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diff --git a/31673.txt b/31673.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..67c9595 --- /dev/null +++ b/31673.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4383 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rose of Paradise, by Howard Pyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Rose of Paradise + Being a detailed account of certain adventures that happened + to captain John Mackra, in connection with the famous + pirate, Edward England, in the year 1720, off the Island + of Juanna in the Mozambique Channel; writ by himself, and + now for the first time published + +Author: Howard Pyle + +Release Date: March 17, 2010 [EBook #31673] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROSE OF PARADISE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Hillie Plantinga and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "BOAT AHOY!" I CRIED OUT, AND THEN LEVELLED MY PISTOL AND +FIRED.] + + + + +THE ROSE OF PARADISE + +_Being a detailed account of certain adventures that + happened to Captain John Mackra, in connection + with the famous pirate, Edward England, in + the year 1720, off the Island of Juanna + in the Mozambique Channel; writ + by himself, and now for the + first time published_ + + +BY HOWARD PYLE + +AUTHOR OF +"PEPPER AND SALT" "THE WONDER CLOCK" ETC. + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +NEW YORK +HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE +1888 + + + + +Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers. + + * * * * * + +_All rights reserved._ + + + + +TO + +LEWIS C. VANDEGRIFT + +This Book is Dedicated + +BY HIS FRIEND + + _THE AUTHOR_ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +_"Boat ahoy!" I cried out, and then levelled +my pistol and fired_ Frontispiece + +_Mr. Longways looked up under his brown eyes +at me with a very curious leer_ faces 20 + +_"Captain Mackra," said he, coldly, "you were +pleased to put upon me last night a gross and +uncalled-for insult"_ " 62 + +_So soon as they saw me they fell to screaming, +and clung to one another_ " 100 + +_"I am Captain John Mackra" said I, and I +sat down upon the gunwale of the boat_ " 132 + +_I rose slowly from my chair, and stood with +my hand leaning upon the table_ " 172 + +_The three fellows were brought aft to the +quarter-deck, where Captain Croker stood, +just below the rail of the deck above_ " 186 + +_There, in the corner, I beheld the famous pirate, +Captain Edward England_ " 212 + + + + +THE ROSE OF PARADISE. + + + + +I. + + +Although the account of the serious engagement betwixt the _Cassandra_ +and the two pirate vessels in the Mozambique Channel hath already been +set to print, the publick have yet to know many lesser and more detailed +circumstances concerning the matter;[A] and as the above-mentioned +account hath caused much remark and comment, I shall take it upon me to +give many incidents not yet known, seeking to render them neither in +refined rhetorick nor with romantick circumstances such as are sometimes +used by novel and story writers to catch the popular attention, but +telling this history as directly, and with as little verbosity and +circumlocution, as possible. + +[A] A brief narration of the naval engagement between Captain Mackra and +the two pirate vessels was given in the Captain's official report made +at Bombay. It appears in the life of the pirate England in Johnson's +book: "A Genuine Account of the Voyages and Plunders of the Most +Notorious Pyrates, &c." London, 1742. + +For the conveniency of the reader, I shall render this true and +veracious account under sundry headings, marked I., II., III., &c., as +seen above, which may assist him in separating the less from the more +notable portions of the narrative. + + * * * * * + +According to my log--a diary or journal of circumstances appertaining to +shipboard--it was the nineteenth day of April, 1720, when, I being in +command of the East India Company's ship _Cassandra_, billed for Bombay +and waiting for orders to sail, comes Mr. Evans, the Company's agent, +aboard with certain sealed and important orders which he desired to +deliver to me at the last minute. + +After we had come to my cabin and were set down, Mr. Evans hands me two +pacquets, one addressed to myself, the other superscribed to one +Benjamin Longways. + +He then proceeded to inform me that the Company had a matter of +exceeding import and delicacy which they had no mind to intrust to any +one but such, he was pleased to say, as was a tried and worthy servant, +and that they had fixed upon me as the fitting one to undertake the +commission, which was of such a nature as would involve the transfer of +many thousand pounds. He furthermore informed me that a year or two +before, the Company had rendered certain aid to the native King of +Juanna, an island lying between Madagascar and the east coast of Africa, +at a time when there was war betwixt him and the king of an island +called Mohilla, which lyeth coadjacent to the other country; that I +should make Juanna upon my voyage, and that I should there receive +through Mr. Longways, who was the Company's agent at that place, a +pacquet of the greatest import, relating to the settlement of certain +matters betwixt the East India Company and the king of that island. +Concluding his discourse, he further said that he had no hesitation in +telling me that the pacquet which I would there receive from Mr. Longways +concerned certain payments due the East India Company, and would, as he +had said before, involve the transfer of many thousand pounds; from +which I might see what need there was of great caution and +circumspection in the transaction. + +"But, sir," says I, "sure the Company is making a prodigious mistake in +confiding a business of such vast importance as this to one so young and +so inexperienced as I." + +To this Mr. Evans only laughed, and was pleased to say that it was no +concern of his, but from what he had observed he thought the honorable +Company had made a good choice, and that of a keen tool, in my case. He +furthermore said that in the pacquet which he had given to me, and which +was addressed to me, I would find such detailed instructions as would be +necessary, and that the other should be handed to Mr. Longways, and was +an order for the transfer above spoken of. + +Soon after this he left the ship, and was rowed ashore, after many kind +and complacent wishes for a quick and prosperous voyage. + +It may be as well to observe here as elsewhere within this narrative +that the Company's written orders to me contained little that Mr. Evans +had not told me, saving only certain details, and the further order that +that which the agent at Juanna should transfer to me should be delivered +to the Governor at Bombay, and that I should receive a written receipt +from him for the same. Neither at that time did I know the nature of the +trust that I was called upon to execute, save that it was of great +import, and that it involved money to some mightily considerable amount. + +The crew of the _Cassandra_ consisted of fifty-one souls all told, +officers and ordinary seamen. Besides these were six passengers, the +list of whom I give below, it having been copied from my log-book +journal: + +Captain Edward Leach (of the East India Company's service). + +Mr. Thomas Fellows (who was to take the newly established agency of the +Company at Cuttapore). + +Mr. John Williamson (a young cadet). + +Mrs. Colonel Evans (a sister-in-law of the Company's agent spoken of +above). + +Mistress Pamela Boon (a niece of the Governor at Bombay). + +Mistress Ann Hastings (the young lady's waiting-woman). + +Of Mistress Pamela Boon I feel extreme delicacy in speaking, not caring +to make publick matters of such a nature as our subsequent relations to +one another. Yet this much I may say without indelicacy, that she was at +that time a young lady of eighteen years of age, and that her father, +who had been a clergyman, having died the year before, she was at that +time upon her way to India to join her uncle, who, as said above, was +Governor at Bombay, and had been left her guardian. + +Nor will it be necessary to tire the reader by any disquisition upon the +other passengers, excepting Captain Leach, whom I shall have good cause +to remember to the very last day of my life. + +He was a tall, handsome fellow, of about eight-and-twenty years of age, +of good natural parts, and of an old and honorable family of +Hertfordshire. He was always exceedingly kind and pleasant to me, and +treated me upon every occasion with the utmost complacency, and yet I +conceived a most excessive dislike for his person from the very first +time that I beheld him, nor, as events afterwards proved, were my +instincts astray, or did they mislead me in my sentiments, as they are +so apt to do upon similar occasions. + +After a voyage somewhat longer than usual, and having stopped at St. +Helena, which hath of late been one of our stations, we sighted the +southern coast of Madagascar about the middle of July, and on the +eighteenth dropped anchor in a little bay on the eastern side of the +island of Juanna, not being able to enter into the harbor which lyeth +before the king's town because of the shallowness of the water and the +lack of a safe anchorage, which is mightily necessary along such a +treacherous and dangerous coast. In the same harbor we found two other +vessels--one the _Greenwich_, Captain Kirby, an English ship; the other +an Ostender, a great, clumsy, tub-shaped craft. + +I was much put about that I could get no nearer to the king's town than +I then was, it being some seven or eight leagues away around the +northern end of the island. I was the more vexed that we could not well +come to it in boats, other than by a long reach around the cape to the +northward, which would increase the journey to wellnigh thirty miles. +Besides all this, I was further troubled upon learning from Captain +Kirby of the _Greenwich_ that the pirates had been very troublesome in +these waters for some time past. He said that having been ashore soon +after he had come to that place, in search of a convenient spot to take +in water, he had found fourteen pirates that had come in their canoes +from the Mayotta, where the pirate ship to which they belonged, viz., +the _Indian Queen_, two hundred and fifty tons, twenty-eight guns, and +ninety men, commanded by Captain Oliver de la Bouche, bound from the +Guinea coast to the East Indies, had been bulged and lost. + +I asked Captain Kirby