of the buccaneers at this
+tremendous catastrophe. Had Morgan to save himself ruined his own ship?
+They were appalled by the terrific expedient of their captain. Wild
+cries and imprecations burst forth.
+
+"The ship is sinking!"
+
+"We are lost!"
+
+"Silence!" shouted Morgan, again and again. "The ship is sinking, but
+our ship is there. Let those who love life follow me."
+
+He sprang at the burning rail of the Spanish frigate. Black Dog was at
+his heels, Ben Hornigold followed hard upon, Teach was on the other
+side. From the waist Raveneau and the Brazilian strove to inspire the
+men. Old Velsers from the forecastle drove them forward as quickly as he
+could. Presently they recovered their courage in some measure, for the
+fighting force of the enemy had disappeared. They had lost a ship, but
+there were two other ships before them. They swarmed over the rail with
+cheers and cries. There was little or no resistance. The men of the
+frigate were stunned into helplessness by the explosion, although the
+captain of the galleon rallied a few men and fought until they were all
+cut down, and the two ships were taken by storm.
+
+They had scarcely gained the deck of the galleon before the remains of
+the _Mary Rose_ sank beneath the sea, the wounded upon the decks vainly
+crying for succor.
+
+By this time the weather side of the remaining Spanish ship was a mass
+of flame and there was imminent danger that the fire would be
+communicated to the galleon. Giving his men time for nothing, Morgan set
+to work furiously to extricate himself. Axes and hatchets were plied and
+all the skill and seamanship of the conquerors brought into play.
+Finally they succeeded in getting clear and working away from the
+burning frigate. Morgan at once put the galleon before the wind, and
+when he had drawn away a short distance, hove to the ship to take
+account of the damage before determining his future course.
+
+Far back on the ocean and low in the water drifted the sinking remains
+of the first Spanish frigate. Near at hand was the hulk of the second
+ship, now a blazing furnace. The first was filled with living men, many
+of them desperately wounded. No attention was paid to them by the
+buccaneers. They cried for mercy unheeded. Anyway their suspense would
+soon be over. Indeed, the first ship sank and the second blew up with a
+fearful explosion a short time after they got away. A brief inspection
+showed that the galleon had suffered little or no damage that could not
+be repaired easily at sea. Taking account of his men, Morgan found that
+about twenty were missing. Taking no care for them nor for the two ships
+he had fought so splendidly, pirate though he was, he clapped sail on
+the galleon and bore away to the southward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+WHEREIN BARTHOLOMEW SAWKINS MUTINIED AGAINST HIS CAPTAIN AND WHAT BEFEL
+HIM ON THAT ACCOUNT
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The _Almirante Recalde_, for such was the name of the galleon, was
+easily and speedily repaired by the skilled seamen of the _Mary Rose_
+under such leadership and direction as the experience of Morgan and the
+officers afforded. By the beginning of the first dog-watch even a
+critical inspection would scarcely have shown that she had been in
+action. With the wise forethought of a seaman, Morgan had subordinated
+every other duty to the task of making the vessel fit for any danger of
+the sea, and he had deferred any careful examination of her cargo until
+everything had been put shipshape again; although by his hurried
+questioning of the surviving officers he had learned that the
+_Almirante Recalde_ was indeed loaded with treasure of Peru, which had
+been received by her _via_ the Isthmus of Panama for transportation to
+Spain. On board her were several priests returning to Spain headed by
+one Fra Antonio de Las Casas, together with a band of nuns under the
+direction of an aged abbess, Sister Maria Christina.
+
+In the indiscriminate fury of the assault one or two of the priests had
+been killed, but so soon as the ship had been fully taken possession of
+the lives of the surviving clerics and the lives of the good sisters had
+been spared by Morgan's express command. These unfortunate women had
+been forced into the great cabin, where they were guarded by men in whom
+confidence could be placed. The priests were allowed to minister to
+their dying compatriots so long as they kept out of the way of the
+sailors. No feeling of pity or compassion induced Morgan to withhold the
+women from his crew. He was a man of prudent foresight and he preserved
+them for a purpose, a purpose in which the priests were included.
+
+In the hold of the ship nearly one hundred and fifty wretched prisoners
+were discovered. They were the crew of the buccaneer ship _Daring_,
+which had been commanded by a famous adventurer named Ringrose, who had
+been captured by a Spanish squadron after a desperate defense off the
+port of Callao, Peru. They were being transported to Spain, where they
+had expected summary punishment for their iniquities. No attention
+whatever had been paid to their protests that they were Englishmen, and
+indeed the statement was hardly true for at least half of them belonged
+to other nations. In the long passage from Callao to the Isthmus and
+thence through the Caribbean they had been kept rigorously under
+hatches. Close confinement for many days and enforced subsistence upon a
+scanty and inadequate diet had caused many to die and impaired the
+health of the survivors. When the hatch covers were opened, the chains
+unshackled and the miserable wretches brought on deck, their condition
+moved even some of the buccaneers to pity. The galleon was generously
+provided for her long cruise across the ocean, and the released
+prisoners, by Morgan's orders, were liberally treated. No work was
+required of them; they were allowed to wander about the decks at
+pleasure, refreshed by the open air, the first good meal they had
+enjoyed in several months, and by a generous allowance of spirits. As
+soon as they learned the object of the cruise, without exception they
+indicated their desire to place themselves under the command of Morgan.
+Ringrose, their captain, had been killed, and they were without a
+leader, which was fortunate in that it avoided the complications of
+divided command. Fortunate, that is, for Ringrose, for Morgan would have
+brooked no rival on such an expedition.
+
+As soon as it could be done, a more careful inspection and calculation
+satisfied the buccaneer of the immense value of his prize. The lading of
+the galleon, consisting principally of silver bullion, was probably
+worth not far from a million Spanish dollars--pieces of eight! This
+divided among the one hundred and eighty survivors of the original crew
+meant affluence for even the meanest cabin boy. It was wealth such as
+they had not even dreamed of. It was a prize the value of which had
+scarcely ever been paralleled.
+
+They were assembled forward of the quarter-deck when the announcement
+was made. When they understood the news the men became drunk with joy.
+It would seem as if they had been suddenly stricken mad. Some of them
+stared in paralyzed silence, others broke into frantic cheers and yells,
+some reeled and shuddered like drunken men. The one person who preserved
+his imperturbable calmness was Morgan himself. The gratitude of these
+men toward him was overwhelming. Even those who had good cause to hate
+him forgot for the time being their animosity--all except Hornigold,
+whose hatred was beyond all price. Under his leadership they had
+achieved such a triumph as had scarcely ever befallen them in the
+palmiest days of their career, and with little or no loss they had been
+put in possession of a prodigious treasure. They crowded about him
+presently with enthusiastic cheers of affection and extravagant vows of
+loving service. All, that is, except Hornigold, whose sense of injury,
+whose thirst for vengeance, was so deep that all the treasure of Potosi
+itself would not have abated one jot or one tittle of it.
+
+The general joy, however, was not shared by the rescued buccaneers.
+Although they had but a few hours before despaired of life in the
+loathsome depths of the vile hold, and they had been properly grateful
+for the sudden and unexpected release which had given them their liberty
+and saved them from the gibbet, yet it was not in any human man,
+especially a buccaneer, to view with equanimity the distribution--or the
+proposed distribution--of so vast a treasure and feel that he could not
+share in it. The fresh air and the food and drink had already done much
+for those hardy ruffians. They were beginning to regain, if not all
+their strength, at least some of their courage and assurance. They
+congregated in little groups here and there among Morgan's original men
+and stared with lowering brows and flushed faces at the frantic revel in
+which they could not participate. Not even the cask of rum which Morgan
+ordered broached to celebrate the capture, and of which all hands
+partook with indiscriminate voracity, could bring joy to their hearts.
+After matters had quieted down somewhat--and during this time the
+galleon had been mainly left to navigate herself--Morgan deemed it a
+suitable occasion to announce his ultimate designs to the men.
+
+"Gentlemen, shipmates, and bold hearts all," he cried, waving his hand
+for silence, "we have captured the richest prize probably that floats on
+the ocean. There are pieces of eight and silver bullion enough beneath
+the hatches, as I have told you, to make us rich for life, to say
+nothing of the gold, jewels, spices, and whatnot, besides----"
+
+He was interrupted by another yell of appreciation.
+
+"But, men," he continued, "I hardly know what to do with it."
+
+"Give it to us," roared a voice, which was greeted with uproarious
+laughter, "we'll make away with it."
+
+Morgan marked down with his eye the man who had spoken and went on.
+
+"The ports of His Majesty, the King of England, will be closed to us so
+soon as our capture of the _Mary Rose_ is noted. England is at peace
+with the world. There is not a French or Spanish port that would give us
+a haven. If we appeared anywhere in European waters with this galleon
+we would be taken and hanged. Now, what's to be done?"
+
+"Run the ship ashore on the New England coast," cried the man who had
+spoken before. "Divide the treasure. Burn the ship and scatter. Let
+every man look to his own share and his own neck."
+
+"A plan, a plan!"
+
+"Ay, that'll be the way of it!"
+
+"Sawkins is right!"
+
+"To the New England shore! Ben Hornigold will pilot the ship!" burst in
+confused clamor from the crew to whom the plan appealed.
+
+"By heaven, no!" shouted Morgan. "That's well enough for you, not for
+me. I'm a marked man. You can disappear. I should be taken, and
+Hornigold and Raveneau and the rest. It won't do. We must stay by the
+ship."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Keep to the original plan. We'll sail this ship down to the Spanish
+Main and capture a town, divide our treasure, make our way overland to
+the Pacific, where we'll find another ship, and then away to the South
+Seas! Great as is our booty, there is still more to be had there for the
+taking. We'll be free to go where we please with the whole South
+American coast at hand. There are islands, tropic islands, there, where
+it's always summer. They are ours for the choosing. We can establish
+ourselves there. We'll found a community, with every man a law for
+himself. We'll----"
+
+But the recital of this Utopian dream was rudely interrupted.
+
+"Nay, Master," cried Sawkins, who had done most of the talking from
+among the crew, "we go no farther."
+
+He was confident that he had the backing of the men, and in that
+confidence grew bold with reckless temerity. Flushed by the victory of
+the morning, the rum he had imbibed, intoxicated by the thought of the
+treasure which was to be shared, the man went on impudently:
+
+"No, Sir Harry Morgan, we've decided to follow our latest plan. We'll
+work this ship up to the New England coast and wreck her there. There
+are plenty of spots where she can be cast away safely and none to know
+it. We'll obey you there and no further. We've got enough treasure under
+hatches to satisfy any reasonable man. We're not afeared o' the King if
+you are."
+
+"You fool!" thundered Morgan. "You will be hanged as soon as your part
+in the adventure is known."
+
+"And who is to make it known, pray? As you said, we are poor ignorant
+men. It's nothing to us if you are marked, and you, and you," he
+continued, stepping forward and pointing successively at Morgan and the
+little band of officers who surrounded him. "A bird in the hand is worth
+two in the bush, we'd have you understand, and we're content with what
+we've got. We don't take no stock in them islands of yours. We can get
+all the women we want, and of our own kind without crossing the Isthmus.
+We don't want no further cruisin'. There's no need for us to land on the
+Spanish Main. We've made up our minds to 'bout ship and bear away to the
+northward. Am I right, mates?"
+
+"Ay, ay, right you are!" roared the men surging aft.
+
+"You mutinous hound!" yelled Morgan, leaning forward in a perfect fury
+of rage, and his passion was something appalling to look upon.
+
+Hornigold clutched at the helm, which had been deserted by the seamen
+detailed to it during the course of the hot debate. The old man cast one
+long, anxious glance to windward where a black squall was apparently
+brewing. But he said nothing. The argument was between Morgan and his
+crew, there was no need for him to interfere. Teach, Raveneau, Velsers,
+and the officers drew their pistols and bared their swords, but most of
+the crew were also armed, and if it came to a trial of strength the
+cabin gang was so overwhelmingly outnumbered that it would have been
+futile to inaugurate a contest.
+
+Morgan, however, was frantic with rage. To be braved by a member of his
+crew, to have his plans balked by any man, and to be openly insulted in
+this manner! He did not hesitate a second. He rushed at Master
+Bartholomew Sawkins, and, brave man as that sailor was, he fairly
+quailed before the terrific incarnation of passionate fury his captain
+presented. The rest of the crew gave back before the furious onset of
+Sir Henry.
+
+"You dog!" he screamed, and before the other realized his intention he
+struck him a fearful blow in the face with his naked fist. Always a man
+of unusual strength, his rage had bestowed upon him a Herculean force.
+He seized the dazed man by the throat and waist belt ere he fell to the
+deck from the force of the blow, and lifting him up literally pitched
+him overboard. Before the crew had recovered from their astonishment and
+terror at this bold action, the buccaneer officers closed behind their
+captain, each covering the front ranks of the men with a pistol. At the
+same instant the other men, Ringrose's crew, came shoving through the
+crowd, snatching such arms as they could in the passage, although most
+of them had to be satisfied with belaying pins.
+
+"We're with you, Captain Morgan," cried one of their number. "We've had
+no treasure, and it seems we're not to have a share in this either.
+We've been in the South Seas," continued the speaker, a man named
+L'Ollonois, noted for his cruelty, rapacity, and success, "and the
+captain speaks truly. There are all that can delight brave men and a
+race of cowards to defend them. What's this treasure? It is great, but
+there are other things we want--wine and women!"
+
+The man who had been thrown overboard had shrieked for help as he fell.
+The splash he had made as he struck the water had been followed by
+another. A Spanish priest standing by the rail had seized a grating and
+thrown it to the man. Morgan took in the situation in a glance.
+
+"Who threw that grating?" he cried.
+
+"I, senor," composedly answered the priest, who understood English.
+
+Morgan instantly snatched a pistol from de Lussan's hand and shot the
+man dead.
+
+"I allow no one," he shouted, "to interfere between me and the
+discipline of my men! You speak well, L'Ollonois. And for you, hounds!"
+he roared, clubbing the smoking pistol and stepping toward the huddled,
+frightened men, "get back to your duties unless you wish instant death!
+Scuttle me, if I don't blow up the galleon unless you immediately obey!
+Bear a hand there! If you hesitate--Fire on them!" he cried to his
+officers, but the men in the front did not linger. They broke away from
+his presence so vehemently that they fell over one another in the
+gangways.
+
+[Illustration: Morgan instantly snatched a pistol from de Lussan's hand
+and shot the man dead.]
+
+"Don't fire!" they cried in terror. "We'll go back to duty."
+
+Morgan was completely master of the situation.
+
+"I am to be obeyed," he cried, "implicitly, without question, without
+hesitation!"
+
+"Ay, ay!"
+
+"We will, we will!"
+
+"That's well. Heave that carrion overboard," kicking the body of the
+priest. "Now we'll go back and pick up Sawkins," he continued. "Ready
+about, station for stays!"
+
+"Look you, Captain Morgan," cried Hornigold, pointing to leeward. "The
+squall! 'Twill be soon on us. We'd best reduce sail and run for it."
+
+"Nay," said Morgan, "I'll allow not even a storm to interfere with my
+plans. Flow the head sheets there! Hard down with the helm! Aft, here
+some of you, and man the quarter boat. I said I'd pick him up, and
+picked up he shall be, in spite of hell!"
+
+The ship, like all Spanish ships, was unhandy and a poor sailor. Morgan,
+however, got all out of her that mortal man could get. With nice
+seamanship he threw her up into the wind, hove her to, and dropped a
+boat overboard. Teach had volunteered for the perilous command of her
+and the best men on the ship were at the oars. Sawkins had managed to
+catch the grating and was clinging feebly when the boat swept down upon
+him. They dragged him aboard and then turned to the ship. The sinister
+squall was rushing down upon them from the black horizon with terrific
+velocity. The men bent their backs and strained at the oars as never
+before. It did not seem possible that they could beat the wind. The men
+on the ship beseeched Morgan to fill away and abandon their comrades.
+
+"No!" he cried. "I sent them there and I'll wait for them if I sink the
+ship!"
+
+Urged by young Teach to exertion superhuman, the boat actually shot
+under the quarter of the galleon before the squall broke. The tackles
+were hooked on and she was run up to the davits with all her crew
+aboard.
+
+"Up with the helm!" cried Morgan the instant the boat was alongside.
+"Swing the mainyard and get the canvas off her. Aloft, topmen, settle
+away the halliards! Clew down! Lively, now!"
+
+And as the ship slowly paid off and gathered away the white squall broke
+upon them. The sea was a-smother with mist and rain. The wind whipped
+through the shrouds and rigging, but everything held. Taking a great
+bone in her teeth the old _Almirante Recalde_ heeled far over to leeward
+and ripped through the water to the southward at such a pace as she had
+never made before. On the quarter-deck a drenched, shivering, and
+sobbing figure knelt at Morgan's feet and kissed his hand.
+
+"Wilt obey me in the future?" cried the captain to the repentant man.
+
+"'Fore God, I will, sir," answered Sawkins.
+
+"That's well," said the old buccaneer. "Take him forward, men, and let
+him have all the rum he wants to take off the chill of his wetting."
+
+"You stood by me that time, Sir Henry," cried young Teach, who had been
+told of Morgan's refusal to fill away, "and, by heaven, I'll stand by
+you in your need!"
+
+"Good. I'll remember that," answered Morgan, glad to have made at least
+one friend among all he commanded.
+
+"What's our course now, captain?" asked Hornigold as soon as the
+incident was over.
+
+"Sou'west by west-half-west," answered Morgan, who had taken an
+observation that noon, glancing in the binnacle as he spoke.
+
+"And that will fetch us where?" asked the old man, who was charged with
+the duty of the practical sailing of the ship.
+
+"To La Guayra and Venezuela."
+
+"Oho!" said the old boatswain, "St. Jago de Leon, Caracas, t'other side
+of the mountains will be our prize?"
+
+"Ay," answered Morgan. "'Tis a rich place and has been unpillaged for a
+hundred years."
+
+He turned on his heel and walked away. He vouchsafed no further
+information and there was no way for Master Ben Hornigold to learn that
+the object that drew Morgan to La Guayra and St. Jago was not plunder
+but the Pearl of Caracas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOW THEY STROVE TO CLUB-HAUL THE GALLEON AND FAILED TO SAVE HER ON THE
+COAST OF CARACAS
+
+
+Two days later they made a landfall off the terrific coast of Caracas,
+where the tree-clad mountains soar into the clouds abruptly from the
+level of the sea, where the surf beats without intermission even in the
+most peaceful weather upon the narrow strip of white sand which
+separates the blue waters of the Caribbean from the massive cliffs that
+tower above them.
+
+In the intervening time the South Sea buccaneers had picked up
+wonderfully. These men, allured by the hope of further plunder under a
+captain who had been so signally successful in the past and in the
+present, constituted a most formidable auxiliary to Morgan's original
+crew. Indeed, with the exception of the old hands they were the best of
+the lot. L'Ollonois had been admitted among the officers on a suitable
+footing, and there was little or no friction among the crews. They were
+getting hammered into shape, too, under Morgan's hard drilling, and it
+was a vastly more dangerous body of men than the drunken gang who had
+sailed away from Jamaica. Though not the equal of the former
+buccaneering bands who had performed in their nefarious careers unheard
+of prodigies of valor and courage, they were still not to be despised.
+Had it been known on the Spanish Main that such a body was afloat there
+would have been a thrill of terror throughout the South American
+continent, for there were many who could remember with the vividness of
+eye-witnesses and participants the career of crime and horror which the
+old buccaneers had inaugurated.
+
+Like a politic captain, Morgan had done his best to get the men whom he
+had subdued by his intrepid courage and consummate address into good
+humor. Rum and spirits were served liberally, work was light, in fact
+none except the necessary seaman's duties were required of the men,
+although an hour or two every day was employed in hard drill with
+swords, small arms, and great guns. In martial exercises the veterans
+were perfect, and they assiduously endeavored to impart their knowledge
+to the rest.
+
+It was Morgan's plan to run boldly into La Guayra under the Spanish
+flag. No one could possibly take the _Almirante Recalde_ for anything
+but a Spanish ship. There was no reason for suspecting the presence of
+an enemy, for Spain had none in these seas. If there were other ships in
+the roadstead, for the harbor of La Guayra was really nothing more than
+an open road, the buccaneer could easily dispose of them in their
+unprepared condition. Indeed, Morgan rather hoped that there might be
+others, for, after he captured them, he would have a greater force of
+guns to train upon the forts of the town, which he expected to take
+without much difficulty, and then be governed in his manoeuvres toward
+Caracas by circumstances as they arose.
+
+Two days after the capture of the galleon, then, with the wind fresh
+from the northeast, on a gray, threatening, stormy morning, she was
+running to the westward along the shore. A few hours at their present
+speed would bring them opposite La Guayra, whose location at the foot of
+the mighty La Silla of Caracas was even then discernible. Morgan could
+see that there were two or three other vessels opposite the town
+straining at their anchors in the heavy sea. Every preparation for
+action had been made in good time and the guns had been loaded. The sea
+lashings had been cast off, although the gun-tackles were carefully
+secured, for the wind was blowing fresher and the sea running heavier
+every hour.
+
+The men were armed to the teeth. There happened to be a goodly supply
+of arms on the Spanish ship in addition to those the buccaneers had
+brought with them, which were all distributed. Many a steel cap destined
+for some proud Spanish hidalgo's head now covered the cranium of some
+rude ruffian whom the former would have despised as beneath his feet.
+
+Everything was propitious for their enterprise but the weather. The
+veterans who were familiar with local conditions in the Caribbean
+studied the northeastern skies with gloomy dissatisfaction. The wind was
+blowing dead inshore, and as the struck bells denoted the passing hours,
+with each half-hourly period it grew appreciably stronger. If it
+continued to blow, or if, as it was almost certain, the strength of the
+wind increased, it would be impossible without jeopardizing the ship to
+come to anchor in the exposed roadstead. They would have to run for it.
+Nay, more, they would have to beat out to sea against it, for the
+coast-line beyond La Guayra turned rapidly to the northward.
+
+Morgan was a bold and skilful mariner, and he held his course parallel
+to the land much longer than was prudent. He was loath, indeed, to
+abandon even temporarily a design upon which he had determined, and as
+he had rapidly run down his southing in this brief cruise his
+determination had been quickened by the thought of his growing nearness
+to the Pearl of Caracas, until for the moment love--or what he called
+love--had almost made him forget the treasure in the ship beneath his
+feet. For the Pearl of Caracas was a woman.
+
+Mercedes de Lara, daughter of the Viceroy of Venezuela, on her way home
+from Spain where she had been at school, to join her father, the Count
+Alvaro de Lara in the Vice-regal Palace at St. Jago de Leon, sometimes
+called the City of Caracas, in the fair valley on the farther side of
+those towering tree-clad mountains--the Cordilleras of the shore--had
+touched at Jamaica. There she had been received with due honor, as
+became the daughter of so prominent a personage, by the Vice-Governor
+and his wretched wife. Morgan's heart had been inflamed by the dark,
+passionate beauty of the Spanish maiden. It was only by a severe
+restraint enjoined upon himself by his position that he had refrained
+from abusing the hospitality he extended, by seizing her in the old
+buccaneer fashion. The impression she had made upon him had been
+lasting, and when he found himself alone, an outlaw, all his dreams of
+the future centered about his woman.
+
+He would carry out the plans which he had outlined to his men, but the
+Pearl of Caracas, for so Donna Mercedes was called, must accompany him
+to the South Seas to be the Island Queen of that Buccaneer Empire of
+which he was to be the founder. That Donna Mercedes might object to this
+proposition; that she might love another man, might even be married by
+this time, counted for nothing in Morgan's plans. He had taken what he
+wanted by dint of his iron will and the strength of his right arm in the
+past and he should continue the process in the future. If the hand of
+man could not turn him, certainly the appeal of woman would avail
+nothing.
+
+Consequently he was most reluctant that morning, for his passion had
+increased with each o'er-run league of sea, to bear away from La Guayra,
+which was the port of entry for Caracas; but even his ardent spirit was
+at last convinced of the necessity. It was blowing a gale now and they
+were so near the shore, although some distance to the eastward of the
+town, that they could see the surf breaking with tremendous force upon
+the strip of sand. The officers and older men had observed the course of
+the ship with growing concern, but no one had ventured to remonstrate
+with Morgan until old Ben Hornigold as a privileged character finally
+summoned his courage and approached him.
+
+"Mark yon shore, Captain Morgan," he said, and when he made up his mind
+he spoke boldly. "The wind freshens. We're frightfully near. Should it
+come on to blow we could not save the ship. You know how unseamanly
+these Spanish hulks are."
+
+"Right you are, Hornigold," answered Morgan, yet frowning heavily.
+"Curse this wind! We must claw off, I suppose."
+
+"Ay, and at once," cried Hornigold. "See, the wind shifts already! It
+blows straight from the north now."
+
+"Hands by the braces there!" shouted Morgan, following with apprehension
+the outstretched finger of the old boatswain. "Ease down the helm. Brace
+up. Lively, lads!"
+
+In a few moments the great ship, her yards braced sharply up, was headed
+out to seaward on the starboard tack. The wind was now blowing a whole
+gale and the masts of the ship were bending like whips.
+
+"We'll have to get sail off her, I'm thinking, Hornigold," said Morgan.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir, and quick!"
+
+"Aloft!" yelled Morgan, "and take in the to'gallant s'l's. Close reef
+the tops'l's and double reef the courses then."
+
+The shaking shrouds were soon covered with masses of men, and as the
+ship was exceedingly well handled the canvas was promptly snugged down
+by the eager crew. Hornigold with young Teach to assist him went to the
+helm. Morgan gave his personal attention to the manoeuvering of the
+ship, and the other officers stationed themselves where they could best
+promote and direct the efforts of the seamen.
+
+Thus during the long morning they endeavored to claw off the lee shore.
+Morgan luffed the ship through the heavy squalls which rose to the
+violence of a hurricane, with consummate skill. Absolutely fearless, a
+master of his profession, he did all with that ship that mortal man
+could have done, yet their situation became more and more precarious.
+They had long since passed La Guayra. They had had a fleeting glimpse of
+the shipping in the harbor driving helplessly on shore as they dashed by
+under the gray clouds which had overspread the sea. That town was now
+hidden from them by a bend of the coast, and they found themselves in a
+curious bight of land, extending far into the ocean in front of them.
+The mountains here did not so nearly approach the water-line, and from
+the look of the place there appeared to be a shoal projecting some
+distance into the ocean from the point ahead. Some of the buccaneers who
+knew these waters confirmed the indications by asserting the existence
+of the shoal.
+
+In spite of all that Morgan could do it was quite evident that they
+could not weather the shoal on their present tack. There was not
+sea-room to wear and bear up on the other tack. The vessel, in fact,
+like all ships in those days and especially Spanish galleons, had a
+tendency to go to leeward like a barrel, and only Morgan's resourceful
+seamanship had saved them from the fatal embraces of the shore long
+since. The canvas she was carrying was more than she could legitimately
+bear in such a hurricane. If there had been sea-room Morgan would have
+stripped her to bare poles long since, but under the circumstances it
+was necessary for him to retain full control and direction of the ship;
+so, although he reduced sail to the lowest point, he still spread a
+little canvas.
+
+The men were filled with apprehension, not only for their lives but,
+such was their covetousness, for the treasure they had captured, for
+they stood about a hundred chances to one of losing the ship. Each
+squall that swept down upon them was harder than the one before. Each
+time the vessel almost went over on her beam ends, for Morgan would not
+luff until the last moment, since each time that he did so and lost way
+temporarily he found himself driven bodily nearer the land. The men
+would have mutinied had it not been patent to the most stupid mind that
+their only salvation lay in Morgan. Never had that despicable villain
+appeared to better advantage than when he stood on the weather quarter
+overlooking the ship, his long gray hair blown out in the wind,
+fighting against a foe whose strength was not to be measured by the mind
+of man, for his life and his ship.
+
+Hornigold and Teach, grasping the wheel assisted by two of the ablest
+seamen, were steering the ship with exquisite precision. Sweat poured
+from their brows at the violence of the labor required to control the
+massive helm. The men lay to windward on the deck, or grouped in
+clusters around the masts, or hung to the life lines which had been
+passed in every direction. At Morgan's side stood Velsers and Raveneau,
+prime seamen both.
+
+"What think ye, gentlemen?" asked Morgan, at last pointing to the point
+looming fearfully close ahead of them. "Can we weather it?"
+
+"Never!" answered de Lussan, shaking his head. "Well, it has been a
+short cruise and a merry one. Pity to lose our freightage and lives."
+
+"And you, Velsers?"
+
+"No," said the German, "it can't be done. Why did we ever come to this
+cursed coast?"
+
+"Avast that!" cried Morgan, thinking quickly. "Gentlemen, we'll
+club-haul the ship."
+
+"The water's too deep, my captain, to give holding ground to the
+anchor," urged Raveneau shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"It shoals yonder, I think," answered Morgan. "We'll hold on until the
+last minute and then try."
+
+"'Tis wasted labor," growled Velsers.
+
+"And certain death to hold on," added the Frenchman.
+
+"Have you anything else to propose, sirs?" asked Morgan sharply. "We
+can't tack ship against this wind and sea. There's no room to wear.
+What's to do?"
+
+The men made no answer.
+
+"Forward there!" cried the old buccaneer, and it was astonishing the
+force and power with which he made himself heard in spite of the roar of
+the wind and the smash of the sea. "Get the lee anchor off the bows
+there! L'Ollonois?"
+
+"Ay, ay."
+
+"Run a hawser from the anchor in aft here on the quarter. We'll
+club-haul the ship. See the cable clear for running."
+
+"Very good, sir," cried the Frenchman, summoning the hardiest hands and
+the most skilful to carry out his commander's orders.
+
+"Ready it is, sir," answered Hornigold, tightening his grasp on the
+spokes and nodding his head to his superior.
+
+"To the braces, lads! Obey orders sharply. It's our last chance."
+
+The water was roaring and smashing against the shore not a cable's
+length away. Usually in those latitudes it deepened tremendously a short
+distance from the low water mark, and there was a grave question whether
+or not the anchor, with the scope they could give it, would reach
+bottom. At any rate it must be tried, and tried now. Morgan had held on
+as long as he dared. Another minute and they would strike.
+
+"Down helm!" he shouted. "Flow the head sheets! Round in on the fore
+braces, there! Show that canvas aft!"
+
+The lateen sail on the crossjack yard had been furled, and Morgan, to
+force her head around, directed the after guard to spring into the
+mizzen-rigging with a bit of tarpaulin and by exposing it and their
+bodies to the wind to act as a sail in assisting her to head away from
+the shore.
+
+"Helm-a-lee! Hard-a-lee!" cried Hornigold, who with his men was grasping
+the spokes like a giant.
+
+Slowly the old galleon swung up into the wind, the waves beating upon
+her bows with a noise like crashes of thunder. A moment she hung. She
+could go no farther.
+
+"She's in irons! Swing that yard!" roared Morgan. "Cut and veer away
+forward!"
+
+There was a splash as the anchor dropped overboard.
+
+"Hands on that hawser!" he shouted. "Everybody walk away with it!"
+
+The whole crew apparently piled on to the anchor hawser in the hope of
+pulling the ship's stern around so that the wind would take her on the
+other bow. She was still hanging in the wind and driving straight on
+shore.
+
+"Haul away, for God's sake!" cried Morgan; but the hawser came in board
+through their hands with a readiness and ease that showed the anchor had
+not taken the ground. The drag of the cable to the anchor, however, and
+the still unspent impetus of the first swing, turned the galleon's stern
+slightly to windward. Her head began slowly to fall off.
+
+"She stays! She makes it!" cried the captain. "Meet her with the helm!
+Let go and haul! Cut away the hawser!"
+
+It had been a tremendous feat of seamanship and bade fair to be
+successful. It was yet touch and go, however, and the breakers were
+perilously near. They were writhing around her forefoot now, yet the
+wind was at last coming in over the other bow.
+
+"We're safe!" cried Morgan. "Flatten in forward! Haul aft the sheets and
+braces!"
+
+At that instant there was a terrific crash heard above the roar of the
+tempest. The foretopmast of the _Almirante Recalde_ carried sharply off
+at the hounds. Relieved of the pressure, she shot up into the wind once
+more and drove straight into the seething seas. They were lost with
+their treasure, their hopes, and their crimes! At the mercy of wind and
+wave!
+
+The men were as quick to see the danger as was Morgan. They came rushing
+aft baring their weapons, pouring curses and imprecations upon him. He
+stood with folded arms, a scornful smile on his old face, looking upon
+them, Carib watching and ready by his side. In another second, with a
+concussion which threw them all to the deck, the doomed ship struck
+heavily upon the sands.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+WHICH TREATS OF THE TANGLED LOVE AFFAIRS OF THE PEARL OF CARACAS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+DISCLOSES THE HOPELESS PASSION BETWEEN DONNA MERCEDES DE LARA AND
+CAPTAIN DOMINIQUE ALVARADO, THE COMMANDANTE OF LA GUAYRA
+
+
+Captain Dominique Alvarado stood alone on the plaza of the ancient
+castle which for over a century had been the home of the governors of La
+Guayra. He was gazing listlessly down over the parapet which bordered
+the bare sheer precipice towering above the seaport town. There was
+nothing in his eyes, but a great deal in his heavy heart.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Captain Alvarado, who filled the honorable station of commandante of the
+port, was a soldier of proven courage. The _protege_ and favorite
+officer of his serene highness the Count Alvaro de Lara, Grandee of
+Spain and Viceroy of Venezuela, he had been honored with great
+responsibilities, which he had discharged to the satisfaction of his
+master. From a military point of view the office of Governor of La
+Guayra, which he then filled, was of sufficient importance to entitle
+him to high position and much consideration in the vice-regal court of
+Caracas.
+
+Of unknown parentage, Alvarado had been received into the family of the
+viceroy when an infant. He had been carefully reared, almost as he had
+been de Lara's son, and had been given abundant opportunity to
+distinguish himself. In the course of his short life he had managed to
+amass a modest fortune by honorable means. He was young and handsome; he
+had been instructed, for the viceroy had early shown partiality for him,
+in the best schools in the New World. His education had been ripened and
+polished by a sojourn of several years in Europe, not only at the court
+of Madrid but also at that of Versailles, where the Count de Lara had
+been sent as ambassador to the Grand Monarch during a period in which,
+for the sake of supervising the education of his only daughter, he had
+temporarily absented himself from his beloved Venezuela. That an unknown
+man should have been given such opportunities, should have been treated
+with so much consideration, was sufficient commentary on the
+unprecedented kindness of heart of the old Hidalgo who represented the
+failing power of His Most Catholic Majesty of Spain, Carlos II., the
+Bewitched, in the new world. Whatever his origin, therefore, he had been
+brought up as a Spanish soldier and gentleman, and the old count was
+openly proud of him.
+
+With assured station, ample means, increasing reputation; with youth,
+health, and personal good looks, the young Governor should have been a
+happy man. But it was easy to see from the heavy frown upon his sunny
+face--for he was that rare thing in Spain, a blue-eyed blond who at
+first sight might have been mistaken for an Englishman--that his soul
+was filled with melancholy. And well it might be, for Alvarado was the
+victim of a hopeless passion for Mercedes de Lara, the Viceroy's
+daughter, known from one end of the Caribbean to the other, from her
+beauty and her father's station, as the Pearl of Caracas.
+
+Nor was his present sadness due to unrequited passion, for he was
+confident that the adoration of his heart was met with an adequate
+response from its object. Indeed, it was no secret to him that Mercedes
+loved him with a devotion which matched his own. It was not that; but
+her father had announced his intention to betroth the girl to Don Felipe
+de Tobar y Bobadilla, a young gentleman of ancient lineage and vast
+wealth, who had been born in America and was the reputed head in the
+Western Hemisphere of the famous family whose name he bore.
+
+The consent of Donna Mercedes to the betrothal had not been asked. That
+was a detail which was not considered necessary by parents in the year
+of grace 1685, and especially by Spanish parents. That she should object
+to the engagement, or refuse to carry out her father's plan never
+crossed the Viceroy's imagination. That she might love another, was an
+idea to which he never gave a thought. It was the business of a
+well-brought-up Spanish maiden to be a passive instrument in the
+carrying out of her father's views, especially in things matrimonial, in
+which, indeed, love found little room for entrance. But Donna Mercedes
+loved Captain Alvarado and she cared nothing for Don Felipe. Not that
+Don Felipe was disagreeable to her, or to any one. He was a Spanish
+gentleman in every sense of the word, handsome, distinguished, proud,
+and gallant--but she did not, could not, love him. To complicate matters
+still further de Tobar was Captain Alvarado's cherished companion and
+most intimate friend.
+
+The progress of the love affair between Alvarado and Donna Mercedes had
+been subjective rather than objective. They had enjoyed some unusual
+opportunities for meeting on account of the station the former filled in
+the Viceroy's household and the place he held in his heart, yet the
+opportunities for extended freedom of intercourse between young men and
+women of the gentler class in those days, and especially among Spaniards
+of high rank, were extremely limited. The old count took care to see
+that his daughter was carefully watched and shielded; not because he
+suspected her of anything, for he did not, but because it was a habit of
+his people and his ancestry. The busy life that he led, the many
+employments which were thrust upon him, his military duties, had kept
+the days of the young soldier very full, and under the most favorable
+circumstances he would have had little time for love making. Fortunately
+much time is not required to develop a love affair, especially in New
+Spain and near to the equator.
+
+But though they had enjoyed brief opportunity for personal intercourse,
+the very impossibilities of free communication, the difficulties of
+meeting, had but added fuel and fire to their affection. Love had flamed
+into these two hearts with all the intensity of their tropic blood and
+tropic land. Alvarado's passion could feed for days and grow large upon
+the remembrance of the fragrance of her hand when he kissed it last in
+formal salutation. Mercedes' soul could enfold itself in the
+recollection of the too ardent pressure of his lips, the burning yet
+respectful glance he had shot at her, by others unperceived, when he
+said farewell. The memory of each sigh the tropic breeze had wafted to
+her ears as he walked in attendance upon her at some formal function of
+the court was as much to her as the flower which she had artfully
+dropped at his feet and which had withered over his heart ever since,
+was to him.