what he had done with the rogues. He told me, +nothing at all, and that the less one had to do with such fellows the +better. At this I was vastly surprised, and that he had taken no steps +to put an end to such a nest of vile, wicked, and bloody-minded wretches +when he had it so clearly in his power to take fourteen of them at once; +more especially as he should have known that if they got away from that +place and to any of their companions they would bring the others not +only about his ears, but of every other craft that might be lying in the +harbor at the time. Something to this effect I said, whereat he flew +into a mighty huff, and said that if I had seen half the experience that +he had been through I would not be so free in my threats of doing this +or that to a set of wretches no better than so many devils from hell, +who would cut a man's throat without any scruples either of fear or +remorse. + +To all this I made no rejoinder, for the pirates were far enough away by +this time, and I was willing to suppose that Captain Kirby had done +what he judged to be best in the matter. Yet the getting away of those +evil wretches brought more trouble upon me than had happened in all my +life before. + +But, as was said before, I was in a pretty tub of pickle with all those +things; for I could not bring my ship to anchor in any reasonable +distance of the king's town, nor could I leave her and go on such a +journey as would take a day or more, lest the pirates should come along +in my absence. Neither did I like to send any of the officers under me +to execute the commission, it being one of such exceeding delicacy and +secrecy. At this juncture, and all of my passengers knowing that we +could not leave that place till I had communicated certain papers to the +Company's agent at the king's town, comes Captain Leach to me and +volunteers to deliver the pacquet addressed to Mr. Longways. At first I +was but little inclined to accept of his complacency, but having a +secret feeling that I might be wronging him by my prejudice against him, +I determined to give second thought to the matter before I hastily +declined his offer of aid. Indeed, I may truthfully say I would have +felt more inclined to refuse his assistance if I had entertained a more +high opinion of his person. As it was, I could see no reason for not +accepting his offer; he was regarded everywhere as a man of rectitude +and of honor, and I had no real grounds to impeach this opinion; so the +end of the business was that I accepted his aid with the best face that +I was able to command, though that was with no very good grace, and gave +him leave to choose ten volunteers as a boat's crew for the +expedition. + + + + +II. + + +(The reader will be pleased to observe that, in pursuance of the plan +above indicated, I here begin a second part or chapter of my narrative, +the first dealing with our voyage out as far as the island of Juanna, +and matters of a kindred nature, whilst the following relates to an +entirely different subject, namely, the nature of the trust imposed upon +me, mention only of which has heretofore been made.) + +I do not now nor ever have believed that Captain Leach had any other +designs in offering to execute my commission than that of seizing so +excellent an opportunity to see a strange country and people after a +long and tiresome voyage upon the sea. Nevertheless, my allowing him to +go was one of the greatest mistakes in all of my whole life, and cost +me dearly enough before I had redeemed it. + +The expedition under him was gone for three days, at the end of which +time he returned, in company with a great canoe manned by a crew of +about twenty tall, strapping black fellows, and with two or three +sitting in the stern-sheets of the craft, bedecked with feathers and +beads, whom I knew to be chiefs or warriors. + +In the _Cassandra's_ boat was a stranger who sat beside Captain Leach, +talking very gayly, and who I knew could be none other than Mr. +Longways, the Company's agent. + +So soon as the _Cassandra's_ boat had come alongside he skipped up the +side like a monkey, and gave me a very civil bow immediately his feet +touched the deck, which I returned with all the gravity I was able to +command. + +Mr. Longways was a lean, slim little man, and was dressed with great +care, and in the very latest fashion that he could obtain; from which, +and his polite, affected manners and grimaces, I perceived that he +rarely had the opportunity of coming upon board of a craft where there +were ladies as passengers. + +After Mr. Longways came Captain Leach, and after him the three great, +tall, native chiefs, half naked, and with hair dressed after a most +strange, curious fashion. At first they would have prostrated themselves +at my feet, but I prevented them; whereupon they took my hand and set it +upon their heads, which was anything but pleasant, their hair being +thick with gums and greases. + +I presently led the way to my cabin, the chiefs following close at our +heels, and Mr. Longways walking beside me, grimacing like a little old +monkey in a vastly affected manner. Nor could I forbear smiling to see +how he directed his observations towards the ladies, and more especially +Mistress Pamela, who stood at the rail of the deck above. Mr. Longways +carried in his hand a strong iron despatch-box, about the bigness of +those used by the runners at the Bank, and so soon as we had come into +my cabin he clapped it down upon the table with a great noise. + +"There!" says he, fetching a deep sigh; "I, for one, am glad to be quit +of it." + +"Why," says I, "Mr. Longways, is there then so much in the little +compass of that box?" + +"Indeed yes," says he; "enough to make you and me rich men for our +lives." + +"I wonder, then," says I, laughing, "that you should bring it so easily +to me, when you might have made off with it yourself, and no one the +wiser." + +"No, no," says he, quite seriously, without taking my jest, and jerking +his head towards the black chiefs, who had squatted down upon their hams +nigh to the table--"No, no. Our friends yonder have had their eyes on me +sharply enough, though they do not understand one single word that we +are saying to one another." + +While we had been conversing I had fetched out a decanter of port and +five glasses, and had poured out wine for all hands, which the black men +drank with as great pleasure as Mr. Longways and myself. + +After Mr. Longways had finished, he smacked his lips and set down his +glass with a great air. "And now," says he, with a comical grimace of +vanity and self-importance, "let us to business without loss of more +time. First of all, I have to ask you, sir, do you know what all this +treasure is for?" + +I told him yes; that Mr. Evans had informed me that it was as payment +for certain aid which the East India Company had rendered to the king of +that country. + +"And how," says he, very slowly, and cocking his head upon one +side--"and how do you think our King Coffee is to make such payments? By +bills upon the Bank of Africa? No, no. The treasure is all in this box, +every farthing of it; and I, sir, have been chosen by the honorable East +India Company to have sole and entire charge of it for more than two +weeks past." Here he looked at me very hard, as though he thought I +would have made some remark upon what he had told me; but as I said +nothing he presently resumed his discourse, after his own fashion. "I +see," says he, "that you do not appreciate the magnitude of the trust +that hath been imposed upon me. I shall show you, sir." And without more +ado he fetched up a bunch of keys out of his pocket. He looked at them +one after another until he found one somewhat smaller than the rest, and +with very curiously wrought guards. "Look at this," says he; "there are +only three in the world like it. I hold one, King Coffee the other, and +the Governor of Bombay the third." So saying, he thrust the key into the +lock of the despatch-box. "Stop a bit, sir," said I, very seriously, +and laying my hand on his arm. "Have you very well considered what you +are doing? Mr. Evans, the Company's agent, said nothing to me concerning +the nature of the trust that was to be imposed upon me further than it +was of very great value; and without you have received instructions to +tell me further concerning this business, I much misdoubt that the +Company intended me to be further informed as to its nature." + +"Why, look 'ee, Captain Mackra," says he, testily, "Tom Evans is one man +and I am another, and I tell you further that I am as important an agent +as he, even though he does live in London and I in this outrageous +heathen country. Even if I had not intended showing you this treasure +before, I would show it to you now, for I do not choose that anybody +should think that Tom Evans is a man of more importance than I." So +saying, and without more ado, he gave a quick turn to the key, and flung +back the lid of the box. I happened just then to glance at the three +chiefs, and saw that they were watching us as a cat watches at a +mouse-hole; but so soon as they saw me observing them they turned their +eyes away so quickly that I hardly felt sure that I had seen them. + +Inside of the box was a great lot of dried palm-leaf fibre wrapped +around a ball of cotton, which Mr. Longways lifted very carefully and +gently. Opening this, he came upon a little roll of dressed skin like +the chamois-leather such as the jewellers and watch-makers use, and +which was tied all about very carefully with a stout cord of palm fibre. +Mr. Longways began laboriously to untie the knot in this cord, and, +though I cannot tell why, there was something about the whole business +that set my heart to beating very thickly and heavily within my breast. + +Mr. Longways looked up under his brows at me with a very curious leer. +"Did you ever hear," says he, "of The Rose of Paradise?" + +[Illustration: MR. LONGWAYS LOOKED UP UNDER HIS BROWN EYES AT ME WITH A +VERY CURIOUS LEER.] + +I shook my head. + +"Then I'll show her to you," said he; and he began unwinding the cord +from about the roll of soft leather, the folds of which he presently +opened. Then, as I looked down into his hand and saw what lay within the +dressed skin, I was so struck with amazement that I could not find +either breath or tongue to utter one single word. + + + + +III. + + +_It was a ruby, the most beautiful I had ever seen, and about the +bigness of a pigeon's egg._ + +At the sight of this prodigious jewel I was so disturbed in my spirits +that I trembled