+
+The difficulties in the way of the exchange of those sweet nothings that
+lovers love to dwell upon and the impossibility of any hoped for end to
+their love making intensified their passion. Little or nothing had been
+spoken between them, but each knew the other loved. For the first moment
+the knowledge of that glorious fact had sufficed them--but afterwards
+they wanted more. Having tasted, they would fain quaff deeply. But they
+could see no way by which to manage the realization of their dreams.
+
+The situation was complicated in every possible way for Alvarado. Had he
+been a man of family like his friend, de Tobar, he would have gone
+boldly to the Viceroy and asked for the hand of his daughter, in which
+case he thought he would have met with no refusal; but, being ignorant
+of his birth, having not even a legal right to the name he bore, he knew
+that the proud old Hidalgo would rather see his daughter dead than
+wedded to him. Of all the ancient splendors of the Spanish people there
+was left them but one thing of which they could be proud--their ancient
+name. De Lara, who belonged to one of the noblest and most distinguished
+families of the Iberian Peninsula, would never consent to degrade his
+line by allying his only daughter to a nobody, however worthy in other
+respects the suitor might prove to be.
+
+Again, had Mercedes' father been any other than the life-long patron and
+friend to whom he literally owed everything that he possessed, such was
+the impetuosity of Alvarado's disposition that, at every hazard, he
+would have taken the girl by stealth or force from her father's
+protection, made her his wife, and sought an asylum in England or
+France, or wherever he could. So desperate was his state of mind, so
+overwhelming his love that he would have shrunk from nothing to win her.
+Yet just because the Viceroy had been a father to him, just because he
+had loved him, had been unexampled in his kindness and consideration to
+him, just because he reposed such absolutely unlimited confidence in
+him, the young man felt bound in honor by fetters that he could not
+break.
+
+And there was his friendship for de Tobar. There were many young
+gallants about the vice-regal court who, jealous of Alvarado's favor and
+envious of his merits, had not scrupled in the face of his unknown
+origin to sneer, to mock, or to slight--so far as it was safe to do
+either of these things to so brave and able a soldier. Amid these gilded
+youths de Tobar with noble magnanimity and affection had proved himself
+Alvarado's staunchest friend. A romantic attachment had sprung up
+between the two young men, and the first confidant of de Tobar's love
+affairs had been Alvarado himself. To betray his friend was almost as
+bad as to betray his patron. It was not to be thought of.
+
+Yet how could he, a man in whose blood--though it may have been ignoble
+for aught he knew--ran all the passions of his race with the fervor and
+fire of the best, a man who loved, as he did, the ground upon which the
+Senorita de Lara walked, stand by tamely and see her given to another,
+no matter who he might be? He would have given the fortune which he had
+amassed by honorable toil, the fame he had acquired by brilliant
+exploits, the power he enjoyed through the position he had achieved, the
+weight which he bore in the councils of New Spain, every prospect that
+life held dear to him to solve the dilemma and win the woman he loved
+for his wife.
+
+He passed hours in weary isolation on the plaza of the great castle
+overlooking the stretched-out town upon the narrow strand with the
+ceaseless waves beating ever upon the shore from the heavenly turquoise
+blue of the Caribbean wavering far into the distant horizon before him.
+He spent days and nights, thinking, dreaming, agonizing, while he
+wrestled vainly with the problem. Sometimes he strove to call to his
+mind those stern resolutions of duty which he had laid before himself at
+the beginning of his career, and to which he had steadfastly adhered in
+the pursuit of his fortunes; and he swore that he would be true to his
+ideals, that the trust reposed in him by the Viceroy should not be
+betrayed, that the friendship in which he was held by de Tobar should
+never be broken, that he would tear out of his heart the image of the
+woman he loved. And then, again, he knew that so long as that heart kept
+up its beating she would be there, and to rob him of her image meant to
+take away his life. If there had been a war, if some opportunity had
+been vouchsafed him to pour out, in battle against the enemy, some of
+the ardor that consumed him, the situation would have been ameliorated;
+but the times were those of profound peace. There was nothing to occupy
+his mind except the routine duties of the garrison.
+
+Spain, under the last poor, crazed, bewitched, degenerate descendant of
+the once formidable Hapsburgs, had reached the lowest depths of ignominy
+and decay. Alone, almost, under her flag Venezuela was well
+governed--from the Spanish standpoint, that is; from the native
+American point of view the rule of even the gentlest of Spaniards had
+made a hell on earth of the fairest countries of the new continent. Of
+all the cities and garrisons which were under the sway of the Viceroy de
+Lara, La Guayra was the best appointed and cared for. But it did not
+require a great deal of the time or attention from so skilled a
+commander as Alvarado to keep things in proper shape. Time, therefore,
+hung heavily on his hands. There were few women of rank in the town,
+which was simply the port of entry for St. Jago de Leon across the
+mountains which rose in tree-clad slopes diversified by bold precipices
+for ten thousand feet back of the palace, and from the commoner sort of
+women the young captain held himself proudly aloof, while his love
+safeguarded him from the allurement of the evil and the shameless who
+flaunted their iniquity in every seaport on the Caribbean.
+
+On the other side of the mountain range after a descent of several
+thousand feet to a beautiful verdant valley whose altitude tempered the
+tropic heat of the low latitude into a salubrious and delightful
+climate, lay the palace of the Viceroy and the city which surrounded it,
+St. Jago, or Santiago de Leon, commonly called the City of Caracas.
+
+Many a day had Alvarado turned backward from the white-walled,
+red-roofed town spread out at his feet, baking under the palms,
+seething in the fierce heat, as if striving to pierce with his gaze the
+great cordilleras, on the farther side of which in the cool white palace
+beneath the gigantic ceibas the queen of his heart made her home. He
+pictured her at all hours of the day; he dwelt upon her image, going
+over again in his mind each detail of her face and figure. The perfume
+of her hand was still fragrant upon his lips; the sound of her voice,
+the soft musical voice of Andalusia, still vibrated in his ear; her
+burning glance pierced him even in his dreams like a sword.
+
+He was mad, mad with love for her, crazed with hopeless passion. There
+seemed to be no way out of his misery but for him to pass his own sword
+through his heart, or to throw himself from the precipice, or to plunge
+into the hot, cruel blue of the enveloping Caribbean--the color of the
+sea changed in his eye with his temper, like a woman's mood. Yet he was
+young, he hoped in spite of himself. He prayed--for he was not old
+enough to have lost faith--and he planned. Besides, he was too brave a
+soldier to kill himself, and she was not yet married. She was not
+formally betrothed, even; although it was well known that her father
+looked favorably upon de Tobar's suit, no formal announcement had been
+made of it as yet. So in spite of his judgment he dreamed--the thoughts
+of youth and love are long, long thoughts, indeed.
+
+That morning the young captain, engrossed in his emotions, was not aware
+of the approach of a messenger, until the clank of the man's sword upon
+the stone flags of the plaza caused him to lift his head. He was a
+soldier, an officer of the bodyguard of the Viceroy, and he bore in his
+hand a letter sealed with the de Lara coat of arms. The messenger
+saluted and handed the packet to the captain.
+
+"Yesterday evening, His Excellency, the Viceroy, charged me to deliver
+this letter to you to-day."
+
+"Fadrique," called Alvarado, to a servitor, "a flagon of wine for the
+cavalier. By your leave, sir," he continued with formal politeness,
+opening the packet and reading the message:
+
+    "TO THE CAPTAIN ALVARADO, COMMANDANTE OF LA GUAYRA.
+
+    GREETING:
+
+    As one faithful to the fortunes of our family we would crave your
+    honorable presence at our palace in Santiago to-morrow evening. In
+    view of your service and devotion, we have done you the honor to
+    appoint you as one of the witnesses to the formal betrothal of our
+    daughter, Donna Mercedes, to your friend, Don Felipe de Tobar. After
+    that, as we have received appeals for help from the Orinoco country,
+    we propose to lead His Most Catholic Majesty's Imperial troops
+    thither in person to overawe the natives; and, reposing full trust
+    in your fidelity and honor, we deign to commit the Donna Mercedes to
+    your safe keeping in our city of La Guayra, until we return.
+    Therefore make your preparations accordingly.
+
+    Given under our hand and seal,
+
+    DE LARA, _Viceroy_."
+
+It had come! The old man, as a last token of his respect, had nominated
+him as a witness to the contract which robbed him forever of hope and
+happiness. The young man went white before the keen eye of the
+messenger, who, in common with other officers of the Viceroy's court,
+suspected what was, indeed, concealed from no one save the father and
+lover. The world swam before his vision. The blue sea seemed to rise up
+and meet the green hills until he could not distinguish the one from the
+other. His heart almost stopped its beating, yet summoning his
+resolution he recovered himself by an effort that left him trembling,
+the sweat beading his forehead.
+
+"Are you in a state for a return journey at once, senor?" he asked of
+the young officer.
+
+"At your service, captain."
+
+"That's well. Say to His Excellency, the Viceroy, that I thank him for
+the honor he does me. I shall wait upon him to-morrow and obey his
+commands."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HOW DONNA MERCEDES TEMPTED HER LOVER AND HOW HE STROVE VALIANTLY TO
+RESIST HER APPEALS
+
+
+Alvarado was alone in the cabinet of the Viceroy, to which his rank and
+the favor in which His Excellency held him gave him access at all times.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+He had ridden all day over the rough road that winds over the mountains
+from La Guayra to Caracas. The storm which had rushed down the
+mountain-side all afternoon matched the tumult in his soul, and the
+sheets of rain blown upon him by the fierce wind had not cooled the
+fever of his agitation. The unusual tempest was one of the most terrific
+that had swept over the coast in years. He had marked as he rode a huge
+ship far to seaward, staggering along under shortened canvas and
+laboring tremendously in the heavy seas. But his thoughts were so
+centered upon the situation in which he found himself that he had not
+particularly noticed the vessel, although passing ships were infrequent
+sights off the port of La Guayra. Pale, haggard, and distraught from his
+mental struggle he had crossed the pass at the summit of the mountain
+and descended into the fertile valley now adrip with rain and looking
+almost cold under the gray sky, and had presented himself at the palace
+of the Viceroy.
+
+He had changed his apparel after his reception and his old sergeant had
+polished his breastplate until it fairly blazed with light, for though
+the occasion was one of peace he had felt that he could better sustain
+his part in the military uniform in which he had won his only title to
+consideration. He schooled himself to go through that part with the
+resolution of a Spanish gentleman. Although there was no evidence of
+gentle blood save such as was presented by his actions, he had always
+cherished the hope that could the secret of his birth be revealed he
+would not be found unfit for the honors that he had won and the
+ambitions that he cherished. Consequently his appearance in the
+brilliantly lighted hall of the palace among the gay courtiers
+resplendent in magnificent attire, blazing with jewels, threw a somber
+note over the proceedings.
+
+It was as a soldier he had won fame and the consideration of the
+Viceroy; in no other capacity, so far as any man knew, had he the right
+to enter that assemblage of the rich and well born. It was as a soldier
+he would perform that hardest of all duties which had ever been laid
+upon him by his friend and patron, the Governor.
+
+Pale, stern, composed, he stood an iron figure of repression. So severe
+was the constraint that he put upon himself that he had given no sign of
+his emotion, even at the near approach of Donna Mercedes, and the hand
+which signed his name beneath her father's as the principal witness was
+as steady as if it held merely the sword in some deadly combat. He
+endured passively the affectionate greetings of the happy de Tobar, who
+was intoxicated at the assurance afforded by the betrothal of the coming
+realization of all his hopes. He sustained with firmness the confidence
+of the Viceroy and the admissions de Lara made to him in private, of his
+pleasure in the suitable and fortunate marriage which was there
+arranged. He even bore without breaking one long, piteous appeal which
+had been shot at him from the black eyes of the unhappy Mercedes.
+
+To her he seemed preternaturally cold and indifferent. He was so strong,
+so brave, so successful. She had counted upon some interposition from
+him, but the snow-capped Andes were no colder than he appeared, their
+granite sides no more rigid and unsympathetic. It was with a feeling
+almost of anger and resentment at last that she had signed the betrothal
+contract.
+
+But the restraint on the man was more than he could bear. The cumulative
+force of the reproach of the woman he loved, the confidence of the
+Viceroy, the rapturous happiness of his best friend, was not to be
+endured longer. Pleading indisposition, he early begged leave to
+withdraw from the festivities which succeeded the completion of the
+betrothal ceremony and the retirement of the ladies. At the suggestion
+of the Viceroy, who said he desired to consult with him later in the
+evening, he went into the deserted cabinet of the latter.
+
+The palace was built in the form of a quadrangle around an open patio. A
+balcony ran along the second story passing the Viceroy's cabinet, beyond
+which was his bedroom and beyond that the apartments of his daughter.
+The rain had ceased and the storm had spent itself. It was a calm and
+beautiful night, the moon shining with tropic splendor through the open
+window dispensed with the necessity of lights. There was no one in the
+cabinet when he entered, and he felt at last able to give way to his
+emotion; Mercedes though she was not married was now lost to him beyond
+recourse. After the women withdrew from the hall with Donna Mercedes
+there was no restraint put upon the young nobles, and from the other
+side of the patio came the sound of uproarious revelry and feasting--his
+friends and comrades with generous cheer felicitating the happy
+bridegroom that was to be. Alvarado was alone, undisturbed, forgotten,
+and likely to remain so. He put his head upon his hands and groaned in
+anguish.
+
+"Why should it not have been I?" he murmured. "Is he stronger, braver, a
+better soldier? Does he love her more? O Mother of God! Riches? Can I
+not acquire them? Fame? Have I not a large measure? Birth? Ah, that is
+it! My father! my mother! If I could only know! How she looked at me!
+What piteous appeal in her eyes! What reproach when I stood passive
+cased in iron, with a breaking heart. O my God! My God! Mercedes!
+Mercedes!"
+
+In his anguish he called the name aloud. So absorbed and preoccupied in
+his grief had he been that he was not aware of a figure softly moving
+along the balcony in the shadow. He did not hear a footfall coming
+through the open window that gave into the room. He did not realize that
+he had an auditor to his words, a witness to his grief, until a touch
+soft as a snowflake fell upon his fair head and a voice for which he
+languished whispered in his ear:
+
+"You called me; I am come."
+
+"Senorita Mercedes!" he cried, lifting his head and gazing upon her in
+startled surprise. "How came you here?" he added brusquely, catching her
+hands with a fierce grasp in the intensity of his emotion as he spoke.
+
+"Is this my greeting?" she answered, surprised in turn that he had not
+instantly swept her to his heart.
+
+She strove to draw herself away, and when he perceived her intent he
+opened his hands and allowed her arms to fall by her side.
+
+"I have been mistaken," she went on piteously, "I am not wanted."
+
+She turned away and stood full in the silver bar of the moonlight
+streaming through the casement. Her white face shone in the light
+against the dark background of the huge empty room--that face with its
+aureole of soft dark hair, the face of a saint, pale yet not
+passionless, of the heaven heavenly, yet with just enough of earthly
+feeling in her eyes to attest that she was a very woman after all.
+
+"Go not," he cried, catching her again and drawing her back.
+
+Gone were his resolutions, shattered was his determination, broken was
+his resistance. She was here before him, at all hazards he would detain
+her. They were alone together, almost for the first time in their lives.
+It was night, the balmy wind blew softly, the moonlight enveloped them.
+Such an opportunity would never come again. It was madness. It was
+fatal. No matter. She should not go now.
+
+"I heard you," she murmured, swaying toward him. "I heard--you seemed to
+be--suffering. I do not know why--something drew me on. You
+whispered--you were speaking--I--listened. I came nearer. Was your heart
+breaking, too? Despise me!"
+
+She put her face in her hands. It was a confession she made. A wave of
+shame swept over her.
+
+"Despise you? Ah, God help me, I love you!"
+
+And this time he gathered her in his arms, and drew her back into the
+deeper shadow.
+
+"And you were so cold," she whispered. "I looked at you. I begged you
+with all my soul before I signed. You did nothing, nothing! O Mother of
+God, is there no help?"
+
+"Dost love me?"
+
+"With all my soul," she answered.
+
+"Poor----"
+
+"Nay----"
+
+"Obscure----"
+
+"Nay----"
+
+"Lowly--perhaps ignobly born----"
+
+"Nay, love, these are mere words to me. Rich or poor, high or low, noble
+or ignoble, thou only hast my heart. It beats and throbs only for thee.
+I have thought upon thee, dreamed upon thee, loved thee. I can not marry
+Don Felipe. I, too, have the pride of the de Lara's. My father shall
+find it. I signed that contract under duress. You would do nothing. Oh,
+Alvarado, Alvarado, wilt thou stand by and let me be taken into the arms
+of another? But no, I shall die before that happens."
+
+"Donna Mercedes," cried the unhappy young man, "I love thee, I adore
+thee, I worship thee with all my heart and soul! Were it not a coward's
+act I would have plunged my dagger into my breast ere I witnessed that
+betrothal to-night."
+
+"Thou shouldst first have sheathed it in mine," she whispered. "But
+could'st find no better use for thy weapon than that?"
+
+"Would you have me kill Don Felipe?"
+
+"No, no, but defend me with it. There are hidden recesses in the
+mountains. Your soldiers worship you. Take me away, away into the
+undiscovered countries to the southward. A continent is before you. We
+will find a new Mexico, carve out a new Peru with your sword, though I
+want nothing but to be with you, alone with you, my soldier, my lover,
+my king!"
+
+"But your plighted word?"
+
+"'Tis nothing. My heart was plighted to you. That is enough. Let us go,
+we may never have the chance again," she urged, clinging to him.
+
+A fearful struggle was going on in Alvarado's breast. What she proposed
+was the very thing he would have attempted were the circumstances other
+than they were. But his patron, his friend, his military duty, his honor
+as a soldier--the sweat beaded his forehead again. He had made up his
+mind at the betrothal to give her up. He had abandoned hope; he had put
+aside possibilities, for he could see none. But here she was in his
+arms, a living, breathing, vital, passionate figure, her heart beating
+against his own, pleading with him to take her away. Here was love with
+all its witchery, with all its magic, with all its power, attacking the
+defenses of his heart; and the woman whom he adored as his very life,
+with all the passion in his being, was urging, imploring, begging him to
+take her away. He was weakening, wavering, and the woman who watched him
+realized it and added fuel to the flame.
+
+"The love I bear your father!" he gasped.
+
+"Should it bind where mine breaks? I am his daughter."
+
+"And Don Felipe is my personal friend."
+
+"And my betrothed, but I hesitate not."
+
+"My oath as a soldier----"
+
+"And mine as a woman."
+
+"Gratitude--duty----"
+
+"Oh, Alvarado, you love me not!" she cried. "These are the strongest. I
+have dreamed a dream. Lend me your dagger. There shall be no awakening.
+Without you I can not bear----"
+
+As she spoke she plucked the dagger from the belt of the young soldier,
+lifted the point gleaming in the moonlight and raised it to her heart.
+He caught it instantly.
+
+"No, no!" he cried. "Give back the weapon."
+
+The poniard fell from her hand.
+
+"Thou hast taken me, I thank thee," she murmured, thinking the battle
+won as he swept her once more in his arms. This time he bent his head to
+her upturned face and pressed kiss after kiss upon the trembling lips.
+It was the first time, and they abandoned themselves to their transports
+with all the fire of their long restrained passion.
+
+"And is this the honor of Captain Alvarado?" cried a stern voice as the
+Viceroy entered the room. "My officer in whom I trusted? Death and fury!
+Donna Mercedes, what do you here?"
+
+"The fault is mine," said Alvarado, stepping between the woman he loved
+and her infuriated father. "I found Donna Mercedes in the cabinet when I
+came in. She strove to fly. I detained her--by force. I poured into her
+ear a tale of my guilty passion. Mine is the fault. She repulsed me. She
+drove me off."
+
+"The dagger at your feet?"
+
+"She snatched it from me and swore to bury it in her heart unless I left
+her. I alone am guilty."
+
+He lied instantly and nobly to save the woman's honor.
+
+"Thou villain, thou false friend!" shouted the Viceroy, whipping out his
+sword.
+
+He was beside himself with fury, but there was a characteristic touch of
+magnanimity about his next action; so handsome, so splendid, so noble,
+in spite of his degrading confession, did the young man look, that he
+gave him a chance.
+
+"Draw your sword, Captain Alvarado, for as I live I shall run you
+through!"
+
+Alvarado's hand went to his belt, he unclasped it and threw it aside.
+
+"There lies my sword. I am dishonored," he cried. "Strike, and end it
+all."
+
+"Not so, for Christ's sake!" screamed Mercedes, who had heard as if in a
+daze. "He hath not told the truth. He hath lied for me. I alone am
+guilty. I heard him praying here in the still night and I came in, not
+he. I threw myself into his arms. I begged him to take me away. He spoke
+of his love and friendship for you, for Don Felipe, his honor, his duty.
+I did indeed seize the dagger, but because though he loved me he would
+still be true. On my head be the shame. Honor this gentleman, my father,
+as I--love him."
+
+She flung herself at her father's feet and caught his hand.
+
+"I love him," she sobbed, "I love him. With all the power, all the
+intensity, all the pride of the greatest of the de Laras I love him."
+
+"Is this true, Captain Alvarado?"
+
+"Would God she had not said so," answered the young man gloomily.
+
+"Is it true?"
+
+"I can not deny it, my lord, and yet I am the guilty one. I was on the
+point of yielding. Had you not come in we should have gone away."
+
+"Yet you had refused?"
+
+"I--I--hesitated."
+
+"Refused my daughter! My God!" whispered the old man. "And you,
+shameless girl, you forced yourself upon him? Threw yourself into his
+arms?"
+
+"Yes. I loved him. Did'st never love in thine own day, my father? Did'st
+never feel that life itself were as nothing compared to what beats and
+throbs here?"
+
+"But Don Felipe?"
+
+"He is a gallant gentleman. I love him not. Oh, sir, for God's sake----"
+
+"Press your daughter no further, Don Alvaro, she is beside herself,"
+gasped out Alvarado hoarsely. "'Tis all my fault. I loved her so deeply
+that she caught the feeling in her own heart. When I am gone she will
+forget me. You have raised me from obscurity, you have loaded me with
+honor, you have given me every opportunity--I will be true. I will be
+faithful to you. 'Twill be death, but I hope it may come quickly.
+Misjudge me not, sweet lady. Happiness smiles not upon my passion,
+sadness marks me for her own. I pray God 'twill be but for a little
+space. Give me some work to do that I may kill sorrow by losing my life,
+my lord. And thou, Donna Mercedes, forget me and be happy with Don
+Felipe."
+
+"Never, never!" cried the girl.
+
+She rose to her feet and came nearer to him. Her father stood by as if
+stunned. She laid her arms around Alvarado's neck. She looked into her
+lover's eyes.
+
+"You love me and I love you. What matters anything else?"
+
+"Oh, my lord, my lord!" cried Alvarado, staring at the Viceroy, "kill
+me, I pray, and end it all!"
+
+"Thou must first kill me," cried Mercedes, extending her arms across her
+lover's breast.
+
+"Donna Mercedes," said her father, "thou hast put such shame upon the
+name and fame of de Lara as it hath never borne in five hundred years.
+Thou hast been betrothed to an honorable gentleman. It is my will that
+the compact be carried out."
+
+"O my God! my God!" cried the unhappy girl, sinking into a chair. "Wilt
+Thou permit such things to be?"
+
+"And, Alvarado," went on the old man, not heeding his daughter's piteous
+prayer. "I know not thy parentage nor to what station thou wert born,
+but I have marked you from that day when, after Panama, they brought you
+a baby into my house. I have watched you with pride and joy. Whatever
+responsibility I have placed before you, you have met it. Whatever
+demand that hard circumstances have made upon you, you have overcome it.
+For every test there counts a victory. You have done the State and me
+great service, none greater than to-night. With such a temptation before
+thee, that few men that I have come in contact with in my long life
+could have resisted, you have thrown it aside. You and your honor have
+been tried and not found wanting. Whatever you may have been I know you
+now to be the finest thing on God's earth, a Spanish gentleman! Nay,
+with such evidence of your character I could, were it possible, have set
+aside the claims of birth and station----"
+
+"Oh, my father, my father!" interrupted the girl joyously.
+
+"And have given you Donna Mercedes to wife."
+
+"Your Excellency----"
+
+"But 'tis too late. The betrothal has been made; the contract signed; my
+word is passed. In solemn attestation before our Holy Church I have
+promised to give my daughter to Don Felipe de Tobar. Nothing can be
+urged against the match----"
+
+"But love," interjected Mercedes; "that is wanting."
+
+"It seems so," returned the Viceroy. "And yet, where duty and honor
+demand, love is nothing. Donna Mercedes, thou hast broken my heart. That
+a Spanish gentlewoman should have shown herself so bold! I could punish
+thee, but thou art mine all. I am an old man. Perhaps there is some
+excuse in love. I will say no more. I will e'en forgive thee, but I must
+have your words, both of you, that there shall be no more of this; that
+no other word of affection for the other shall pass either lip, forever,
+and that you will be forever silent about the events of this night."
+
+"Speak thou first, Captain Alvarado," said the girl.
+
+"You have loved me," cried the young man, turning toward Donna Mercedes,
+"and you have trusted me," bowing to the old man. "Here are two appeals.
+God help me, I can not hesitate. Thou shalt have my word. Would this
+were the last from my lips."
+
+"And he could promise; he could say it!" wailed the broken-hearted
+woman. "O my father, he loves me not! I have been blind! I promise thee,
+on the honor of a de Lara! I have leaned upon a broken reed."
+
+"Never," cried the old man, "hath he loved thee so truly and so grandly
+as at this moment."
+
+"It may be, it may be," sobbed the girl, reeling as she spoke. "Take me
+away. 'Tis more than I can bear."
+
+Then she sank prostrate, senseless between the two men who loved her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WHEREIN CAPTAIN ALVARADO PLEDGES HIS WORD TO THE VICEROY OF VENEZUELA,
+THE COUNT ALVARO DE LARA, AND TO DON FELIPE DE TOBAR, HIS FRIEND
+
+
+"We must have assistance," cried the Viceroy in dismay. "Alvarado, do
+you go and summon----"
+
+"Into the women's apartments, my lord?"
+
+"Nay, I will go. Watch you here. I trust you, you see," answered the old
+man, promptly running through the window and out on the balcony toward
+the apartments of his daughter. He went quickly but making no noise, for
+he did not wish the events of the evening to become public.
+
+Left to himself, Alvarado, resisting the temptation to take the
+prostrate form of his love in his arms and cover her cold face with
+kisses, knelt down by her side and began chafing her hands. He thought
+it no breach of propriety to murmur her name. Indeed he could not keep
+the words from his lips. Almost instantly the Viceroy departed there was
+a commotion in the outer hall. There was a knock on the door, repeated
+once and again, and before Alvarado could determine upon a course of
+action, Don Felipe burst into the room followed by Senora Agapida, the
+duenna of Donna Mercedes.
+
+"Your Excellency----" cried the old woman in agitation, "I missed the
+Senorita. I have searched----"
+
+"But who is this?" interrupted de Tobar, stepping over to where Alvarado
+still knelt by the prostrate girl. "'Tis not the Viceroy!" He laid his
+hand on the other man's shoulder and recoiled in surprise.
+
+"Dominique!" he exclaimed. "What do you here and who----"
+
+"Mother of God!" shrieked the duenna. "There lies the Donna Mercedes!"
+
+"She is hurt?" asked Felipe, for the moment his surprise at the presence
+of Alvarado lost in his anxiety for his betrothal.
+
+"I know not," answered the distracted old woman.
+
+"She lives," said Alvarado, rising to his feet and facing his friend.
+"She hath but fainted."
+
+"Water!" said Senora Agapida.
+
+Both men started instantly to hand her the carafe that stood on a table
+near by. Don Felipe was nearer and got it first.
+
+Senora Agapida loosened the dress of the young woman and sprinkled her
+face and hands with the water, laying her head back upon the floor as
+she did so and in a moment the girl opened her eyes. In the darkness of
+the room, for no lamp had as yet been lighted, she had not recognized in
+her bewilderment who was bending over her, for Alvarado had forced
+himself to draw back, yielding his place to de Tobar as if by right.
+
+"Alvarado!" she murmured.
+
+"She lives," said Don Felipe, with relief and jealousy mingled in his
+voice, and then he turned and faced the other.
+
+"And now, Senor Alvarado, perhaps you will be able to explain how you
+came to be here alone, at this hour of night, with my betrothed, and why
+she calls thy name! By St. Jago, sir, have you dared to offer violence
+to this lady?"
+
+His hand went to his sword. To draw it was the work of a moment. He
+menaced the young soldier with the point.
+
+"I could kill you as you stand there!" he cried in growing rage. "But
+the memory of our ancient friendship stays my hand. You shall have a
+chance. Where is your weapon!"
+
+"Strike, if it please you. I want nothing but death," answered Alvarado,
+making no effort whatever to defend himself.
+
+"Hast deserved it at my hands, then?" exclaimed the now infuriated de
+Tobar.
+
+"Stay!" interrupted the Viceroy re-entering the room. "What means this
+assault upon my captain? Donna Mercedes?"
+
+"She revives," said the duenna.
+
+"Is it thou, Senora?" said the Viceroy. "I sought thee unavailingly."
+
+"Your Highness," said the old woman, "I missed the senorita and found
+her here."
+
+"And how came you unbidden into my private cabinet, Don Felipe?"
+
+"Your Excellency, Senora Agapida found me in the corridor. She was
+distraught over her lady's absence. We knocked. There was no answer. We
+entered. I crave your pardon, but it was well I came, for I found my
+betrothed and my best friend alone, together, here," he pointed
+gloomily. "A Spanish gentleman alone at this hour of the night with----"
+
+"Silence!" thundered the Viceroy. "Would'st asperse my daughter's name?
+Darest thou--By heaven, you hold a weapon in your hand. I am old
+but--Guard thyself!" he called, whipping out his sword with astonishing
+agility.
+
+"I can not fight with you," said de Tobar lowering his point, "but for
+God's sake, explain!"
+
+"The Donna Mercedes is as pure as heaven," asserted Alvarado.
+
+"Then why did you bid me strike and stand defenseless a moment since?"
+
+"Because I love her and she is yours."
+
+"Death!" shouted de Tobar. "Take up thy sword!"
+
+"Stay," broke in the old Viceroy quickly, "keep silent, Alvarado, let me
+tell it all. I am her father. I would consult with the captain upon the
+journey of the morrow and other matters of state. With us here was my
+daughter. Is there aught to provoke thy jealousy or rage in this?
+Overcome by--er--the events of the day she fainted. One of us had to go
+for aid. 'Twas not meet that the young man should go to the women's
+apartments, I left them together."
+
+"Alone?" queried de Tobar.
+
+"Ay, alone. One was my daughter, a de Lara, and she was senseless. The
+other was almost my son, I knew him. He had proved himself. I could
+trust him."
+
+"Your Excellency, I thank you," cried Alvarado, seizing the hand of the
+old nobleman and carrying it to his lips.
+
+"You said you loved her," said de Tobar turning to Alvarado.
+
+"And so I do," answered Alvarado, "but who could help it? It is an
+infection I have caught from my friend."
+
+"Have you spoken words of love to her? Have you pleaded with her? Did
+you meet here by appoint?"
+
+"Don Felipe," cried Donna Mercedes, who had kept silent at first hardly
+comprehending and then holding her breath at the denouement. "Hear me.
+Captain Alvarado's manner to me has been coldness itself. Nay, he
+scarcely manifested the emotion of a friend."
+
+She spoke with a bitterness and resentment painfully apparent to
+Alvarado, but which in his bewilderment Don Felipe did not discover.
+
+"I swear to you, senor," she went on cunningly, "until this hour I never
+heard him say those words, 'I love you.' But this scene is too much for
+me, I can not bear it. Help me hence. Nay, neither of you gentlemen.
+With Senora Agapida's aid I can manage. Farewell. When you wish to claim
+me, Don Felipe, the betrothal shall be carried out and I shall be yours.
+Good-night."
+
+De Tobar sprang after her and caught her hand, raising it respectfully
+to his lips.
+
+"Now, senor," he cried turning back, "we can discuss this question
+unhindered by the presence of the lady. You said you loved her. How dare
+you, a man of no birth, whose very name is an assumption, lift your
+eyes so high?"
+
+"This from you, my friend," cried Alvarado, turning whiter than ever at
+this insult.
+
+"Sir," interposed the voice of the Viceroy, "restrain yourself. 'Tis
+true we know not the birth or name of this young man whom I have honored
+with my confidence, upon whom you have bestowed your friendship.
+Perchance it may be nobler than thine, or mine, perchance not so, but he
+hath ever shown himself--and I have watched him from his youth--a
+gentleman, a Spanish gentleman whom all might emulate. You wrong him
+deeply----"
+
+"But he loved her."
+
+"What of that?" answered the Viceroy.
+
+"Ay," cried Alvarado. "I do love her, and that I make no secret of it
+from you proves the sincerity of my soul. Who could help loving her, and
+much less a man in my position, for, in so far as was proper in a
+maiden, she has been kind to me since I was a boy. I cherish no hopes,
+no dreams, no ambitions. I locked my passion within my breast and
+determined to keep it there though it killed me. To-night, with her
+helpless at my feet, thrown on my pity, it was wrung from me; but I
+swear to you by my knightly honor, by that friendship that hath
+subsisted between us of old, that from this hour those words shall
+never pass my lips again; that from this hour I shall be as silent as
+before. Oh, trust me! I am sadly torn. Thou hast all, I nothing! If thou
+canst not trust me--I bade you strike before, strike now and end it all.
+What supports life when love is denied? Friendship and duty. If these be
+taken from me, I am poor indeed, and I'd liefer die than live in shame.
+Your Excellency, bid him strike."
+
+"Thy life is not thine," answered the older man, "it belongs to Spain.
+We have fallen on evil times and thy country needs thine arm. Thou hast
+said aright. Senor de Tobar," he cried, "he is thy friend. Take him back
+to thy affection. I am an old man and a father, but were I young and one
+so beautiful crossed my path as Donna Mercedes--by Our Lady he hath
+excuse for anything! He speaks the truth, though it be to his own hurt.
+Canst stand unmoved, senor, in thy happiness before such misery as
+that?"
+
+"Dominique, forgive me!" cried de Tobar, "I was wrong. I am ashamed.
+Thou couldst not help it. I forgive thee. I love thee still."
+
+He made as if to embrace his friend, but Alvarado held him off.
+
+"Wilt trust me fully, absolutely, entirely?"
+
+"With all my life," answered de Tobar.
+
+"Thou shalt be tried," said the Viceroy. "We march toward the Orinoco in
+three days. I had proposed to establish Donna Mercedes at La Guayra
+under care of Alvarado."
+
+"Not now, your Excellency," cried the young man.
+
+"Nay, I shall, provided de Tobar is willing."
+
+"A test, a test!" answered that young man. "Gladly do I welcome it. As
+thou lovest me, and as I love thee, guard thou my betrothed."
+
+"Your Excellency, take me with you to the Orinoco, and let Don Felipe
+stay at home with Donna Mercedes in La Guayra."
+
+"I am no experienced soldier to command a town," protested de Tobar.
+
+"Nay," said the Viceroy, "it shall be as we have said. Wilt take the
+charge?"
+
+"Ay, and defend it with all my soul!" answered Alvarado firmly.
+
+"Senor Alvarado and Don Felipe, you have shown yourselves true Spanish
+gentlemen this night, hidalgos of whom Spain may well be proud," cried
+the Viceroy in pleased and proud content. "To you, de Tobar, I shall
+give my daughter with assurance and pride, and were there another to
+bear my name I could wish no better husband for her than you, my poor
+friend. Now, the hour is late, I have much to say to Alvarado. Don
+Felipe, you will pardon me? Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, your Excellency," promptly returned de Tobar. "I shall see
+you in the morning, Dominique, ere you set forth for La Guayra. I love
+thee and trust thee, my friend."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SHOWS HOW DONNA MERCEDES CHOSE DEATH RATHER THAN GIVE UP CAPTAIN
+ALVARADO, AND WHAT BEFEL THEM ON THE ROAD OVER THE MOUNTAINS
+
+
+They set forth early in the morning. There was a cool freshness in the
+air from the storm of the day before and if they wished to avoid the
+necessity of traveling in the heat of the day early departure was
+necessary. Although the season was summer in a tropic land not far from
+the equator, the altitude of Caracas lowered the ordinary temperature to
+an agreeable degree, but after they crossed the pass of La Veta and
+began the descent toward La Guayra they would be within the confines of
+one of the hottest localities on the face of the globe.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Early as it was, the Viceroy and his officers, including, of course, de
+Tobar, were assembled in the patio to bid the travelers godspeed. While
+de Lara gave a few parting directions to Alvarado, Don Felipe took
+advantage of the opportunity and of his position as the publicly
+affianced of Donna Mercedes to address her a few words in farewell,
+which she received with listless indifference that did not bode well for
+the future happiness of either of them. The final preparations were soon
+over. Don Felipe lifted Donna Mercedes to the saddle of her Spanish
+jennet; some of the other gentlemen assisted the Senora Agapida to the
+back of the sure-footed mule which she had elected as her mount;
+Alvarado saluted and sprang to the back of his mettlesome barb, and,
+followed by a half-dozen troopers who constituted the escort, the rear
+being brought up by servants with pack mules carrying the personal
+baggage of the two ladies, the little cavalcade moved off, the gentlemen
+in the Viceroy's suite standing bareheaded in the doorway as they
+disappeared under the trees and began the ascent toward the pass.