as though with an ague, while the sweat started out of +my forehead in great drops. "For the love of the Lord, put it up, man!" +I cried, so soon as I could find breath and wits. + +There was something in my voice that must have frightened Mr. Longways, +for he looked mightily disturbed and taken aback; but he presently tried +to pass it off for a jest. "Come, come," says he, as he wrapped up the +stone in the soft leather again--"come, come; it's all between friend +and friend, and no harm done." But to this I answered not a word, but +began walking up and down the cabin, so affected by what I had seen that +I could neither recover my spirits nor regain my composure. The more I +thought over the business the less I liked it; for if anything should +now happen to the stone, and it should be lost, every suspicion would +fall upon me, since I was possessed of the knowledge of the value of +that which was given into my charge. I could not but marvel at the +foolish and magpie vanity of Mr. Longways that should thus lead him to +betray to an unknown stranger what even I, though so ignorant of the +value of such gems, could easily perceive was a vast incalculable +treasure such as would make any one man rich for a whole lifetime; and +even to this very day it is a matter of admiration to me why the East +India Company should have put such a man in a place of important trust, +the only reason that I can assign being that no better man could be +found to take the agency in that place. + +"Look'ee," said I, turning to him suddenly, "have you told of this +jewel, this Rose of Paradise, to any one else?" + +"Why--" says he; and then he stopped, and began gnawing his nether lip +in a peevish fashion. + +"Come, come," says I, "speak out plain, Master Longways, for this is no +time for dilly-dallying." + +"Well," says he, blurting out his words, "I did say something of it to +Captain Leach, who, I would have you know, is a gentleman, and a man of +honor into the bargain." + +"And tell me," said I, paying no attention to his braggadocio air, "did +you show the stone to him also?" + +He looked up and down, as though not knowing what to say. + +"Come, come, sir," said I, sternly, after waiting for a moment or two +and he not answering me--"come, come, sir, I should like to have an +answer, if you please. You will recollect that this trust now concerns +not only you, but also myself, and if anything happens to the jewel I +will be called upon to answer for it as well as yourself; so, as I said, +you will answer my question." + +"Why," says he, "Master Captain, and what if I did? Do you mean to +impeach the honor of Captain Leach? I did show it to him one day when we +stopped along the beach for water, if you must be told; but I can +promise you that not another soul but yourself has seen it since I gave +King Coffee my written receipt for it." + +I made no more comment, but began again to walk up and down the cabin, +vastly disturbed in my mind by all that I heard. Nothing could be gained +by blaming the poor fool, who all this time sat watching me with a +mightily troubled and disquieted face. "Sir," said I, at last, turning +to him--"sir, I do not believe that you know what a serious piece of +folly you have committed in this business. By rights I should have +nothing more to do with the matter, but should leave you to settle it +with the Company as you choose; but my instructions were to deliver the +stone at Bombay, and I will undertake to do my part to the best of my +power. I have nothing of blame to say to you, but I must tell you plain +that I cannot have you longer about my ship; I do not wish to order you +to leave, but I will be vastly obliged to you if you can return to the +king's town without longer stay." + +At this address Mr. Longways grew very red in the face. "Sir! sir!" he +cried, "do you dare to order me, an agent of the East India Company, to +leave one of that Company's own ships?" + +"That," said I, "you must salt to suit your own taste." + +"Very well!" cried he; "give me a receipt for the stone and I'll go, +though I tell you plain that the Company shall hear of the fashion in +which you have been pleased to treat me." + +I made no further answer to his words, but sat down and wrote out the +receipt, specifying, however, the manner in which The Rose of Paradise +had been shown both to Captain Leach and to myself. + +For a while Mr. Longways hotly refused to accept it in the form in which +it was writ; but finding that he could get no better, and that he would +either have to accept of it or retain the stone in his own keeping until +some further opportunity offered for consigning it to Bombay, he was +finally fain to take what he could get, whereupon he folded up the paper +and thrust it into his pocket, and then left the cabin with a vast show +of dignity, and without so much as looking at me or saying a word to me. + +He and the chiefs got into the great canoe, and rowed away whence they +had come, and I saw no more of him until above a week afterwards, of +which I shall have more to say further on in my narration. + + + + +IV. + + +I did not go upon deck immediately after Mr. Longways had left the +cabin, but sat there concerned with a great multitude of thoughts, and +gazing absently at the box that held the treasure, and at the empty +glasses with the dregs of the wine in the bottom. + +Just in front of me was a small looking-glass fastened against the port +side of the cabin in such position that by merely raising my eyes I +could see the cabin door from where I sat. + +In the upper part of the door was a little window of two panes of glass, +which opened out under the overhang of the poop-deck. + +Though I do not know what it was, something led me to glance up from +where I sat, and in the glass I saw Captain Leach looking in at that +window with a mightily strange expression on his face. He was not +looking at me, but at the iron despatch-box upon the table, and I sat +gazing at him for about the space of eight or ten seconds, in which time +he moved neither his glance nor his person. Suddenly he lifted his eyes +and looked directly into the glass, and his gaze met mine. I had thought +that he would have been struck with confusion, and for a moment it did +seem as though his look faltered, but he instantly recovered himself, +and tapped lightly upon the door, and I bade him come in without moving +where I sat. + +He did as he was told, and sat down upon the chair which Mr. Longways +had occupied only a few moments before. I confess that I was both +frightened and angry at finding him thus, as it were, spying upon me, so +that it was a moment or two before I trusted myself to speak. + +"Sir," said I at last, "sure this voyage hath been long enough for you +to know that the courtesies of shipboard require you to send a message +to the captain to find whether he be disengaged or no." + +Captain Leach showed no emotion at my reproof. "Captain Mackra," said +he, quietly, "I do not know what that gabbling fool of an agent has or +has not said to you, but I tell you plain he hath chosen to betray to me +certain important matters concerning the East India Company, and that in +yonder despatch-box is a large ruby, valued at nigh three hundred and +fifty thousand pounds sterling." + +I may confess that I was vastly amazed at the value of the stone, which +was far greater than I had conceived a notion of, but I strove to show +nothing of my sentiments to my interlocutor. + +"Well, sir?" said I, looking him straight in the face. + +He seemed somewhat struck aback at my manner, but he presently laughed +lightly. "You take the matter with most admirable coolness," said he; +"far more than I would do were I in your place. But at least you will +now perceive why I chose rather to come to you of myself than to send a +messenger to you where a matter of such delicacy was concerned." + +"Well, sir?" said I. + +Captain Leach looked for a moment or two as though at a loss what next +to say, but he presently spoke again. "I came to you," said he, "not +knowing, as I said before, whether or no Mr. Longways had betrayed to +you, as he has to me, the value of the trust imposed upon you; and as I +myself am now unfortunately concerned in the knowledge of this treasure, +and so share in your responsibility, I come hither to discover what +steps you propose taking to insure the safety of the stone." + +Now it hath come under my observation that if a man be permitted to talk +without let or stay, he will sooner or later betray that which lieth +upon his mind. So from the very moment that Captain Leach uttered his +last speech I conceived the darkest and most sinister suspicions of his +purposes; nor from that time did I trust one single word that he said, +or repose confidence in any of his actions, but was ready to see in +everything something to awaken my doubts of his rectitude. Nor did these +sentiments arise entirely from his words, but equally as much from my +having discovered him, as it were, so prying upon my privacy. + +"Sir," said I, rising from my seat, "I am infinitely obliged to you for +your kindness in this affair, but as I have at present matters of +considerable import that demand my closest attention, I must beg you to +excuse me." + +Captain Leach looked at me for a moment or two as though he had it upon +his mind to say something further. However, he did not speak, but +rising, delivered a very profound bow, and left the cabin without +another word. But there was no gainsaying the wisdom of the advice +which he had given me as to concealing the treasure. Accordingly I +obtained from the carpenter a basket of tools, and, bearing in mind the +late visit with which he had favored me, having shaded the little window +in the door of my cabin, I stripped off my coat and waistcoat, and after +an hour or so of work, made shift to rig up a very snug little closet +with a hinged door, in the bottom of my berth and below the mattress, +wherein I hid the jewel. After that I breathed more freely, for I felt +that the treasure could not be discovered without a long and careful +search, the opportunities for which were not likely to occur. + +Although my interview with Captain Leach might seem of small and +inconsiderable moment to any one coolly reading this narrative in the +privacy of his closet, yet coming to me as it did upon the heels of my +other interview with Mr. Longways, it cast me into such disquietude of +spirit as I had not felt for a long time. I would have heaved anchor +and away, without losing one single minute of delay, had it been +possible for me to have done so; but not a breath of air was stirring, +and there was nothing for it but to ride at anchor where we were, +though, what with the heat and delay, it was all that I could do not to +chafe myself into a fume of impatience. + +So passed the day until about four o'clock in the afternoon, when there +happened a certain thing that, had thunder and lightning burst from a +clear sky, it could not have amazed me more. I being in my cabin at the +time, comes Mr. Langely, my first mate, with the strange news that the +lookout had sighted a vessel over the point of land to the southward. I +could hardly accredit what he said, for, as above stated, not a breath +of air was going. I hurried out of my cabin and upon deck, where I found +Mr. White, the second mate, standing at the port side of the ship, with +a glass in his hand directed a few points west of south, and over a +spit of land which ran out in the channel towards that quarter, at which +place the cape was covered by a mightily thick growth of scrub-bushes, +with here and there a tall palm-tree rising from the midst of the +thickets. Over beyond these I could see the thin white masts of the +vessel that the lookout had sighted. There was no need of the glass, for +I could see her plain enough, though not of what nature she might be. +However, I took the telescope from Mr. White's hands, and made a long +and careful survey of the stranger, but as much to hide my thoughts as +for any satisfaction that I could gain; for what confounded me beyond +measure was that a vessel should be sighted so suddenly, and in a dead +calm, where I felt well assured no craft had been for days past. Nor was +I less amazed to find, as I held the stranger steadfastly in the circle +of the object-glass, a tall palm-tree being almost betwixt the +_Cassandra_ and her, and almost directly in my line of sight, that she +was slowly and steadily making way towards the northward, and at a very +considerable angle with the Gulf current, which there had a set more to +the westward than where we lay at anchor. + +I think that all, or nearly all, of my passengers were upon the +poop-deck at that time, Captain Leach with a pocket field-glass which he +had fetched with him from England, and with which he was directing +Mistress Pamela's observation to the strange craft. Nearly all the crew +were also watching her by this time, and in a little while they +perceived, what I had seen from the first, that the vessel was by some +contrivance making head without a breath of wind, and nearly against the +Gulf current. + +As for the stranger herself, so far as I could judge, seeing nothing of +her hull, she was a bark of somewhat less tonnage than the _Cassandra_; +and the masts, which we could perceive very clearly against the clear +sky, had a greater rake than any I had ever before seen. + +I do not know whether or not it was because my mind was running so much +upon the pirates and upon the great treasure which I had in my keeping, +but I am free to say that I liked the looks of the strange craft as +little as any I had ever beheld in my life, and would have given a +hundred guineas to be safe away from where I was, and with no more favor +than a good open sea and a smart breeze, for the _Cassandra_ was a +first-rate sailer, and as good a ship as any the East India Company had +at their docks. + +As it was, we were cooped up in what was little more than a pond, and I +did not like the looks of the business at all. + +"What do you make her out to be, Mr. Langely?" said I, after a bit, +handing him the glass. + +He took a long and careful look at the stranger without speaking for a +while. By-and-by he said, without taking his eye from the glass, and as +though speaking half to himself, "She's making way against the current +somehow or other." + +"Yes," said I; "I saw that from the first. But what do you make of her?" + +"I can make nothing of her," says he, after a little while. + +"Neither can I," I said; "and I like her none the better for that." + +Mr. Langely took his eye from the glass, and gave me a very significant +look, whereby I saw that he had very much the same notion concerning the +stranger that I myself entertained. + +By this time there was considerable bustle aboard the _Greenwich_, which +rode at anchor not more than a furlong or two from where we lay, and by +the gathering of the men on the forecastle I could see that they had +sighted the craft, as we had already done. + +So the afternoon passed until six o'clock had come, against which time +the stranger had almost come into open sight beyond the cape to the +south, the hull alone being hidden by the low spit of sand which formed +the extremity of the point. + +That evening I took my supper along with the passengers, as I had been +used to do, for I wished to appear unconcerned, as, after all, my +suspicions might be altogether groundless. Nevertheless, I came upon +deck again as soon as I was able, and found that the stranger was now so +far come into sight as to show a part of her hull, which was low, and +painted black, and was of such an appearance as rather to increase than +to lessen my serious suspicions of her nature. + +I could see there were two whale-boats ahead of her, and it was very +plain to me that it was by means of these that the bark was making head +against the current. At first I was more than ever amazed at this, +seeing that the current at that point could not run at less than the +rate of two or three knots an hour, against which two boats could not +hope to tow a craft of her size without some contrivance to aid their +efforts. Every now and then I could hear the clicking of the capstan, as +though the vessel was heaving anchor, and led by this sound, I after a +while perceived how she was making way, though if I had not seen the +same plan used in the Strait of Malacca by the _City of Worcester_, when +I was there in the year '17, I much misdoubt whether I could have so +readily discovered the design which they were in this instance using. As +it was, I was not long in finding out what they were about. + +The two boats ahead of the strange craft were towing a square sail +through the water by a line fastened to the middle of the same. From all +four corners of this sail ran good stout ropes, which were made fast to +the anchor cable of the bark. The two boats might tow this square +through the water easily enough by that one line fastened to the middle, +because the sail would then close and so slip easily through the water; +but so soon as the bark began to haul upon it from all four corners it +spread out as though filled with wind, and so offered a vast resistance +to the water. By this contrivance the bark was making headway at about +the rate of a knot an hour against the current, so that by seven o'clock +she was clear out beyond the cape and into the open water beyond. + +At that time the sun had not yet gone down, and the distant vessel stood +out against the reddish-gray sky to the eastward, with all the cordage +and the masts as sharp as so many hairs and straws in the red light of +the setting sun. + +I was standing just under the poop-deck at the time, with the glass to +my eye, when, of a sudden, I saw something black begin rising from the +deck to the fore. There was not enough breeze going to spread it, but I +knew as well as anything in all of my life that it was the "Black +Roger," and that the white that I could see among the folds was the +wicked sign of the "skull and crossbones," which those bloody and cruel +wretches are pleased to adopt as the ensign of their trade. Nor were we +long in doubt as to their design, for even as I watched I saw a sudden +puff of white smoke go up from her side and hang motionlessly in the +still air, whilst a second or two later sounded the dull and heavy boom +of the distant cannon, and a round shot came skipping across the water +from wave to wave, though too far away and with too poor aim to do any +damage from that distance, which could not have been less than two +miles. + +"What does that mean, captain?" said Mistress Pamela, who stood with the +other passengers observing the bark from the poop-deck above. + +"A salute, madam," said I, and so shut my glass and went into my cabin, +where Mr. Langely presently joined me at my request, and where we talked +over this very ugly piece of business at our leisure. + + + + +V. + + +In those hot latitudes, such as Madagascar, the darkness cometh very +sudden after sunset, and with no long twilights such as we have in +England, so that within half an hour after the pirate had saluted us +with a round shot, as told above, it had passed from daylight to +night-time, and there being no moon until about four o'clock in the +morning, it was very dark, with an infinite quantity of stars shining +most beautifully in the sky. + +I ordered my gig to be made ready, and went aboard the _Greenwich_, +where I found Captain Kirby suffering under the utmost consternation of +spirits. He took me straight to his cabin, where, when we were set down, +he fell to blaming himself most severely for not having clapped chains +upon the fourteen pirates whom he had found on the island upon his +arrival at that place, and who, it was very plain to see, had given such +information to their fellows as had brought a great number of them down +upon us. + +So soon as I was able I checked him in his self-reproaches. "Come, come, +Captain Kirby," says I, "'tis no time for vain regrets, but rather to be +thinking to protect ourselves and those things that we have in trust +from these bloody wretches, who would strip us of all." + +So, after a while, he quieted in some measure, and the captain of the +Ostender coming aboard about this time, we made shift betwixt us to +settle some sort of a plan for mutual protection. + +According to my suggestions it was determined to get out warps upon the +port side of all three crafts, which now lay heading towards the south, +because of the set of the current. By means of these warps the vessels +might be brought to lie athwart the channel, which was so narrow at +this place that, should the pirate craft venture into the harbor, she +would be raked by all three in turn. These matters being settled, I +returned to the _Cassandra_ again. + +That night I had but little sleep, but was in and out of my cabin +continually. Whenever I was upon the deck I could hear the "click, +click, click" of the capstan aboard the pirate vessel, sounding more +clearly through the dampness of the night than in the daytime. There