+
+With the whispered assurance of his friend, "I trust you," still ringing
+in his ear, with the sound of the Viceroy's stern voice, "I know not
+what danger could befall my child in this peaceful time, but I have a
+premonition that something threatens, and I charge you to guard her
+welfare and happiness with your life," still fresh in his mind,
+Alvarado, whose white, haggard face showed that he had passed a
+sleepless night, rode at the head of the column. Some distance in front
+of him rode a trooper, for there were even then thieves, wandering bands
+of masterless men who levied bloody toll on travelers from the capitol
+whenever they got opportunity. Next to the captain came the sergeant of
+the little guard, then the two women, followed closely by two more of
+the soldiers, after that the little pack train, which he had ordered to
+close up and keep in touch after they left the city, and, last of all,
+the two remaining soldiers to bring up the rear.
+
+The soldiers, servants, and muleteers were in high spirits. There was
+little danger to be apprehended, for the party was too strong to fear
+attack from any of the brigand bodies, and the military order of march
+was taken more as a matter of habit than from any special need. The day
+was pleasant, the scenery, though familiar, was at the same time grand
+and beautiful, and they were happy--all, that is, except Donna Mercedes,
+the duenna, and Alvarado.
+
+The worthy Senora Agapida with womanly shrewdness more than suspected
+the true state of affairs. Indeed, Mercedes, who loved the old woman,
+who had been as a mother to her, her own mother having died when she was
+a mere child, had scarcely taken the trouble to conceal her misery, and
+the old woman's heart was wrung whenever she looked at the drooping
+figure at her side. She would fain have brought the flush of happiness
+to the face of the girl she loved, by throwing her into the arms of
+Alvarado; but, as a distant connection of the de Laras herself, the
+worthy dame had her own notions of pride, and her honor would not permit
+her to do anything for which the Viceroy could properly fault her. The
+ancient duenna was an indifferent horsewoman, too, and although she had
+the easiest and surest footed beast of the party she journeyed with many
+sighs and groans of dissatisfaction. She bravely made an effort at first
+to cheer up her charge, but soon perceived that the task was beyond her
+powers, so she rode along in a silence unbroken save by her frequent
+ejaculations.
+
+When Mercedes had met Alvarado early in the morning she had acknowledged
+his profound salutation with the curtest and coldest of nods. She was
+furiously and bitterly angry with him; for, between duty, honor,
+friendship, and her love, he had not chosen her. She knew that he loved
+her. She had known it a long time, and, if she had the slightest doubt,
+the sincerity with which he had spoken the night before, the fierce,
+passionate fervor of the kisses that he had pressed upon her lips, his
+utter abandonment to his passion, had more than satisfied her. Yet,
+when she had offered to throw everything to the winds--love, duty,
+obedience, if he would only take her away--he had hesitated. With her, a
+woman who had all Venezuela at her feet, held in his arms, he had
+repulsed her, refused her! He had heard the open confession of her
+overwhelming love for him, and he had resisted her! With the feel of her
+heart beating against his own, he had strained her to his breast and
+prated of honor and duty!
+
+She was mad with anger and disappointment. She loathed him; she hated
+him; she raged against him in her heart. Why had he not killed de Tobar
+where he stood, seized her in his arms, braved the anger of her father,
+and galloped away--anywhere out into the mysterious southland where they
+could be together? Well and good, she would marry Don Felipe. She would
+assume a happiness that she could not feel and kill him with the sight
+of it. He had disdained her; he should suffer, suffer in proportion to
+his love, such torments as he had made her suffer last night--shame,
+disappointment, indignation.
+
+She had not slept the entire night, either, thinking these things, yet
+it had not all been pain. How nobly he had lied to save her! He, to whom
+a lie was worse than death. He had tried to assume dishonor for her
+sake. He loved her; yes, there was no doubt of it. She closed her eyes
+with the thought and her whole being was filled with exquisite anguish.
+He loved her, he was made for her, yet when he might have taken her he
+refused. De Tobar was indeed a brave and gallant gentleman, but his
+qualities were as moonlight to the sunlight compared to those of
+Alvarado. In spite of herself, though the mere suggestion of it angered
+her, she found herself obliged to grant that there was something noble
+in that position he had assumed which so filled her with fury. It was
+not, with him, a question of loving duty and honor more than herself,
+but it was a question of doing duty and preserving honor, though the
+heart broke and the soul was rent in the effort.
+
+Because he had the strength to do these things, not to betray his
+friend, not to return ingratitude to her father, who had been a father
+to him too, not to be false to his military honor; because he had the
+strength to control himself, she felt dimly how strong his passion might
+be. In spite of her careful avoidance of his eyes, her cold demeanor,
+that morning, she had marked the haggard, pale face of the young soldier
+to whom she had given her heart, which showed that he, too, had
+suffered. She watched him as he rode, superb horseman that he was, at
+the head of the little cavalcade. Tall, straight, erect, graceful, she
+was glad that he rode in advance with his back to her, so that she might
+follow him with her eyes, her gaze unheeded by any but Senora Agapida,
+and for her she did not care.
+
+As he turned at intervals to survey his charges, to see that all were
+keeping closed up and in order, by furtive glances she could mark with
+exultation the pallor that had taken the place of the ruddy hue on the
+fair cheek of her lover. She could even note the black circles under the
+blue eyes beneath the sunny hair, so different from her own midnight
+crown.
+
+How this man loved her! She could see, and know, and feel. Great as was
+her own passion, it did not outweigh his feeling. A tempest was raging
+in his bosom. The girl who watched him could mark the progress of the
+storm in the deeps of his soul, for his face told the tale of it.
+
+And, indeed, his thoughts were bitter. What must she think of him? He
+had been a fool. Happiness had been his for the taking, and he had
+thrown it away. Why had he not brushed de Tobar out of his path,
+silenced the Viceroy--no, not by death, but by binding him fast, and
+then taken the woman he loved and who loved him, for she had proved it
+by her utter abandonment of herself to him? Those old soldiers who had
+served him for many years would have followed him wherever he led. The
+Viceroy's arm was long, but they could have found a haven where they
+could have been together. God had made them for each other and he had
+refused. He had thrust her aside. He had pushed the cup of happiness
+from his own lips with his own hand.
+
+Honor was a name, duty an abstraction, gratitude a folly. What must she
+think of him? There had been no reservation in her declaration of
+affection. For him she was willing to give up all, and though he had
+vowed and protested in his heart that there was nothing she could ask of
+him that he would not grant her, he had been able to do nothing after
+all.
+
+He wished it was all to do over again. Now it was too late. To the
+chains of duty, honor, gratitude, had been added that of his plighted
+word. Knowing his love, de Tobar, his friend, had trusted him. Knowing
+his daughter's love, the Viceroy had also trusted him. He was locked
+with fetters, bound and sealed, helpless. And yet the temptation grew
+with each hour. He had suspected, he had dreamed, he had hoped, that
+Mercedes loved him, now he was sure of it. Oh, what happiness might have
+been his!
+
+What was this mystery about his birth? He had been picked up a baby in a
+deserted village outside of Panama. He had been found by the young Count
+de Lara, who had led his troops to the succor of that doomed town,
+which, unfortunately, he had only reached after the buccaneers had
+departed. Search had been made for his parents but without success. The
+Viceroy finding none to claim the bright-faced baby, had given him a
+name and had caused him to be brought up in his own household. There was
+nothing in his apparel to distinguish him save the exquisite fineness
+and richness of the material. Thrown around his neck had been a
+curiously wrought silver crucifix on a silver chain, and that crucifix
+he had worn ever since. It lay upon his breast beneath his clothing now.
+It was the sole object which connected him with his past.
+
+Who had been his father, his mother? How had a baby so richly dressed
+come to be abandoned in a small obscure village outside the walls of
+Panama, which would have escaped the ravages of the buccaneers on
+account of its insignificance, had it not lain directly in their
+backward path. They had destroyed it out of mere wantonness.
+
+And there was another thought which often came to him and caused his
+cheeks to burn with horror. If, as his clothing had indicated, he had
+been the child of wealth, did not his obscure position indicate that he
+was at the same time the child of shame?
+
+Since he had reached man's estate he had thought of these things often
+and had prayed that in some way, at some time, the mystery might be
+solved, for the suspense was worse than any assurance, however
+dreadful. He had often thought with longing upon his father, his mother.
+This morning in the bitterness of his heart he cursed them for the
+situation in which he found himself. He despaired at last of ever
+finding out anything. What mattered it now? He might be of the proudest
+and most honorable lineage in New Spain, a Soto-Mayor, a Bobadilla, even
+a de Guzman. It would advantage him nothing since he had lost Mercedes.
+In spite of himself he groaned aloud, and the girl riding a little
+distance behind him heard the sound of anguish in his voice.
+
+Her heart, which had been yearning toward him with increasing force, was
+stirred within her bosom.
+
+"Ride thou here," she said suddenly to Senora Agapida, "I go forward to
+speak with Captain Alvarado."
+
+"But, senorita, thy father----"
+
+"Is it not permitted that I speak with the captain of the soldiery who
+escort me?"
+
+"Certainly, if I am by."
+
+"I do not choose to have it so," replied Mercedes, with all the
+haughtiness of her father. "Remain here. I will return presently."
+
+Brushing her aside with an imperious wave of her hand and a threatening
+glance before which the poor duenna quailed, for her charge had never
+shown such spirit before, Mercedes struck her Spanish jennet with the
+whip she carried, passed around the intervening soldier, who courteously
+gave way to her, and reined in her steed by Alvarado's horse. So close,
+indeed, was she to the captain that she almost touched him. It was good
+to see the light leap in his eyes, the flush come into his pale cheek as
+he became aware of her presence.
+
+"Donna Mercedes!" he cried in surprise. "Is anything wrong? Where is the
+Senora Agapida?"
+
+"Nothing is wrong. I left her there."
+
+"Shall I summon her?"
+
+"Art afraid to speak to me, to a woman, alone, sir captain?"
+
+"Nay, senorita, but 'tis unseemly----"
+
+"Wouldst thou lesson me in manners, master soldier?" cried the girl
+haughtily.
+
+"God forbid, lady, but thy father----"
+
+"He laid no injunction upon me that I should not speak to you, sir. Is
+that forbidden?"
+
+"Of course not, but----"
+
+"But what, sir? It is your own weakness you fear? You were strong enough
+last night. Have you, by chance--repented?"
+
+There was such a passionate eagerness in her voice, and such a leaping
+hope for an affirmative answer in the glance she bent upon him, that he
+could scarce sustain the shock of it. His whole soul had risen to meet
+hers, coming as she came. He trembled at her propinquity. The voice of
+the girl thrilled him as never before.
+
+The sergeant who followed them, out of respect for their confidences
+checked the pace of his troop horse somewhat and the two advanced some
+distance from him out of earshot. The unhappy duenna watched them with
+anxious eyes, but hesitated to attempt to join them. Indeed, the way was
+blocked for such an indifferent horsewoman as she by the adroit
+manoeuvres of the sergeant. He was devoted to his young commander and he
+had surmised the state of affairs also. He would have had no scruples
+whatever in facilitating a meeting, even an elopement. The two lovers,
+therefore, could speak unobserved, or at least unheard by any stranger.
+
+"Lady," said Alvarado at last, "I am indeed afraid. You make the strong,
+weak. Your beauty--forgive me--masters me. For God's sake, for Christ,
+His Mother, tempt me not! I can stand no more--" he burst forth with
+vehemence.
+
+"What troubles thee, Alvarado?" she said softly.
+
+"Thou--and my plighted word."
+
+"You chose honor and duty last night when you might have had me. Art
+still in the same mind?"
+
+"Senorita, this subject is forbidden."
+
+"Stop!" cried the girl, "I absolve you from all injunctions of silence.
+I, too, am a de Lara, and in my father's absence the head of the house.
+The duty thou hast sworn to him thou owest me. Art still in the same
+mind as last night, I say?"
+
+"Last night I was a fool!"
+
+"And this morning?"
+
+"I am a slave."
+
+"A slave to what? To whom?"
+
+"Donna Mercedes," he cried, turning an imploring glance upon her, "press
+me no further. Indeed, the burden is greater than I can bear."
+
+"A slave to whom?" she went on insistently, seeing an advantage and
+pressing it hard. She was determined that she would have an answer. No
+conviction of duty or feeling of filial regard was strong enough to
+overwhelm love in this woman's heart. As she spoke she flashed upon him
+her most brilliant glance and by a deft movement of her bridle hand
+swerved the jennet in closer to his barb. She laid her hand upon his
+strong arm and bent her head close toward him. They were far from the
+others now and the turns of the winding road concealed them.
+
+"A slave to whom? Perhaps to--me?" she whispered.
+
+"Have mercy on me!" he cried. "To you? Yes. But honor, duty----"
+
+"Again those hateful words!" she interrupted, her dark face flushing
+with anger. "Were I a man, loved I a woman who loved me as I--as I--as
+one you know, I would have seized her in spite of all the world! Once
+she had fled to the shelter of my arms, while life beat in my heart none
+should tear her thence."
+
+"Thy father----"
+
+"He thinks not of my happiness."
+
+"Say not so, Donna Mercedes."
+
+"'Tis true. It is a matter of convenient arrangement. Two ancient names,
+two great fortunes cry aloud for union and they drown the voice of the
+heart. I am bestowed like a chattel."
+
+"Don Felipe----"
+
+"Is an honorable gentleman, a brave one. He needs no defense at my
+hands. That much, at least, my father did. There is no objection to my
+suitor save that I do not love him."
+
+"In time--in time you may," gasped Alvarado.
+
+"Dost thou look within thine own heart and see a fancy so evanescent
+that thou speakest thus to me?"
+
+"Nay, not so."
+
+"I believe thee, and were a thousand years to roll over my head thine
+image would still be found here."
+
+She laid her tiny gloved hand upon her breast as she spoke in a low
+voice, and this time she looked away from him. He would have given
+heaven and earth to have caught her yielding figure in his arms. She
+drooped in the saddle beside him in a pose which was a confession of
+womanly weakness and she swayed toward him as if the heart in her body
+cried out to that which beat in his own breast.
+
+"Mercedes! Mercedes!" he said, "you torture me beyond endurance! Go back
+to your duenna, to Senora Agapida, I beg of you! I can stand no more! I
+did promise and vow in my heart--my honor--my duty----"
+
+"Ay, with men it is different," said the girl, and the sound of a sob in
+her voice cut him to the heart, "and these things are above love, above
+everything. I do not--I can not understand. I can not comprehend. You
+have rejected me--I have offered myself to you a second time--after the
+refusal of last night. Where is my Spanish pride? Where is my maidenly
+modesty? That reserve that should be the better part of woman is gone. I
+know not honor--duty--I only know that though you reject me, I am yours.
+I, too, am a slave. I love you. Nay, I can not marry Don Felipe de
+Tobar. 'Twere to make a sacrilege of a sacrament."
+
+[Illustration: Alvarado threw his right arm around her, and with a force
+superhuman dragged her from the saddle.]
+
+"Thy father----"
+
+"I have done my best to obey him. I can no more."
+
+"What wilt thou do?"
+
+"This!" cried the girl desperately.
+
+The road at the point they had arrived wound sharply around the spur of
+the mountain which rose above them thousands of feet on one side and
+fell abruptly away in a terrific precipice upon the other. As she spoke
+she struck her horse again with the whip. At the same time by a violent
+wrench on the bridle rein she turned him swiftly toward the open cliff.
+Quick as she had been, however, Alvarado's own movement was quicker. He
+struck spur into his powerful barb and with a single bound was by her
+side, in the very nick of time. Her horse's forefeet were slipping among
+the loose stones on the edge. In another second they would both be over.
+Alvarado threw his right arm around her and with a force superhuman
+dragged her from the saddle, at the same time forcing his own horse
+violently backward with his bridle hand. His instant promptness had
+saved her, for the frightened horse she rode, unable to control himself,
+plunged down the cliff and was crushed to death a thousand feet below.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+IN WHICH CAPTAIN ALVARADO IS FORSWORN AND WITH DONNA MERCEDES IN HIS
+ARMS BREAKS HIS PLIGHTED WORD
+
+
+"My God!" cried the young soldier hoarsely, straining her to his breast,
+while endeavoring to calm his nervous and excited horse. "What would you
+have done?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Why didn't you let me go?" she asked, struggling feebly in his arms.
+"It would all have been over then."
+
+"I could not, I love you."
+
+The words were wrung from him in spite of himself by her deadly peril,
+by her desperate design which he had only frustrated by superhuman
+quickness and strength. He was pale, shaking, trembling, unnerved, for
+her. He scarce knew what he said or did, so little command had he over
+himself.
+
+As he spoke those words "I love you," so blissful for her to hear, she
+slipped her arm around his neck. It was not in mortal man to resist
+under such circumstances. He forgot everything--honor, duty, his word,
+everything he threw to the winds. Before the passion which sought death
+when denied him his own powers of resistance vanished. He strained her
+to his breast and bent his head to kiss her. Again and again he drank at
+the upturned fountain of affection, her lips. The shock had been too
+much for him. Greater for him than for her. He had seen her upon the
+verge of eternity. She thought nothing of that in her present joy. She
+only realized that she was in his arms again, that he had kissed her,
+and between the kisses he poured out words that were even greater
+caresses.
+
+The others were far behind. They were alone upon the mountain-side with
+the rocks behind and the great sapphire sea of the Caribbean before
+them. He held her close to his breast and they forgot everything but
+love as they gently pricked along the road. It was near noon now, and as
+the road a furlong farther debouched into an open plateau shaded by
+trees and watered by a running brook which purled down the mountain-side
+from some inaccessible cloud-swept height it was a fitting place to make
+camp, where the whole party, tired by a long morning's travel, could
+repose themselves until the breeze of afternoon tempered the heat of the
+day. Here he dismounted, lifted her from horse, and they stood together,
+side by side.
+
+"You have saved me," she whispered, "you have drawn me back from the
+death that I sought. God has given me to you. We shall never be parted."
+
+"I am a false friend, an ungrateful servitor, a forsworn man, a perjured
+soldier!" he groaned, passing his hand over his pale brow as if to brush
+away the idea consequent upon his words.
+
+"But thou hast my love," she whispered tenderly, swaying toward him
+again.
+
+"Yes--yes. Would that it could crown something else than my dishonor."
+
+"Say not so."
+
+She kissed him again, fain to dispel the shadow that darkened his face.
+
+"I had been faithful," he went on, as if in justification, "had I not
+seen thee on the brink of that cliff, and then thou wert in my arms--I
+was lost----"
+
+"And I was found. I leaped to death. I shut my eyes as I drove the horse
+toward the cliff, and I awakened to find myself in your arms--in heaven!
+Let nothing take me hence."
+
+"It can not be," he said, "I must go to the Viceroy when he returns
+from the Orinoco war, and tell him that I have betrayed him."
+
+"I will tell him," she answered, "or wilt thou tell him what I tell
+thee?" she went on.
+
+"Surely."
+
+"Then say to him that I sought death rather than be given to Don Felipe
+or to any one else. Tell him you saved me on the very brink of the
+cliff, and that never soldier made a better fight for field or flag than
+thou didst make for thy honor and duty, but that I broke thee down. I
+had the power, and I used it. The story is as old as Eden--the woman
+tempted--"
+
+"I should have been stronger--I should not have weakened. But I shall
+fight no more--it is all over."
+
+"Ah, thou canst not," she whispered, nestling closer to him. "And tell
+my father that should harm come to thee, if, in their anger, he or de
+Tobar lay hand upon thee, it will not advantage their plans, for I
+swear, if there be no other way, I will starve myself to death to follow
+thee!"
+
+"I can not shelter myself behind a woman."
+
+"Then I will tell them both myself," she cried. "You shall know, they
+shall know, how a Spanish woman can love."
+
+"And thou shalt know, too," answered Alvarado firmly, "that though I
+break my heart, I, an unknown, can expatiate his guilt with all the
+pride of most ancient lineage and birth highest of them all."
+
+It was a brave speech, but he did not release his hold upon Mercedes and
+in spite of his words when, confident that whatever he might say,
+however he might struggle, he was hers at last, she smiled up at him
+again, he kissed her.
+
+"When go you to my father, Senor Alvarado?" she asked.
+
+"When he returns from the Orinoco."
+
+"And that will not be until----"
+
+"Perhaps a month."
+
+"Wilt love me until then?"
+
+"I shall love thee forever."
+
+"Nay, but wilt thou tell me so, with every day, every week, every hour,
+every moment, with kisses like to these?"
+
+"Oh, tempt me not!" he whispered; but he returned again and again her
+caresses.
+
+"Ah, my Alvarado, if you have once fallen, what then? Is not one kiss as
+bad as a thousand?"
+
+"Be it so; we will be happy until that time."
+
+"One month, one month of heaven, my love, after that let come what may,"
+she answered, her cheeks and eyes aflame, her heart throbbing with
+exquisite pain in her breast. They would enjoy the day, the future could
+take care of itself.
+
+"Some one approaches!" he said at last, and at the same moment the rest
+of the party came around the bend of the road. The poor duenna was
+consumed with anxiety and remorse.
+
+"Bernardo," said Alvarado to the sergeant, "we will take our siesta
+here. Unsaddle the horses and prepare the noon-day meal under the trees.
+Send one of the troopers ahead to bid Fadrique stop on the road until we
+rejoin him, keeping good guard. Senora Agapida, you must be tired from
+the long ride. Let me assist you to dismount."
+
+"The Senorita Mercedes!" she asked, as he lifted her to the ground.
+"Where is her horse?"
+
+"He slipped and fell," answered the girl promptly.
+
+"Fell? Madre de Dios!"
+
+"Yes, over the cliff. Captain Alvarado lifted me from the saddle just in
+time."
+
+"I shall make a novena of devotion to St. Jago for thy preservation,
+sweet Mercedes," cried the duenna, "and you, young sir, must have a
+strong arm----"
+
+"It is ever at your service," answered Alvarado gravely, bowing before
+her.
+
+The old woman's heart went out to the gallant young man, so handsome, so
+brave, so strong, so distinguished looking.
+
+"Why," she mused under her breath, "could he not have been the one?"
+
+By this time the little place was filled with soldiers, attendants, and
+muleteers. Some kindled fires, others unpacked hampers loaded with
+provisions, others prepared a place where the party might rest, and as,
+to restore order out of this confusion, Alvarado turned hither and
+thither he was followed in all his movements by the lovely eyes of the
+woman who had broken him, and who had won him.
+
+During the interval of repose the young man allowed his party the two
+lovers were constantly together. Alvarado had made a faint effort to go
+apart and leave Mercedes to herself, but with passionate determination
+she had refused to allow it. She had thrown prudence to the winds.
+Careless of whoever might see, of whoever might comment, heedless of the
+reproving duenna, indifferent to ancient practice, reckless of curious
+glances, she had insisted upon accompanying the captain and he had
+yielded. He was doomed in his own soul to death. He intended to tell the
+Viceroy and de Tobar everything, and he had no doubt that one or the
+other would instantly kill him. It was a fate to which he would make no
+resistance. Meanwhile he would enjoy the day. There was a melancholy
+pleasure, too, in the thought, for this morning had assured him of it,
+that whatever awaited him Mercedes would belong to no one else. If they
+killed him she had sworn that she would not survive him. If they strove
+to force her into the arms of another, she had declared she would die
+rather than comply, and he believed her.
+
+Other women in like circumstances might have resorted to a convent, but
+Mercedes was not of the temperament which makes that calm harbor an
+inviting refuge. If she could not have Alvarado, she would simply
+die--that was all. Under the circumstances, therefore, as he had already
+forfeited his own esteem, he hesitated no more. Indeed, before the
+passion of the woman he loved, who loved him, it was not possible. In
+her presence he could do nothing else. They abandoned themselves with
+all the fervor of youth and passion to their transports of affection.
+They wandered away from the others and by the side of the brook beneath
+the shelter of the trees remained together and whispered all the love
+that beat within their freed breasts. They might die to-morrow, to-day
+they lived and loved. Fain would they have prolonged the Elysian dream
+forever, but the descending sun of the afternoon at last warned
+Alvarado, if they would reach La Guayra that night, that they must
+resume their journey. Reluctantly he gave the order to mount.
+
+This time, utterly indifferent to the Senora Agapida, Mercedes, mounted
+on one of the led horses, rode openly by Alvarado's side. Sustained by
+his presence, constantly in touch with him, she made the way down the
+difficult wanderings of the rocky mountain trail. They watched the sun
+set in all its glory over the tropic sea. The evening breeze blew softly
+about them riding side by side. Then the night fell upon them. Over them
+blazed the glorious canopy of the tropic stars, chief among them the
+fiery Southern Cross, emblem of the faith they cherished, the most
+marvelous diadem in the heavens. There below them twinkled the lights of
+La Guayra. The road grew broader and smoother now. It was almost at the
+level of the beach. They would have to pass through the town presently,
+and thence up a steep rocky road which wound around the mountain until
+they surmounted the cliff back of the city and arrived at the palace of
+the Governor upon the hillside, where Mercedes was to lodge. An hour, at
+least, would bring them to their destination now. There was nothing to
+apprehend. The brigands in the fastnesses of the mountains or the
+savages, who sometimes strayed along the road, never ventured so near
+the town.
+
+Fadrique, by Alvarado's orders, had fallen back nearer the main body so
+as to be within call.
+
+"We shall be there in a little while. See yonder, the lights of the
+town," said the captain.
+
+"While thou art with me," said the girl, "it matters little where we
+are. There are but two places in the world now----"
+
+"And those are----?"
+
+"Where thou art and where thou art not. If I may only be with thee, if
+we may be together, I want nothing else."
+
+She had scarcely spoken before the sound of a cry followed by a shot
+broke on the night.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+IN WHICH IS RELATED AN ACCOUNT OF THE TAKING OF LA GUAYRA BY THE
+BUCCANEERS AND THE DREADFUL PERILS OF DONNA MERCEDES DE LARA AND CAPTAIN
+ALVARADO IN THAT CITY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHEREIN THE CREW OF THE GALLEON INTERCEPTS THE TWO LOVERS BY THE WAY
+
+
+The terrific impact of the huge ship on the sand among the breakers
+which thundered and beat upon her sides with overwhelming force came
+just in the nick of time for Morgan. Had the disaster been delayed a
+second longer the furious buccaneers would have cut him down where he
+stood. Even the officers were angered beyond measure at him for their
+present situation, which threatened the loss of the vast treasure
+already gained in the ship, although they had consented to Morgan's
+proposition to attack La Guayra and Caracas, and the captain was in no
+way responsible for the storm and the wreck which jeoparded their booty
+and their future. Therefore it is probable that none of them, unless it
+were Teach, would have interfered to save Morgan, and he would have been
+swept from his feet by the savage men and instantly killed, in spite of
+all that he, or Carib, or any one else could have done. But the
+violence of the shock when the ship took ground threw them to the deck,
+and they forgot for the instant their bloody purpose of vengeance in the
+inevitableness of their approaching danger; they were checked in their
+mad anger for a few seconds and given a moment for reflection, that
+moment convinced them that they could not yet dispense with the services
+of their captain. With black rage and white fear striving for mastery in
+their hearts, they rose to their feet and faced him with menacing faces
+and threatening gestures.
+
+"What's to be done now?" questioned one bolder than the rest.
+
+"Now's the time," roared the undaunted Morgan, striving to make himself
+heard by all above the thundering seas, "to show your courage, lads!"
+
+He had quickly observed that the force with which she had been driven on
+the shoals had shoved the galleon's nose firmly in the sand. She had
+been caught just before she took ground by a tremendous roller and had
+been lifted up and hurled far over to starboard. Although almost on her
+beam ends, her decks inclining landward, the strongly-built ship held
+steady in spite of the tremendous onslaughts of the seas along her
+bilge.
+
+"Take heart, men!" he cried. "Observe. She lies still and secure. 'Tis a
+stout hulk and will take a tremendous battering before she breaks. We
+may yet save ourselves."
+
+"And the treasure?" roared one.
+
+"Ay, and the treasure."
+
+"I think the storm has about blown itself out," interposed old
+Hornigold, shouting out at this instant. "Look you, mates," he cried,
+pointing to westward, "it clears! The sun'll set fair to-night."
+
+"The bo's'n is right," cried Morgan. "But first of all we must take no
+chances with our lives. Even though we lose the ship we can seize
+another. The world is full of treasure and we can find it. Now I want
+some one to carry a line ashore through the breakers. Who will
+volunteer?"
+
+"I," said Carib instantly.
+
+"I need you here," answered Morgan, who did not purpose to be deprived
+of that bodyguard upon whose watchfulness his life had so often
+depended.
+
+"I'll go," exclaimed young Teach, breaking through the crowd.
+
+"That's a brave heart!" said Morgan. "A line here!"
+
+Instantly a light line was forthcoming. Teach tore off his jacket, laid
+aside his weapons, kicked off his shoes, took a turn of the line around
+his waist, made it fast, wrung Morgan's hand, watched his chance, leaped
+overboard, was caught by an onrushing wave and carried far toward the
+shore. The ebb of the roller carried him back seaward some distance, but
+he swam forward madly, and the next wave brought him a little nearer the
+beach. He was driven backward and forward, but each time managed to get
+a little nearer the shore line.
+
+The whole ship's company stared after him, spontaneously cheering and
+yelling cries of encouragement in spite of the fact that he could not
+hear a single sound in the roaring, raging seas. Morgan himself tended
+the line, skilfully paying it out when necessary. In a few moments,
+although the time seemed hours to the watchers, the feet of Teach
+touched the shore, and although the terrific undertow of the wave that
+had dropped him there almost bore him back again, yet by a superhuman
+exertion he managed to stagger forward, and the next moment they saw him
+fall prostrate on the sand.
+
+Had he fainted or given way? They looked at him with bated breath but
+after a little space they saw him rise slowly to his feet and stagger
+inland toward a low point where a lofty palm tree was writhing and
+twisting in the fierce wind. He was too good a seaman not instantly to
+see what was required of him, for, waving his hand toward the ship he at
+once began to haul in the line. Ready hands had bent a larger rope to
+it, which was succeeded by a third, strong enough to bear a man's
+weight. The buccaneer hauled this last in with great difficulty, for the
+distance was far and the wet rope was heavy. He climbed up and made it
+fast to the tree and then waited. As soon as he had done so there was a
+rush on the ship for the line which had been made fast inboard
+temporarily. Morgan, however, interposed between the crew and the
+coveted way to safety.
+
+"Back!" he shouted. "One at a time, and the order as I appoint! You,
+L'Ollonois, and you, and you," he cried, indicating certain men upon
+whom he could depend. "Go in succession. Then haul a heavier rope
+ashore. We'll put a traveler with a bo's'n's chair on it, and send
+these nuns and the priests first of all."
+
+"Do we have to wait for a lot of wimmin and papists?" growled one man
+among the frightened rascals.
+
+"You have to wait until the ship breaks up beneath your feet, if it is
+my pleasure," said Morgan, coolly, and they slunk back again, cowed. He
+was master of the situation once more.
+
+There was something about that man that enforced obedience, whether they
+would or no. His orders were promptly obeyed and intelligently carried
+out by L'Ollonois and his men, who first went ashore. A heavy hawser
+was dragged through the surf and made fast high up on the sturdy palm
+tree. On it they rigged a traveler and the chair, and then the
+frightened nuns were brought forward from the cabin.
+
+The women were sick with apprehension. They knew, of course, that the
+ship had struck, and they had been expecting instant death. Their
+prayers had been rudely interrupted by Morgan's messenger, and when they
+came out on deck in that stern tempest, amid that body of wild, ruthless
+men, their hearts sank within them. At the sight of those human fiends
+they would fain have welcomed that watery grave from which they had just
+been imploring God to save them. When they discovered that their only
+means of safety lay in making that perilous passage through the waters
+which overwhelmed the bight of rope in which hung the boatswain's chair,
+they counted themselves as dead. Indeed, they would have refused to go
+had it not been for the calm and heroic resolution of the abbess, their
+leader, Sister Maria Christina, who strove to assuage their fears.
+
+"Hornigold," said Morgan, "are you still faithful to me in this crisis?"
+
+"I shall obey you in all things--now," answered the boatswain.
+
+"Swear it."
+
+"By the old buccaneer faith," said the One-Eyed, again adding the
+significant adverb, "now."
+
+For a wonder, the captain paid no attention to the emphasis on the word,
+"now."
+
+"Can you keep your pistols dry?"
+
+"I can wrap them in oilskin and thrust them in my jacket."
+
+"Go to the shore, then," said Morgan, "and receive these women. March
+them away from the men to yonder clump of palms, and guard them as you
+would your life. If any man approach you or them for any purpose, shoot
+him dead without a word. I'll see that the others have no weapons. D'ye
+understand?"
+
+"Ay, and shall obey."
+
+"Go!"
+
+The boatswain swung himself into the chair and the men on the other end
+of the traveler pulled him to the other shore, none the worse for his
+wetting. He opened his jacket, found the weapons dry, and waved his hand
+as a sign to Morgan that he was all right.
+
+"Which of you women will go first?" asked Morgan.
+
+He turned instinctively to the tall abbess, towering among her shrinking
+sisters. She indicated first one and then another among the poor
+captives, and as they refused, she turned to Morgan and, with a grave
+dignity, said in Spanish, of which he was a master, that she would go
+first to show the way, and then the others would be in better heart to
+follow. She sat down on the boatswain's chair--which, was simply a bit
+of wood held like the seat of a swing in a triangle of rope--made the
+sign of the cross, and waved her hand. She was hauled ashore in an
+instant with nothing worse to complain of than a drenching by the waves.
+By Hornigold's direction she walked past him toward the clump of palms
+which Morgan had indicated.
+
+One after another of the women were sent forward until the whole party
+was ashore. Then the Spanish priests took their turn, and after these
+reached the sand the rest of the crew were sent ashore. Morgan was
+careful to indicate each one's turn, so that he preserved a balance
+between the more reputable and the more degraded members of the crew,
+both on ship and shore. Among the last to go were the maroon and de
+Lussan, each armed as Hornigold had been. They had both received
+instructions, one to station himself at the palm tree, the other to
+cover the hawser where it ran along the shore before it entered the
+water. These precautionary orders which he had given were necessary,
+for when the last man had been hauled ashore and Morgan stepped into the
+chair for his turn, one of the infuriated buccaneers, watching his
+chance, seized his jack-knife, the only weapon that he had, for Morgan
+had been careful to make the men leave their arms on the ship, and made
+a rush for the rope to cut it and leave the captain to his fate. But de
+Lussan shot him dead, and before the others could make a move Morgan
+stepped safely on the sand.
+
+"That was well done," he cried, turning to the Frenchman.
+
+"Ah, mon capitaine," answered the other, "it was not from affection, but
+because you are necessary to us."
+
+"Whatever it may be," returned the old man, "I owe much to you and
+scuttle me, I'll not forget it."
+
+The Frenchman, indifferent to Morgan's expressions of gratitude,
+shrugged his shoulders, turned away, and made no reply.
+
+The transportation of so many people across the slender line had taken a
+long time. The sun, just beginning to break through the riven clouds,
+was near its setting; night would soon be upon them. They must hurry
+with what was yet to be done. Morgan sent Teach and the Brazilian back
+to the ship with instructions to gather up enough weapons to arm the
+crew and to send them ashore. This was promptly done. Indeed,
+communication was not difficult now that the force of the gale was
+abating. The ship had been badly battered but still held together, and
+would hold unless the storm came up again. As the arms came ashore
+Morgan served them out to those men whom he considered most reliable;
+and, after throwing out a strong guard around the band, the rest sought
+shelter around huge driftwood fires which had been kindled by the use of
+flint and steel. There was hardly a possibility they would be observed
+in that deserted land, but still it was wise to take precaution.
+
+Morgan ordered the women and priests to be double-guarded by the
+trustiest, and it was well that he did so. He gave old Hornigold
+particular charge of them. The buccaneers were hungry and thirsty, but
+they were forced to do without everything until morning when they could
+get all they wanted from the ship. So they tightened their belts and
+disposed themselves about the fires as best they could to get what rest
+they might.
+
+[Illustration: But de Lussan shot him dead, and before the others could
+make a move, Morgan stepped safely on the sand.]
+
+Morgan and the officers drew apart and consulted long and earnestly over
+the situation. They could never make the ship seaworthy again. To build
+a smaller one out of her timbers would be the work of months and when it
+was finished it could not possibly carry the whole crew. To march
+westward toward the Isthmus meant to encounter terrific hardships for
+days; their presence would speedily become known, and they would be
+constantly menaced or attacked by troops from the heavily garrisoned
+places like Porto Bello and Carthagena. Back of them a short distance
+away lay La Guayra. It could be taken by surprise, Morgan urged, and
+easily captured. If they started to march westward the Indians would
+apprise the Spaniards of their presence, and they would have to fight
+their way to the Pacific. If they took La Guayra, then the Viceroy, with
+the treasure of his palace and the opulent city of Caracas would be at
+their mercy. They could ravage the two towns, seize the first ship that
+came to the roadstead, and make their way to the Isthmus safely and
+speedily. As to the treasure on the galleon, the buccaneer captain
+proposed to unload it and bury it in the sand, and after they had
+captured La Guayra it would be easy to get it back again.
+
+Morgan's counsel prevailed, and his was the resolution to which they
+came. The council of war broke up thereafter, and those not told off to
+watch with the guards went to sleep near the fires. Morgan, under the
+guardianship of the faithful Black Dog, threw himself upon the ground to
+catch a few hours' rest.
+
+The next morning the wind had died away and the sea was fairly calm.
+The men swam out to the galleon, found her still intact though badly
+strained, and by means of boats and rafts, working with persistent
+energy, succeeded in landing and burying the treasure under the very
+palm tree which held the rope that had given them salvation.
+
+Morgan's plan was an excellent one, the best that could be suggested in
+the straits they then were, and it received the hearty assent of all the
+men. It took them all day to land the treasure and make their other
+preparations, which included the manufacture of several rude scaling
+ladders, pieces of timber with cross pieces nailed upon them, which
+could be used in surmounting the walls of the town. In the evening the
+order of march was arranged and their departure set for the morrow. They
+had saved their treasure, they had food in plenty now, and with dry
+clothes and much rum they began to take a more cheerful view of life.