was +still not a breath of air going, and I thought it likely that the pirate +intended making her way into the harbor that night, but about three +o'clock in the morning the noise of working the capstan ceased, and I +fancied that I heard a sound as of dropping anchor, though I could make +out nothing through the darkness, even with the night-glass. + +Nor was I mistaken in my surmise that the pirate craft had come to +anchor, for when the day broke I perceived that she lay between two and +three miles away, just outside of the capes, and directly athwart the +channel, being stayed by warps, broadside on, as we ourselves were in +the harbor, so as to rake any vessel that should endeavor to come out, +as we might rake any that would endeavor to come in. + +As this day also was very quiet, with not a breath of wind stirring, I +expected that the pirate would open fire, though at such a long range. +However, this she did not do, but lay there as though watching us, and +as though to hold us where we were until some opportunity or other had +ripened. And so came the night again, with nothing more of note having +happened than the day before. + +Ever since we had lain at this spot native canoes (called by the sailors +bumboats) had come from the shore from day to day, laden with fruit and +fresh provisions, which are most delicious, refreshing luxuries after a +prolonged sea-voyage, such as ours had been. That day they had come as +usual, though there was little humor for bartering with them upon such a +serious occasion. + +However, I had observed, and not without surprise, that Captain Leach, +though he knew the nature of the pirate craft, and the serious situation +in our affairs, appeared so little affected by the danger which +threatened us that he bought a lot of fresh fruit, as usual, and held a +great deal of conversation with one of the natives, who spoke a sort of +English which he had picked up from our traders. + +I had not thought much of this at the time, although, as I had observed +before, it was not without surprise that I beheld what he did; beyond +this I reckoned nothing of it, nor would have done so had not matters of +the utmost importance afterwards recalled it to my attention. + +That night I had no more appetite for sleep than the night before, and +finding little rest or ease in my cabin, was up upon deck for most of +the time. Though I did not choose just then to hold conversation with my +passengers, I noticed that they were all upon deck, where they sat +talking together in low tones. As the night advanced, however, they +betook themselves to their cabins, one after another, until only Captain +Leach was left sitting alone. + +He remained there for maybe the space of half an hour, without moving a +hair's-breadth, so far as I could see. At the end of about that length +of time, being in a mightily anxious state, I stepped forward to see for +myself that the watch was keeping a sharp lookout. I was not gone for +more than a minute or two, but when I came back I saw that Captain Leach +was no longer where he had been before; yet although I noticed this +circumstance at the time, I gave no more thought to it than I would upon +an ordinary occasion. + +As there was no one on the poop, I myself went up upon that deck, it +being so much cooler there than on the quarter-deck below. I took out +my pipe and filled it, thinking to have a quiet smoke, which is a most +efficacious manner of soothing any perturbation or fermentation of +spirits. Just as I was about to strike my flint for a light, I heard a +noise under the stern-sheets, as of some one stepping into a boat, and +almost immediately afterwards a slight splash, as of an oar or a paddle +dipped into the water. I ran hastily to the side of the vessel, and +looked astern and into the water below. + +Although the sky was clear, the night was excessively dark, as one may +often see it in those tropical latitudes; yet I was as well assured that +a boat of some sort had left the ship as if I had seen it in broad +daylight, because of the phosphorescent trail which it left behind it in +its wake. + +I had slipped a pistol into my belt before quitting my cabin, and as I +hailed the boat I drew it and cocked it, for I thought that the whole +occurrence was of a mightily suspicious nature. As I more than half +expected, I got no answer. "Boat, ahoy!" I cried out a second time, and +then, almost immediately, levelled my pistol and fired, for I saw that +whoever the stranger was, he had no mind to give me an answer. + +At the report of the pistol both Mr. Langely and Mr. White came running +to where I was, and I explained the suspicious circumstances to them, +whereupon Mr. Langely suggested that it might have been a shark that I +had seen, vast quantities of which voracious animals dwell in those and +the neighboring waters. I did not controvert what he said, although I +knew beyond a doubt that it was a craft of some sort which I had +discovered--possibly a canoe, for the dip of the paddle, which I had +distinctly seen in the phosphorescence of the water, appeared first upon +the one side of the wake and then upon the other, as the blade was +dipped into the water from side to side; so although, as I said, I did +not undertake to controvert Mr. Langely's opinion, I was mightily +discomposed in my own mind concerning the business. + +At this time there was a vast deal of disturbance aboard the _Greenwich_ +and the Ostender because of my hail and the discharge of the pistol, +which, however, soon quieted down when they found that nothing further +followed upon the alarm. + +I walked up and down the poop-deck for a great while, endeavoring to +conceive what could be the meaning of the boat, which had most +undoubtedly been lying under the stern of the _Cassandra_, and how it +came that the watch had failed so entirely to discover its arrival. It +would not have been possible for an ordinary ship's boat to come upon us +so undiscovered, for, as I myself knew, the watch were keeping a sharper +lookout than usual; therefore this circumstance, together with that +which I had above observed concerning my opinion that the craft had been +rowed with a paddle, led me to conclude that it was one of the native +canoes, though I was as far as ever from guessing what the object of the +visit had been, or what it portended. As I sat ruminating upon this +subject, looking straight ahead of me, without thinking whither my +observation was directed, I presently perceived that I was looking +absently at the spot where Captain Leach had been sitting a little while +before. This led me to think of him, and from him of the jewel that was +in my keeping, and of its excessive value. Of a sudden it flashed into +my mind, as quick as lightning, what if Captain Leach should have it in +his mind to practice some treachery upon us all? + +I may truly say that this thought would never have entered my brains had +not the circumstance of Captain Leach's conversation with me in my cabin +tended to set it there. But no sooner had this gloomy suspicion found +place in my mind than it and those troubles which had beset me of late, +and the loss of that sleep which I had failed to enjoy the night before, +together cast me into such a ferment of spirits as I hope I may never +again experience. Nor could I reason my mind out of what I could not but +feel might be insane and unreasonable fancyings. + +At last I could bear my uncertainties no longer, but went down into the +great cabin, and so to the door of the berth which Captain Leach +occupied. I knocked softly upon the door, and then waited a while, but +received no answer. After that I knocked again, and louder, but with no +better success than before. Finding I was like to have no answer to my +knocking, I tried the door, and found that it was locked. + +My heart began to beat at a great rate at all this; but I suddenly +bethought me that perhaps the captain was a sound sleeper and not easily +roused. If this were so, and he were in his cabin, and had locked the +door upon himself, I could easily convince myself of the fact, for it +hardly could be doubted but that the key would be in the key-hole. I +drew out my pocket-knife, opened a small blade which it contained, and +thrust it into the key-hole. There was no key there! + +This discovery acted upon my spirits in such a manner that a douse of +water could not have cooled me quicker; for now that my worst suspicions +were so far confirmed--for I felt well assured that Captain Leach was +nowhere aboard the ship--my perturbation left me, and I grew of a sudden +as calm as I am at this very moment. However, to make matters more +assured, I rapped again upon the door of the cabin, and this time with +more vigor than before; but although I repeated the knocking four or +five times, I received no answer, and so went upon deck to consider the +matter at my leisure. + +My first thought was of the jewel in my keeping, and that Captain Leach +had made off with it. My cooler reason told me that this could not be, +I having taken such effectual means to hide it, as before stated. +Nevertheless, I went to my cabin and examined my hiding-place to set my +mind at rest, finding, as might be expected, that the jewel was safely +there. + +My first impulse was to tell Mr. Langely of my suspicions, but in +digesting the matter it appeared to me best to keep them to myself for +the present; for if I should, after all, prove wrong in my surmise, it +would only add to the entanglement to have another involved in the +business before anything certain had been discovered; moreover, should I +observe sufficient cause for using extreme measures against Captain +Leach, I might easily arrest him at any time, having him entirely in my +power. + +Having settled this matter to my own satisfaction, I determined to lie +in wait for his return, and to discover how he himself would explain his +absence. + +I surmised that he must have left the ship from the boat which was +hanging to the davits astern, and on inspecting the matter, found that I +was correct, and that a stout line, such as might easily bear the weight +of a man, had been lashed to one of the falls, and hung to within a foot +or two of the water. I was then well assured that Captain Leach must +have clambered into the boat astern whilst I had gone forward, as told +above, and had dropped thence into the canoe by means of the line just +spoken of. The noise which I had heard I conceived to have been caused +by his making a misstep, or by the canoe rising with the ground-swell +more