+They were fairly content once more.
+
+The next day, in the afternoon, for he desired to approach the town at
+nightfall, Morgan gave the order to advance. He was as much of a soldier
+as a sailor and sent ahead a party of choice spirits under Teach, while
+the main body followed some distance behind. As the shades of evening
+descended a messenger from the advance guard came back with the news
+that a party of travelers had been seen coming down the mountain; that
+they comprised a half-dozen troopers, a number of slaves, a heavily
+laden pack train, and two women.
+
+Teach had stationed his men under the trees at a bend of the road around
+which the travelers had to pass, and he awaited Morgan's orders. Taking
+a detachment of the most reliable men with Velsers and Hornigold, and
+bidding the other officers and men to stand where they were until he
+sent word, Morgan and those with him ran rapidly forward until they came
+to the ambuscade which young Teach had artfully prepared. He and his had
+scarcely time to dispose themselves for concealment before a soldier
+came riding carelessly down the road. Waiting until the man had passed
+him a short distance and until the other unsuspicious travelers were
+fairly abreast the liers-in-wait, whom he had charged on no account to
+move until he gave the word, Morgan stepped out into the open and
+called. The buccaneers instantly followed him.
+
+As the soldier saw these fierce looking men spring before him out of the
+darkness, he cried aloud. The next moment he was shot dead by Morgan
+himself. At the same instant a volley rang out at contact range, and
+every man in the party fell to the ground. Some were killed, others only
+wounded; all of them except Alvarado were injured in some way. He
+struck spurs into his horse when he heard the cry of Fadrique and the
+shot. The surprised barb plunged forward, was hit by half a dozen
+bullets, fell to the ground in a heap, and threw his rider over his
+head. The Spaniard scrambled to his feet, whipped out his sword, lunged
+forward and drove his blade into the breast of old Velsers. The next
+instant a dozen weapons flashed over his head. One rang upon his steel
+casque, another crashed against the polished breastplate that he wore.
+He cut out again in the darkness, and once more fleshed his weapon.
+
+Women's screams rose above the tumult. Beating back the swords which
+menaced him, although he was reeling from the blows which he had
+received, Alvarado strove to make his way toward Donna Mercedes, when he
+was seized in the darkness from behind.
+
+"Kill him!" cried a voice in English, which Alvarado and Mercedes both
+understood perfectly. "He's the only one alive."
+
+"Nay," cried another voice, stronger and sterner, "save him; we'll
+question him later. Did any escape?"
+
+"Not one."
+
+"Are there any horses alive?"
+
+"Two or three."
+
+"Bring them hither. Now back to the rest. Then we can show a light and
+see what we have captured. Teach, lead on. Let no harm come to the
+women."
+
+"Ay, ay," answered another voice out of the darkness, and a third voice
+growled out:
+
+"Hadn't we better make sure that none are alive to tell the tale?"
+
+"Of course; a knife for the wounded," answered the stern voice, "and
+bear a hand."
+
+Greatly surprised and unable to comprehend anything but that his men had
+been slaughtered and no harm had as yet befallen his charges, Alvarado,
+whose arms had been bound to his side, found himself dragged along in
+the wake of his captors, one or two of whom mounted on the unwounded
+horses, with the two women between them, rode rapidly down the road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TELLS HOW MERCEDES DE LARA RETURNED THE UNSOUGHT CARESS OF SIR HENRY
+MORGAN, AND THE MEANS BY WHICH THE BUCCANEERS SURMOUNTED THE WALLS
+
+
+One hundred yards or so beyond the place of the ambush the road dropped
+sharply over the last low cliff to the narrow strand which led to the
+west wall of La Guayra, distant a half a mile away. They had all been
+under the deep shadow of the thick trees overhanging the way until this
+instant, but in the faint light cast by the moon just risen, Alvarado
+could see that a great body of people were congregated before him on the
+road. Who they were and what they were he could not surmise. He was not
+long left in doubt, however, for the same voice whose commanding tones
+had caused his life to be spared, now called for lights. The demand was
+obeyed with a promptness that bespoke fear indeed, or discipline of the
+sternest, and soon the captives found themselves in a circle of lurid
+light sent forth by a number of blazing torches.
+
+The illumination revealed to Alvarado as villainous and
+terrible-looking a body of men as he had ever seen. The first glance
+convinced him that they were not Spanish brigands or robbers. He was too
+young to have had dealings with the buccaneers of the past generation,
+but he realized that if any such remained on this side of the earth,
+they must be like these men who surrounded him. He wasted no time in
+surmises, however, for after the first swift comprehensive glance his
+eyes sought Mercedes. She sat her horse free and uninjured apparently,
+for which he thanked God. She was leaning forward over her saddle and
+staring in bewilderment and surprise at the scene and confusion before
+her.
+
+"Donna Mercedes," cried Alvarado, turning himself about, in spite of his
+bonds and the restraint his immediate captors endeavored to put upon
+him, "are you safe--unhurt?"
+
+"Safe," answered the girl, "and thou?"
+
+"Well, but for these bonds."
+
+"God be thanked! Who are these men?"
+
+"I know not, but----"
+
+"Oh, sir," interrupted Senora Agapida, recovering her voice at the sound
+of the Spanish tongue, "for Christ's sake, what does this mean? Save
+us!"
+
+"Senora," said that same sharp voice, but this time speaking in the
+Spanish tongue, as a tall man, hat in hand, urged his horse forward,
+"fear nothing, you shall be protected. And you, senorita. Do I not have
+the honor of addressing Donna Mercedes de Lara?"
+
+"That is my name," answered the girl, haughtily. "Who are you? Why have
+you shot my people and seized me prisoner?"
+
+"For love of you, Mistress Mercedes."
+
+"Just heaven! Who are you, I say!" cried the girl at this startling
+answer, turning in surprise and terror to look upon his countenance.
+
+There was something familiar in the man's face that called up a vague
+recollection which she strove to master.
+
+"Who are you?" she cried again.
+
+"Sir Harry Morgan!" answered the horseman, bowing low over the saddle,
+"a free sailor at your service, ma'am."
+
+"My God!" cried Alvarado, who had listened attentively, "the buccaneer?"
+
+"The same," answered Morgan turning to him.
+
+"Sir Harry Morgan! Were you not Governor of Jamaica last year?" asked
+Mercedes in astonishment.
+
+"I had that honor, lady."
+
+"Why are you now in arms against us?"
+
+"A new king, Mistress de Lara, sits the English throne. He likes me not.
+I and these gallant seamen are going to establish a kingdom in some
+sweet island in the South Seas, with our good swords. I would fain have
+a woman to bear me company on the throne. Since I saw you in Jamaica
+last year, I have designed you for the honor----"
+
+"Monster!" screamed the girl, appalled by the hideous leer which
+accompanied his words. "Rather anything----"
+
+"Sir," interrupted Alvarado, "you are an Englishman. Your past rank
+should warrant you a gentleman, but for this. There is no war between
+England and Spain. What is the meaning of this outrage? This lady is the
+daughter of the Viceroy of Venezuela. I am his captain and the
+commandante of yonder city of La Guayra. You have waylaid us, taken us
+at a disadvantage. My men are killed. For this assault His Excellency
+will exact bloody reparation. Meanwhile give order that we be unbound,
+and let us pass."
+
+"Ho, ho!" laughed the buccaneer. "Think you I fear the Viceroy? Nay, not
+His Majesty of Spain himself! I came here with set purpose to take La
+Guayra and then Caracas, and to bear away with me this pretty lady upon
+whom, I repeat, I design to bestow the honor of my name."
+
+As he spoke he leaned toward Mercedes, threw his arm around her waist,
+and before she was even aware of her intention, kissed her roughly on
+the cheek.
+
+"Lads," he cried, "three cheers for the future Lady Morgan!"
+
+The proud Spanish girl turned white as death under this insult. Her eyes
+flashed like coals of fire. Morgan was close beside her. She was without
+weapon save a jeweled whip that hung at her wrist. Before the first note
+of a cheer could break from the lips of the men she lifted it and struck
+him violently again and again full in the face.
+
+"Thou devil!" cried the captain in fury, whipping out his sword and
+menacing her with it.
+
+"Strike!" cried Mercedes bravely, "and let my blood wash out the insult
+that you have put upon my cheek."
+
+She raised her whip once more, but this time young Teach, coming on the
+other side, caught her hand, wrested the jeweled toy from her, and broke
+it in the struggle.
+
+"Thou shalt pay dearly for those stripes, lady!" roared Morgan, swerving
+closer to her. "And not now in honorable wedlock----"
+
+"I will die first!" returned Mercedes.
+
+Alvarado, meanwhile, had been struggling desperately to free himself. By
+the exercise of superhuman strength, just as Morgan again menaced the
+woman he loved, he succeeded in freeing himself from his loosely-tied
+bonds. His guards for the moment had their attention distracted from him
+by the group on horseback. He wrenched a sword from the hand of one,
+striking him a blow with his naked fist that sent him reeling as he did
+so, and then flung out his other arm so that the heavy pommel of the
+sword struck the second guard in the face, and the way was clear for the
+moment. He sprang forward instantly, seized Morgan's horse, forced him
+away from Mercedes by a wrench of his powerful arm, and stood at bay in
+front of the woman he loved. He said no word but stood with his sword up
+on guard, panting heavily from his fierce exertions.
+
+"Alvarado, you will be killed!" screamed the girl, seeing the others
+make for him.
+
+"Here we have it," sneered Morgan. "This is the secret of your refusal.
+He is your lover."
+
+"Seize him!" cried Teach, raising his sword, as followed by the others
+he made at Alvarado, who awaited them undaunted.
+
+"Stay!" shouted de Lussan, "there is a better way."
+
+Rudely shoving Senora Agapida aside, he seized Mercedes from behind.
+
+"Do not move, mademoiselle," he said in French, in his excitement, which
+fortunately she understood.
+
+"That's well done!" cried Morgan, "Captain Alvarado, if that be your
+name, throw down your sword if you would save the lady's life."
+
+"Mind me not, Alvarado," cried Mercedes, but Alvarado, perceiving the
+situation, instantly dropped his weapon.
+
+"Now seize him and bind him again! And you, dogs!" Morgan added, turning
+to the men who had allowed the prisoner to slip before, "if he escape
+you again you shall be hanged to the nearest tree!"
+
+"Hadst not better bind the woman, too?" queried the Frenchman gently,
+still holding her fast in his fierce grasp.
+
+"Ay, the wench as well. Oh, I'll break your spirit, my pretty one,"
+answered Morgan savagely, flipping the young woman's cheek. "Wilt pay me
+blows for kisses? Scuttle me, you shall crawl at my feet before I've
+finished with you!"
+
+"Why not kill this caballero out of hand, captain?" asked Hornigold,
+savage from a slight wound, as he limped up to Morgan.
+
+"No, I have use for him. Are the rest silent?"
+
+"They will tell no tales," laughed L'Ollonois grimly.
+
+"Did none escape back up the road?"
+
+"None, Sir Henry," answered the other. "My men closed in after them and
+drove them forward. They are all gone."
+
+"That's well. Now, for La Guayra. What force is there, Senor Capitan?"
+
+Alvarado remained obstinately silent. He did not speak even when Morgan
+ruthlessly cut him across the cheek with his dagger. He did not utter a
+sound, although Mercedes groaned in anguish at the sight of his torture.
+
+"You'd best kill him, captain," said L'Ollonois.
+
+"No, I have need for him, I say," answered Morgan, giving over the
+attempt to make him speak. "Is any one here who has been at La Guayra
+recently?" he asked of the others.
+
+"I was there last year on a trading ship of France," answered Sawkins.
+
+"What garrison then?"
+
+"About two hundred and fifty."
+
+"Was it well fortified?"
+
+"As of old, sir, by the forts on either side and a rampart along the sea
+wall."
+
+"Were the forts in good repair?"
+
+"Well kept indeed, but most of the guns bore seaward."
+
+"Have you the ladders ready?" cried Morgan to Braziliano, who had been
+charged to convey the rude scaling ladders by which they hoped to get
+over the walls.
+
+"All ready, captain," answered that worthy.
+
+"Let us go forward then. We'll halt just out of musket-shot and concert
+our further plans. We have the Governor in our hands, lads. The rest
+will be easy. There is plenty of plunder in La Guayra, and when we have
+made it our own we'll over the mountains and into Caracas. Hornigold,
+you are lame from a wound, look to the prisoners."
+
+"To La Guayra! To La Guayra!" enthusiastically shouted the men, taking
+up the line of march.
+
+The rising moon flooding the white strand made the scene as light as
+day. They kept good watch on the walls of La Guayra, for the sound of
+the shots in the night air had been heard by some keen-eared sentry, and
+as a result the garrison had been called to arms. The firing had been
+too heavy to be accounted for by any ordinary circumstances, and
+officers and soldiers had been at a loss to understand it. However, to
+take precautions were wise, and every preparation was made as if against
+an immediate attack. The drums were beaten; the ramparts were manned;
+the guns were primed, and such of the townspeople as were not too timid
+to bear arms were assembled under their militia officers.
+
+The watchers on the west wall of the fort were soon aware of the
+approach of the buccaneers. Indeed, they made no concealment whatever
+about their motions. Who they were and what they were the garrison had
+not discovered and could not imagine. A prompt and well-aimed volley,
+however, as soon as the buccaneers came within range apprised them that
+they were dealing with enemies, and determined enemies at that. Under
+cover of the confusion caused by this unexpected discharge, Morgan
+deployed his men.
+
+"Lads," he said, "we'll board yon fort with a rush and a cheer. The
+ladders will be placed on the walls, and under cover of a heavy fire
+from our musketry we'll go over them. Use only the cutlass when you gain
+the parapet and ply like men. Remember what's on the other side!"
+
+"Ay, but who'll plant the ladders?" asked one.
+
+"The priests and women," said Morgan grimly. "I saved them for that."
+
+A roar of laughter and cheers broke from the ruffianly gang as they
+appreciated the neatness of the old buccaneer's scheme.
+
+"'Tis an old trick," he continued; "we did the same thing thirty years
+since at Porto Bello. Eh, Hornigold? How's that leg of yours?"
+
+"Stiff and sore."
+
+"Bide here then with the musketeers. Teach, you shall take the walls
+under the cliff yonder. L'Ollonois, lead your men straight at the fort.
+De Lussan, let the curtain between be your point. I shall be with the
+first to get over. Now, charge your pieces all, and Hornigold, after we
+have started, by slow and careful fire do you keep the Spaniards down
+until you hear us cheer. After that, hold your fire."
+
+"But I should like to be in the first rank myself, master," growled the
+old boatswain.
+
+"Ha, ha!" laughed Morgan, "that's a right spirit, lad, but that cut leg
+holds you back, for which you have to thank this gentleman," bowing
+toward Alvarado with a hideous countenance. "You can be of service here.
+Watch the musketeers. We would have no firing into our backs. Now bring
+up the women and priests. And, Hornigold, watch Senorita de Lara. See
+that she does not escape. On your life, man; I'd rather hold her safe,"
+he muttered under his breath, "than take the whole city of Caracas."
+
+With shouts of fiendish glee the buccaneers drove the hapless nuns and
+priests, who had been dragged along in the rear, to the front. The
+Spaniards were firing at them now, but with no effect so far. The
+distance was great and the moonlight made aim uncertain, and every time
+a head showed itself over the battlement it became a target for the
+fire of the musketeers, who, by Hornigold's orders, ran forward under
+the black shadow cast by the high cliff, where they could not be seen,
+and from this point of concealment, taking deliberate aim, made havoc
+among the defenders.
+
+"Now, good fathers and sisters," began Morgan, "you have doubtless been
+curious to know why you were not put to death. I saved you--not because
+I loved you, but because I needed you. I had a purpose in view; that
+purpose is now apparent."
+
+"What would you with us, senor?" asked Sister Maria Christina, the
+abbess, stepping out in front of her sisters.
+
+"A little service, my sister. Bring up the ladders, men. See, there are
+seven all told. That will be four ladies apiece to four ladders; and
+here are seven priests, which allows two to each of the three remaining
+ladders, with one priest and one sister over for good measure, and to
+take the place of any that may be struck down."
+
+"And what are we to do with them, senor?" asked Fra Antonio de Las
+Casas, drawing nearer to the captain.
+
+"You are to carry them to yonder wall and place them against it."
+
+"You do not mean," burst out Alvarado painfully, for he could scarcely
+speak from his wounded cheek, "to make these holy women bear the brunt
+of that fire from the fort, and the good priests as well?"
+
+"Do I value the lives of women and priests, accursed Spaniard, more than
+our own?" questioned the captain, and the congenial sentiment was
+received by a yell of approval from the men. "But if you are
+tender-hearted, I'll give the defenders a chance. Will you advise them
+to yield and thus spare these women?"
+
+"I can not do that," answered Alvarado sadly. "'Tis their duty to defend
+the town. There are twenty women here, there are five hundred there."
+
+"D'ye hear that, mates?" cried Morgan. "Up with the ladders!"
+
+"But what if we refuse?" cried the abbess.
+
+"You shall be given over to the men," answered Morgan, ferociously,
+"whereas, if you do as I order, you may go free; those who are left
+alive after the storm. Do ye hear, men? We'll let them go after they
+have served us," continued the chief turning to his men. "Swear that you
+will let them go! There are others in La Guayra."
+
+"We swear, we swear!" shouted one after another, lifting their hands and
+brandishing their weapons.
+
+"You hear!" cried Morgan. "Pick up the ladders!"
+
+"For God's sake, sir----" began Maria Christina.
+
+"I know no God," interrupted Morgan.
+
+"You had a mother--a wife once--perhaps children, Senor Capitan. Unsay
+your words! We can not place the ladders which will give you access to
+yonder helpless town."
+
+"Then to the men you go!" cried Morgan ruthlessly. "Forward here, two or
+three of you, take this woman! She chooses----"
+
+"Death----" cried the abbess, snatching a dagger from the nearest hand
+and driving it into her breast, "rather than dishonor!"
+
+She held herself proudly erect for a moment, swayed back and forth, and
+then fell prostrate upon the sand, the blood staining her white robe
+about the hilt of the poniard. She writhed and shuddered in agony where
+she lay, striving to say something. Fra Antonio sprang to her side, and
+before any one could interfere knelt down.
+
+"I--I--I have sinned," she gasped. "Mercy, mercy!"
+
+"Thou hast done well, I absolve thee!" cried the priest, making the sign
+of the cross upon her forehead.
+
+"Death and fury!" shouted Morgan, livid with rage. "Let her die
+unshriven! Shall I be balked thus?"
+
+He sprang toward the old man stooping over the woman, and struck him
+across his shaven crown with the blade of his sword. The priest pitched
+down instantly upon the body of the abbess, a long shudder running
+through him. Then he lay still.
+
+"Harry Morgan's way!" cried the buccaneer, recovering his blade. "And
+you?" turning toward the other women. "Have you had lesson enough? Pick
+up those ladders, or by hell----"
+
+"Mercy, mercy!" screamed the frightened nuns.
+
+"Not another word! Drive them forward, men!"
+
+The buccaneers sprang at the terrified women and priests, some with
+weapons out, others with leers and outstretched arms. First one and then
+another gave way. The only leadership among the sisters and priests lay
+upon the sand there. What could they do? They picked up the ladders and,
+urged forward by threats and shouts of the buccaneers under cover of a
+furious discharge from Hornigold's musketeers, they ran to the walls
+imploring the Spaniards not to fire upon them.
+
+When the Spanish commander perceived who were approaching, with a
+mistaken impulse of mercy he ordered his men to fire over their heads,
+and so did little danger to the approaching buccaneers. A few of them
+fell, but the rest dashed into the smoke. There was no time for another
+discharge. The ladders were placed against the walls, and priests and
+nuns were ruthlessly cast aside and trampled down. In a little space the
+marauders were upon the ramparts fighting like demons. Morgan, covered
+by Black Dog, with Teach, de Lussan, and L'Ollonois, was in the lead.
+Truth to tell, the captain was never backward when fighting was going
+on. The desperate onslaught of their overwhelming numbers, once they had
+gained a foothold, swept the defenders before them like chaff. Waiting
+for nothing, they sprang down from the fort and raced madly through the
+narrow streets of the town. They brushed opposition away as leaves are
+driven aside by a winter storm. Ere the defenders on the east forts
+could realize their presence, they were upon them, also.
+
+In half an hour every man bearing a weapon had been cut down. The town
+was at the mercy of this horde of human tigers. They broke open wine
+cellars; they pillaged the provision shops; they tortured without mercy
+the merchants and inhabitants to force them to discover their treasures,
+and they insulted and outraged the helpless women. They were completely
+beyond control now; drunk with slaughter, intoxicated with liquor, mad
+with lust, they ravaged and plundered. To add to the confusion, fire
+burst forth here and there, and before the morning dawned half of the
+city was in ashes.
+
+The pale moon looked down upon a scene of horror such as it had never
+before shone upon, even in the palmiest days of the buccaneers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN WHICH BENJAMIN HORNIGOLD RECOGNIZES A CROSS, AND CAPTAIN ALVARADO
+FINDS AND LOSES A MOTHER ON THE STRAND
+
+
+The musketeers under Hornigold, chosen for their mastery with the
+weapon, had played their parts with cunning skill.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Concealed from observation by the deep shadow of the cliffs, and
+therefore immune from the enemy's fire, they had made targets of the
+Spaniards on the walls, and by a close, rapid, and well-directed
+discharge, had kept down the return of the garrison until the very
+moment of the assault. Hornigold was able to keep them in hand for a
+little space after the capture of the town, but the thought of the
+pleasure being enjoyed by their comrades was too much for them. Anxious
+to take a hand in the hideous fray, they stole away one by one,
+slinking under the cliff until they were beyond the reach of the
+boatswain, then boldly rushing for the town in the open, until the old
+sailor was left with only a half-dozen of the most dependable
+surrounding himself and prisoners.
+
+The rest would not have got away from him so easily had he not been so
+intensely occupied that at first he had taken little note of what was
+going on.
+
+Mercedes and Alvarado had only opportunity to exchange a word now and
+then, for extended conversation was prevented by the guards. Alvarado
+strove to cheer the woman he loved, and she promised him she would
+choose instant death rather than dishonor. He could give her little
+encouragement of rescue, for unless word of their plight were carried to
+the Viceroy immediately, he would be far on the way to the Orinoco
+country before any tidings could reach him, and by the time he returned
+it would be too late.
+
+Again and again Alvarado strove to break his bonds, in impotent and
+helpless fury, but this time he was securely bound and his captors only
+laughed at his struggles. In the midst of their grief and despair they
+both took notice of the poor abbess. Fra Antonio had not moved since
+Morgan had stricken him down, but there was life still in the woman,
+for, from where they stood, some distance back, the two lovers each
+marked her convulsive trembling. The sight appealed profoundly to them
+in spite of their perilous situation.
+
+"The brave sister lives," whispered Mercedes.
+
+"'Tis so," answered Alvarado. "Senor," he called, "the sister yonder is
+alive. Wilt not allow us to minister to her?"
+
+"Nay," said Hornigold brusquely, "I will go myself. Back, all of ye!" he
+added. "She may wish to confess to me in default of the worthy father."
+
+He leered hideously as he spoke.
+
+"Coward!" cried Alvarado, but his words affected Hornigold not at all.
+
+Before he could say another word the guards forced him rudely back with
+the two women. The worthy Senora Agapida by this time was in a state of
+complete and total collapse, but Mercedes bore herself--her lover marked
+with pleasure--as proudly and as resolutely as if she still stood within
+her father's palace surrounded by men who loved her and who would die
+for her.
+
+Rolling the body of the prostrate old man aside, Hornigold knelt down on
+the white sand by the form of the sister. The moonlight shone full upon
+her face, and as he stooped over he scanned it with his one eye. A
+sudden flash of recognition came to him. With a muttered oath of
+surprise he looked again.
+
+"It can't be!" he exclaimed, "and yet----"
+
+After Fra Antonio's brave attempt at absolution, the woman had fainted.
+Now she opened her eyes, although she was not yet fully conscious.
+
+"Water!" she gasped feebly, and as it chanced the boatswain had a small
+bottle of the precious fluid hanging from a strap over his shoulder.
+There was no pity in the heart of the pirate, he would have allowed the
+woman to die gasping for water without giving her a second thought, but
+when he recognized her--or thought he did--there instantly sprang into
+his mind a desire to make sure. If she were the person he thought her
+she might have information of value. Unslinging the bottle and pulling
+out the cork, he placed it to her lips.
+
+"I--die," she murmured in a stronger voice. "A priest."
+
+"There is none here," answered the boatswain. "Fra Antonio--he absolved
+you."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Dead, yonder."
+
+"But I must confess."
+
+"Confess to me," chuckled the old man in ghastly mockery. "Many a woman
+has done so and----"
+
+"Art in Holy Orders, senor?" muttered the woman.
+
+[Illustration: The moonlight shone full upon her face, and as he stooped
+over he scanned it with his one eye.]
+
+"Holy enough for you. Say on."
+
+"Fra Antonio, now," she continued, vacantly lapsing into semi-delirium,
+"he married us--'twas a secret--his rank was so great. He was rich, I
+poor--humble. The marriage lines--in the cross. There was a--What's
+that? A shot? The buccaneers. They are coming! Go not, Francisco!"
+
+Hornigold, bending an attentive ear to these broken sentences lost not a
+word.
+
+"Go not," she whispered, striving to lift an arm, "they will kill thee!
+Thou shalt not leave me alone, my Francisco--The boy--in Panama----"
+
+It was evident to the sailor that the poor woman's mind had gone back to
+the dreadful days of the sack of Panama. He was right then, it was she.
+
+"The boy--save him, save him!" she cried suddenly with astonishing
+vigor. The sound of her own voice seemed to recall her to herself. She
+stopped, her eyes lost their wild glare and fixed themselves upon the
+man above her, his own face in the shadow as hers was in the light.
+
+"Is it Panama?" she asked. "Those screams--the shots--" She turned her
+head toward the city. "The flames--is it Panama?"
+
+"Nay," answered the one-eyed fiercely. "'Tis twenty-five years since
+then, and more. Yonder city is La Guayra. This is the coast of
+Venezuela."
+
+"Oh--the doomed town--I remember--now--I stabbed myself rather
+than--place the ladders. Who art thou, senor?"
+
+"Benjamin Hornigold!" cried the man fiercely, bending his face to hers.
+
+For a second the woman stared at him. Then, recognizing him, she
+screamed horribly, raising herself upon her arm.
+
+"Hornigold!" she cried. "What have you done with the child?"
+
+"I left him at Cuchillo, outside the walls," answered the man.
+
+"And the cross?"
+
+"On his breast. The Captain----"
+
+"The marriage lines were there. You betrayed me. May God's curse--nay, I
+die. For Christ's sake--I forgive--Francisco, Francisco."
+
+She fell back gasping on the sand. He tore the enclosing coif from her
+face. In a vain effort to hold back death's hand for another second,
+Hornigold snatched a spirit flask from his belt and strove to force a
+drop between her lips. It was too late. She was gone. He knew the signs
+too well. He laid her back on the sand, exclaiming:
+
+"Curse her! Why couldn't she have lived a moment longer? The Captain's
+brat--and she might have told me. Bring up the prisoners!" he cried to
+the guards, who had moved them out of earshot of this strange
+conversation.
+
+"The cross," he muttered, "the marriage lines therein. The only clew.
+And yet she cried 'Francisco.' That was the name. Who is he? If I could
+find that cross. I'd know it among a thousand. Hither," he called to the
+prisoners slowly approaching.
+
+"The good sister?" queried Alvarado.
+
+"Dead."
+
+As the young soldier, with an ejaculation of pity, bent forward in the
+moonlight to look upon the face of the dead woman, from his torn doublet
+a silver crucifix suddenly swung before the eyes of the old buccaneer.
+
+"By heaven!" he cried. "'Tis the cross."
+
+He stepped nearer to Alvarado, seized the carven crucifix, and lifted it
+to the light.
+
+"I could swear it was the same," he muttered. "Senor, your name and
+rank?"
+
+"I can not conceive that either concerns a bloodthirsty ruffian
+like----"
+
+"Stop! Perhaps there is more in this than thou thinkest," said Mercedes.
+"Tell him, Alvarado. It can do no harm. Oh, senor, have pity on us!
+Unbind me," she added, "I give you my word. I wish but to pay my respect
+to the woman yonder."
+
+"She gives good counsel, soldier," answered the boatswain. "Cut her
+lashing," he said to the sailor who guarded them.
+
+As the buccaneer did so, Mercedes sank on her knees by the side of the
+dead woman.
+
+"Now, sir, your name?" asked Hornigold again.
+
+"Alvarado."
+
+"Where got you that name?"
+
+"It was given me by His Excellency, the Viceroy."
+
+"And wherefore?"
+
+There was something so tremendous in Hornigold's interest that in spite
+of himself the young man felt compelled to answer.
+
+"It was his pleasure."
+
+"Had you not a name of your own?"
+
+"None that I know of."
+
+"What mean you?"
+
+"I was found, a baby, outside the walls of Panama in a little village.
+The Viceroy adopted me and brought me up. That is all."
+
+"When was this?" asked Hornigold.
+
+"After the sack of Panama. And the name of the village was----"
+
+"Cuchillo----" interrupted Hornigold triumphantly.
+
+"My God, senor, how know you that?"
+
+"I was there."
+
+"You were there?" cried the young man.
+
+"Ay."
+
+"For love of heaven, can you tell me who I am, what I am?"
+
+"In good time, young sir, and for a price. At present I know but one
+thing."
+
+"That is----"
+
+"There lies your mother," answered the buccaneer slowly, pointing to the
+white figure on the sand.
+
+"My mother! Madre de Dios!" cried Alvarado, stepping forward and looking
+down upon the upturned face with its closely cut white hair, showing
+beautiful in the moonlight. "God rest her soul, she hath a lovely face
+and died in defence of her honor like the gentlewoman she should be. My
+mother--how know you this?"
+
+"In the sack of Panama a woman gave me a male child, and for money I
+agreed to take it and leave it in a safe and secluded spot outside the
+city walls. I carried it at the hazard of my life as far as Cuchillo and
+there left it."
+
+"But how know you that the child you left is I?"
+
+"Around the baby's neck the mother, ere she gave him to me, placed this
+curious cross you wear. 'Tis of such cunning workmanship that there is
+naught like it under the sun that ever I have seen. I knew it even in
+the faint light when my eyes fell upon it. I left the child with a
+peasant woman to take him where I had been directed. I believed him
+safe. On leaving Panama that village lay in our backward path. We burned
+it down. I saw the baby again. Because I had been well paid I saved him
+from instant death at the hands of the buccaneers, who would have tossed
+him in the air on the point of their spears. I shoved the crucifix,
+which would have tempted them because it was silver, underneath the
+dress and left the child. He was alive when we departed."
+
+"And the day after," cried Alvarado, "de Lara's troops came through that
+village and found me still wearing that cross. My mother! Loving God,
+can it be? But my father----"
+
+"What shall I have if I tell you?"
+
+"Riches, wealth, all--Set us free and----"
+
+"Not now. I can not now. Wait."
+
+"At least, Donna Mercedes."
+
+"Man, 'twould be my life that would pay; but I'll keep careful watch
+over her. I have yet some influence with the Captain. To-morrow I'll
+find a way to free you--you must do the rest."
+
+"Mercedes," said Alvarado, "heardst thou all?"
+
+"But little," answered the girl.
+
+"That lady--is believed to have been my mother!"
+
+"Gentle or simple," said the girl, "she died in defence of her honor,
+like the noblest, the best. This for thee, good sister," she whispered,
+bending down and kissing the pale forehead. "And may I do the like when
+my time comes. Thou shouldst be proud of her, my Alvarado," she said,
+looking up at him. "See!" she cried suddenly as the resemblance, which
+was indeed strong between them, struck her. "Thou hast her face. Her
+white hair was once golden like thine. He tells the truth. Oh, sir, for
+Christ's sake, have pity upon us!"
+
+A messenger came staggering toward them across the woods.
+
+"Master Hornigold," he cried.
+
+"Ay, ay."
+
+"We've taken the town. The Captain wants you and your prisoners. You'll
+find him in the guard room. Oh, ho, there's merry times to-night in La
+Guayra! All hell's let loose, and we are devils." He laughed
+boisterously and drunkenly as he spoke and lurched backward over the
+sands.
+
+"We must be gone," said Hornigold. "Rise, mistress. Come, sir."
+
+"But this lady," urged Alvarado--his lips could scarcely form the
+unfamiliar word "mother"--"and the good priest? You will not leave them
+here?"
+
+"The rising tide will bear them out to sea."
+
+"A moment--by your leave," said Alvarado, stepping toward the dead.
+Assisted by Mercedes, for he was still bound, he stooped down and
+touched his lips to those of the dead woman, whispering a prayer as he
+did so. Rising to his feet he cried:
+
+"But my father--who is he--who was he?"
+
+"We shall find that out."
+
+"But his name?"
+
+"I'm not sure, I can not tell now," answered Hornigold evasively; "but
+with this clew the rest should be easy. Trust me, and when we can
+discuss this matter undisturbed----"
+
+"But I would know now!"
+
+"You forget, young sir, that you are a prisoner, and must suit your will
+to my pleasure. Forward!"
+
+But the soul of the old buccaneer was filled with fierce joy. He thought
+he knew the secret of the crucifix now. The Spanish captain's mother lay
+dead upon the sands, but his father lived. He was sure of it. He would
+free Alvarado and bring him down upon Morgan. He chuckled with fiendish
+delight as he limped along. He had his revenge now; it lay in the hollow
+of his hand, and 'twas a rare one indeed. Mercedes being bound again,
+the little party marched across the beach and the bodies of the priest
+and the nun were left alone while the night tide came rippling up the
+strand.
+
+Scarcely had the party disappeared within the gate of the fort when the
+priest slowly and painfully lifted himself on his hands and crawled
+toward the woman. While the buccaneer had talked with the abbess he had
+returned to consciousness and had listened. Bit by bit he gathered the
+details of her story, and in truth he knew it of old. By turning his
+head he had seen the crucifix on the young man's breast and he also had
+recognized it. He lay still and silent, however, feigning death, for to
+have discovered himself would have resulted in his instant despatch.
+When they had gone he painfully crawled over to the body of the poor
+nun.
+
+"Isabella," he murmured, giving her her birth name, "thou didst suffer.
+Thou tookest thine own life, but the loving God will forgive thee. I am
+glad that I had strength and courage to absolve thee before I fell. And
+I did not know thee. 'Tis so many years since. Thy son, that brave young
+captain--I will see thee righted. I wonder----"
+
+He moved nearer to her, scrutinizing her carefully, and then, with an
+apology even to the dead, the old man opened the front of her gown.
+
+"Ay, ay, I thought so," he said, as his eye caught a glimpse of a gold
+chain against her white neck. Gently he lifted it, unclasped it, drew it
+forth. There was a locket upon it. Jewels sparkled upon its surface. She
+had worn it all these years.
+
+"_O, vanitas vanitatum!_" murmured the priest, yet compassionately.
+"What is it that passes the love of woman?"
+
+He slipped it quietly within the breast of his habit and then fell
+prostrate on the sand, faint from pain and loss of blood. Long the two
+figures lay there in the moonlight while the rising tide lipped the
+shining sands. The cool water at last restored consciousness to one of
+the still forms, but though they laved the beautiful face of the other
+with tender caresses they could not call back the troubled life that had
+passed into peaceful eternity. Painfully the old priest raised himself
+upon his hands and looked about him.
+
+"O God!" he murmured, "give me strength to live until I can tell the
+story. Sister Maria Christina--Isabella that was--thou were brave and
+thou wert beautiful; thou hast served our Holy Church long and well. If
+I could only lay thee in some consecrated ground--but soul like to thine
+makes holy e'en the sea which shall bear thee away. Shriven thou wert,
+buried thou shalt be."
+
+The man struggled to his knees, clasped his hands before him, and began
+the burial service of his ancient Church.
+
+"We therefore commit her body into the great deep," he said, "looking
+for the general resurrection in the last day, and the life of the world
+to come----"
+
+The water was washing around him ere he finished his mournful task, and
+with one long look of benison and farewell he rose to his feet and
+staggered along the road down the beach. Slowly he went, but presently
+he reached the turn where began the ascent of the mountain. Before he
+proceeded he halted and looked long toward the flaming, shrieking,
+ruined town. The flooding tide was in now and the breakers were beating
+and thundering far across the sands. The body of the abbess was gone.
+
+The old man drew himself up, lifted his trembling hands and prayed; he
+prayed again for the soul of the woman; he prayed for the young man,
+that he might learn the truth; he prayed for the beautiful damsel who
+loved him; he prayed for the people, the hapless people of the doomed
+town, the helpless, outraged women, the bereft mothers, the tortured
+men, the murdered children, and as he prayed he called down the curse of
+God upon those who had wrought such ruin.
+
+"Slay them, O God! Strike and spare not! Cut them off root and branch
+who have despoiled thy people Israel. They have taken the sword and may
+they perish by it as was promised of old!"
+
+A gray, grim, gaunt figure, bloodstained, pale, he stood there in that
+ghastly light, invoking the judgment of God upon Morgan and his men ere
+he turned away and was lost in the darkness of the mountain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WHICH DESCRIBES AN AUDIENCE WITH SIR HENRY MORGAN AND THE TREACHERY BY
+WHICH CAPTAIN ALVARADO IS BENEFITED
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The clock on the wall was striking eleven as Hornigold forced his
+prisoners into the guardroom of the first fort that had been captured,
+which, as it was the larger of the two, Morgan had selected as his head
+quarters. Mercedes' soul had turned to stone at the sights and sounds
+which met her as she passed through the town where the hellish revelry
+was now in full blast. The things she witnessed and heard were enough to
+appall the stoutest heart that ever beat within the rudest breast. She
+forgot her own danger in her sympathy for the suffering inhabitants of
+the devoted town. Ghastly pale and sick with horror, she tottered and
+staggered as she entered the room. As for the Senora Agapida, she had
+collapsed long since, and for the last one hundred yards of the journey
+had been dragged helplessly along by two of her captors, who threw her
+in a senseless heap on the stone flagging of the great vaulted chamber.