than he had expected. + +Now, if he left the ship in that manner, of which, according to my mind, +there could be but little doubt, there was equal certainty that he would +return by the same way; so I determined to lie in watch for him there, +and to tax him with his absence so soon as he should come aboard. +Accordingly I laid myself down in the boat astern as comfortably as I +could contrive, and lighting my pipe, watched with all the patience I +could command for the return of the fugitive. + +I judge that I lay there for the space of two or three hours, and in all +that time saw or heard nothing to arouse my suspicions; nor do I believe +that I would have discovered anything had I not been watching at that +very place, for so quiet was Captain Leach's return that I heard no +sound of oars nor knew anything of it until I saw the line that hung at +the davits moved from below by some one climbing aboard. I lay perfectly +still and made no noise until he had clambered into the boat and stood +within a few feet of me. + +"Well, sir," says I, as quietly as I could speak, "and may I ask where +you have been for all this long time?" + + + + +VI. + + +Had a pistol been fired beside his head he could not have started more +violently, and I had thought that he would have been utterly dumfounded; +but he recovered himself with a most amazing quickness. + +"Why, Captain Mackra," says he, with a laugh, "and is it you that +welcome me back again, like the prodigal that I am?" + +"Sir," said I, very sternly, "you will be pleased to answer my question, +for I tell you plain that I am in no humor for jesting upon this +occasion." + +"And why should I not jest?" says he; "the whole business is a jest from +first to last. As all this coil has been made about a very simple piece +of business, I am forced to tell what I had not intended to tell, and +which I am surprised that a man of your feeling should urge another +into declaring. A man of parts, sir, may find favor with dusky beauties +as well as with white; nor can I see what more harm there may be in +visiting a sweetheart here than at Gravesend, which I doubt not you +yourself have done, and that more than once." + +I confess that I was vastly struck aback at this reasonable answer, and +began for a moment to misdoubt that my suspicions of the captain were +correct. For a while I stood, not knowing what to say, when of a sudden +certain circumstances struck me that Captain Leach's words had not +explained. + +"And why," said I, "at a time of such anxiety and uncertainty, did you +not ask permission to leave the ship?" + +"I should think," says he, "a man of delicacy would have no need to ask +such a question as that." + +"Then tell me this," I cried, "_why did you not direct your course +towards the land instead of towards the open sea?_" + +"Why," says he, laughing, and answering with the utmost readiness, "I +thought of nothing at all but of getting away from the ship as fast as +possible, seeing that some hasty fool aboard was blazing away at me with +a pistol or musquetoon, and that if I had been picking my course at the +time I might have wound up the business with an ounce of lead in my +brains, instead of enjoying this pleasant conversation in such good +health." + +All this time we had been standing within a foot or two of one another, +I looking him straight in the face, though I could see nothing of it in +the darkness. For a moment or two I could make no answer, his words +being so mightily plausible; and yet I did not believe a single one of +them, for they ran so smoothly and glibly that I could not but feel +convinced that he had them already sorted and arranged for just such an +occasion as the present. + +"Sir," said I, in a low voice, for I was afraid lest my indignation +should get the better of me, "I tell you plain that, though your words +are so smooth, I do not believe that which you tell me. Go to your +cabin, sir, and let me tell you that if I see anything that may tend to +confirm my suspicions of you, I will clap you in irons, without waiting +a second, and as sure as you are a living man." + +"Captain Mackra," said he, in a voice as quiet as that I myself had +used, "if ever I come safely to land, you shall answer to me for these +words, sir." + +"That as you please," said I; and thereupon turned and left the boat, +entering my own cabin so soon as I had seen that Captain Leach had +obeyed my orders by betaking himself to his. + +I was not thus quickly to see the last of this part of the affair, for +early the next morning, and before I had left my cabin, Mr. Langely +comes to me with a message from Captain Leach to the effect that he +would like to have a few words with me. I at once sent a return message +that I would be pleased to see him at whatever time it might suit him to +come. Accordingly in about five minutes he knocked upon the door of my +cabin, and I bade him enter. I motioned him to a chair, but he only +bowed and remained standing where he was, nigh to the door. + +"Captain Mackra," said he, coldly, "you were pleased to put upon me last +night a gross and uncalled-for insult. I cannot summon you to account +for it at present, although I hope to do so in the future. But you may +perceive, sir, that it will be best both for you and for myself that I +should withdraw from this ship, and finish my passage to India, as the +opportunity now offers, either in the _Greenwich_ or the _Van Weiland_" +(which was the name of the Ostend boat). + +[Illustration: "CAPTAIN MACKRA," SAID HE, COLDLY, "YOU WERE PLEASED TO +PUT UPON ME LAST NIGHT A GROSS AND UNCALLED-FOR INSULT."] + +I was overjoyed at so propitious an opportunity of getting thus easily +rid of my uncomfortable passenger. However, I think I showed nothing +of this to him--at least I endeavored not to do so--and told him that a +boat was at his service if he chose to look for another berth for the +rest of the voyage. I myself went upon deck and had the gig lowered, +into which Captain Leach presently stepped, having bid good-by to his +fellow-passengers, and having said that he would send for his chest so +soon as he had secured a berth in one or the other of the vessels +mentioned. I gave directions to the boatswain, who was captain of the +gig, to await Captain Leach's orders until he should indicate that he +had no further use for the boat, and then saw him rowed away to the +_Greenwich_ with the most inexpressible pleasure. + +The _Cassandra's_ boat lay alongside of the _Greenwich_ for maybe half +an hour, at the end of which time I was surprised to see Captain Leach +re-enter her, and direct his course to the Ostender, which lay a little +distance beyond. He remained aboard of her for about the same length of +time that he had stayed with the _Greenwich_, after which he climbed the +boat for a third time, and directed his course for the _Cassandra_ +again. + +I was standing upon the quarter-deck when he came aboard, and he +approached me with a countenance expressive of the utmost mortification +and chagrin. + +"Captain Mackra," said he, "I find that by a most unfortunate sequence +of events I can find a berth neither aboard the _Greenwich_ nor the +Ostender, so that nothing remains but for me to force my unwelcome +presence upon you for the balance of the voyage." + +I own that I was very much disappointed by these words. However, nothing +remained but to put the best face possible upon the matter. "Sir," said +I, as graciously as I could contrive to speak, although I am afraid that +my tone was expressive of my disappointment, "it was at your own +suggestion that you quitted the _Cassandra_; your berth, sir, is still +ready for your occupation." + +He said nothing further, but indicating his acknowledgments with a bow, +proceeded directly to his cabin. + + + + +VII. + + +As I was in such a ferment of spirit for all this time, and so fearful +of an attack from the pirate craft, having continually in my mind not +only the treasure, but also the helpless women intrusted to my keeping, +it might occur to the reader to ask why I did not send both it and them +to such a place of safety upon the land as the king's town offered to +English people beset as we were. I may now say that I had considered it, +and had perceived that more than one difficulty lay in the way. In the +first place, I could not send the ship's boat to the king's town, +because that in passing the cape to the northward they would come within +a mile or less of the pirate craft, from which they might not hope to +escape without molestation. Secondly, I could not send them across the +country, because it would require not only an escort such as could be +ill spared at this juncture, but also an efficient leader, who might be +spared even less readily. Besides this, I could not tell what dangers +such a party might encounter, not only from natives, of whose +disposition I knew nothing, but also from wild beasts, which we could +hear distinctly every night, howling in the jungles in a most +melancholy, dreadful manner. + +Thirdly and lastly, I did not believe the pirates would stay long where +they were, as I had often heard of the cowardly disposition of these +bloody wretches; wherefore I hoped that, seeing how well we were posted +to guard ourselves against an attack from them, they might take +themselves away upon the first occasion, which they could not now do +because of the calm weather. I furthermore argued that in any event, +should occasion render it necessary, I could easily disembark my +passengers with but little loss of time, and as easily and safely then +as now. + +Such had been the nature of my thoughts whenever I had directed them +upon the melancholy and gloomy state of our affairs. Yet had the most +sinister forebodings which I had entertained at those times been +fulfilled, our misfortunes could not have equalled those which in truth +fell upon us, the history of which I have immediately to tell. + +Captain Leach's trip in search of a new berth had been undertaken so +early in the morning that it was not yet noon when he had returned. Some +little time after that, I being in my own cabin at the time, there came +of a sudden a sound that was, as it were, the first muttering of the +storm that was so soon to fall upon us. It was the dull and heavy boom +of a single cannon, sounding from a great way off, and which I instantly +knew had been fired aboard of the pirate craft. I went straight upon +the deck, where I found the weather still as dead a calm as it had been +the two days before, with not so much as a breath of air stirring or a +cat's-paw upon the water. The ground-swell rose and fell as smoothly as +though the sea ran with oil instead of water, and the sky above had an +appearance as of a solid sheet of steel-blue, with not so much as one +single cloud upon the whole face of it. But the first thing that I +beheld was the pirate craft, and that they were hoisting sail as though +they perceived a breeze coming, of which we saw nothing. Across her port +bow the smoke of her gun still hung like a round white cloud just above +the glassy surface of the sea. + +"Sure she means to quit us, Mr. Langely," said I; but Mr. Langely never +answered, for just as he opened his lips to speak, the lookout roared, +"Sail ho!" + +"Where away?" sang out Mr. White, who was officer of the deck at that +time. But before the word reached us I myself, and I suspect most of +the others, had sighted the craft away to the southward, coming up under +full sail, and with a breeze of which we could see nothing. + +She was at that time some six or seven miles distant, and just emerging +from behind a raised thicket of scrub bushes that lay betwixt her and +the _Cassandra_, and which had hidden her until now. + +The strange craft was a large sloop, of such an appearance that even had +not the pirate fired that which was no doubt a signal-gun, methinks I +should have entertained the most sinister and gloomy forebodings +concerning her nature and her character. + +"What do you think of her, Mr. Langely?" said I, after watching her for +some time in silence. + +"It is the pirate's consort, sir," said he, very seriously. + +"I do believe you are right," said I, "and that is why she has been +waiting for all these days, keeping us bottled up so that we could not +have got away even if we had had a breeze." + +I did not tell Mr. Langely all that was upon my mind; nevertheless, I +could not but regard our present position as one of the most extreme +peril. For if one pirate craft, with its crew of blood-thirsty wretches, +was a match for us sufficient to hold us where we now were, what harm +might not two of them accomplish should they attack us peaceful +merchantmen, unused as we were to the arts of war, in this narrow +harbor, where we might hope neither to manoeuvre nor to escape. + +We were already cleared for action, having had full time to prepare +ourselves since danger had first threatened us; accordingly, leaving Mr. +Langely to supervise such few details as might still remain to demand +attention, I had my gig lowered, and went aboard of the _Greenwich_ to +consult with Captain Kirby as to means of defending ourselves against +this new and additional danger that threatened our existence. + +The Ostend captain was there when I came aboard, and I fancied, though I +then knew not why, that he and Captain Kirby looked at one another in a +very strange and peculiar manner when I entered the cabin. Besides that, +I noticed little or no preparation for action had been made. + +"We'll stand by you," says Captain Kirby; "in course we'll stand by you, +though you must know it is each one for himself, and devil take the +hindmost, at such times as these." + +I was mightily amazed and taken aback at this speech. "And why do you +talk so about standing by me, Captain Kirby?" said I. "Is it not, then, +that we stand by one another? Is my craft in greater peril than yours, +or am I to be given up as a sacrifice to these wicked and bloody +wretches?" + +I thought he seemed vastly disturbed at this speech. "In course," says +he, "we'll stand by one another. All the same, each must look out for +himself." + +I regarded Captain Kirby for a while without speaking, and he seemed +more than ever troubled at my gaze. + +"Sir! sir!" I cried, "I must tell you that I do not understand this +matter. Do you not mean to make a fight of it?" + +At this he flew into a mighty fume. "How!" says he; "do you mean to +question my courage? Do you call me a coward?" + +"No, sir," says I, "I call you nothing; only I did not understand your +speech. Sure, sir, you cannot but remember that I have three helpless +women aboard my ship, and that it behooves you as a man and an +Englishman to stand by me in this time of peril." + +So saying, I left the cabin and the ship, but with the weight of trouble +that lay upon my mind anything but lightened, for I could not +understand why, we all being in this peril together, neither he nor the +Ostend captain had spoken a single word concerning our defence. + +However, I yet retained the hope that the pirates would not venture into +our harbor, seeing that we were three to two, and lying in a chosen +position whence we might hope to defend ourselves for a long time, and +to their undoing. + +Upon my return I found my passengers all in the great cabin, and in a +very serious mood, having heard some rumor as to the danger that +threatened. I stood for a while as though not knowing what to say, but +at last I made shift to tell them how matters stood, and in what danger +we were like to be, though I smoothed everything over as much as lay in +my power. I think that our peril had been pretty well discussed amongst +them before I confirmed it with that which I said. Nevertheless, I am +amazed even now at the coolness with which all hands regarded it. + +Mistress Pamela, I recollect, laid her hand lightly upon my arm. +"Whatever our danger may be," she cried, "this we all know, that we +could confide our safety to no truer sailor nor more gallant man than he +who commands this ship." This she said before them all who were there +standing. + +In my cabin I summoned Mr. Langely and Mr. White (my second mate) to a +serious consultation, which was the last we were to hold before that +great and bloody battle concerning which so much hath been writ and +spoken of late. When we had finished our councils we came upon deck +again, and found that the sloop was rather less than a mile distant from +the other craft, and in a little while she hove to nigh to the barque, +and let go her anchor with a splash and rattle of the cable which we +could hear distinctly whence we lay. + +For half an hour Mr. Langely and I stood upon the poop-deck watching +the two crafts by aid of the telescope, and what we saw in that time +foreboded to my mind no good to ourselves. + +First we beheld a boat pass from the barque to the sloop, and in which +was one evidently of great consequence amongst the pirates, for by aid +of the glass we could distinguish that his apparel was better than the +others, and also that he wore what appeared to be a crimson scarf tied +about his body. + +He remained aboard the sloop for maybe the space of ten minutes, at the +end of which time he returned again to the barque, where they +immediately began lowering away the boats. Four of these boats were +filled with men who were all transported to the sloop, up the side of +which we soon saw them swarm to the number of fifty or more. + +Whilst these things had been going forward, Mr. Langely and I had been +standing in silence, but now my first mate turned to me, "Sir," said +he, "methinks that they mean to attack us." + +I nodded my head in answer, but said nothing. + + * * * * * + +By this time the breeze was wellnigh upon us, for the smooth water all +around us was dusked by the little cat's-paws that swept the glassy +surface. + +Now that morning, just before the pirate sloop hove in sight, I had got +out warps by means of which I hoped to change our position, bringing the +_Cassandra_ nigher to the _Greenwich_, and to a station of greater +defence. In this, however, we had made but little progress, for the +current set strong against us at the present state of the tide. Seeing +now the imminence of the attack, I hoisted sail, hoping to take +advantage of the first wind, and bring the _Cassandra_ closer to the +_Greenwich_. + +What followed I am even now not able to explain, for I am slow to +believe that one English captain could desert another in such an +emergency as the present. It might be that Captain Kirby thought that we +intended trying to get away upon the wind, for the _Greenwich_ also +began immediately to set all her sail. Seeing what they were about I +hailed the other craft, but got no answer. Then I hailed her again and +again, but still received no reply. + +The next minute she, being open to the first puffs of the breeze by a +valley, filled and bore away, followed by the Ostender, who had also set +her sails, leaving me becalmed where I was. + +"My God!" cried Mr. Langely, "do they mean to desert us? Look, sir, here +come the pirates!" + +I had just then been so intent upon the other vessels that I had not +thought of observing what our enemies were about, not thinking that they +would take such immediate action. But, no doubt, seeing us set our +sails, and fearing that we might get away, slipped their own cables; +for they were now coming down upon us with the freshening wind, having +already entered the channel as boldly as though there were none to +oppose them, the sloop leading the others by a quarter of a mile or so. +Indeed the _Greenwich_ and the Ostender bearing away had left the +passage entirely open to them, with no one but ourselves to oppose them. + +In this extremity I hailed the _Greenwich_ for a third time, and getting +no answer, ordered the gunner to fire across her bows, but in spite of +this she did not heave to, whereupon we gave her a round shot, but +whether to her harm or no I am not able to say. + +And now nothing remained for us but to fight what appeared a hopeless +battle against heavy odds. + + * * * * * + +The main ship-channel leading from the offing to the bay or harbor +wherein the _Cassandra_, the _Greenwich_, and the Ostender had been +riding for these days past, lead almost easterly and westerly, but so +shaped by the sand-bars to the south and those shoals that ran out from +the northern cape as to take the form of a very crooked letter S. +Nowhere was this channel over half or three-quarters of a mile wide, and +in some places it was hardly more than a quarter of a mile wide. + +From the position which the _Cassandra_ occupied this entrance to the +harbor was so well defended that any vessel entering thereat must be +twice raked by our broadside fire, once in rounding the northern, and +once the southern angle of the channel. Hence it was that I determined +to hold our present position as long as I was able. + +But the pirates did not both attack us by way of the main ship-channel +as we had expected, for when they had rounded the northern angle the +sloop, fearing perhaps that we would try