+
+The agony and suffering, the torture and death, the shame and dishonor
+of his people affected Alvarado differently. His soul flamed within his
+breast with pity for the one, rage for the other. He lusted and thirsted
+to break away and single-handed rush upon the human wolves and tigers,
+who were despoiling women, torturing men, murdering children, as if they
+had been devils. The desire mastered him, and he writhed and struggled
+in his bonds, but unavailingly.
+
+It was a haggard, distracted pair, therefore, which was brought before
+the chief buccaneer. Morgan sat at the head of the guardroom, on a
+platform, a table before him strewn with reckless prodigality with
+vessels of gold and silver stolen from altar and sideboard
+indifferently, some piled high with food, others brimming with a variety
+of liquors, from the rich old wines of Xeres to the fiery native rum. On
+one side of the captain was a woman. Pale as a ghost, the young and
+beautiful widow of a slaughtered officer, in her disordered array she
+shrank terrified beneath his hand. L'Ollonois, Teach and de Lussan were
+also in the room. By each one cowered another woman prisoner. Teach was
+roaring out a song, that song of London town, with its rollicking
+chorus:
+
+    "Though life now is pleasant and sweet to the sense,
+    We'll be damnably moldy a hundred years hence."
+
+The room was full of plunder of one sort and another, and the buccaneers
+were being served by frightened negro slaves, their footsteps quickened
+and their obedience enforced by the sight of a dead black in one corner,
+whom de Lussan had knifed a short time since because he had been slow in
+coming to his call. The smell of spilled liquor, of burnt powder, and of
+blood, indescribable and sickening, hung in the close, hot air. Lamps
+and candles were flaring and spluttering in the room but the greater
+illumination came through the open casements from the roaring fires of
+burning houses outside. The temptation to join in the sack of the town
+had been too much for Hornigold's remaining men, consequently he and
+those conveying Senora Agapida alone attended the prisoners. These last,
+after throwing the duenna recklessly upon the floor, hurried out after
+the rest, leaving the officers and women alone.
+
+"Silence!" roared Morgan, as his eye fell upon the group entering the
+lower end of the great hall. "Pipe down, thou bellowing bull!" he
+shouted, throwing a silver cup that Cellini might have chased, at the
+head of the half drunken Teach. "Who's there? Scuttle me, 'tis our
+spitfire and the gallant captain, with that worthy seaman Hornigold!
+Advance, friends. Thou art welcome to our cheer. Drive them forward,
+Hornigold," he cried, as he saw Mercedes and Alvarado made no attempt to
+move.
+
+"Advance quickly," whispered Hornigold to Alvarado; "to cross him now
+were death."
+
+Seizing them with a great show of force he shoved them down the hall to
+the foot of the platform, in front of the revellers.
+
+"I welcome thee to our court, fair lady, and you, brave sir. What say
+ye, gentles all? Rum for the noble captain, here, and wine for the
+lady," called out Morgan, bowing over the table in malicious mockery.
+
+"I drink with no murderer," said Alvarado firmly, thrusting the negro,
+who proffered him a glass, violently aside with his shoulder, causing
+him to topple over, drenching himself with the liquor.
+
+"Ha! Is it so?" laughed Morgan in a terrible manner. "Hark'ee, my young
+cock, thou shalt crave and beg and pray for another drink at my hand
+presently--and get it not. But there is another cup thou shalt drink,
+ay, and that to the dregs. Back, you! I would speak with the lady. Well,
+Donna Mercedes," he continued, "art still in that prideful mood?"
+
+Silence. The girl stood erect, disdainfully looking him full in the
+face.
+
+"I shall break thee yet, proud wench!" he shouted.
+
+"Perhaps the demoiselle is jealous of thy present companion, Sir
+Captain," sneered de Lussan smoothly in his courtliest manner.
+
+"Scuttle me! That's well thought on," laughed Morgan. "And I'll add fuel
+to the fire."
+
+As he spoke he clasped the terrified woman on his right around the
+waist, and though she struggled and drew away from him in horror and
+disgust, he kissed her full upon the lips. The woman shuddered
+loathingly when he released her, put her face down in her hands and
+sobbed low and bitterly.
+
+"What sayest thou to that, sweet Mercedes?"
+
+"I say may God have mercy on the soul of yon poor woman," answered
+Mercedes disdainfully.
+
+"Best pray for thine own soul, madam," he roared. "Come hither! What,
+you move not? Black Dog, Black Dog, I say!"
+
+The huge maroon lurched from behind his master's chair, where he had
+lain half-drunken.
+
+"Fetch me that woman!"
+
+Mercedes was bound and could not at first release her hands, but as the
+maroon shambled toward her she sprang back struggling.
+
+"Alvarado, Alvarado!" she screamed. "Help me, save me!"
+
+Like a maddened bull, though his hands were bound also, Alvarado threw
+himself upon the negro. The force with which he struck him hurled him
+backward and the two fell to the floor, the maroon beneath. His head
+struck a corner of the step with a force that would have killed a white
+man. In an instant, however, the unbound negro was on his feet. He
+whipped out his dagger and would have plunged it into the breast of the
+prostrate Spaniard had not Mercedes, lightly bound, for being a woman
+they thought it not necessary to be unusually severe in her lashings,
+wrenched free her hands and caught the half-breed's upraised arm.
+
+"Mercy!" she screamed, while struggling to divert the blow, looking
+toward Morgan.
+
+"Hold your hand, Black Dog," answered that worthy. "Leave the man and
+come hither. This is thy first appeal, lady. You know my power at last,
+eh? Down on your knees and beg for his life!"
+
+Instantly Mercedes sank to her knees and stretched out her hands, a
+piteous, appealing, lovely figure.
+
+"Spare him, spare him!" she cried.
+
+"What would you do for him?"
+
+"My life for his," she answered bravely.
+
+"Nay, Mercedes," interposed Alvarado, "let him work his will on me."
+
+"There are worse places, thou seest, lady, than by my side," sneered
+Morgan. "By heaven, 'twas a pretty play, was it not, mates? I spare him,
+but remember, 'tis for you. Harry Morgan's way. Now reward me. Hither, I
+say! Go, you woman!" he struck the woman he had kissed a fierce blow
+with his naked fist--"Away from me! Your place is needed for your
+betters. Here lady----"
+
+"Captain Morgan," cried Hornigold, suddenly interrupting him. "I bethink
+me you should send men to seize the mountain pass that leads to Caracas
+at once, else we may have troops upon us in the morning."
+
+It was a bold diversion and yet it succeeded. There could be no safe
+feasting in La Guayra with that open road. Morgan had overlooked it, but
+the boatswain's words recalled it to him; for the moment he forgot the
+prisoners and the women. Safety was a paramount consideration.
+
+"I forgot it," he answered. "Curse me, how can I? The villains are too
+drunk with rum and blood and fury to be despatched."
+
+"A force must be assembled at once," urged Hornigold, insistently, "lest
+some have escaped who would bring word to the Viceroy. He would be upon
+us in a day with an army too great for resistance. If you intend not to
+rot here in La Guayra, or be caught in a death trap, we must be up to
+the mountain top beforehand. Once they seize the pass, we are helpless."
+
+"That's well said, Hornigold," cried Morgan, who was not so drunk that
+he could not realize the practical value of Hornigold's suggestion and
+the great danger of disregarding his advice. "The pass must be seized at
+all hazard. With that in our possession we may bide our time. I thought
+to wait until to-morrow, but you're right. We've feasted and drunk
+enough for the night. To-morrow Donna de Lara! Guards for the pass
+now--But how to get them?"
+
+He rose to his feet as he spoke and came down the hall.
+
+"Teach and L'Ollonois, follow me!" he cried. "Gather up fifty of the
+soberest men and lead them up the mountain road till you reach the pass,
+and then hold it till I come. Nay, no hesitation," he roared. "Canst
+not see the necessity? Unless we are masters of that pass we are caught
+like rats in a trap here in La Guayra. To-morrow or the next day we
+shall march up toward Caracas. Your share of the treasure and your women
+shall be held safe. You shall have first consideration on the other side
+of the mountains. Nay, I will have it so!" He stamped his foot in
+furious rage. "We've all had too much drink already," he continued, "now
+we must make things secure. Hornigold, take charge of this fort. I leave
+the prisoners with you. Guard them well. Treat the lady well also. Do
+what you like with the other, only keep him alive. One of you send
+Braziliano to me. He shall have the other fort. And you and I, Monsieur
+de Lussan, will take account of the men here in the town and bring them
+into such order as we can."
+
+Although Teach and L'Ollonois had no mind to leave the pleasures open to
+them in La Guayra, yet they were both men of intelligence and could
+easily see the absolute necessity for the precaution suggested by
+Hornigold and accepted by their captain. If they held the passage over
+the mountains, and fifty men could hold it against a thousand, no
+Spaniard could come at them. So the little group, leaving the wretched
+women, the two prisoners, and Hornigold, sallied out into the infernal
+night. It was a difficult thing for them to find a sufficient number of
+sober pirates, but by persuading, threatening, and compelling they at
+last gathered a force of the least drunken knaves, with which they set
+forth on the road.
+
+The fires which had been wantonly kindled in different places by the
+buccaneers were making such headway that Morgan instantly saw that
+especial efforts would be needed to prevent the complete destruction of
+the town. He wanted La Guayra for his base of supplies for the present,
+and with tremendous energy, seconded by de Lussan and some of the
+soberer men, he routed out the buccaneers and set them to work.
+
+"You have saved me for the moment," said Mercedes, gratefully, turning
+to Hornigold as he led her away from the hall.
+
+"'Twas not for care of you," hissed out the old man, malevolently, "but
+that I'd fain balk him in every desire he cherishes, even of possessing
+you."
+
+"Whatever it was, I am thankful, senor. You have my prayers----"
+
+"Prayers," laughed the old sailor, "it hath been sixty years since I
+heard those canting Puritans, my mother and father, pray. I want no
+prayers. But come, I must put you in ward. There should be strong-rooms
+in this castle."
+
+He summoned a slave and found what he wanted. Mercedes, and Senora
+Agapida, who was fetched by other slaves, were locked in one room,
+Alvarado was thrust into another. As soon as he could do so, after
+making some provision for the comfort of the woman, Hornigold came down
+to him.
+
+"Senor," he said, "the band is drunk and helpless. One hundred resolute
+men could master them. Morgan means to march to Caracas to-morrow. He
+can not get his men in shape to do so as long as liquor flows in La
+Guayra. If I set you free, what can you do?"
+
+"There is a way over the mountains," answered Alvarado. "A secret way,
+known only to the Indians."
+
+"Know you this path?"
+
+"It has been pointed out to me."
+
+"Is it a practicable way?"
+
+"It has been abandoned for fifty years, but I could follow it to
+Caracas."
+
+"And once there, what then?"
+
+"There, if the Viceroy be not gone, and I do not believe he has yet
+departed, are one thousand soldiers to re-take the city."
+
+"And if they be gone?"
+
+"I'll raise the citizens, the household guards, the savages, and the
+slaves!"
+
+"Can you do it?"
+
+"Free me and see," answered Alvarado, with such resolution that he
+convinced the sailor. "The men of Caracas love the daughter of the
+Viceroy. They are not inexperienced in arms. I will lead them. The
+advantage of numbers will be with us. If you free me, I take it we will
+have a friend within the walls. Success is certain. We have too much to
+revenge," he added, his face flushing with rage at the thought of it
+all.
+
+"That's well," answered Hornigold. "If I free you what reward shall I
+have?"
+
+"I will cover you with treasure."
+
+"And guarantee my life and liberty?"
+
+"They shall be held inviolate."
+
+"We captured the Porto Bello plate ship, and were wrecked two days ago a
+league or so to the westward----"
+
+"I saw the ship the day of the storm, but marked it not," interrupted
+the officer.
+
+"Ay. We buried the treasure. Shall I have my share?"
+
+"All that thou canst take, if the honor of the lady be preserved. I
+answer for the Viceroy."
+
+"Will you swear it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By your mother's cross?"
+
+"By my mother's cross, I swear. I will keep my faith with you, so help
+me God!"
+
+"I believe in no God, but you do, and that suffices. You shall go,"
+cried the buccaneer, all his objections satisfied. "But as you love the
+woman, lose no time. I'll be at the west gate under the rocks at ten
+o'clock to-morrow night. You know it?"
+
+"Yes, go on."
+
+"I'll open the gate for you and leave the rest to you. You must be there
+with your force. Now, go."
+
+"I shall be there. But I can not leave without Donna Mercedes."
+
+"And you can't go with her. Think! Could she make her way over the
+mountains?"
+
+"No, no, but----"
+
+"I'll watch over her with my life," urged the One-Eyed. "My share of the
+treasure depends upon her safety, you said."
+
+"But Morgan----"
+
+"I hate him with a hatred greater than thine."
+
+"He is thy captain."
+
+"He betrayed me, and I swore to take such vengeance as was never heard
+before, to make him suffer such torments by my hand as were never felt
+outside of hell."
+
+"You would betray him?"
+
+"It was for that I came with him! for that I live. He craves and covets
+the Donna Mercedes. He shall not have her. Trust me to interpose at the
+last moment."
+
+"Is this true? Can I believe you?"
+
+"Else why should I jeopard my life by freeing you? I hate him, I tell
+you. Remember! The west gate! There are not three hundred men here. The
+best fifty have gone with Teach and L'Ollonois, the rest are drunken and
+cowards. Here are weapons. Wrap yourself in this cloak, and come. Say no
+word to any one on the way. By Satan, as you love the wench, lose no
+time!"
+
+As he spoke, the old man cut the bonds of Alvarado, belted upon him
+dagger and sword, thrust a charged pistol in his hand, covered his head
+with a steel cap, and threw a long cloak around him. The two then went
+forth into the night. Avoiding the notice of others, they hastened along
+the deserted parapet, for there were none to keep watch or guard, until
+they came to one of the ladders by which the buccaneers had entered the
+town. Down it Alvarado, first swearing again on the cross, on his honor,
+to respect his agreement with Hornigold and again receiving the man's
+assurance, dropped hastily to the ground.
+
+There was no one to look, and he dashed recklessly across the narrow
+strip of sand to the shadow of the cliffs, along which he ran until he
+came opposite the place of his mother's death. The white water was
+rolling and crashing on the beach, and the body was gone. With a hasty
+petition for the repose of her soul, he ran on until he reached the turn
+of the road. There, like the priest, he made another prayer, and it was
+a prayer not different from that which had been voiced so short a time
+before.
+
+But his petitions were soon over. It was a time for work, not prayer. No
+moment could be lost. He girded up his loins and turned away on the run.
+Unlike the priest, however, he did not pursue the mountain road, but,
+after going a short distance, he left the way and plunged to the right
+through the trees directly up the side of the hill.
+
+His face was cut and slashed by Morgan's dagger; his soul had been
+racked and torn by the scenes he had gone through; the plight of
+Mercedes stirred him to the very depths; his heart yearned over the
+slaughtered garrison, the ruined town, but with a strength superhuman he
+plunged at the hill, in spite of the forest, groping about in the
+darkness with frantic energy until he found the traces of a slender,
+rocky path which led over the mountains.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+HOW THE SPANIARDS RE-TOOK LA GUAYRA AND HOW CAPTAIN ALVARADO FOUND A
+NAME AND SOMETHING DEARER STILL IN THE CITY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+DISCLOSES THE WAY IN WHICH MERCEDES DE LARA FOUGHT WITH WOMAN'S CUNNING
+AGAINST CAPTAIN HENRY MORGAN
+
+
+The day after the sack of the town had been a busy one for the
+buccaneers. First of all, Morgan had striven, and with some success, to
+restore some sort of order within the walls. By the aid of his officers
+and some of the soberest men he had confiscated all of the liquor that
+he could come at, and had stored it under a strong guard in the west
+fort, which he selected as his headquarters. The Governor's palace on
+the hill above was a more fitting and luxurious residence and it had
+been promptly seized, the few defenders having fled, in the morning; but
+for the present Morgan deemed it best to remain in the city and in close
+touch with his men.
+
+The Spanish soldiery had been cut down to a man the night before, and
+the majority of the hapless citizens had been killed, wounded or
+tortured. The unfortunates who were yet alive were driven into the
+church of San Lorenzo, where they were kept without food, water, or
+attention.
+
+There were some children, also, who had survived the night, for the
+buccaneers, frenzied with slaughter and inflamed with rum, had tossed
+many of them on their sword-points when they came across them in the
+streets. By Morgan's orders the living were collected in the store-house
+and barracks of the Guinea Trading Company, a corporation which supplied
+slaves to the South American countries, and which had branches in every
+city on the Caribbean. He did order food and water to be given these
+helpless unfortunates, so their condition was not quite so deplorable as
+that of the rest. It was bad enough, however, and the old barracks which
+had echoed with the sound of many a bitter cry from the forlorn lips of
+wretched slaves, now resounded with the wailing of these terrified
+little ones.
+
+The condition of the women of the city was beyond description. They,
+too, were herded together in another building, an ancient convent, but
+were plentifully supplied with every necessary they could ask for.
+Death, in lieu of the fate that had come upon them, would have been
+welcomed by many a high-born dame and her humbler sister as well, but
+they were all carefully searched and deprived of everything that might
+serve as a weapon. They were crowded together indiscriminately, high
+and low, rich and poor, black or white or red, in all states of
+disorder and disarray, just as they had been seized the night before,
+some of them having been dragged from their very beds by the brutal
+ruffians.
+
+Some of the women, maddened to frenzy by the treatment they had
+received, screamed and raved; but most of them were filled with still
+misery, overwhelmed by silent despair--waiting hopelessly for they knew
+not what bitter, degrading end. One night had changed them from happy
+wives, honored mothers, light-hearted, innocent girls, to wrecks of
+womanhood. The light of life was dead in them. They were dumb and
+unprotesting. The worst had come upon them; there was nothing of sorrow
+and shame they had not tasted. What mattered anything else? Their
+husbands, fathers, children, lovers had gone. Homes were broken up;
+their property was wasted, and not even honor was left. They prayed to
+die. It was all that was left to them.
+
+The gates of the town and forts were closed and some slight attempt was
+made to institute a patrol of the walls, although the guard that was
+kept was negligent to the point of contempt. As no enemy was apprehended
+Morgan did not rigorously insist upon strict watch. Many of the
+buccaneers were still sodden with liquor and could be of no service
+until they were sobered. They were dragged to the barracks, drenched
+with water, and left to recover as best they could.
+
+Fortune favored them in one other matter, too, in that late in the
+afternoon a handsome frigate bringing despatches from Carthagena, ran in
+and anchored in the roadstead. Her officers at once came ashore to pay
+their respects to the Commandante of the port and forward their papers
+to the Viceroy. Before they suspected anything, they were seized and
+ruthlessly murdered. To take possession of the frigate thereafter was a
+work of no special difficulty. The crew were disposed of as their
+officers had been, and the buccaneers rejoiced greatly at the good luck
+that had brought them so fine a ship. On the next morning Morgan
+intended to march toward Caracas, whence, after plundering that town and
+exacting a huge ransom for the lives of those he spared, he would lead
+his band back to La Guayra, embark on the frigate, and then bear away
+for the Isthmus.
+
+During the day, Hornigold, whose wound incapacitated him from active
+movement, remained in command of the fort with special instructions to
+look after Mercedes. By Morgan's orders she and her companion were
+removed to the best room in the fort and luxuriously provided for. He
+had not discovered the escape of Alvarado, partly because he took no
+manner of interest in that young man and only kept him alive to
+influence the girl, and partly because Hornigold had assured him that
+the prisoner was taking his confinement very hardly, that he was mad
+with anger, in a raging fever of disappointment and anxiety, and was
+constantly begging to see the captain. The boatswain cunningly suggested
+that it would be just as well to let Alvarado remain in solitude,
+without food or water until the next day, by which time, the boatswain
+argued, he would be reduced to a proper condition of humility and
+servitude. Morgan found this advice good. It was quite in consonance
+with his desires and his practices. He would have killed Alvarado out of
+hand had he not considered him the most favorable card with which to
+play the game he was waging with Mercedes for her consent to marry him.
+
+So far as he was capable of a genuine affection, he loved the proud
+Spanish maiden. He would fain persuade her willingly to come to his arms
+rather than enforce her consent or overcome her scruples by brute
+strength. There would be something of a triumph in winning her, and this
+vain, bloodstained old brute fancied that he had sufficient
+attractiveness for the opposite sex to render him invincible if he set
+about his wooing in the right way. He thought he knew the way, too. At
+any rate he was disposed to try it. Here again Hornigold, upon whom in
+the absence of Teach he depended more and more, and in whom he confided
+as of old, advised him.
+
+"I know women," said that worthy, and indeed no man had more knowledge
+of the class which stood for women in his mind than he, "and all you
+want is to give her time. Wait until she knows what's happened to the
+rest of them, and sees only you have power to protect her, and she will
+come to heel right enough. Besides, you haven't given her half a chance.
+She's only seen you weapon in hand. She doesn't know what a man you are,
+Captain. Sink me, if I'd your looks instead of this old, scarred,
+one-eyed face, there'd be no man I'd give way to and no woman I'd not
+win! Steer her along gently with an easy helm. Don't jam her up into the
+wind all of a sudden. Women have to be coaxed. Leave the girl alone a
+watch. Don't go near her; let her think what she pleases. Don't let
+anybody go near her unless it's me, and she won't get anything out of
+me, you can depend upon that! She'll be so anxious to talk to you in the
+morning that you can make her do anything. Then if you can starve that
+Spanish dog and break his spirit, so that she'll see him crawling at
+your feet, she'll sicken of him and turn to a man."
+
+"Scuttle me," laughed Morgan, "your advice is good! I didn't know you
+knew so much about the sex."
+
+"I've mixed up considerable with them in sixty years, Captain," leered
+the old man. "What I don't know about them ain't worth knowing."
+
+"It seems so. Well, I'll stay away from her till the morning. I shall be
+busy anyway trying to straighten out these drunken sots, and do you put
+the screws on that captain and leave the lady alone--but see that she
+lacks nothing."
+
+"Ay, ay, trust me for them both."
+
+Hornigold found means during the day--and it was a matter of no little
+difficulty to elude the guards he himself had placed there--to inform
+Mercedes of the escape of Alvarado, and to advise her that he expected
+the return of that young man with the troops of the Viceroy at ten
+o'clock that night. He bade her be of good cheer, that he did not think
+it likely that Morgan would think of calling upon her or of sending for
+her until morning, when it would be too late. He promised that he would
+watch over her and do what he could to protect her; that he would never
+leave the fort except for a few moments before ten that night, when he
+went to admit Alvarado. What was better earnest of his purpose was that
+he furnished her with a keen dagger, small enough to conceal in the
+bosom of her dress, and advised her if worst came to worst, and there
+was no other way, to use it. He impressed on her that on no account was
+she to allow Morgan to get the slightest inkling of his communication to
+her, for if the chief buccaneer found this out Hornigold's life would
+not be worth a moment's thought, and Alvarado would be balked in his
+plans of rescue.
+
+Mercedes most thankfully received the weapon and promised to respect the
+confidence. She was grateful beyond measure, and he found it necessary
+harshly to admonish her that he only assisted her because he had
+promised Alvarado that she should receive no harm, and that his own
+safety depended upon hers. He did not say so, but under other
+circumstances he would have as ruthlessly appropriated her for himself
+as Morgan intended to do, and without the shadow of a scruple.
+
+As far as creature comforts were concerned the two women fared well.
+Indeed, they were sumptuously, lavishly, prodigally provided for. Senora
+Agapida was still in a state of complete prostration. She lay helpless
+on a couch in the apartment and ministering to her distracted the poor
+girl's mind, yet such a day as Mercedes de Lara passed she prayed she
+might never again experience. The town was filled with the shouts and
+cries of the buccaneers wandering to and fro, singing drunken choruses,
+now and again routing out hidden fugitives from places of fancied
+security and torturing them with ready ingenuity whenever they were
+taken. The confusion was increased and the noise diversified by the
+shrieks and groans of these miserable wretches. Sometimes the voices
+that came through the high windows were those of women, and the sound of
+their screams made the heart of the brave girl sink like lead in her
+breast.
+
+For the rest, she did not understand Hornigold's position. She did not
+know whether to believe him or not, but of one thing was she certain.
+Whereas she had been defenceless now she had a weapon, and she could use
+it if necessary. With that in hand she was mistress at least of her own
+fate.
+
+As evening drew on, every thing having been attended to, Morgan began to
+tire of his isolation, and time hung heavy on his hands. He was weary of
+the women whom he had hitherto consorted with; the other officers,
+between whom and himself there was no sort of friendship, were busy with
+their own nefarious wickednesses in the different parts of the fort or
+town, and he sat a long time alone in the guardroom, drinking, Black
+Dog, as usual, pouring at his side. The liquor inflamed his imagination
+and he craved companionship. Summoning Hornigold at last, he bade him
+bring Donna Mercedes before him. The old man attempted to expostulate,
+but Morgan's mood had changed and he brooked no hesitation in obeying
+any order given by him. There was nothing for the boatswain to do but to
+comply.
+
+Once more Mercedes, therefore, found herself in the guardroom of the
+fort in the presence of the man she loathed and feared above all others
+in creation. Her situation, however, was vastly different from what it
+had been. On the first occasion there had appeared no hope. Now Alvarado
+was free and she had a weapon. She glanced at the clock, a recent
+importation from Spain hanging upon the wall, as she entered, and saw
+that it was half-after nine. Ten was the hour Hornigold had appointed to
+meet Alvarado at the gate. She hoped that he would be early rather than
+late; and, if she could withstand the buccaneer by persuasion, seeming
+compliance, or by force, for a short space, all would be well. For she
+never doubted that her lover would come for her. Even if he had to come
+single-handed and alone to fight for her, she knew he would be there.
+Therefore, with every nerve strained almost to the breaking point to
+ward off his advances and to delay any action he might contemplate, she
+faced the buccaneer.
+
+He was dressed with barbaric magnificence in the riches and plunder he
+had appropriated, and he had adorned his person with a profusion of
+silver and gold, and stolen gems. He had been seated at the table while
+served by the maroon, but, as she entered, with unusual complaisance he
+arose and bowed to her with something of the grace of a gentleman.
+
+"Madam," he said, endeavoring to make soft and agreeable his harsh
+voice, "I trust you have been well treated since in my charge."
+
+He had been drinking heavily she saw, but as he spoke her fair she would
+answer him accordingly. To treat him well, to temporize, and not to
+inflame his latent passion by unnecessarily crossing him, would be her
+best policy, she instantly divined, although she hated and despised him
+none the less. On his part, he had determined to try the gentler arts of
+persuasion, and though his face still bore the welts made by her riding
+whip the night before he strove to forget it and play the gentleman. He
+had some qualities, as a buccaneer, that might entitle him to a certain
+respect, but when he essayed the gentleman his performance was so futile
+that had it not been so terrible it would have been ludicrous. She
+answered his question calmly without exhibiting resentment or annoyance.
+
+"We have been comfortably lodged and provided with food and drink in
+sufficiency, senor."
+
+"And what more would you have, Donna Mercedes?"
+
+"Liberty, sir!"
+
+"That shall be yours. Saving only my will, when you are married to me,
+you shall be as free as air. A free sailor and his free wife, lady. But
+will you not sit down?"
+
+In compliance with his request, she seated herself on a chair which
+happened to be near where she stood; she noted with relief that the
+table was between them.
+
+"Nay, not there," said the Captain instantly. "Here, madam, here, at my
+side."
+
+"Not yet, senor capitan; it were not fit that a prisoner should occupy
+so high a seat of honor. Wait until----"
+
+"Until what, pray?" he cried, leaning forward.
+
+"Until that--until I--until we----"
+
+In spite of her efforts she could not force her lips to admit the
+possibility of the realization of his desire.
+
+"Until you are Lady Morgan?" he cried, his face flaming.
+
+She buried her face in her hands at his suggestion, for she feared her
+horror in the thought would show too plainly there; and then because she
+dare not lose sight of him, she constrained herself to look at him once
+more. Her cheeks were burning with shame, her eyes flashing with
+indignation, though she forced her lips into the semblance of a smile.
+
+"That surprises you, does it?" continued the man with boasting
+condescension. "You did not think I designed so to honor you after last
+night, madam? Scuttle me, these"--pointing to his face--"are fierce love
+taps, but I fancy a strong will--when I can break it to mine own," he
+muttered, "and I have yet to see that in man or woman that could resist
+mine."
+
+She noted with painful fascination the powerful movements of his lean
+fingers as he spoke, for his sinewy right hand, wrinkled and hideous,
+lay stretched out on the table before him, and he clasped and unclasped
+it unconsciously as he made his threat.
+
+"I like you none the less for your spirit, ma'am. 'Fore God, it runs
+with your beauty. You are silent," he continued, staring at her with
+red-eyed, drunken suspicion. "You do not answer?"
+
+"My lord," cried Mercedes, "I know not what to say."
+
+"Say, 'Harry Morgan, I love you and I am yours.'"
+
+"There is another present, senor."
+
+"Where? Another? Who has dared--" roared the buccaneer glaring about
+him.
+
+"Thy servant--the negro."
+
+"Oh," he laughed, "he is nothing. Black Dog, we call him. He is my
+slave, my shadow, my protection. He is always by."
+
+An idea had swiftly flashed into the young girl's mind. If she could get
+rid of the slave she could deal more easily with the master. She was
+tall, strong, and Morgan, it appeared, was not in full possession of his
+faculties or his strength from the liquor he had imbibed.
+
+"Still," she urged, "I do not like to be wooed in the presence of
+another, even though he be a slave. 'Tis not a Spanish maiden's way,
+sir."
+
+"Your will now, lady," said the buccaneer, with a hideous attempt at
+gallantry, "is my law. Afterwards--'twill be another matter. Out, Carib,
+but be within call. Now, madam, we are alone. Speak you the English
+tongue?"
+
+The conversation had been carried on in Spanish heretofore.
+
+"Indifferently, senor."
+
+"Well, I'll teach it you. The lesson may as well begin now. Say after
+me, 'Harry'--I permit that though I am a belted knight of England, made
+so by His Merry Majesty, King Charles, God rest him. Drink to the repose
+of the king!" he cried, shoving a cup across the table toward her.
+
+Resisting a powerful temptation to throw it at him, and divining that
+the stimulant might be of assistance to her in the trying crisis in
+which she found herself, the girl lifted the cup to her lips, bowed to
+him, and swallowed a portion of the contents.
+
+"Give it back to me!" he shouted. "You have tasted it, I drain it. Now
+the lesson. Say after me, 'Harry Morgan'----"
+
+"Harry Morgan," gasped the girl.
+
+"'I love thee.'"
+
+With a swift inward prayer she uttered the lying words.
+
+"You have learned well, and art an apt pupil indeed," he cried, leering
+upon her in approbation and lustful desire--- his very gaze was
+pollution to her. "D'ye know there are few women who can resist me when
+I try to be agreeable? Harry Morgan's way!" he laughed again. "There be
+some that I have won and many I have forced. None like you. So you love
+me? Scuttle me, I thought so. Ben Hornigold was right. Woo a woman, let
+her be clipped willingly in arms--yet there's a pleasure in breaking in
+the jades, after all. Still, I'm glad that you are in a better mood and
+have forgot that cursed Spaniard rotting in the dungeons below, in favor
+of a better man, Harry--no, I'll say, Sir Henry--Morgan--on this
+occasion, at your service," he cried, rising again and bowing to her as
+before.
+
+She looked desperately at the clock. The hour was close at hand. So
+great was the strain under which she was laboring that she felt she
+could not continue five minutes longer. Would Alvarado never come? Would
+anybody come? She sat motionless and white as marble, while the
+chieftain stared at her in the pauses of his monologue.
+
+"Now, madam, since you have spoke the words perhaps you will further
+wipe out the recollection of this caress--" he pointed to his cheek
+again. "Curse me!" he cried in sudden heat, "you are the only human
+being that ever struck Harry Morgan on the face and lived to see the
+mark. I'd thought to wait until to-morrow and fetch some starveling
+priest to play his mummery, but why do so? We are alone here--together.
+There is none to disturb us. Black Dog watches. You love me, do you
+not?"
+
+"I--I--" she gasped out, brokenly praying for strength, and fighting for
+time.
+
+"You said it once, that's enough. Come, lady, let's have happiness while
+we may. Seal the bargain and kiss away the blows."
+
+He came around the table and approached her. Notwithstanding the
+quantity of liquor he had taken he was physically master of himself, she
+noticed with a sinking heart. As he drew near, she sprang to her feet
+also and backed away from him, throwing out her left hand to ward him
+off, at the same time thrusting her right hand into her bosom.
+
+"Not now," she cried, finding voice and word in the imminence of the
+peril. "Oh, for God's sake----"
+
+"Tis useless to call on God in Harry Morgan's presence, mistress, for he
+is the only God that hears. Come and kiss me, thou black beauty--and
+then--"
+
+"To-morrow, for Christ's sake!" cried the girl. "I am a Christian--I
+must have a priest--not now--to-morrow!"
+
+She was backed against the wall and could go no further.
+
+"To-night," chuckled the buccaneer.
+
+He was right upon her now. She thrust him, unsuspicious and unprepared,
+violently from her, whipped out the dagger that Hornigold had given her,
+and faced him boldly.
+
+It was ten o'clock and no one had yet appeared. The struck hour
+reverberated through the empty room. Would Alvarado never come? Had it
+not been that she hoped for him she would have driven the tiny weapon
+into her heart at once, but for his sake she would wait a little longer.
+
+"Nay, come no nearer!" she cried resolutely. "If you do, you will take
+a dead woman in your arms. Back, I say!" menacing herself with the
+point.
+
+And the man noted that the hand holding the weapon did not tremble in
+the least.
+
+"Thinkest thou that I could love such a man as thou?" she retorted,
+trembling with indignation, all the loathing and contempt she had
+striven to repress finding vent in her voice. "I'd rather be torn limb
+from limb than feel even the touch of thy polluting hand!"
+
+"Death and fury!" shouted Morgan, struggling between rage and
+mortification, "thou hast lied to me then?"
+
+"A thousand times--yes! Had I a whip I'd mark you again. Come within
+reach and I will drive the weapon home!"
+
+She lifted it high in the air and shook it in defiance as she spoke.
+
+It was a frightful imprudence, for which she paid dearly, however, for
+the hangings parted and Carib, who had heard what had gone on, entered
+the room--indeed, the voices of the man and woman filled with passion
+fairly rang through the hall. His quick eye took in the situation at
+once. He carried at his belt a long, heavy knife. Without saying a word,
+he pulled it out and threw it with a skill born of long practice, which
+made him a master at the game, fairly at the woman's uplifted hand.
+Before either Morgan or Mercedes were aware of his presence they heard
+the whistle of the heavy blade through the air. At the same moment the
+missile struck the blade of the dagger close to the palm of the woman
+and dashed it from her hand. Both weapons rebounded from the wall from
+the violence of the blow and fell at Morgan's feet.
+
+Mercedes was helpless.
+
+"Well done, Carib!" cried Morgan exultantly. "Never has that old trick
+of thine served me better. Now, you she-devil--I have you in my power.
+Didst prefer death to Harry Morgan? Thou shalt have it, and thy lover,
+too. I'll tear him limb from limb and in thy presence, too, but not
+until after----"
+
+"Oh, God! oh, God!" shrieked Mercedes, flattening herself against the
+wall, shrinking from him with wide outstretched arms as he approached
+her. "Mercy!"
+
+"I know not that word. Wouldst cozen me? Hast another weapon in thy
+bodice? I'll look."
+
+Before she could prevent him he seized her dress at the collar with both
+hands and, in spite of her efforts, by a violent wrench tore it open.
+
+"No weapon there," he cried. "Ha! That brings at last the color to your
+pale cheek!" he added, as the rich red crimsoned the ivory of her neck
+and cheek at this outrage.
+
+"Help, help!" she screamed. Her voice rang high through the apartment
+with indignant and terrified appeal.
+
+"Call again," laughed Morgan.
+
+"Kill me, kill me!" she begged.
+
+"Nay, you must live to love me! Ho! ho!" he answered, taking her in his
+arms.
+
+"Mercy! Help!" she cried in frenzy, all the woman in her in arms against
+the outrage, though she knew her appeal was vain, when, wonder of
+wonders----
+
+"I heard a lady's voice," broke upon her ears from the other end of the
+room.
+
+"De Lussan!" roared Morgan, releasing her and turning toward the
+intruder. "Here's no place for you. How came you here? I'd chosen this
+room for myself, I wish to be private. Out of it, and thank me for your
+life!"
+
+"I know not why you should have Donna de Lara against her will, and when
+better men are here," answered the Frenchman, staring with bold, cruel
+glances at her, beautiful in her disarray, "and if you keep her you must
+fight for her. Mademoiselle," he continued, baring his sword
+gracefully and saluting her, "will you have me for your champion?"
+
+[Illustration: "Hast another weapon in thy bodice?"]
+
+His air was as gallant as if he had been a gentleman and bound in honor
+to rescue a lady in dire peril of life and honor, instead of another
+ruffian inflamed by her beauty and desirous to possess her himself.
+
+"Save me! Save me," she cried, "from this man!"
+
+She did not realize the meaning of de Lussan's words, she only saw a
+deliverer for the present. It was ten minutes past the hour now. She
+welcomed any respite; her lover might come at any moment.
+
+"I will fight the both of you for her," cried the Frenchman; "you, Black
+Dog, and you, Master Morgan. Draw, unless you are a coward."
+
+"I ought to have you hanged, you mutinous hound!" shouted Morgan, "and
+hanged you shall be, but not until I have proved myself your master with
+the sword, as in all other things. Watch the woman, Carib, and keep out
+of this fray. Lay hand on her at your peril! Remember, she is mine."
+
+"Or it may be mine," answered de Lussan, as Morgan dashed at him.
+
+They engaged without hesitation and the room was filled with the sound
+of ringing, grating steel. First pulling the pins from her glorious
+hair, Mercedes shook it down around her bare shoulders, and then stood,
+fascinated, watching the fencers. She could make no movement from the
+wall as the negro stood at her arm. For a space neither of the fighters
+had any advantage. De Lussan's skill was marvelous, but the chief
+buccaneer was more than his match. Presently the strength and capacity
+of the older and more experienced swordsman began to give him a slight
+advantage. Hard pressed, the Frenchman, still keeping an inexorable
+guard, slowly retreated up the room.
+
+Both men had been so intensely occupied with the fierce play that they
+had not heard the sound of many feet outside, a sudden tumult in the
+street. The keen ear of the half-breed, however, detected that something
+was wrong.
+
+"Master," he cried, "some one comes. I hear shouts in the night air. A
+shot! Shrieks--groans! There! The clash of arms! Lower your weapons,
+sirs!" he cried again, as Spanish war cries filled the air. "We are
+betrayed; the enemy is on us!"
+
+Instantly Morgan and de Lussan broke away from each other.
+
+"To-morrow," cried the buccaneer captain.
+
+"As you will," returned the other.
+
+But now, Mercedes, staking all upon her hope, lifted her voice, and
+with tremendous power begot by fear and hope sent ringing through the
+air that name which to her meant salvation--
+
+"Alvarado! Alvarado!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+HOW CAPTAIN ALVARADO CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS, FOUND THE VICEROY, AND
+PLACED HIS LIFE IN HIS MASTER'S HANDS
+
+
+The highway between La Guayra and Venezuela was exceedingly rough and
+difficult, and at best barely practicable for the stoutest wagons. The
+road wound around the mountains for a distance of perhaps twenty-five
+miles, although as the crow flies it was not more than five miles
+between the two cities. Between them, however, the tremendous ridge of
+mountains rose to a height of nearly ten thousand feet. Starting from
+the very level of the sea, the road crossed the divide through a
+depression at an altitude of about six thousand feet and descended
+thence some three thousand feet to the valley in which lay Caracas.
+
+This was the road over which Alvarado and Mercedes had come and on the
+lower end of which they had been captured. It was now barred for the
+young soldier by the detachment of buccaneers under young Teach and
+L'Ollonois, who were instructed to hold the pass where the road crossed
+through, or over, the mountains. Owing to the configuration of the pass,
+that fifty could hold it against a thousand. It was not probable that
+news of the sack of La Guayra would reach Caracas before Morgan
+descended upon it, but to prevent the possibility, or to check any
+movement of troops toward the shore, it was necessary to hold that road.
+The man who held it was in position to protect or strike either city at
+will. It was, in fact, the key to the position.
+
+Morgan, of course, counted upon surprising the unfortified capital as he
+had the seaport town. It was the boast of the Spaniards that they needed
+no walls about Caracas, since nature had provided them with the mighty
+rampart of the mountain range, which could not be surmounted save in
+that one place. With that one place in the buccaneer's possession,
+Caracas could only rely upon the number and valor of her defenders. To
+Morgan's onslaught could only be opposed a rampart of blades and hearts.
+Had there been a state of war in existence it is probable that the
+Viceroy would have fortified and garrisoned the pass, but under present
+conditions nothing had been done. As soon as a messenger from Teach
+informed Morgan that the pass had been occupied and that all seemed
+quiet in Caracas, a fact which had been learned by some bold scouting
+on the farther side of the mountain, he was perfectly easy as to the
+work of the morrow. He would fall upon the unwalled town at night and
+carry everything by a _coup de main_.
+
+Fortunately for the Spaniards in this instance, it happened that there
+was another way of access to the valley of Caracas from La Guayra.
+Directly up and over the mountain there ran a narrow and difficult
+trail, known first to the savages and afterwards to wandering smugglers
+or masterless outlaws. Originally, and until the Spaniards made the
+wagon road, it had been the only way of communication between the two
+towns. But the path was so difficult and so dangerous that it had long
+since been abandoned, even by the classes which had first discovered and
+traveled it. These vagabonds had formerly kept it in such a state of
+repair that it was fairly passable, but no work had been done on it for
+nearly one hundred years. Indeed, in some places, the way had been
+designedly obliterated by the Spanish Government about a century since,
+after one of the most daring exploits that ever took place in the new
+world.
+
+Ninety years before this incursion by the buccaneers, a bold English
+naval officer, Sir Amyas Preston, after seizing La Guayra, had captured
+Caracas by means of this path. The Spaniards, apprised of his descent
+upon their coasts, had fortified the mountain pass but had neglected
+this mountain trail, as a thing impracticable for any force. Preston,
+however, adroitly concealing his movements, had actually forced his men
+to ascend the trail. The ancient chroniclers tell of the terrific nature
+of the climb, how the exhausted and frightened English sailors dropped
+upon the rocks, appalled by their dangers and worn out by their
+hardships, how Preston and his officers forced them up at the point of
+the sword until finally they gained the crest and descended into the
+valley. They found the town unprotected, for all its defenders were in
+the pass, seized it, held it for ransom, then, sallying forth, took the
+surprised Spanish troops in the pass in the rear and swept them away.
+
+After this exploit some desultory efforts had been made by the Spaniards
+to render the trail still more impracticable with such success as has
+been stated, and it gradually fell into entire disuse. By nearly all the
+inhabitants its very existence had been forgotten.
+
+It was this trail that Alvarado determined to ascend. The difficulties
+in his way, even under the most favorable circumstances, might well have
+appalled the stoutest-hearted mountaineer. In the darkness they would be
+increased a thousand-fold. He had not done a great deal of mountain
+climbing, although every one who lived in Venezuela was more or less
+familiar with the practice; but he was possessed of a cool head, an
+unshakable nerve, a resolute determination, and unbounded strength,
+which now stood him in good stead. And he had back of him, to urge him,
+every incentive in the shape of love and duty that could move humanity
+to godlike deed.
+
+Along the base of the mountain the trail was not difficult although it
+was pitch-dark under the trees which, except where the mighty cliffs
+rose sheer in the air like huge buttresses of the range, covered the
+mountains for the whole expanse of their great altitude, therefore he
+made his way upward without trouble or accident at first. The moon's
+rays could not pierce the density of the tropic foliage, of course, but
+Alvarado was very familiar with this easier portion of the way, for he
+had often traversed it on hunting expeditions, and he made good progress
+for several hours in spite of the obscurity.
+
+It had been long past midnight when he started, and it was not until
+daybreak that he passed above the familiar and not untrodden way and
+entered upon the most perilous part of his journey. The gray dawn
+revealed to him the appalling dangers he must face.
+
+Sometimes clinging with iron grasp to pinnacles of rock, he swung
+himself along the side of some terrific precipice, where the slightest
+misstep meant a rush into eternity upon the rocks a thousand feet below.
+Sometimes he had to spring far across great gorges in the mountains that
+had once been bridged by mighty trunks of trees, long since moldered
+away. Sometimes there was nothing for him to do but to scramble down the
+steep sides of some dark canyon and force himself through cold torrential
+mountain streams that almost swept him from his feet. Again his path lay
+over cliffs green with moss and wet with spray, which afforded most
+precarious support to his grasping hands or slipping feet. Sometimes he
+had to force a way through thick tropic undergrowth that tore his
+clothing into rags.
+
+Had he undertaken the ascent in a mere spirit of adventure he would have
+turned back long since from the dangers he met and surmounted with such
+hardship and difficulty; but he was sustained by the thought of the
+dreadful peril of the woman he loved, the remembrance of the sufferings
+of the hapless townspeople, and a consuming desire for revenge upon the
+man who had wrought this ruin on the shore. With the pale, beautiful
+face of Mercedes to lead him, and by contrast the hateful, cruel
+countenance of Morgan to force him, ever before his vision, the man
+plunged upward with unnatural strength, braving dangers, taking chances,
+doing the impossible--and Providence watched over him.
+
+It was perhaps nine o'clock in the morning when he reached the
+summit--breathless, exhausted, unhelmed, weaponless, coatless, in rags;
+torn, bruised, bleeding, but unharmed--and looked down on the white city
+of Caracas set in its verdant environment like a handful of pearls in a
+goblet of emerald. He had wondered if he would be in time to intercept
+the Viceroy, and his strained heart leaped in his tired breast when he
+saw, a few miles beyond the town on the road winding toward the Orinoco
+country, a body of men. The sunlight blazing from polished helms or
+pointed lance tips proclaimed that they were soldiers. He would be in
+time, thank God!
+
+With renewed vigor, he scrambled down the side of the mountain--and this
+descent fortunately happened to be gentle and easy--and running with
+headlong speed, he soon drew near the gate of the palace. He dashed into
+it with reckless haste, indifferent to the protests of the guard, who
+did not at first recognize in the tattered, bloody, wounded, soiled
+specimen of humanity his gay and gallant commander. He made himself
+known at once, and was confirmed in his surmise that the Viceroy had
+set forth with his troops early in the morning and was still in reaching
+distance on the road.
+
+[Illustration: ... he reached the summit--breathless, exhausted,
+unhelmed, weaponless, coatless, in rags; torn, bruised, bleeding, but
+unharmed.]
+
+Directing the best horse in the stables to be brought to him, after
+snatching a hasty meal while it was being saddled, and not even taking
+time to re-clothe himself, he mounted and galloped after. An hour later
+he burst through the ranks of the little army and reined in his horse
+before the astonished Viceroy, who did not recognize in this sorry
+cavalier his favorite officer, and stern words of reproof for the
+unceremonious interruption of the horseman broke from his lips until
+they were checked by the first word from the young captain.
+
+"The buccaneers have taken La Guayra and sacked it!" gasped Alvarado
+hoarsely.
+
+"Alvarado!" cried the Viceroy, recognizing him as he spoke. "Are you
+mad?"
+
+"Would God I were, my lord."
+
+"The buccaneers?"
+
+"Morgan--all Spain hates him with reason--led them!"
+
+"Morgan! That accursed scourge again in arms? Impossible! I don't
+understand!"
+
+"The very same! 'Tis true! 'tis true! Oh, your Excellency----"
+
+"And my daughter----"
+
+"A prisoner! For God's love turn back the men!"
+
+"Instantly!" cried the Viceroy.
+
+He was burning with anxiety to hear more, but he was too good a soldier
+to hesitate as to the first thing to be done. Raising himself in his
+stirrups he gave a few sharp commands and the little army, which had
+halted when he had, faced about and began the return march to Caracas at
+full speed. As soon as their manoeuvres had been completed and they
+moved off, the Viceroy, who rode at the head with Alvarado and the
+gentlemen of his suite, broke into anxious questioning.
+
+"Now, Captain, but that thou art a skilled soldier I could not believe
+thy tale."
+
+"My lord, I swear it is true!"
+
+"And you left Donna Mercedes a prisoner?" interrupted de Tobar, who had
+been consumed with anxiety even greater than that of the Viceroy.
+
+"Alas, 'tis so."
+
+"How can that be when you are free, senor?"
+
+"Let me question my own officer, de Tobar," resumed the Viceroy
+peremptorily, "and silence, all, else we learn nothing. Now, Alvarado.
+What is this strange tale of thine?"
+
+"My lord, after we left you yesterday morning we made the passage safely
+down the mountain. Toward evening as we approached La Guayra, just
+before the point where the road turns into the strand, we were set upon
+by men in ambush. The soldiers and attendants were without exception
+slain. Although I fought and beat down one or two of our assailants,
+they struck me to the earth and took me alive. The two ladies and I
+alone escaped. No indignity was offered them. I was bound and we were
+led along the road to a camp. There appeared to be some three hundred
+and fifty men under the leadership of a man who claimed to be Sir Henry
+Morgan, sometime pirate and robber, later Vice-Governor of Jamaica, now,
+as I gathered, in rebellion against his king and in arms against us.
+They captured the plate galleon with lading from Porto Bello and Peru,
+and were wrecked on this coast to the westward of La Guayra. They had
+determined upon the capture of that town, whence they expected to move
+on Caracas."
+
+"And Mercedes?" again interrupted the impetuous and impassioned de
+Tobar.
+
+"Let him tell his tale!" commanded the Viceroy, sternly. "It behooves
+us, gentlemen, to think first of the cities of our King."
+
+"They had captured a band of holy nuns and priests. These were forced,
+especially the women, by threats you can imagine, to plant scaling
+ladders against the walls, and, although the troops made a brave
+defense, the buccaneers mastered them. They carried the place by storm
+and sacked it. When I left it was burning in several places and turned
+into a hell."
+
+"My God!" ejaculated the old man, amid the cries and oaths of his
+fierce, infuriated men. "And now tell me about Mercedes."
+
+"Morgan--who met her, you remember, when we stopped at Jamaica on our
+return from Madrid?"
+
+"Yes, yes!"
+
+"He is in love with her. He wanted to make her his wife. Therefore he
+kept her from the soldiery."
+
+In his eagerness the Viceroy reined in his horse, and the officers and
+men, even the soldiers, stopped also and crowded around the narrator.
+
+"Did he--did he--O Holy Mother have pity upon me!" groaned the Viceroy.
+
+"He did her no violence save to kiss her, while I was by."
+
+"And you suffered it!" shouted de Tobar, beside himself with rage.
+
+"What did she then?" asked the old man, waving his hand for silence.
+
+"She struck him in the face again and again with her riding-whip. I was
+bound, senors. I broke my bonds, struck down one of the guards, wrested
+a sword from another, and sprang to defend her. But they overpowered
+me. Indeed, they seized the lady and swore to kill her unless I dropped
+my weapon."
+
+"Death," cried de Lara, "would have been perhaps a fitting end for her.
+What more?"
+
+"We were conveyed into the city after the sack. He insulted her again
+with his compliments and propositions. He sent a slave to fetch her,
+but, bound as I was, I sprang upon him and beat him down."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Then one of his men, an ancient, one-eyed sailor, interfered and bade
+him look to the town, else it would be burned over his head, and urged
+him to secure the pass. In this exigency the pirate desisted from his
+plan against the lady. He sent Donna Mercedes to a dungeon, me to
+another."
+
+"How came you here, sir, and alone?" asked de Tobar, again interrupting,
+and this time the Viceroy, pitying the agony of the lover, permitted the
+question. "Did you, a Spanish officer, leave the lady defenseless amid
+those human tigers?"
+
+"There was nothing else to do, Don Felipe. The sailor who interfered, he
+set me free. I did refuse to leave without the senorita. He told me I
+must go without her or not at all. He promised to protect her honor or
+to kill her--at least to furnish her with a weapon. To go, to reach
+you, your Excellency, was the only chance for her. Going, I might save
+her; staying, I could only die."
+
+"You did rightly. I commend you," answered the veteran. "Go on."
+
+"My lord, I thank you. The way over the road was barred by the party
+that had seized the pass."
+
+"And how came you?"
+
+"Straight over the mountain, sir."
+
+"What! The Indian trail? The English way?"
+
+"The same."
+
+"What next?"
+
+"At ten to-night, the sailor who released me will open the city gate,
+the west gate, beneath the shadow of the cliffs--we must be there!"
+
+"But how? Can we take the pass? It is strongly held, you say."
+
+"My lord, give me fifty brave men who will volunteer to follow me. I
+will lead them back over the trail and we will get to the rear of the
+men holding the pass. Do you make a feint at engaging them in force in
+front and when their attention is distracted elsewhere we will fall on
+and drive them into your arms. By this means we open the way. Then we
+will post down the mountains with speed and may arrive in time. Nay, we
+must arrive in time! Hornigold, the sailor, would guarantee nothing
+beyond to-night. The buccaneers are drunk with liquor; tired out with
+slaughter. They will suspect nothing. We can master the whole three
+hundred and fifty of them with five score men."
+
+"Alvarado," cried the Viceroy, "thou hast done well. I thank thee. Let
+us but rescue my daughter and defeat these buccaneers and thou mayest
+ask anything at my hands--saving one thing. Gentlemen and soldiers, you
+have heard the plan of the young captain. Who will volunteer to go over
+the mountains with him?"
+
+Brandishing their swords and shouting with loud acclaim the great body
+of troopers pressed forward to the service. Alvarado, who knew them all,
+rapidly selected the requisite number, and they fell in advance of the
+others. Over them the young captain placed his friend de Tobar as his
+second in command.
+
+"'Tis bravely done!" cried the Viceroy. "Now prick forward to the city,
+all. We'll refresh ourselves in view of the arduous work before us and
+then make our further dispositions."
+
+The streets of Caracas were soon full of armed men preparing for their
+venture. As soon as the plight of La Guayra and the Viceroy's daughter
+became known there was scarcely a civilian, even, who did not offer
+himself for the rescue. The Viceroy, however, would take only mounted
+men, and of these only tried soldiers. Alvarado, whom excitement and
+emotion kept from realizing his fatigue, was provided with fresh
+apparel, after which he requested a private audience for a moment or two
+with the Viceroy, and together they repaired to the little cabinet which
+had been the scene of the happenings the night before.
+
+"Your Excellency," began the young man, slowly, painfully, "I could not
+wait even the hoped-for happy issue of our plans to place my sword and
+my life in your hands."
+
+"What have you done?" asked the old man, instantly perceiving the
+seriousness of the situation from the anguish in his officer's look and
+voice.
+
+"I have broken my word--forfeited my life."
+
+"Proceed."
+
+"I love the Donna Mercedes----"
+
+"You promised to say nothing--to do nothing."
+
+"That promise I did not keep."
+
+"Explain."
+
+"There is nothing to explain. I was weak--it was beyond my strength. I
+offer no excuse."
+
+"You urge nothing in extenuation?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"'Twas deliberately done?"
+
+"Nay, not that; but I----"
+
+"S'death! What did you?"
+
+"I told her that I loved her, again----"
+
+"Shame! Shame!"
+
+"I took her into my arms once more----"
+
+"Thou double traitor! And she----"
+
+"My lord, condemn her not. She is young--a woman."
+
+"I do not consider Captain Alvarado, a dishonored soldier, my proper
+mentor. I shall know how to treat my daughter. What more?"
+
+"Nothing more. We abandoned ourselves to our dream, and at the first
+possible moment I am come to tell you all--to submit----"
+
+"Hast no plea to urge?" persisted the old man.
+
+"None."
+
+"But your reason? By God's death, why do you tell me these things? If
+thou art base enough to fall, why not base enough to conceal?"
+
+"I could not do so, your Excellency. I am not master of myself when she
+is by--'tis only when away from her I see things in their proper light.
+She blinds me. No, sir," cried the unhappy Alvarado, seeing a look of
+contempt on the grim face of the old general, "I do not urge this in
+defense, but you wanted explanation."
+
+"Nothing can explain the falsehood of a gentleman, the betrayal of a
+friend, the treachery of a soldier."
+
+"Nothing--hence I am here."
+
+"Perhaps I have estimated you too highly," went on the old man musingly.
+"I had hoped you were gentle--but base blood must run in your veins."
+
+"It may be," answered the young man brokenly, and then he added, as one
+detail not yet told, "I have found my mother, sir."
+
+"Thy mother? What is her condition?" cried the Viceroy, in curious and
+interested surprise that made him forget his wrath and contempt for the
+moment.
+
+"She was an abbess of our Holy Church. She died upon the sands of La
+Guayra by her own hand rather than surrender her honor or lend aid to
+the sack of the town."
+
+"That was noble," interrupted the old de Lara. "I may be mistaken after
+all. Yet 'twere well she died, for she will not see----"
+
+He paused significantly.
+
+"My shame?" asked Alvarado.
+
+"Thy death, senor, for what you have done. No other punishment is meet.
+Did Donna Mercedes send any message to me?"
+
+Alvarado could not trust himself to speak. He bowed deeply.
+
+"What was it?"
+
+The young man stood silent before him.
+
+"Well, I will learn from her own lips if she be alive when we come to
+the city. I doubt not it will excuse thee."
+
+"I seek not to shelter myself behind a woman."
+
+"That's well," said the old man. "But now, what is to be done with
+thee?"
+
+"My lord, give me a chance, not to live, but to die honestly. Let me
+play my part this day as becomes a man, and when Donna Mercedes is
+restored to your arms----"
+
+"Thou wilt plead for life?"
+
+"Nay, as God hears me, I will not live dishonored. Life is naught to me
+without the lady. I swear to thee----"
+
+"You have given me your word before, sir," said the old man sternly.
+
+"On this cross--it was my mother's," he pulled from his doublet the
+silver crucifix and held it up. "I will yield my life into your hands
+without question then, and acclaim before the world that you are
+justified in taking it. Believe me----"
+
+"Thou didst betray me once."
+
+"But not this time. Before God--by Christ, His Mother, by my own mother,
+dead upon the sands, by all that I have hoped for, by my salvation, I
+swear if I survive the day I will go gladly to my death at your
+command!"
+
+"I will trust you once more, thus far. Say naught of this to any one.
+Leave me!"
+
+"Your Excellency," cried the young man, kneeling before him, "may God
+reward you!"
+
+He strove to take the hand of the old man, but the latter drew it away.
+
+"Even the touch of forsworn lips is degradation. You have your orders.
+Go!"
+
+Alvarado buried his face in his hands, groaned bitterly, and turned away
+without another word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WHEREIN MASTER TEACH, THE PIRATE, DIES BETTER THAN HE LIVED
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It was nearing eleven o'clock in the morning when, after a hurried
+conference in the patio with the Viceroy and the others, Alvarado and de
+Tobar marched out with their fifty men. They had discarded all
+superfluous clothing; they were unarmored and carried no weapons but
+swords and pistols. In view of the hard climb before them and the haste
+that was required, they wished to be burdened as lightly as possible.
+Their horses were brought along in the train of the Viceroy's party
+which moved out upon the open road to the pass at the same time. These
+last went forward with great ostentation, the forlorn hope secretly,
+lest some from the buccaneers might be watching.
+
+The fifty volunteers were to ascend the mountain with all speed, make
+their way along the crest as best they could, until they came within
+striking distance of the camp of the pirates. Then they were to conceal
+themselves in the woods there and when the Viceroy made a feigned attack
+with the main body of his troops from the other side of the mountain,
+they were to leave their hiding-place and fall furiously upon the rear
+of the party. Fortunately, they were not required to ascend such a path
+as that Alvarado had traversed on the other side, for there were not
+fifty men in all Venezuela who could have performed that tremendous feat
+of mountaineering. The way to the summit of the range and thence to the
+pass was difficult, but not impossible, and they succeeded after an hour
+or two of hard climbing in reaching their appointed station, where they
+concealed themselves in the woods, unobserved by Teach's men.
+
+The Viceroy carried out his part of the programme with the promptness of
+a soldier. Alvarado's men had scarcely settled themselves in the thick
+undergrowth beneath the trees whence they could overlook the buccaneers
+in camp on the road below them, before a shot from the pirate sentry
+who had been posted toward Caracas called the fierce marauders to arms.
+They ran to the rude barricade they had erected covering the pass and
+made preparation for battle. Soon the wood was ringing with shouts and
+cries and the sound of musketry.
+
+Although Teach was a natural soldier and L'Ollonois an experienced and
+prudent commander, they took no precaution whatever to cover their rear,
+for such a thing as an assault from that direction was not even dreamed
+of.
+
+Alvarado and de Tobar, therefore, led their men forward without the
+slightest opposition. Even the noise they made crashing through the
+undergrowth was lost in the sound of the battle, and attracted no
+attention from the enemy. It was not until they burst out into the open
+road and charged forward, cheering madly, that the buccaneers realized
+their danger. Some of them faced about, only to be met by a murderous
+discharge from the pistols of the forlorn hope, and the next moment the
+Spaniards were upon them. The party holding the pass were the picked
+men, veterans, among the marauders. They met the onset with tremendous
+courage and crossed blades in the smoke like men, but at the same
+instant the advance guard of the main army sprang at the barricade and
+assaulted them vigorously from the other side. The odds were too much
+for the buccaneers, and after a wild melee in which they lost heavily,
+the survivors gave ground.
+
+The road immediately below the pass opened on a little plateau, back of
+which rose a precipitous wall of rock. Thither such of the buccaneers as
+were left alive hastily retreated. There were perhaps a dozen men able
+to use their weapons; among them Teach was the only officer. L'Ollonois
+had been cut down by de Tobar in the first charge. The Spaniards burst
+through the pass and surrounded the buccaneers. The firearms on both
+sides had all been discharged, and in the excitement no one thought of
+reloading; indeed, with the cumbersome and complicated weapons then in
+vogue there was no time, and the Spaniards, who had paid dearly for
+their victory, so desperate had been the defence of the pirates, were
+fain to finish this detachment in short order.
+
+"Yield!" cried Alvarado, as usual in the front ranks of his own men.
+"You are hopelessly overmatched," pointing with dripping blade to his
+own and the Viceroy's soldiers as he spoke.
+
+"Shall we get good quarter?" called out Teach.
+
+A splendid specimen he looked of an Englishman at bay, in spite of his
+wicked calling, standing with his back against the towering rock, his
+bare and bloody sword extended menacingly before him, the bright
+sunlight blazing upon his sunny hair, his blue eyes sparkling with
+battle-lust and determined courage. Quite the best of the pirates, he!
+
+"You shall be hung like the dogs you are," answered Alvarado sternly.
+
+"We'd rather die sword in hand, eh, lads?"
+
+"Ay, ay."
+
+"Come on, then, senors," laughed the Englishman gallantly, saluting with
+his sword, "and see how bravely we English can die when the game is
+played and we have lost."
+
+Though his cause was bad and his life also, his courage was magnificent.
+Under other circumstances it would have evoked the appreciation of
+Alvarado and some consideration at his hands. Possibly he might even
+have granted life to the man, but memory of the sights of the night
+before in that devastated town six thousand feet below their feet, and
+the deadly peril of his sweetheart banished pity from his soul. This man
+had been the right hand of Morgan; he was, after the captain, the ablest
+man among the buccaneers. He must die, and it would be a mercy to kill
+him out of hand, anyway.
+
+"Forward, gentlemen!" he cried, and instantly the whole mass closed in
+on the pirates. Such a fight as Teach and his men made was marvellous.
+For each life the Spaniards took the pirates exacted a high price, but
+the odds were too great for any human valor, however splendid, to
+withstand, and in a brief space the last of the buccaneers lay dying on
+the hill.
+
+Teach was game to the last. Pierced with a dozen wounds, his sword
+broken to pieces, he lifted himself on his elbow, and with a smile of
+defiance gasped out the brave chorus of the song of the poet of London
+town:
+
+    "Though life now is pleasant and sweet to the sense,
+    We'll be damnably mouldy a hundred years hence."
+
+"Tell Morgan," he faltered, "we did not betray--faithful to the end----"
+
+And so he died as he had lived.
+
+"A brave man!" exclaimed de Tobar with some feeling in his voice.
+
+"But a black-hearted scoundrel, nevertheless," answered Alvarado
+sternly. "Had you seen him last night----"
+
+"Ye have been successful, I see, gentlemen," cried the Viceroy, riding
+up with the main body. "Where is Alvarado?"
+
+"I am here, your Excellency."
+
+"You are yet alive, senor?"
+
+"My work is not yet complete," answered the soldier, "and I can not die
+until--I--Donna Mer--"
+
+"Bring up the led horses," interrupted the Viceroy curtly. "Mount these
+gentlemen. Let the chirurgeons look to the Spanish wounded."
+
+"And if there be any buccaneers yet alive?" asked one of the officers.
+
+"Toss them over the cliff," answered the Viceroy; "throw the bodies of
+all the carrion over, living or dead. They pollute the air. Form up,
+gentlemen! We have fully twenty-five miles between us and the town which
+we must reach at ten of the clock. 'Twill be hard riding. Alvarado,
+assemble your men and you and de Tobar lead the way, I will stay farther
+back and keep the main body from scattering. We have struck a brave blow
+first, and may God and St. Jago defend us further. Forward!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE RECITAL OF HOW CAPTAIN ALVARADO AND DON FELIPE DE TOBAR CAME TO THE
+RESCUE IN THE NICK OF TIME
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Old Hornigold had kept his promise, and Alvarado had kept his as well.
+It was a few minutes before ten when the first Spanish horsemen sprang
+from their jaded steeds at the end of the road. In that wild race down
+the mountains, Alvarado had ridden first with de Tobar ever by his side.
+None had been able to pass these two. The Viceroy had fallen some
+distance behind. For one reason, he was an old man, and the pace set by
+the lovers was killing. For another and a better, as he had said, he
+thought it desirable to stay somewhat in the rear to keep the men closed
+up; but the pace even of the last and slowest had been a tremendous
+one. Sparing neither themselves nor their horses, they had raced down
+the perilous way. Some of them had gone over the cliffs to instant
+destruction; others had been heavily thrown by the stumbling horses.
+Some of the horses had given out under the awful gallop and had fallen
+exhausted, but when the riders were unhurt they had joined the foot
+soldiers marching after the troopers as fast they could.
+
+Alvarado's soldierly instincts had caused him to halt where the road
+opened upon the sand, for he and de Tobar and the two or three who kept
+near them could do nothing alone. They were forced to wait until a
+sufficient force had assembled to begin the attack. He would have been
+there before the appointed time had it not been for this imperative
+delay, which demonstrated his capacity more than almost anything else
+could have done, for he was burning to rush to the rescue of Mercedes.
+
+Indeed, he had been compelled to restrain by force the impetuous and
+undisciplined de Tobar, who thought of nothing but the peril of the
+woman he adored. There had been a fierce altercation between the two
+young men before the latter could be persuaded that Alvarado was right.
+Each moment, however, added to the number of the party. There was no
+great distance between the first and last, and after a wait of perhaps
+ten or fifteen minutes, some one hundred and fifty horsemen were
+assembled. The Viceroy had not come up with the rest, but they were sure
+he would be along presently, and Alvarado would wait no longer.
+
+Bidding the men dismount lest they should be observed on horseback, and
+stationing one to acquaint the Viceroy with his plans, he divided his
+troop into three companies, he and de Tobar taking command of one and
+choosing the nearest fort as their objective point. Captain Agramonte, a
+veteran soldier, was directed to scour the town, and Lieutenant Nunez,
+another trusted officer, was ordered to master the eastern fort on the
+other side. They were directed to kill every man whom they saw at large
+in the city, shooting or cutting down every man abroad without
+hesitation, for Alvarado rightly divined that all the inhabitants would
+be penned up in some prison or other and that none would be on the
+streets except the buccaneers. There were still enough pirates in the
+city greatly to outnumber his force, but many of them were drunk and all
+of them, the Spaniard counted, would be unprepared. The advantage of the
+surprise would be with his own men. If he could hold them in play for
+twenty minutes the Viceroy with another detachment would arrive, and
+thereafter the end would be certain. They could take prisoners then and
+reserve them for torture and death--some meet punishment for their
+crimes.
+
+Those necessary preparations were made with the greatest speed, the men
+were told off in their respective companies, and then, keeping close
+under the shadow of the cliff for fear of a possible watcher, they
+started forward.
+
+Since ten old Ben Hornigold had been hidden in an arched recess of the
+gateway waiting their arrival. He had thought, as the slow minutes
+dragged by, that Alvarado had failed, and he began to contrive some way
+by which he could account for his escape to Morgan in the morning, when
+the captain would ask to have him produced, but the arrival of the
+Spaniards relieved his growing anxiety.
+
+"Donna Mercedes?" asked Alvarado of the old boatswain, as he entered the
+gate.
+
+"Safe when I left her in the guardroom with Morgan--and armed. If you
+would see her alive----"
+
+"This way----" cried Alvarado, dashing madly along the street toward the
+fort.
+
+Every man had his weapons in hand, and the little party had scarcely
+gone ten steps before they met a buccaneer. He had been asleep when he
+should have watched, and had just been awakened by the sound of their
+approach. He opened his mouth to cry out, but Alvarado thrust his sword
+through him before he could utter a sound. The moonlight made the street
+as light as day, and before they had gone twenty steps farther, turning
+the corner, they came upon a little party of the pirates. An immediate
+alarm was given by them. The Spaniards brushed them aside by the
+impetuosity of their onset, but on this occasion pistols were brought in
+play. Screams and cries followed the shots, and calls to arms rang
+through the town.
+
+But by this time the other companies were in the city, and they were
+making terrible havoc as they ran to their appointed stations. The
+buccaneers came pouring from the houses, most of them arms in hand. It
+could not be denied that they were ready men. But the three attacks
+simultaneously delivered bewildered them. The streets in all directions
+seemed full of foes. The advantage of the surprise was with the Spanish.
+The pirates were without leadership for the moment and ran aimlessly to
+and fro, not knowing where to rally; yet little bands did gather
+together instinctively, and these began to make some headway against the
+Spanish soldiery. Even the cowards fought desperately, for around every
+neck was already the feel of a halter.
+
+Alvarado and de Tobar soon found themselves detached from their company.
+Indeed, as the time progressed and the buccaneers began to perceive the
+situation they put up a more and more stubborn and successful
+opposition. They rallied in larger parties and offered a stout
+resistance to the Spanish charges. Disregarding their isolation, the two
+young officers ran to the fort. Fortunately the way in that direction
+was not barred. The solitary sentry at the gateway attempted to check
+them, but they cut him down in an instant. As they mounted the stair
+they heard, above the shrieks and cries and shots of the tumult that
+came blowing in the casement with the night wind, the sound of a woman's
+screams.
+
+"Mercedes!" cried de Tobar. "It is she!"
+
+They bounded up the stairs, overthrowing one or two startled men who
+would have intercepted them, and darted to the guardroom. They tore the
+heavy hangings aside and found themselves in a blaze of light in the
+long apartment. Two men confronted them. Back of the two, against the
+wall, in a piteous state of disorder and terror, stood the woman they
+both loved. In front of her, knife in hand, towered the half-breed.
+
+"Treason, treason!" shouted Morgan furiously. "We are betrayed! At them,
+de Lussan!"
+
+As he spoke the four men crossed swords. De Tobar was not the master of
+the weapon that the others were. After a few rapid parries and lunges
+the Frenchman had the measure of his brave young opponent. Then, with a
+laugh of evil intent, by a clever play he beat down the Spaniard's
+guard, shattering his weapon, and with a thrust as powerful as it was
+skilful, he drove the blade up to the hilt in poor de Tobar's bosom. The
+gallant but unfortunate gentleman dropped his own sword as he fell, and
+clasped his hands by a convulsive effort around the blade of de Lussan.
+Such was the violence of his grasp that he fairly hugged the sword to
+his breast, and when he fell backward upon the point the blade snapped.
+He was done for.
+
+Morgan and Alvarado, on the other hand, were more equally matched.
+Neither had gained an advantage, although both fought with energy and
+fury. Alvarado was silent, but Morgan made the air ring with shouts and
+cries for his men. As the swords clashed, Carib raised his hand to fling
+his knife at Alvarado, but, just as the weapon left his fingers,
+Mercedes threw herself upon him. The whizzing blade went wild. With a
+savage oath he seized a pistol and ran toward the Spaniard, who was at
+last getting the better of the Captain. A cry from Mercedes warned
+Alvarado of this new danger. Disengaging suddenly, he found himself at
+sword's point with de Lussan, who had withdrawn his broken weapon from
+de Tobar's body and was menacing him with it. With three opponents
+before him he backed up against the wall and at last gave tongue.
+
+"To me!" he cried loudly, hoping some of his men were within call.
+"Alvarado!"
+
+As he spoke Morgan closed with him once more, shouting:
+
+"On him, de Lussan! Let him have it, Black Dog! We've disposed of one!"
+
+As the blades crossed again, the desperate Spaniard, who was a swordsman
+of swordsmen, put forth all his power. There was a quick interchange of
+thrust and parry, and the weapon went whirling from the hand of the
+chief buccaneer. Quick as thought Alvarado shortened his arm and drove
+home the stroke. Morgan's life trembled in the balance. The maroon,
+however, who had been seeking a chance to fire, threw himself between
+the two men and received the force of the thrust full in the heart. His
+pistol was discharged harmlessly. He fell dead at his master's feet
+without even a groan. No more would Black Dog watch behind the old man's
+chair. He had been faithful to his hideous leader and his hideous creed.
+Before Alvarado could recover his guard, de Lussan struck him with his
+broken sword. The blow was parried by arm and dagger, but the force of
+it sent the Spaniard reeling against the wall. At the same instant
+Morgan seized a pistol and snapped it full in his face. The weapon
+missed fire, but the buccaneer, clutching the barrel, beat him down with
+a fierce blow.
+
+"So much for these two," he roared. "Let's to the street."
+
+De Lussan seized Alvarado's sword, throwing away his own. Morgan picked
+up his own blade again, and the two ran from the room.
+
+A stern fight was being waged in the square, whither all the combatants
+had congregated, the buccaneers driven there, the Spaniards following.
+The disciplined valor and determination of the Spanish, however, were
+slowly causing the buccaneers to give ground. No Spanish soldiers that
+ever lived could have defeated the old-time buccaneers, but these were
+different, and their best men had been killed with Teach and L'Ollonois.
+The opportune arrival of Morgan and de Lussan, however, put heart in
+their men. Under the direction of these two redoubtable champions they
+began to make stouter resistance.
+
+The battle might have gone in their favor if, in the very nick of time,
+the Viceroy himself and the remainder of the troops had not come up.
+They had not thought it necessary to come on foot since the surprise had
+been effected, and the Viceroy rightly divined they would have more
+advantage if mounted. Choosing the very freshest horses therefore, he
+had put fifty of the best soldiers upon them and had led them up on a
+gallop, bidding the others follow on with speed. The fighting had
+gradually concentrated before the church and in the eastern fort, where
+Braziliano had his headquarters. The arrival of the horsemen decided the
+day. Morgan and de Lussan, fighting desperately in the front ranks with
+splendid courage, were overridden. De Lussan was wounded, fell, and was
+trampled to death by the Spanish horsemen, and Morgan was taken
+prisoner, alive and unharmed. When he saw that all was lost, he had
+thrown himself upon the enemy, seeking a death in the fight, which, by
+the Viceroy's orders, was denied him. Many of the other buccaneers also
+were captured alive; indeed, the Viceroy desired as many of them saved
+as possible. He could punish a living man in a way to make him feel
+something of the torture he had inflicted, and for this reason those who
+surrendered had been spared for the present.
+
+Indeed, after the capture of Morgan the remaining buccaneers threw down
+their arms and begged for mercy. They might as well have appealed to a
+stone wall for that as to their Spanish captors. A short shrift and a
+heavy punishment were promised them in the morning. Meanwhile, after a
+brief struggle, the east fort was taken by assault, and Braziliano was
+wounded and captured with most of his men. The town was in the
+possession of the Spanish at last. It was all over in a quarter of an
+hour.
+
+Instantly the streets were filled with a mob of men, women, and
+children, whose lives had been spared, bewildered by the sudden release
+from their imminent peril and giving praise to God and the Viceroy and
+his men. As soon as he could make himself heard in the confusion de Lara
+inquired for Alvarado.
+
+"Where is he?" he cried. "And de Tobar?"
+
+"My lord," answered one of the party, "we were directed to take the west
+fort and those two cavaliers were in the lead, but the pressure of the
+pirates was so great that we were stopped and have not seen them since.
+They were ahead of us."
+
+"De Cordova," cried the old man to one of his colonels, "take charge of
+the town. Keep the women and children and inhabitants together where
+they are for the present. Let your soldiery patrol the streets and
+search every house from top to bottom. Let no one of these ruffianly
+scoundrels escape. Take them alive. We'll deal with them in the morning.
+Fetch Morgan to the west fort after us. Come, gentlemen, we shall find
+our comrades there, and pray God the ladies have not yet--are still
+unharmed!"
+
+A noble old soldier was de Lara. He had not sought his daughter until he
+had performed his full duty in taking the town.
+
+The anteroom of the fort they found in a state of wild confusion. The
+dead bodies of the sentry and the others the two cavaliers had cut down
+on the stairs were ruthlessly thrust aside, and the party of gentlemen
+with the Viceroy in the lead poured into the guardroom. There, on his
+back, was stretched the hideous body of the half-breed where he had
+fallen. There, farther away, the unfortunate de Tobar lay, gasping for
+breath yet making no outcry. He was leaning on his arm and staring
+across the room, with anguish in his face not due to the wound he had
+received but to a sight which broke his heart.
+
+"Alas, de Tobar!" cried the Viceroy. "Where is Mercedes?"
+
+He followed the glance of the dying man. There at the other side of the
+room lay a prostrate body, and over it bent a moaning, sobbing figure.
+It was Mercedes.
+
+"Mercedes!" cried the Viceroy running toward her. "Alvarado!"
+
+"Tell me," he asked in a heartbreaking voice. "Art thou----"
+
+"Safe yet and--well," answered the girl; "they came in the very nick of
+time. Oh, Alvarado, Alvarado!" she moaned.
+
+"Senorita," cried one of the officers, "Don Felipe here is dying. He
+would speak with you."
+
+Mercedes suffered herself to be led to where de Tobar lay upon the
+floor. One of his comrades had taken his head on his knee. The very
+seconds of his life were numbered. Lovely in her grief Mercedes knelt at
+his side, a great pity in her heart. The Viceroy stepped close to him.
+
+"I thank you, too," she said. "Poor Don Felipe, he and you saved me, but
+at the expense of your lives. Would God you could have been spared!"
+
+"Nay," gasped the dying man, "thou lovest him. I--watched thee. I heard
+thee call upon his name. Thou wert not for me, and so I die willingly.
+He is a noble gentleman. Would he might have won thee!"
+
+The man trembled with the violent effort it cost him to speak. He gasped
+faintly and strove to smile. By an impulse for which she was ever after
+grateful, she bent her head, slipped her arm around his neck, lifted him
+up, and kissed him. In spite of his death agony, at that caress he
+smiled up at her.
+
+"Now," he murmured, "I die happy--content--you
+kissed--me--Jesu--Mercedes----"
+
+It was the end of as brave a lover, as true a cavalier as ever drew
+sword or pledged hand in a woman's cause.
+
+"He is dead," said the officer.
+
+"God rest his soul, a gallant gentleman," said the Viceroy, taking off
+his hat, and his example was followed by every one in the room.
+
+"And Captain Alvarado?" said Mercedes, rising to her feet and turning to
+the other figure.
+
+"Senorita," answered another of the officers, "he lives."
+
+"Oh, God, I thank Thee!"
+
+"See--he moves!"
+
+A little shudder crept through the figure of the prostrate Captain, who
+had only been knocked senseless by the fierce blow and was otherwise
+unhurt.
+
+"His eyes are open! Water, quick!"
+
+With skilled fingers begot by long practice the cavalier cut the lacings
+of Alvarado's doublet and gave him water, then a little wine. As the
+young Captain returned to consciousness, once more the officers crowded
+around him, the Viceroy in the centre, Mercedes on her knees again.
+
+"Mercedes," whispered the young Captain. "Alive--unharmed?"
+
+"Yes," answered Mercedes brokenly, "thanks to God and thee."
+
+"And de Tobar," generously asserted Alvarado. "Where is he?"
+
+"Dead."
+
+"Oh, brave de Tobar! And the city----"
+
+"Is ours."
+
+"And Morgan?"
+
+"Here in my hands," said the Viceroy sternly.
+
+"Thank God, thank God! And now, your Excellency, my promise. I thought
+as I was stricken down there would be no need for you to----"
+
+"Thou hast earned life, Alvarado, not death, and thou shalt have it."
+
+"Senors," said Alvarado, whose faintness was passing from him, "I broke
+my plighted word to the Viceroy and Don Felipe de Tobar. I love this
+lady and was false to my charge. Don Alvaro promised me death for
+punishment, and I crave it. I care not for life without----"
+
+"And did he tell thee why he broke his word?" asked Mercedes, taking his
+hands in her own and looking up at her father. "It was my fault. I made
+him. In despair I strove to throw myself over the cliff on yonder
+mountain and he caught me in his arms. With me in his arms--Which of
+you, my lords," she said, throwing back her head with superb pride,
+"would not have done the same? Don Felipe de Tobar is dead. He was a
+gallant gentleman, but I loved him not. My father, you will not part us
+now?"
+
+"No," said the old man, "I will not try. I care not now what his birth
+or lineage, he hath shown himself a man of noblest soul. You heard the
+wish of de Tobar. It shall be so. This is the betrothal of my daughter,
+gentlemen. Art satisfied, Captain? She is noble enough, she hath lineage
+and race enough for both of you. My interest with our royal master will
+secure you that patent of nobility you will adorn, for bravely have you
+won it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN WHICH SIR HENRY MORGAN SEES A CROSS, CHERISHES A HOPE, AND MAKES A
+CLAIM
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+These noble and generous words of the Viceroy put such heart into the
+young Spanish soldier that, forgetting his wounds and his weakness, he
+rose to his feet. Indeed, the blow that struck him down had stunned him
+rather than anything else, and he would not have been put out of the
+combat so easily had it not been that he was exhausted by the hardships
+of those two terrible days through which he had just passed. The
+terrific mountain climb, the wild ride, the fierce battle, his consuming
+anxiety for the woman he loved--these things had so wearied him that he
+had been unequal to the struggle. The stimulants which had been
+administered to him by his loving friends had been of great service also
+in reviving his strength, and he faced the Viceroy, his hand in that of
+Mercedes, with a flush of pleasure and pride upon his face.
+
+Yet, after all, it was the consciousness of having won permission to
+marry the woman whom he adored and who loved him with a passion that
+would fain overmatch his own, were that possible, that so quickly
+restored him to strength. With the realization of what he had gained
+there came to him such an access of vigor as amazed those who a few
+moments before had thought him dead or dying.
+
+"But for these poor people who have so suffered, this, my lord," he
+exclaimed with eager gratitude and happiness, "hath been a happy day for
+me. Last night, sir, on the beach yonder, I found a mother. A good
+sister, she, of Holy Church, who, rather than carry the ladders which
+gave access to the town, with the fearful alternative of dishonor as a
+penalty for refusal, killed herself with her own hand. She died not,
+praise God, before she had received absolution from a brave priest,
+although the holy father paid for his office with his life, for Morgan
+killed him. To-night I find, by the blessing of God, the favor of your
+Excellency and the kindness of the lady's heart--a wife."
+
+He dropped upon his knees as he spoke and pressed a long, passionate
+kiss upon the happy Mercedes' extended hand.
+
+"Lady," he said, looking up at her, his soul in his eyes, his heart in
+his voice, "I shall strive to make myself noble for thee, and all that I
+am, and shall be, shall be laid at thy feet."
+
+"I want not more than thyself, Senor Alvarado," answered the girl
+bravely before them all, her own cheeks aglow with happy color. "You
+have enough honor already. You satisfy me."
+
+"Long life to Donna de Lara and Captain Alvarado!" cried old Agramonte,
+lifting up his hand. "The handsomest, the noblest, the bravest pair in
+New Spain! May they be the happiest! Give me leave, sir," added the
+veteran captain turning to the Viceroy. "You have done well. Say I not
+true, gentlemen? And as for the young captain, as he is fit to stand
+with the best, it is meet that he should win the heart of the loveliest.
+His mother he has found. None may know his father----"
+
+"Let me be heard," growled a deep voice in broken Spanish, as the
+one-eyed old sailor thrust himself through the crowd.
+
+"Hornigold, by hell!" screamed the bound buccaneer captain, who had been
+a silent spectator of events from the background. "I missed you. Have
+you----"
+
+The boatswain, mindful of his safety, for in the hurry and confusion of
+the attack any Spaniard would have cut him down before he could explain,
+had followed hard upon the heels of Alvarado and de Tobar when they
+entered the fort and had concealed himself in one of the inner rooms
+until he saw a convenient opportunity for disclosing himself. He had
+been a witness to all that had happened in the hall, and he realized
+that the time had now come to strike the first of the blows he had
+prepared against his old captain. That in the striking, he wrecked the
+life and happiness of those he had assisted for his own selfish purpose
+mattered little to him. He had so long brooded and thought upon one
+idea, so planned and schemed to bring about one thing, that a desire for
+revenge fairly obsessed him.
+
+As soon as he appeared from behind the hangings where he had remained in
+hiding, it was evident to every one that he was a buccaneer. Swords were
+out in an instant.
+
+"What's this?" cried the Viceroy in great surprise. "Another pirate free
+and unbound? Seize him!"
+
+Three or four of the men made a rush toward the old buccaneer, but with
+wonderful agility he avoided them and sprang to the side of Alvarado.
+
+"Back, senors!" he cried coolly and composedly, facing their uplifted
+points.
+
+"My lord," said Alvarado, "bid these gentlemen withdraw their weapons.
+This man is under my protection."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"He I told you of, sir, who set me free, provided Donna Mercedes with a
+weapon, opened the gate for us. One Benjamin Hornigold."
+
+"Thou damned traitor!" yelled that fierce, high voice on the outskirts
+of the crowd.
+
+There was a sudden commotion. A bound man burst through the surprised
+cavaliers and threw himself, all fettered though he was, upon the
+sailor. He was without weapon or use of hand, yet he bit him savagely on
+the cheek.
+
+"Hell!" he cried, as they pulled him away and dragged him to his feet,
+"had I a free hand for a second you'd pay! As it is, I've marked you,
+and you'll carry the traitor's brand until you die! Curse you, whatever
+doom comes to me, may worse come to you!"
+
+The old buccaneer was an awful figure, as he poured out a horrible
+torrent of curses and imprecations upon the traitor, grinding his teeth
+beneath his foam-flecked lips, and even the iron-hearted sailor,
+striving to staunch the blood, involuntarily shrank back appalled before
+him.
+
+"Senor," he cried, appealing to Alvarado, "I was to have protection!"
+
+"You shall have it," answered the young soldier, himself shrinking away
+from the traitor, although by his treason he had so greatly benefited.
+"My lord, had it not been for this man, I'd still be a prisoner, the
+lady Mercedes like those wretched women weeping in the streets. I
+promised him, in your name, protection, immunity from punishment, and
+liberty to depart with as much of the treasure of the Porto Bello plate
+galleon, which was wrecked on the sands a few days ago, of which I told
+you, as he could carry."
+
+"And you did not exceed your authority, Captain Alvarado. We contemn
+treason in whatsoever guise it doth appear, and we hate and loathe a
+traitor, but thy word is passed. It will be held inviolate as our own.
+You are free, knave. I will appoint soldiers to guard you, for should my
+men see you, not knowing this, they would cut you down; and when
+occasion serves you may take passage in the first ship that touches here
+and go where you will. Nay, we will be generous, although we like you
+not. We are much indebted to you. We have profited by what we do
+despise. We would reward you. Ask of me something that I may measure my
+obligation for a daughter's honor saved, if you can realize or feel what
+that may be."
+
+"My lord, hear me," said the boatswain quickly. "There be reasons and
+reasons for betrayals, and I have one. This man was my captain. I
+perilled my life a dozen times to save his; I followed him blindly upon
+a hundred terrible ventures; I lived but for his service. My soul--when
+I had a soul--was at his command; I loved him. Ay, gentlemen, rough,
+uncouth, old though I am, I loved this man. He could ask of me anything
+that I could have given him and he would not have been refused.
+
+"Sirs, there came to me a young brother of mine, not such as I, a rude,
+unlettered sailor, but a gentleman--and college bred. There are
+quarterings on my family scutcheon, sirs, back in Merry England, had I
+the wit or care to trace it. He was a reckless youth, chafing under the
+restraints of that hard religion to which we had been born. The free
+life of a brother-of-the-coast attracted him. He became like me, a
+buccaneer. I strove to dissuade him, but without avail. He was the
+bravest, the handsomest, the most gallant of us all. He came into my old
+heart like a son. We are not all brute, gentlemen. I have waded in blood
+and plunder like the rest, but in every heart there is some spot that
+beats for things better. I divided my love between him and my captain.
+This man"--he pointed to his old master with his blunted finger, drawing
+himself up until he looked taller than he was, his one eye flashing with
+anger and hatred, as with a stern, rude eloquence he recited his wrongs,
+the grim indictment of a false friend--"this man betrayed us at Panama.
+With what he had robbed his comrades of he bought immunity, even
+knighthood, from the King of England. He was made Vice-Governor of
+Jamaica and his hand fell heavily upon those who had blindly followed
+him in the old days, men who had served him and trusted him, as I--men
+whose valor and courage had made him what he was.
+
+"He took the lad I loved, and because his proud spirit would not break
+to his heavy hand and he answered him like the bold, free sailor he was,
+he hanged him like a dog, sirs! I--I--stooped for his life. I, who cared
+not for myself, offered to stand in his place upon the gallows platform,
+though I have no more taste for the rope than any of you, if only he
+might go free. He laughed at me! He mocked me! I urged my ancient
+service--he drove me from him with curses and threats like a whipped
+dog. I could have struck him down then, but that I wanted to save him
+for a revenge that might measure my hate, slow and long and terrible.
+Not mere sudden death, that would not suffice. Something more.
+
+"Treachery? My lord, his was the first. I played his own game and have
+overcome it with the same. D'ye blame me now? Take your treasure! I want
+none of it. I want only him and my revenge! Liberty's dear to all of us.
+I'll give mine up. You may take my life with the rest, but first give me
+this man. Let me deal with him. I will revenge you all, and when I have
+finished with him I will yield myself to you."
+
+He was a hideous figure of old hate and rancor, of unslaked passion, of
+monstrous possibilities of cruel torture. Hardened as they were by the
+customs of their age to hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, the
+listeners turned cold at such an exhibition of malefic passion, of
+consuming hatred. Even Morgan himself, intrepid as he was, shrank from
+the awful menace of the mordant words.
+
+"My lord!" shouted the unfortunate captain, "give him no heed. He lies
+in his throat; he lies a thousand times. 'Twas a mutinous dog, that
+brother of his, that I hanged. I am your prisoner. You are a soldier. I
+look for speedy punishment, certain death it may be, but let it not be
+from his hand."
+
+"Think, senors," urged the boatswain; "you would hang him perhaps. It is
+the worst that you could do. Is that punishment meet for him? He has
+despoiled women, bereft children, tortured men, in the streets of La
+Guayra. A more fitting punishment should await him. Think of Panama, of
+Maracaibo, of Porto Bello! Recall what he did there. Is hanging enough?
+Give him to me. Let me have my way. You have your daughter, safe,
+unharmed, within the shelter of her lover's arms. The town is yours. You
+have won the fight. 'Twas I that did it. Without me your wives, your
+children, your subjects, would have been slaughtered in Caracas and this
+dog would have been free to go further afield for prey. He coveted your
+daughter--would fain make her his slave in some desert island. Give him
+to me!"
+
+"Old man," said the Viceroy, "I take back my words. You have excuse for
+your betrayal, but your request I can not grant. I have promised him to
+Alvarado. Nay, urge me no further. My word is passed."
+
+"Thank you, thank you!" cried Morgan, breathing again.
+
+"Silence, you dog!" said the Viceroy, with a look of contempt on his
+face. "But take heart, man," he added, as he saw the look of rage and
+disappointment sweep over the face of the old sailor, "he will not
+escape lightly. Would God he had blood enough in his body to pay drop
+by drop for all he hath shed. His death shall be slow, lingering,
+terrible. You have said it, and you shall see it, too, and you will. He
+shall have time to repent and to think upon the past. You may glut
+yourself with his suffering and feed fat your revenge. 'Twill be a meet,
+a fitting punishment so far as our poor minds can compass. We have
+already planned it."
+
+"You Spanish hounds!" roared Morgan stoutly, "I am a subject of England.
+I demand to be sent there for trial."
+
+"You are an outlaw, sir, a man of no country, a foe to common humanity,
+and taken in your crimes. Silence, I say!" again cried the old man. "You
+pollute the air with your speech. Take him away and hold him safe.
+To-morrow he shall be punished."
+
+"Without a trial?" screamed the old buccaneer, struggling forward.
+
+"Thou art tried already. Thou hast been weighed in the balances and
+found wanting. Alvarado, art ready for duty?"
+
+"Ready, your Excellency," answered the young man, "and for this duty."
+
+"Take him then, I give him into your hands. You know what is to be done;
+see you do it well."
+
+"Ay, my lord. Into the strong-room with him, men!" ordered the young
+Spaniard, stepping unsteadily forward.
+
+As he did so the crucifix he wore, which the disorder in his dress
+exposed to view, flashed into the light once more. Morgan's eyes
+fastened upon it for the first time.
+
+"By heaven, sir!" he shouted. "Where got ye that cross?"
+
+"From his mother, noble captain," interrupted Hornigold, coming closer.
+
+He had another card to play. He had waited for this moment, and he threw
+back his head with a long, bitter laugh. There was such sinister, such
+vicious mockery and meaning in his voice, with not the faintest note of
+merriment to relieve it, that his listeners looked aghast upon him.
+
+"His mother?" cried Morgan. "Then this is----"
+
+He paused. The assembled cavaliers, Mercedes, and Alvarado stood with
+bated breath waiting for the terrible boatswain's answer.
+
+"The boy I took into Cuchillo when we were at Panama," said Hornigold in
+triumph.
+
+"And my son!" cried the old buccaneer with malignant joy.
+
+A great cry of repudiation and horror burst from the lips of Alvarado.
+The others stared with astonishment and incredulity written on their
+faces. Mercedes moved closer to her lover and strove to take his hand.
+
+"My lords and gentlemen, hear me," continued the buccaneer, the words
+rushing from his lips in his excitement, for in the new relationship he
+so promptly and boldly affirmed, he thought he saw a way of escape from
+his imminent peril. "There lived in Maracaibo a Spanish woman, Maria
+Zerega, who loved me. By her there was a child--mine--a boy. I took them
+with me to Panama. The pestilence raged there after the sack. She fell
+ill, and as she lay dying besought me to save the boy. I sent Hornigold
+to her with instructions to do her will, and he carried the baby to the
+village of Cuchillo with that cross upon his breast and left him. We
+lost sight of him. There, the next day, you found him. He has English
+blood in his veins. He is my son, sirs, a noble youth," sneered the old
+man. "Now you have given me to him. 'Tis not meet that the father should
+suffer at the hands of the son. You shall set me free," added the man,
+turning to Alvarado.
+
+"Rather than that--" cried Hornigold, viciously springing forward knife
+in hand.
+
+He was greatly surprised at the bold yet cunning appeal of his former
+captain.
+
+"Back, man!" interposed the Viceroy. "And were you a thousand times his
+father, were you my brother, my own father, you should, nevertheless,
+die, as it hath been appointed."
+
+"Can this be true?" groaned Alvarado, turning savagely to Hornigold.
+
+"I believe it to be."
+
+"Why not kill me last night then?"
+
+"I wanted you for this minute. 'Tis a small part of my revenge. To see
+him die and by his son's hand--A worthy father, noble son----"
+
+"Silence!" shouted de Lara. "Art thou without bowels of compassion, man!
+Alvarado, I pity thee, but this makes the promise of the hour void. Nay,
+my daughter"--as Mercedes came forward to entreat him--"I'd rather slay
+thee with my own hand than wed thee to the son of such as yon!"
+
+"My lord, 'tis just," answered Alvarado. His anguish was pitiful to
+behold. "I am as innocent of my parentage as any child, yet the
+suffering must be mine. The sins of the fathers are visited on the
+children. I did deem it yesterday a coward's act to cut the thread of my
+life but now--I cannot survive--I cannot live--and know that in my
+veins--runs the blood of such a monster. My lord, you have been good to
+me. Gentlemen, you have honored me. Mercedes, you have loved me--O God!
+You, infamous man, you have fathered me. May the curse of God, that God
+whom you mock, rest upon you! My mother loved this man once, it seems.
+Well, nobly did she expiate. I go to join her. Pray for me. Stay not my
+hand. Farewell!"
+
+He raised his poniard.
+
+"Let no one stop him," cried the old Viceroy as Alvarado darted the
+weapon straight at his own heart. "This were the best end."
+
+Mercedes had stood dazed during this conversation, but with a shriek of
+horror, as she saw the flash of the blade, she threw herself upon her
+lover, and strove to wrench the dagger from him.
+
+"Alvarado!" she cried, "whatever thou art, thou hast my heart! Nay, slay
+me first, if thou wilt."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+HOW THE GOOD PRIEST FRA ANTONIO DE LAS CASAS TOLD THE TRUTH, TO THE
+GREAT RELIEF OF CAPTAIN ALVARADO AND DONNA MERCEDES, AND THE
+DISCOMFITURE OF MASTER BENJAMIN HORNIGOLD AND SIR HENRY MORGAN
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Ay, strike, Alvarado," cried the Viceroy, filled with shame and
+surprise at the sight of his daughter's extraordinary boldness, "for
+though I love her, I'd rather see her dead than married to the son of
+such as he. Drive home your weapon!" he cried in bitter scorn. "Why stay
+your hand? Only blood can wash out the shame she hath put upon me before
+you all this day. Thou hast a dagger. Use it, I say!"
+
+"Do you hear my father's words, Alvarado?" cried Mercedes sinking on her
+knees and stretching up her hands to him. "'Tis a sharp weapon. One
+touch will end it all, and you can follow."
+
+"God help me!" cried the unhappy young Captain, throwing aside the
+poniard and clasping his hands to his eyes. "I cannot! Hath no one here
+a point for me? If I have deserved well of you or the State, sir, bid
+them strike home."
+
+"Live, young sir," interrupted Morgan, "there are other women in the
+world. Come with me and----"
+
+"If you are my father, you have but little time in this world,"
+interrupted the Spaniard, turning to Morgan and gnashing his teeth at
+him. "I doubt not but you were cruel to my mother. I hate you! I loathe
+you! I despise you for all your crimes! And most of all for bringing me
+into the world. I swear to you, had I the power, I'd not add another
+moment to your life. The world were better rid of you."
+
+"You have been well trained by your Spanish nurses," cried Morgan
+resolutely, although with sneering mockery and hate in his voice, "and
+well you seem to know the duty owed by son to sire."
+
+"You have done nothing for me," returned the young soldier, "you
+abandoned me. Such as you are you were my father. You cast me away to
+shift for myself. Had it not been for these friends here----"
+
+"Nay," said Morgan, "I thought you dead. That cursed one-eyed traitor
+there told me so, else I'd sought you out."
+
+[Illustration: "God help me!" cried Alvarado, throwing aside the
+poniard, "I cannot!"]
+
+"Glad am I that you did not, for I have passed my life where no child of
+yours could hope to be--among honorable men, winning their respect,
+which I now forfeit because of thee."
+
+"Alvarado," said the Viceroy, "this much will I do for thee. He shall be
+shot like a soldier instead of undergoing the punishment we had designed
+for him. This much for his fatherhood."
+
+"My lord, I ask it not," answered the young man.
+
+"Sir," exclaimed Morgan, a gleam of relief passing across his features,
+for he knew, of course, that death was his only expectation, and he had
+greatly feared that his taking off would be accompanied by the most
+horrible tortures that could be devised by people who were not the least
+expert in the practice of the unmentionable cruelties of the age, "you,
+at least, are a father, and I thank you."
+
+"Yes, I am a father and a most unhappy one," groaned de Lara, turning
+toward Alvarado. "Perhaps it is well you did not accomplish your purpose
+of self-destruction after all, my poor friend. As I said before, Spain
+hath need of you. You may go back to the old country beyond the great
+sea. All here will keep your secret; my favor will be of service to you
+even there. You can make a new career with a new name."
+
+"And Mercedes?" asked Alvarado.
+
+"You have no longer any right to question. Ah, well, it is just that you
+should hear. The girl goes to a convent; the only cloak for her is in
+our Holy Religion--and so ends the great race of de Laras!"
+
+"No, no," pleaded Mercedes, "send me not there! Let me go with him!" She
+stepped nearer to him, beautiful and beseeching. "My father," she urged,
+"you love me." She threw her arms around his neck and laid her head upon
+his breast. Upon it her father tenderly pressed his hand. "You loved my
+mother, did you not?" she continued. "Think of her. Condemn me not to
+the living death of a convent--away from him. If that man be his
+father--and I can not believe it, there is some mistake, 'tis impossible
+that anything so foul should bring into the world a man so noble--yet I
+love him! You know him. You have tried him a thousand times. He has no
+qualities of his base ancestry. His mother at least died like a Spanish
+gentlewoman. My lords, gentlemen, some of you have known me from my
+childhood. You have lived in our house and have followed the fortunes of
+my father--you have grown gray in our service. Intercede for me!"
+
+"Your Excellency," said old Don Caesar de Agramonte, a man, who, as
+Mercedes had said, had literally grown gray in the service of the
+Viceroy, and who was man of birth scarcely inferior to his own, "the
+words of the Lady Mercedes move me profoundly. By your grace's leave, I
+venture to say that she hath spoken well and nobly, and that the young
+Alvarado, whom we have seen in places that try men's souls to the
+extreme, hath always comported himself as a Spanish gentleman should.
+This may be a lie. But if it is true, his old association with you and
+yours, and some humor of courage and fidelity and gentleness that I
+doubt not his mother gave him, have washed out the taint. Will you not
+reconsider your words? Give the maiden to the man. I am an old soldier,
+sir, and have done you some service. I would cheerfully stake my life to
+maintain his honor and his gentleness at the sword's point."
+
+"He speaks well, Don Alvaro," cried Captain Gayoso, another veteran
+soldier. "I join my plea to that of my comrade, Don Caesar."
+
+"And I add my word, sir."
+
+"And I, mine."
+
+"And I, too," came from the other men of the suite.
+
+"Gentlemen, I thank you," said Alvarado, gratefully looking at the
+little group; "this is one sweet use of my adversity. I knew not I was
+so befriended----"
+
+"You hear, you hear, my father, what these noble gentlemen say?"
+interrupted Mercedes.
+
+"But," continued Alvarado sadly, "it is not meet that the blood of the
+princely de Laras should be mingled with mine. Rather the ancient house
+should fall with all its honors upon it than be kept alive by
+degradation. I thank you, but it can not be."
+
+"Your Excellency, we humbly press you for an answer," persisted
+Agramonte.
+
+"Gentlemen--and you have indeed proven yourselves generous and gentle
+soldiers--I appreciate what you say. Your words touch me profoundly. I
+know how you feel, but Alvarado is right. I swear to you that I would
+rather let my line perish than keep it in existence by such means.
+Rather anything than that my daughter should marry--forgive me, lad--the
+bastard son of a pirate and buccaneer, a wicked monster, like that man!"
+
+"Sir," exclaimed a thin, faint old voice from the outskirts of the room,
+"no base blood runs in the veins of that young man. You are all
+mistaken."
+
+"Death and fury!" shouted Morgan, who was nearer to him, "it is the
+priest! Art alive? Scuttle me, I struck you down--I do not usually need
+to give a second blow."
+
+"Who is this?" asked de Lara. "Back, gentlemen, and give him access to
+our person."
+
+The excited men made way for a tall, pale, gaunt figure of a man clad in
+the habit of a Dominican. As he crossed his thin hands on his breast and
+bowed low before the Viceroy, the men marked a deeply scarred wound upon
+his shaven crown, a wound recently made, for it was still raw and open.
+The man tottered as he stood there.
+
+"'Tis the priest!" exclaimed Hornigold, who had been a silent and
+disappointed spectator of the scene at last. "He lives then?"
+
+"The good father!" said Mercedes, stepping from her father's side and
+scanning the man eagerly. "He faints! A chair for him, gentlemen, and
+wine!"
+
+"Now, sir," said the Viceroy as the priest seated himself on a stool
+which willing hands had placed for him, after he had partaken of a
+generous draught of wine, which greatly refreshed him, "your name?"
+
+"Fra Antonio de Las Casas, your Excellency, a Dominican, from Peru,
+bound for Spain on the plate galleon, the _Almirante Recalde_, captured
+by that man. I was stricken down by his blow as I administered
+absolution to the mother of the young captain. I recovered and crawled
+into the woods for concealment, and when I saw your soldiers, your
+Excellency, I followed, but slowly, for I am an old man and sore
+wounded."
+
+"Would that my blow had bit deeper, thou false priest!" roared Morgan in
+furious rage.
+
+"Be still!" commanded the old Viceroy sternly. "Speak but another word
+until I give you leave and I'll have you gagged! You said strange words,
+Holy Father, when you came into the hall."
+
+"I did, my lord."
+
+"You heard----"
+
+"Some of the conversation, sir, from which I gathered that this
+unfortunate man"--pointing to Morgan, who as one of the chief actors in
+the transaction had been placed in the front rank of the circle,
+although tightly bound and guarded by the grim soldiers--"claimed to be
+the father of the brave young soldier."
+
+"Ay, and he hath established the claim," answered de Lara.
+
+"Nay, my lord, that can not be."
+
+"Why not, sir," interrupted Alvarado, stepping forward.
+
+"Because it is not true."
+
+"Thank God, thank God!" cried Alvarado. Indeed, he almost shouted in his
+relief.
+
+"How know you this?" asked Mercedes.
+
+"My lady, gentles all, I have proof irrefutable. He is not the child of
+that wicked man. His father is----"
+
+"I care not who," cried Alvarado, having passed from death unto life in
+the tremendous moments, "even though he were the meanest and poorest
+peasant, so he were an honest man."
+
+"My lord," said the priest, "he was a noble gentleman."
+
+"I knew it, I knew it!" cried Mercedes. "I said it must be so."
+
+"Ay, a gentleman, a gentleman!" burst from the officers in the room.
+
+"Your Excellency," continued the old man, turning to the Viceroy. "His
+blood is as noble as your own."
+
+"His name?" said the old man, who had stood unmoved in the midst of the
+tumult.
+
+"Captain Alvarado that was," cried the Dominican, with an inborn love of
+the dramatic in his tones, "stand forth. My lord and lady, and gentles
+all, I present to you Don Francisco de Guzman, the son of his
+excellency, the former Governor of Panama and of his wife, Isabella
+Zerega, a noble and virtuous lady, though of humbler walk of life and
+circumstance than her husband."
+
+"De Guzman! De Guzman!" burst forth from the soldiers.
+
+"It is a lie!" shouted Hornigold. "He is Morgan's son. He was given to
+me as such. I left him at Cuchillo. You found him, sir----"
+
+He appealed to the Viceroy.
+
+"My venerable father, with due respect to you, sir, we require something
+more than your unsupported statement to establish so great a fact," said
+the Viceroy deliberately, although the sparkle in his eyes belied his
+calm.
+
+"Your grace speaks well," said Morgan, clutching at his hope still.
+
+"I require nothing more. I see and believe," interrupted Mercedes.
+
+"But I want proof," sternly said her father.
+
+"And you shall have it," answered the priest. "That cross he wears----"
+
+"As I am about to die!" exclaimed Morgan, "I saw his mother wear it many
+a time, and she put it upon his breast."
+
+"Not this one, sir," said Fra Antonio, "but its fellow. There were two
+sisters in the family of Zerega. There were two crosses made, one for
+each. In an evil hour the elder sister married you----"
+
+"We did, indeed, go through some mockery of a ceremony," muttered
+Morgan.
+
+"You did, sir, and 'twas a legal one, for when you won her--by what
+means I know not, in Maracaibo--you married her. You were forced to do
+so before you received her consent. One of my brethren who performed the
+service told me the tale. After you took her away from Maracaibo her old
+father, broken hearted at her defection, sought asylum in Panama with
+the remaining daughter, and there she met the Governor, Don Francisco de
+Guzman. He loved her, he wooed and won her, and at last he married her,
+but secretly. She was poor and humble by comparison with him; she had
+only her beauty and her virtue for her dower, and there were reasons why
+it were better the marriage should be concealed for a while.
+
+"A child was born. You were that child, sir. Thither came this man with
+his bloody marauders. In his train was his wretched wife and her own
+boy, an infant, born but a short time before that of the Governor. De
+Guzman sallied out to meet them and was killed at the head of his
+troops. They burned Panama and turned that beautiful city into a hell
+like unto La Guayra. I found means to secrete Isabella de Guzman and her
+child. The plague raged in the town. This man's wife died. He gave
+command to Hornigold to take the child away. He consulted me, as a
+priest whose life he had spared, as to what were best to do with him,
+and I advised Cuchillo, but his child died with its mother before it
+could be taken away.
+
+"Isabella de Guzman was ill. I deemed it wise to send her infant away. I
+urged her to substitute her child for the dead body of the other,
+intending to provide for its reception at Cuchillo, and she gave her
+child to the sailor. In the confusion and terror it must have been
+abandoned by the woman to whom it was delivered; she, it was supposed,
+perished when the buccaneers destroyed the place out of sheer wantonness
+when they left Panama. I fell sick of the fever shortly after and knew
+not what happened. The poor mother was too seriously ill to do anything.
+It was months ere we recovered and could make inquiries for the child,
+and then it had disappeared and we found no trace of it. You, sir,"
+pointing to Hornigold, "had gone away with the rest. There was none to
+tell us anything. We never heard of it again and supposed it dead."
+
+"And my child, sir priest?" cried Morgan. "What became of it?"
+
+"I buried it in the same grave with its poor mother with the cross on
+its breast. May God have mercy on their souls!"
+
+"A pretty tale, indeed," sneered the buccaneer.
+
+"It accounts in some measure for the situation," said the Viceroy, "but
+I must have further proof."
+
+"Patience, noble sir, and you shall have it. These crosses were of
+cunning construction. They open to those who know the secret. There is
+room in each for a small writing. Each maiden, so they told me, put
+within her own cross her marriage lines. If this cross hath not been
+tampered with it should bear within its recess the attestation of the
+wedding of Francisco de Guzman and Isabella Zerega."
+
+"The cross hath never left my person," said Alvarado, "since I can
+remember."
+
+"And I can bear testimony," said the Viceroy, "that he hath worn it
+constantly since a child. Though it was large and heavy I had a
+superstition that it should never leave his person. Know you the secret
+of the cross?"
+
+"I do, for it was shown me by the woman herself."
+
+"Step nearer, Alvarado," said de Lara.
+
+"Nay, sir," said the aged priest, as Alvarado came nearer him and made
+to take the cross from his breast, "thou hast worn it ever there. Wear
+it to the end. I can open it as thou standest."
+
+He reached up to the carven cross depending from the breast of the young
+man bending over him.
+
+"A pretty story," sneered Morgan again, "but had I aught to wager, I'd
+offer it with heavy odds that that cross holds the marriage lines of my
+wife."
+
+"Thou wouldst lose, sir, for see, gentlemen," cried the priest,
+manipulating the crucifix with his long, slender fingers and finally
+opening it, "the opening! And here is a bit of parchment! Read it, sir."
+
+He handed it to the Viceroy. The old noble, lifting it to the light,
+scanned the closely-written, faded lines on the tiny scrap of delicate
+parchment.
+
+"'Tis a certificate of marriage of----" He paused.
+
+"Maria Zerega," said Morgan, triumphantly.
+
+"Nay," answered the old man, and his triumph rung in his voice, "of
+Isabella Zerega and Francisco de Guzman."
+
+"Hell and fury!" shouted the buccaneer, "'tis a trick!"
+
+"And signed by----"
+
+He stopped again, peering at the faded, almost illegible signature.
+
+"By whom, your Excellency?" interrupted the priest smiling.
+
+"'Tis a bit faded," said the old man, holding it nearer.
+"Fra--An--tonio! Was it thou?"
+
+"Even so, sir. I married the mother, as I buried her yester eve upon the
+sand."
+
+"'Tis a fact established," said the Viceroy, satisfied at last. "Don
+Francisco de Guzman, Alvarado that was, thy birth and legitimacy are
+clear and undoubted. There by your side stands the woman you have loved.
+If you wish her now I shall be honored to call you my son."
+
+"My lord," answered Alvarado, "that I am the son of an honorable
+gentleman were joy enough, but when thou givest me Donna Mercedes----"
+
+He turned, and with a low cry the girl fled to his arms. He drew her
+close to him and laid his hand upon her head, and then he kissed her
+before the assembled cavaliers, who broke into enthusiastic shouts and
+cries of happy approbation.
+
+"There's more evidence yet," cried the priest, thrusting his hand into
+the bosom of his habit and drawing forth a glittering object. "Sir, I
+took this from the body of Sister Maria Christina, for upon my advice
+she entered upon the service of the Holy Church after her bereavement,
+keeping her secret, for there was naught to be gained by its
+publication. That Church she served long and well. Many sufferers there
+be to whom she ministered who will rise up and call her blessed. She
+killed herself upon the sands rather than give aid and comfort to this
+man and his men, or submit herself to the evil desires of his band.
+Sirs, I have lived long and suffered much, and done some little service
+for Christ, His Church, and His children, but I take more comfort from
+the absolution that I gave her when she cried for mercy against the sin
+of self-slaughter than for any other act in my career. Here, young sir,"
+said the priest, opening the locket, "are the pictures of your father
+and mother. See, cavaliers, some of you knew Don Francisco de Guzman and
+can recognize him. That is his wife. She was young and had golden hair
+like thine, my son, in those days. You are the express image of her
+person as I recall it."
+
+"My father! My mother!" cried Alvarado. "Look, Mercedes, look your
+Excellency, and gentlemen, all! But her body, worthy father?"
+
+"Even as her soul hath gone out into the new life beyond, her body was
+drawn out into the great deep at the call of God--but not unblessed,
+senors, even as she went not unshriven, for I knelt alone by her side,
+unable by my wounds and weakness to do more service, and said the office
+of our Holy Church."
+
+"May God bless thee, as I bless thee!" answered Alvarado, to give him
+the familiar name.
+
+As he spoke he sank on his knees and pressed a long and fervent kiss
+upon the worn and withered hand of the aged man.
+
+"It is not meet," said the priest, withdrawing his hand and laying it
+in blessing upon the bowed fair head. "That which was lost is found
+again. Let us rejoice and praise God for His mercy. Donna Mercedes,
+gentlemen, my blessing on Senor de Guzman and upon ye all. Benedicite!"
+he said, making the sign of the cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+IN WHICH SIR HENRY MORGAN APPEALS UNAVAILINGLY ALIKE TO THE PITY OF
+WOMAN, THE FORGIVENESS OF PRIEST, THE FRIENDSHIP OF COMRADE, AND THE
+HATRED OF MEN
+
+
+"And bless me also, my father," cried Mercedes, kneeling by Alvarado's
+side.
+
+"Most willingly, my fair daughter," answered the old man. "A fit
+helpmate indeed thou hast shown thyself for so brave a soldier. By your
+leave, your Excellency. You will indulge an old man's desire to bless
+the marriage of the son as he did that of the mother? No obstacle, I
+take it, now exists to prevent this most happy union."
+
+"None," answered the Viceroy, as the young people rose and stood before
+him, "and glad I am that this happy solution of our difficulties has
+come to pass."
+
+"And when, sir," questioned the priest further, "may I ask that you
+design----"
+
+"The sooner the better," said the Viceroy smiling grimly. "By the mass,
+reverend father, I'll feel easier when he hath her in his charge!"
+
+"I shall prove as obedient to thee as wife, Don Francisco----" said
+Mercedes with great spirit, turning to him.
+
+"Nay, call me Alvarado, sweet lady," interrupted her lover.
+
+"Alvarado then, if you wish--for it was under that name that I first
+loved thee--I shall prove as obedient a wife to thee as I was a dutiful
+daughter to thee, my father."
+
+"'Tis not saying o'er much," commented the Viceroy, but smiling more
+kindly as he said the words. "Nay, I'll take that back, Mercedes, or
+modify it. Thou hast, indeed, been to me all that a father could ask,
+until----"
+
+"'Twas my fault, your Excellency. On me be the punishment," interrupted
+the lover.
+
+"Thou shalt have it with Mercedes," answered the Viceroy, laughing
+broadly now. "What say ye, gentlemen?"
+
+"My lord," said Agramonte, from his age and rank assuming to speak for
+the rest, "there is not one of us who would not give all he possessed to
+stand in the young Lord de Guzman's place."
+
+"Well, well," continued the old man, "when we have restored order in the
+town we shall have a wedding ceremony--say to-morrow."
+
+"Ay, ay, to-morrow, to-morrow!" cried the cavaliers.
+
+"Your Excellency, there is one more thing yet to be done," said Alvarado
+as soon as he could be heard.
+
+"Art ever making objections, Captain Alvarado--Don Francisco, that is.
+We might think you had reluctance to the bridal," exclaimed the Viceroy
+in some little surprise. "What is it now?"
+
+"The punishment of this man."
+
+"I gave him into your hands."
+
+"By God!" shouted old Hornigold, "I wondered if in all this fathering
+and mothering and sweethearting and giving in marriage he had
+forgot----"
+
+"Not so. The postponement but makes it deeper," answered Alvarado
+gravely. "Rest satisfied."
+
+"And I shall have my revenge in full measure?"
+
+"In full, in overflowing measure, senor."
+
+"Do you propose to shoot me?" asked the buccaneer chieftain coolly. "Or
+behead me?"
+
+"That were a death for an honorable soldier taken in arms and forced to
+bide the consequences of his defeat. It is not meet for you," answered
+Alvarado.
+
+"What then? You'll not hang me? Me! A knight of England! Sometime
+Governor of Jamaica!"
+
+"These titles are nothing to me. And hanging is the death we visit upon
+the common criminal, a man who murders or steals, or blasphemes. Your
+following may expect that. For you there is----"
+
+"You don't mean to burn me alive, do you?"
+
+"Were you simply a heretic that might be meet, but you are worse----"
+
+"What do you mean?" cried the buccaneer, carried away by the
+cold-blooded menace in Alvarado's words. "Neither lead, nor steel, nor
+rope, nor fire!"
+
+"Neither one nor the other, sir."
+
+"Is it the wheel? The rack? The thumbscrew? Sink me, ye shall see how an
+Englishman can die! Even from these I flinch not."
+
+"Nor need you, from these, for none of them shall be used," continued
+the young soldier, with such calculating ferocity in his voice that in
+spite of his dauntless courage and intrepidity the blood of Morgan froze
+within his veins.
+
+"Death and destruction!" he shouted. "What is there left?"
+
+"You shall die, senor, not so much by the hand of man as by the act of
+God."
+
+"God! I believe in none. There is no God!"
+
+"That you shall see."
+
+"Your Excellency, my lords! I appeal to you to save me from this man,
+not my son but my nephew----"
+
+"S'death, sirrah!" shouted the Viceroy, enraged beyond measure by the
+allusion to any relationship, "not a drop of your base blood pollutes
+his veins. I have given you over to him. He will attend to you."
+
+"What means he to do then?"
+
+"You shall see."
+
+"When?"
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+The sombre, sinister, although unknown purpose of the Spaniards had new
+terrors lent to it by the utter inability of the buccaneer to foresee
+what was to be his punishment. He was a man of the highest courage, the
+stoutest heart, yet in that hour he was astonied. His knees smote
+together; he clenched his teeth in a vain effort to prevent their
+chattering. All his devilry, his assurance, his fortitude, his strength,
+seemed to leave him. He stood before them suddenly an old, a broken man,
+facing a doom portentous and terrible, without a spark of strength or
+resolution left to meet it, whatever it might be. And for the first time
+in his life he played the craven, the coward. He moistened his dry lips
+and looked eagerly from one face to another in the dark and gloomy ring
+that encircled him.
+
+"Lady," he said at last, turning to Mercedes as the most likely of his
+enemies to befriend him, "you are a woman. You should be tender hearted.
+You don't want to see an old man, old enough to be your father, suffer
+some unknown, awful torture? Plead for me! Ask your lover. He will
+refuse you nothing now."
+
+There was a dead silence in the room. Mercedes stared at the miserable
+wretch making his despairing appeal as if she were fascinated.
+
+"Answer him," said her stern old father, "as a Spanish gentlewoman
+should."
+
+It was a grim and terrible age. The gospel under which all lived in
+those days was not that of the present. It was a gospel writ in blood,
+and fire, and steel.
+
+"An eye for an eye," said the girl slowly, "a tooth for a tooth, life
+for life, shame for shame," her voice rising until it rang through the
+room. "In the name of my ruined sisters, whose wails come to us this
+instant from without, borne hither on the night wind, I refuse to
+intercede for you, monster. For myself, the insults you have put upon
+me, I might forgive, but not the rest. The taking of one life like yours
+can not repay."
+
+"You hear?" cried Alvarado. "Take him away."
+
+"One moment," cried Morgan. "Holy Father--your religion--it teaches to
+forgive they say. Intercede for me!"
+
+His eyes turned with faint hope toward the aged priest.
+
+"Not for such as thou," answered the old man looking from him. "I could
+forgive this," he touched his battered tonsure, "and all thou hast done
+against me and mine. That is not little, for when I was a lad, a youth,
+before I took the priestly yoke upon me, I loved Maria Zerega--but that
+is nothing. What suffering comes upon me I can bear, but thou hast
+filled the cup of iniquity and must drain it to the dregs. Hark ye--the
+weeping of the desolated town! I can not interfere! They that take the
+sword shall perish by it. It is so decreed. You believe not in God----"
+
+"I will! I do!" cried the buccaneer, clutching at the hope.
+
+"I shall pray for thee, that is all."
+
+"Hornigold," cried the now almost frenzied man, his voice hoarse with
+terror and weakness, "they owe much to you. Without you they had not
+been here. I have wronged you grievously--terribly--but I atone by this.
+Beg them, not to let me go but only to kill me where I stand! They will
+not refuse you. Had it not been for you this man would not have known
+his father. He could not have won this woman. You have power. You'll not
+desert an old comrade in his extremity? Think, we have stood together
+sword in hand and fought our way through all obstacles in many a
+desperate strait. Thou and I, old shipmate. By the memory of that old
+association, by the love you once bore me, and by that I gave to you,
+ask them for my death, here--now--at once!"
+
+"You ask for grace from me!" snarled Hornigold savagely, yet triumphant.
+"You--you hanged my brother----"
+
+"I know, I know! 'Twas a grievous error. I shall be punished for
+all--ask them to shoot me--hang me----"
+
+He slipped to his knees, threw himself upon the floor, and lay
+grovelling at Hornigold's feet.
+
+"Don't let them torture me, man! My God, what is it they intend to do to
+me?"
+
+"Beg, you hound!" cried the boatswain, spurning him with his foot. "I
+have you where I swore I'd bring you. And, remember, 'tis I that laid
+you low--I--I--" He shrieked like a maniac. "When you suffer in that
+living death for which they design you, remember with every lingering
+breath of anguish that it was I who brought you there! You trifled with
+me--mocked me--betrayed me. You denied my request. I grovelled at your
+feet and begged you--you spurned me as I do you now. Curse you! I'll ask
+no mercy for you!"
+
+"My lord," gasped out Morgan, turning to the Viceroy in one final
+appeal, as two of the men dragged him to his feet again, "I have
+treasure. The galleon we captured--it is buried--I can lead you there."
+
+"There is not a man of your following," said the Viceroy, "who would not
+gladly purchase life by the same means."
+
+"And 'tis not needed," said the boatswain, "for I have told them where
+it lies."
+
+"If Teach were here," said Morgan, "he would stand by me."
+
+A man forced his way into the circle carrying a sack in his hand.
+Drawing the strings he threw the contents at the feet of the buccaneer,
+and there rolled before him the severed head of the only man save Black
+Dog upon whom he could have depended, his solitary friend.
+
+Morgan staggered back in horror from the ghastly object, staring at it
+as if fascinated.
+
+[Illustration: ... he threw the contents at the feet of the buccaneer,
+and there rolled before him the severed head of ... his solitary
+friend.]
+
+"Ha, ha! Ho, ho!" laughed the old boatswain. "What was it that he sang?
+'We'll be damnably mouldy'--ay, even you and I captain--'an hundred
+years hence.' But should you live so long, you'll not forget 'twas
+I."
+
+"You didn't betray me then, my young comrade," whispered Morgan, looking
+down at the severed head. "You fought until you were killed. Would that
+my head might lie by your side."
+
+He had been grovelling, pleading, weeping, beseeching, but the utter
+uselessness of it at last came upon him and some of his courage
+returned. He faced them once more with head uplifted.
+
+"At your will, I'm ready," he cried. "I defy you! You shall see how
+Harry Morgan can die. Scuttle me, I'll not give way again!"
+
+"Take him away," said Alvarado; "we'll attend to him in the morning."
+
+"Wait! Give me leave, since I am now tried and condemned, to say a
+word."
+
+A cunning plan had flashed into the mind of Morgan, and he resolved to
+put it in execution.
+
+"It has been a long life, mine, and a merry one. There's more blood upon
+my hands--Spanish blood, gentlemen--than upon those of any other human
+being. There was Puerto Principe. Were any of you there? The men ran
+like dogs before me there and left the women and children. I wiped my
+feet upon your accursed Spanish flag. I washed the blood from my hands
+with hair torn from the heads of your wives, your sweethearts, and you
+had not courage to defend them!"
+
+A low murmur of rage swept through the room.
+
+"But that's not all. Some of you perhaps were at Porto Bello. I drove
+the women of the convents to the attack, as in this city yesterday. When
+I finished I burned the town--it made a hot fire. I did it--I--who stand
+here! I and that cursed one-eyed traitor Hornigold, there!"
+
+The room was in a tumult now. Shouts, and curses, and imprecations broke
+forth. Weapons were bared, raised, and shaken at him. The buccaneer
+laughed and sneered, ineffable contempt pictured on his face.
+
+"And some of you were at Santa Clara, at Chagres, and here in Venezuela
+at Maracaibo, where we sunk the ships and burned your men up like rats.
+Then, there was Panama. We left the men to starve and die. Your mother,
+Senor Agramonte--what became of her? Your sister, there! Your wife,
+here! The sister of your mother, you young dog--what became of them all?
+Hell was let loose in this town yesterday. Panama was worse than La
+Guayra. I did it--I--Harry Morgan's way!"
+
+He thrust himself into the very faces of the men, and with cries of rage
+they rushed upon him. They brushed aside the old Viceroy, drowning his
+commands with their shouts. Had it not been for the interference of
+Hornigold and Alvarado they would have cut Morgan to pieces where he
+stood. And this had been his aim--to provoke them beyond measure by a
+recital of some of his crimes so that he would be killed in their fury.
+But the old boatswain with superhuman strength seized the bound captain
+and forced him into a corner behind a table, while Alvarado with
+lightning resolution beat down the menacing sword points.
+
+"Back!" he cried. "Do you not see he wished to provoke this to escape
+just punishment? I would have silenced him instantly but I thought ye
+could control yourselves. I let him rave on that he might be condemned
+out of his own mouth, that none could have doubt that he merits death at
+our hands to-morrow. Sheath your weapons instantly, gentlemen!" he
+cried.
+
+"Ay," said the Viceroy, stepping into the crowd and endeavoring to make
+himself heard, "under pain of my displeasure. What, soldiers, nobles, do
+ye turn executioners in this way?"
+
+"My mother----"
+
+"My sister----"
+
+"The women and children----"
+
+"The insult to the flag----"
+
+"The disgrace to the Spanish name!"
+
+"That he should say these things and live!"
+
+"Peace, sirs, he will not say words like these to-morrow. Now, we have
+had enough. See!" cried the old Viceroy, pointing to the windows, "the
+day breaks. Take him away. Agramonte, to you I commit the fort.
+Mercedes, Alvarado, come with me. Those who have no duties to perform,
+go get some sleep. As for you, prisoner, if you have preparation to
+make, do so at once, for in the morning you shall have no opportunity."
+
+"I am ready now!" cried Morgan recklessly, furious because he had been
+balked in his attempt. "Do with me as you will! I have had my day, and
+it has been a long and merry one."
+
+"And I mine, to-night. It has been short, but enough," laughed
+Hornigold, his voice ringing like a maniac's in the hall. "For I have
+had my revenge!"
+
+"We shall take care of that in the morning," said Alvarado, turning away
+to follow the Viceroy and Mercedes.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+IN WHICH THE CAREER OF SIR HENRY MORGAN IS ENDED ON ISLA DE LA TORTUGA,
+TO THE GREAT DELECTATION OF MASTER BENJAMIN HORNIGOLD, HIS SOMETIME
+FRIEND
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+AND LAST. WHEREIN IS SEEN HOW THE JUDGMENT OF GOD CAME UPON THE
+BUCCANEERS IN THE END
+
+
+Before it was submerged by the great earthquake which so tremendously
+overwhelmed the shores of South America with appalling disaster nearly a
+century and a half later, a great arid rock on an encircling stretch of
+sandy beach--resultant of untold centuries of struggle between stone and
+sea--thrust itself above the waters a few miles northward of the coast
+of Venezuela. The cay was barren and devoid of any sort of life except
+for a single clump of bushes that had sprung up a short distance from
+the huge rock upon a little plateau sufficiently elevated to resist the
+attacks of the sea, which at high tide completely overflowed the islet
+except at that one spot.
+
+Four heavy iron staples had been driven with great difficulty into holes
+drilled in the face of the volcanic rock. To these four large chains had
+been made fast. The four chains ended in four fetters and the four
+fetters enclosed the ankles and wrists of a man. The length of the four
+chains had been so cunningly calculated that the arms and legs of the
+man were drawn far apart, so that he resembled a gigantic white cross
+against the dark surface of the stone. A sailor would have described his
+position by saying that he had been "spread-eagled" by those who had
+fastened him there. Yet the chains were not too short to allow a little
+freedom of motion. He could incline to one side or to the other, lift
+himself up or down a little, or even thrust himself slightly away from
+the face of the rock.
+
+The man was in tatters, for his clothing had been rent and torn by the
+violent struggles he had made before he had been securely fastened in
+his chains. He was an old man, and his long gray hair fell on either
+side of his lean, fierce face in tangled masses. A strange terror of
+death--the certain fate that menaced him, was upon his countenance. He
+had borne himself bravely enough except for a few craven moments, while
+in the presence of his captors and judges, chief among whom had been the
+young Spanish soldier and the one-eyed sailor whom he had known for so
+many years. With the bravado of despair he had looked with seeming
+indifference on the sufferings of his own men that same morning. After
+being submitted to the tortures of the rack, the boot, the thumbscrew,
+or the wheel, in accordance with the fancy of their relentless captors,
+they had been hanged to the outer walls and he had been forced to pass
+by them on his way to this hellish spot. But the real courage of the man
+was gone now. His simulation had not even been good enough to deceive
+his enemies, and now even that had left him.
+
+He was alone, so he believed, upon the island, and all of the mortal
+fear slowly creeping upon him already appeared in his awful face,
+clearly exhibited by the light of the setting sun streaming upon his
+left hand for he was chained facing northward, that is, seaward. As he
+fancied himself the only living thing upon that island he took little
+care to conceal his emotions--indeed, it was impossible for him any
+longer to keep up the pretence of indifference. His nerves were
+shattered, his spirit broken. Retribution was dogging him hard.
+Vengeance was close at hand at last. Besides, what mattered it? He
+thought himself alone, absolutely alone. But in that fancy he was wrong,
+for in the solitary little copse of bushes of which mention has been
+made there lay hidden a man--an ancient sailor. His single eye gleamed
+as fiercely upon the bound, shackled prisoner as did the setting sun
+itself.
+
+Old Benjamin Hornigold, who had schemed and planned for his revenge, had
+insisted upon being put ashore on the other side of the island after
+the boats had rowed out of sight of the captive, that he might steal
+back and, himself unseen, watch the torture of the man who had betrayed
+him and wronged him so deeply that in his diseased mind no expiation
+could be too awful for the crime; that he might glut his fierce old soul
+with the sight for which it had longed since the day Harry Morgan,
+beholden to him as he was for his very life and fortune, for a thousand
+brave and faithful, if nefarious, services, had driven him like a dog
+from his presence. Alvarado--who, being a Spaniard, could sympathize and
+understand the old sailor's lust for revenge--had readily complied with
+his request, and had further promised to return for the boatswain in two
+days. They calculated nicely that the already exhausted prisoner would
+scarcely survive that long, and provisions and water ample for that
+period had been left for the sustenance of Hornigold--alone.
+
+Morgan, however, did not know this. He believed his only companions to
+be the body of the half-breed who had died for him as he had lived for
+him, and the severed head of a newer comrade who had not betrayed him.
+The body lay almost at his feet; the head had been wedged in the sand so
+that its sightless face was turned toward him in the dreadful, lidless
+staring gaze of sudden death. And those two were companions with whom
+he could better have dispensed, even in his solitude.
+
+They had said to the buccaneer, as they fastened him to the rocks, that
+they would not take his life, but that he would be left to the judgment
+of God. What would that be? He thought he knew.
+
+He had lived long enough on the Caribbean to know the habits of that
+beautiful and cruel sea. There was a little stretch of sand at his feet
+and then the water began. He estimated that the tide had been ebbing for
+an hour or so when he was fastened up and abandoned. The rock to which
+he had been chained was still wet, and he noticed that the dampness
+existed far above his head. The water would recede--and recede--and
+recede--until perhaps some three hundred feet of bare sand would stretch
+before him, and then it would turn and come back, back, back. Where
+would it stop? How high would it rise? Would it flood in in peaceful
+calm as it was then drawing away? Would it come crashing in heavy
+assault upon the sands as it generally did, beating out his life against
+the rock? He could not tell. He gazed at it intently so long as there
+was light, endeavoring to decide the momentous question. To watch it was
+something to do. It gave him mental occupation, and so he stared and
+stared at the slowly withdrawing water-line.
+
+Of the two he thought he should prefer a storm. He would be beaten to
+pieces, the life battered out of him horribly in that event; but that
+would be a battle, a struggle,--action. He could fight, if he could not
+wait and endure. It would be a terrible death, but it would be soon over
+and, therefore, he preferred it to the slow horror of watching the
+approach of the waters creeping in and up to drown him. The chief agony
+of his position, however, the most terrifying feature in this dreadful
+situation to which his years of crime had at last brought him, was that
+he was allowed no choice. He had always been a man of swift, prompt,
+bold action; self-reliant, fearless, resolute, a master not a server;
+accustomed to determine events in accordance with his own imperious
+will, and wont to bring them about as he planned. To be chained there,
+impotent, helpless, waiting, indeed, the judgment of God, was a thing
+which it seemed impossible for him to bear. The indecision of it, the
+uncertainty of it, added to his helplessness and made it the more
+appalling to him.
+
+The judgment of God! He had never believed in a God since his boyhood
+days, and he strove to continue in his faithlessness now. He had been a
+brave man, dauntless and intrepid, but cold, paralyzing fear now
+gripped him by the heart. A few lingering sparks of the manhood and
+courage of the past that not even his crimes had deprived him of still
+remained in his being, however, and he strove as best he might to
+control the beating of his heart, to still the trembling of his arms and
+legs which shook the chains against the stone face of the rock making
+them ring out in a faint metallic clinking, which was the sweetest music
+that had ever pierced the eager hollow of the ear of the silent listener
+and watcher concealed in the thicket.
+
+So long as it was light Morgan intently watched the sea. There was a
+sense of companionship in it which helped to alleviate his unutterable
+loneliness. And he was a man to whom loneliness in itself was a
+punishment. There were too many things in the past that had a habit of
+making their presence felt when he was alone, for him ever to desire to
+be solitary. Presently the sun disappeared with the startling suddenness
+of tropic latitudes, and without twilight darkness fell over the sea and
+over his haggard face like a veil. The moon had not yet risen and he
+could see nothing. There were a few faint clouds on the horizon, he had
+noticed, which might presage a storm. It was very dark and very still,
+as calm and peaceful a tropic night as ever shrouded the Caribbean.
+Farther and farther away from him he could hear the rustle of the
+receding waves as the tide went down. Over his head twinkled the stars
+out of the deep darkness.
+
+In that vast silence he seemed to hear a voice, still and small, talking
+to him in a faint whisper that yet pierced the very centre of his being.
+All that it said was one word repeated over and over again,
+"God--God--God!" The low whisper beat into his brain and began to grow
+there, rising louder and louder in its iteration until the whole vaulted
+heaven throbbed with the ringing sound of it. He listened--listened--it
+seemed for hours--until his heart burst within him. At last he screamed
+and screamed, again and again, "Yes--yes! Now I know--I know!" And still
+the sound beat on.
+
+He saw strange shapes in the darkness. One that rose and rose, and grew
+and grew, embracing all the others until its head seemed to touch the
+stars, and ever it spoke that single word "God--God--God!" He could not
+close his eyes, but if he had been able to raise his hand he would have
+hid his face. The wind blew softly, it was warm and tender, yet the man
+shivered with cold, the sweat beaded his brow.
+
+Then the moon sprang up as suddenly as the sun had fallen. Her silver
+radiance flooded the firmament. Light, heavenly light once more! He was
+alone. The voice was still; the shadow left him. Far away from him the
+white line of the water was breaking on the silver sand. His own cry
+came back to him and frightened him in the dead silence.
+
+Now the tide turned and came creeping in. It had gone out slowly; it had
+lingered as if reluctant to leave him; but to his distraught vision it
+returned with the swiftness of a thousand white horses tossing their
+wind-blown manes. The wind died down; the clouds were dissipated. The
+night was so very calm, it mocked the storm raging in his soul. And still
+the silvered water came flooding in; gently--tenderly--caressingly--the
+little waves lapped the sands. At last they lifted the ghastly head of
+young Teach--he'd be damnably mouldy a hundred years hence!--and laid
+it at his feet.
+
+He cursed the rising water, and bade it stay--and heedlessly it came on.
+It was a tropic sea and the waters were as warm as those of any
+sun-kissed ocean, but they broke upon his knees with the coldness of
+eternal ice. They rolled the heavier body of his faithful slave against
+him--he strove to drive it away with his foot as he had striven to
+thrust aside the ghastly head, and without avail. The two friends
+receded as the waves rolled back but they came on again, and again, and
+again. They had been faithful to him in life, they remained with him in
+death.
+
+Now the water broke about his waist; now it rose to his breast. He was
+exhausted; worn out. He hung silent, staring. His mind was busy; his
+thought went back to that rugged Welsh land where he had been born. He
+saw himself a little boy playing in the fields that surrounded the
+farmhouse of his father and mother.
+
+He took again that long trip across the ocean. He lived again in the hot
+hell of the Caribbean. Old forms of forgotten buccaneers clustered about
+him. Mansfelt, under whom he had first become prominent himself. There
+on the horizon rose the walls of a sleeping town. With his companions he
+slowly crept forward through the underbrush, slinking along like a tiger
+about to spring upon its prey. The doomed town flamed before his eyes.
+The shrieks of men, the prayers of women, the piteous cries of little
+children came into his ears across forty years.
+
+Cannon roared in his ear--the crash of splintered wood, the despairing
+appeals for mercy, for help, from drowning mariners, as he stood upon a
+bloody deck watching the rolling of a shattered, sinking ship. Was that
+water, spray from some tossing wave, or blood, upon his hand?
+
+The water was higher now; it was at his neck. There were Porto Bello,
+Puerto Principe, and Maracaibo, and Chagres and Panama--ah, Panama! All
+the fiends of hell had been there, and he had been their chief! They
+came back now to mock him. They pointed at him, gibbered upon him,
+threatened him, and laughed--great God, how they laughed!
+
+There was pale-faced, tender-eyed Maria Zerega who had died of the
+plague, and the baby, the boy. Jamaica, too, swept into his vision.
+There was his wife shrinking away from him in the very articles of
+death. There was young Ebenezer Hornigold, dancing right merrily upon
+the gallows together with others of the buccaneers he had hanged.
+
+The grim figure of the one-eyed boatswain rose before him and leered
+upon him and swept the other apparitions away. This was La
+Guayra--yesterday. He had been betrayed. Whose men were those? The men
+hanging on the walls? And Hornigold had done it--old Ben Hornigold--that
+he thought so faithful.
+
+He screamed aloud again with hate, he called down curses upon the head
+of the growing one-eyed apparition. And the water broke into his mouth
+and stopped him. It called him to his senses for a moment. His present
+peril overcame the hideous recollection of the past. That water was
+rising still. Great God! At last he prayed. Lips that had only cursed
+shaped themselves into futile petitions. There was a God, after all.
+
+The end was upon him, yet with the old instinct of life he lifted
+himself upon his toes. He raised his arms as far as the chains gave him
+play and caught the chains themselves and strove to pull, to lift, at
+last only to hold himself up, a rigid, awful figure. He gained an inch
+or two, but his fetters held him down. As the water supported him he
+found little difficulty in maintaining the position for a space. But he
+could go no higher--if the water rose an inch more that would be the
+end. He could breathe only between the breaking waves now.
+
+The body of the black was swung against him again and again; the head of
+young Teach kissed him upon the cheek; and still the water seemed to
+rise, and rise, and rise. He was a dead man like the other two, indeed
+he prayed to die, and yet in fear he clung to the chains and held on.
+Each moment he fancied would be his last. But he could not let go. Oh,
+God! how he prayed for a storm; that one fierce wave might batter him to
+pieces; but the waters were never more calm than on that long, still
+night, the sea never more peaceful than in those awful hours.
+
+By and by the waters fell. He could not believe it at first. He still
+hung suspended and waited with bated breath. Was he deceived? No, the
+waters were surely falling. The seconds seemed minutes to him, the
+minutes, hours. At last he gained assurance. There was no doubt but that
+the tide was going down. The waves had risen far, but he had been lifted
+above them; now they were falling, falling! Yes, and they were bearing
+away that accursed body and that ghastly head. He was alive still, saved
+for the time being. The highest waves only touched his breast now.
+Lower--lower--they moved away. Reluctantly they lingered; but they fell,
+they fell.
+
+To drown? That was not the judgment of God for him then. What would it
+be? His head fell forward on his breast--he had fainted in the sudden
+relief of his undesired salvation.
+
+Long time he hung there and still the tide ebbed away, carrying with it
+all that was left of the only two who had loved him. He was alone now,
+surely, save for that watcher in the bushes. After a while consciousness
+returned to him again, and after the first swift sense of relief there
+came to him a deeper terror, for he had gone through the horror and
+anguish of death and had not died. He was alive still, but as helpless
+as before.
+
+What had the Power he had mocked designed for his end? Was he to watch
+that ghastly tide come in again and rise, and rise, and rise until it
+caught him by the throat and threatened to choke him, only to release
+him as before? Was he to go through that daily torture until he starved
+or died of thirst? He had not had a bite to eat, a drop to drink, since
+the day before.
+
+It was morning now. On his right hand the sun sprang from the ocean bed
+with the same swiftness with which it had departed the night before.
+Like the tide, it, too, rose, and rose. There was not a cloud to temper
+the fierceness with which it beat upon his head, not a breath of air to
+blow across his fevered brow. The blinding rays struck him like hammers
+of molten iron. He stared at it out of his frenzied, blood-shot eyes and
+writhed beneath its blazing heat. Before him the white sand burned like
+smelted silver, beyond him the tremulous ocean seemed to seethe and
+bubble under the furious fire of the glowing heaven above his head--a
+vault of flaming topaz over a sapphire sea.
+
+He closed his eyes, but could not shut out the sight--and then the
+dreams of night came on him again. His terrors were more real, more
+apparent, more appalling, because he saw his dreaded visions in the
+full light of day. By and by these faded as the others had done. All his
+faculties were merged into one consuming desire for water--water. The
+thirst was intolerable. Unless he could get some his brain would give
+way. He was dying, dying, dying! Oh, God, he could not die, he was not
+ready to die! Oh, for one moment of time, for one drop of
+water--God--God--God!
+
+Suddenly before his eyes there arose a figure. At first he fancied it
+was another of the apparitions which had companied with him during the
+awful night and morning; but this was a human figure, an old man, bent,
+haggard like himself with watching, but with a fierce mad joy in his
+face. Where had he come from? Who was he? What did he want? The figure
+glared upon the unhappy man with one fiery eye, and then he lifted
+before the captive's distorted vision something--what was it--a cup of
+water? Water--God in heaven--water brimming over the cup! It was just
+out of reach of his lips--so cool, so sweet, so inviting! He strained at
+his chains, bent his head, thrust his lips out. He could almost touch
+it--not quite! He struggled and struggled and strove to break his
+fetters, but without avail. Those fetters could not be broken by the
+hand of man. He could not drink--ah, God!--then he lifted his blinded
+eyes and searched the face of the other.
+
+"Hornigold!" he whispered hoarsely with his parched and stiffened lips.
+"Is it thou?"
+
+A deep voice beat into his consciousness.
+
+"Ay. I wanted to let you know there was water here. You must be thirsty.
+You'd like a drink? So would I. There is not enough for both of us. Who
+will get it? I. Look!"
+
+"Not all, not all!" screamed the old captain faintly, as the other
+drained the cup. "A little! A drop for me!"
+
+"Not one drop," answered Hornigold, "not one drop! If you were in hell
+and I held a river in my hand, you would not get a drop! It's gone."
+
+He threw the cup from him.
+
+"I brought you to this--I! Do you recall it? You owe this to me. You had
+your revenge--this is mine. But it's not over yet. I'm watching you. I
+shall not come out here again, but I'm watching you, remember that! I
+can see you!"
+
+"Hornigold, for God's sake, have pity!"
+
+"You know no God; you have often boasted of it--neither do I. And you
+never knew pity--neither do I!"
+
+[Illustration: "I wanted to let you know there was water here ... There
+is not enough for both of us. Who will get it? I; look!"]
+
+"Take that knife you bear--kill me!"
+
+"I don't want you to die--not yet. I want you to live--live--a long
+time, and remember!"
+
+"Hornigold, I'll make amends! I'll be your slave!"
+
+"Ay, crawl and cringe now, you dog! I swore that you should do it! It's
+useless to beg me for mercy. I know not that word--neither did you.
+There is nothing left in me but hate--hate for you. I want to see you
+suffer----"
+
+"The tide! It's coming back. I can't endure this heat and thirst! It
+won't drown me----"
+
+"Live, then," said the boatswain. "Remember, I watch!"
+
+He threw his glance upward, stopped suddenly, a fierce light in that old
+eye of his.
+
+"Look up," he cried, "and you will see! Take heart, man. I guess you
+won't have to wait for the tide, and the sun won't bother you long.
+Remember, I am watching you!"
+
+He turned and walked away, concealing himself in the copse once more
+where he could see and not be seen. The realization that he was watched
+by one whom he could not see, one who gloated over his miseries and
+sufferings and agonies, added the last touch to the torture of the
+buccaneer. He had no longer strength nor manhood, he no longer cried
+out after that one last appeal to the merciless sailor. He did not even
+look up in obedience to the old man's injunction. What was there above
+him, beneath him, around him, that could add to his fear? He prayed for
+death. They were the first and last prayers that had fallen from his
+lips for fifty years, those that day. Yet when death did come at last he
+shrank from it with an increasing terror and horror that made all that
+he had passed through seem like a trifle.
+
+When old Hornigold had looked up he had seen a speck in the vaulted
+heaven. It was slowly soaring around and around in vast circles, and
+with each circle coming nearer and nearer to the ground. A pair of keen
+and powerful eyes were aloft there piercing the distance, looking,
+searching, in every direction, until at last their glance fell upon the
+figure upon the rock. The circling stopped. There was a swift rush
+through the air. A black feathered body passed between the buccaneer and
+the sun, and a mighty vulture, hideous bird of the tropics, alighted on
+the sands near by him.
+
+[Illustration: Hell had no terror like to this, which he, living,
+suffered.]
+
+So this was the judgment of God upon this man! For a second his tortured
+heart stopped its beating. He stared at the unclean thing, and then he
+shrank back against the rock and screamed with frantic terror. The
+bird moved heavily back a little distance and stopped, peering at him.
+He could see it by turning his head. He could drive it no farther. In
+another moment there was another rush through the air, another, another!
+He screamed again. Still they came, until it seemed as if the earth and
+the heavens were black with the horrible birds. High in the air they had
+seen the first one swooping to the earth, and with unerring instinct, as
+was their habit, had turned and made for the point from which the first
+had dropped downward to the shore.
+
+They circled themselves about him. They sat upon the rock above him.
+They stared at him with their lustful, carrion, jeweled eyes out of their
+loathsome, featherless, naked heads, drawing nearer--nearer--nearer.
+He could do no more. His voice was gone. His strength was gone. He closed
+his eyes, but the sight was still before him. His bleeding, foamy lips
+mumbled one unavailing word:
+
+"Hornigold!"
+
+From the copse there came no sound, no answer. He sank forward in his
+chains, his head upon his breast, convulsive shudders alone proclaiming
+faltering life. Hell had no terror like to this which he, living,
+suffered.
+
+There was a weight upon his shoulder now fierce talons sank deep into
+his quivering flesh. In front of his face, before a pair of lidless eyes
+that glowed like fire, a hellish, cruel beak struck at him. A faint,
+low, ghastly cry trembled through the still air.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And the resistless tide came in. A man drove away the birds at last
+before they had quite taken all, for the torn arms still hung in the
+iron fetters; an old man, blind of one eye, the black patch torn off the
+hideous hole that had replaced the socket. He capered with the
+nimbleness of youth before the ghastly remains of humanity still
+fastened to that rock. He shouted and screamed, and laughed and sang.
+The sight had been too horrible even for him. He was mad, crazy; his
+mind was gone. He had his revenge, and it had eaten him up.
+
+The waters dashed, about his feet and seemed to awaken some new idea in
+his disordered brain.
+
+"What!" he cried, "the tide is in. Up anchor, lads! We must beat out to
+sea. Captain, I'll follow you. Harry Morgan's way to lead--old Ben
+Hornigold's to follow--ha, ha! ho, ho!"
+
+He waded out into the water, slowly going deeper and deeper. A wave
+swept him off his feet. A hideous laugh came floating back over the sea,
+and then he struck out, and out, and out----
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And so the judgment of God was visited upon Sir Henry Morgan and his men
+at last, and as it was writ of old:
+
+_With what measure they had meted out, it had been measured back to them
+again!_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, by
+Cyrus Townsend Brady
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY MORGAN, BUCCANEER ***
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