to get away upon the wind, +instead of keeping in consort with the barque, made directly for us +across the shoals that lay between us and them. This they were able to +do without running aground, both because of their intimate knowledge of +these intricate waters and of the small amount of water which the sloop +drew. + +"We'll rake 'em anyhow," says I to Mr. Langely, for I could see no other +means for them to approach us but to come upon us bow on, there being no +room to manoeuvre among the bars and shoals that lay betwixt us and +them. + +But the devilish ingenuity of these cruel, wicked wretches supplied them +with other means than a direct attack upon the _Cassandra_, for, when +they had come within about a mile or so of us, they hove to, dropped +their main-sail, and, running out great oars from the ports between +decks, began rowing towards us in a clumsy fashion, somewhat after the +manner of a galleon. By this means, and by the aid of the current which +set towards us, they were enabled to keep nearly broadside on, and so +avoid being raked by our fire. + +"Mr. Langely," said I, "if they are able to board us we are lost. Order +the gunner to fire upon the oars and not upon the decks." + +"Ay, ay," says he, and turned away. + + + + +VIII. + + +The pirates were the first to open the battle, which they did when +within about a quarter of a mile from us, giving us a broadside. It was +the first time that I had ever been under fire in all of my life, and +never shall I forget it as long as I may live. Their aim was wonderfully +accurate, so that when their shot struck us a great cloud of white +splinters flew from a dozen places at once. I saw three men drop upon +the deck, and one who stood at a gun on the quarter-deck just below me +leaned suddenly forward half across the cannon with a deep groan, whilst +a fountain of blood gushed out from his bosom across the carriage and +upon the deck. One of the others caught him by the arm, whereupon he +turned half round and then slipped and fell forward upon his face. He +was the first man killed in this action, and the first that I ever +beheld die in a like manner. + +The _Cassandra_ answered the pirate's fire almost immediately. But our +guns were trained, as I had ordered, upon the oars and not upon the +crowded decks, so that while every shot that they delivered told upon +the lives of the poor fellows aboard the _Cassandra_, our return fire +did apparently no harm to them. + +I hope I may never again feel such an agony of impatience and doubt and +almost despair, as I beheld my men fall by ones and twos upon the deck, +which soon became stained and smeared with their blood whilst the pirate +craft came drifting ever nigher and nigher to us, its decks swarming +with yelling, naked wretches that in their aspect and manners resembled +demons incarnated rather than mortal men. + +"Mr. Langely," said I, in a low voice, "if those oars are not broken in +five minutes' time we are all lost." For there yet remained three +thrust through the ports upon the side nighest to the _Cassandra_, and +the current was carrying the pirate craft in such a direction that if +they were able to hold their course a little while longer they would be +almost certain to drift upon us and so board us. + +One minute passed, and two minutes, then there was a shiver of +splinters, and only one oar was left. Instantly the stern of the sloop +began to swing slowly around towards us, for one oar was not enough to +keep her to the current. I could see the ash wood bend with the strain +like a willow twig, then--snap!--it broke, and around came the stern +with a swing directly under our fire. The pirates sprang to the +main-sheets, but it was too late to save themselves. + +When the crew of the _Cassandra_ saw the result of their fire they burst +out shouting and cheering like madmen. Down came the sloop drifting +stern on, whilst the _Cassandra_, making up for lost time, poured +broadside after broadside into her. Never did I behold such a sight in +all of my life, for every shot we gave her ploughed great lanes along +her crowded decks. To make matters worse for them, their mast was +presently shot through, falling alongside in a great tangled wreck, thus +preventing any manoeuvres which they might still have hoped to make. +They drifted by us at about forty or fifty yards' distance, shouting and +yelling, and giving us a last broadside with great courage and +determination. They presently ran aground upon a sandbar and there stuck +fast for the time, though in such shoal water that we could not come +nigher to them than we then were. + +All this while the barque had been slowly making her way through the +tortuous turnings of the channel. At one point, the water being low, she +had run aground, and though she had cleared again with the rising tide, +she had been so delayed by this mischance that she had not been able to +come up in aid of her consort. + +But immediately they discerned what mishap had befallen the sloop, and +that she was fast aground and in no present position to attack us, they +hove to and lay directly athwart the channel. + +I at once perceived their intentions, and that they were determined to +keep us shut up where we were until the sloop could float clear away +with the rising tide and resume her attack against us. It was then that +the resolve entered my mind not to await an attack but to seek it +ourselves; for though the crew of the barque must have outnumbered that +of the _Cassandra_ two to one, she was yet much the smaller vessel of +the two and the less heavily armed. Now, if we could only once get past +her and safe into the channel our safety would be wellnigh assured; for, +as said above, the _Cassandra_ was one of the best sailers at the East +India Company's docks. + +I turned and beckoned my first mate to me. "Sir," said I, "yonder is our +one and only chance of getting away; we must run down upon that vessel +in the channel, engage her, and trust to God and take our chance of +getting safe past her and away. If we are fortunate enough to pass her +we can gain a good start before she can round to in such narrow +sea-room." Mr. Langely opened his mouth as though to speak. "Nay, nay, +sir," I cried, "it is our only chance, and we _must_ take it." + + * * * * * + +At first we did not suffer so much as I had expected from the fire of +the pirate; but when we had come within one hundred or two hundred yards +of them, and when within range of the musketry in their fore and main +tops, their fire was truly dreadful. + +The _Cassandra's_ wheel was stationed under the overhang of the +poop-deck, and upon the helmsman most of their aim was concentrated; +for if the _Cassandra_ was once allowed to fall off, and should run +aground in the narrow channel, she would then be in their power, and +they could destroy her at their leisure. + +One after another three men fell at that dangerous post, which was +entirely open to the pirate's fire. We were now within one hundred and +fifty yards of them, and a fourth took hold, but only for a minute, for +he presently dropped upon his knees, though he still kept a tight grip +on the wheel, keeping the ship upon her course. Mr. Langely and I were +standing under the overhang of the poop, whereupon he, seeing that the +man was wounded, without waiting for orders from me, sprang forward and +seized the wheel in his own hands just as the other fell forward upon +his face. + +The next minute Mr. Langely cried out, "My God, captain, I am shot!" His +right hand fell at his side, and in an instant I beheld his shirt +stained with blood that gushed out from the wound in his shoulder. + +The ship beginning to fall off, I ran forward and took the wheel myself, +for in a minute more, if we held our course, we would be under the +pirate's stern, and in a position to rake them with our starboard +broadside. I heard a dozen bullets strike into the wood-work around me; +one struck the wheel, so that I felt as if my hand and my wrist were +paralyzed by the jar. The next instant I felt a terrible blow upon my +head; a hot red stream gushed over my face and into my eyes, and for a +moment my brain reeled. Some one caught hold of me, but just as darkness +settled upon me I felt the ship shake beneath me and heard the roar of +our broadside. We were under the pirate's stern at last. + + * * * * * + +I could not have lain insensible for many minutes, for when I opened my +eyes and saw the surgeon and my second mate bending over me, it was +still with the roar of cannon in my ears. + +"How is this, Mr. White?" cried I; "are we not then past the pirate?" + +"Sir," said my second mate, in a very serious voice, "we are run +aground." + +"And the pirate?" cried I. + +"She is also aground," said he, "and we rake her with every shot." + +I got to my feet, in spite of the surgeon's protest, putting him +impatiently aside. + +It was as Mr. White said; the pirate was aground about two or three +hundred yards away from us, fast stuck upon the bar, stern towards us. +She must have received more than one shot betwixt wind and water, for +she was heeled over to one side, and I could see a stream of bloody +water pouring continually from her scupper-holes. + +But I also saw that we were stuck hard and fast, and that though our +position was better than theirs, every shot that we fired drove us with +the recoil more firmly aground. I at once gave orders that all firing +except with muskets should be stopped; so there we lay aground for more +than half an hour, answering the pirate's fire with our flintlocks. + +Although this was dreadful for us to bear at the time, in the end it +proved to be our salvation; for when the tide raised we floated clear +fully ten minutes before the pirates, and so escaped immediate +destruction. + +In the mean time, whilst we lay there the sloop had floated clear, and +the pirates having cut away the wreck of the main-mast, and having +rigged up oars like those we had shot away, presently came to the aid of +their consort. Seeing our situation, and that we were fast aground, they +did not attack us directly, but made for the channel by the way which +they had left it, thus entering above us and cutting off all our chance +of escape. For though we had so nearly passed the other craft, we could +not hope to pass them without being boarded, for with their oars they +could come as they chose, and were not dependent on the wind. + +So soon as they had entered the channel they laid their course directly +for us, but before they could come up with us, we also had floated +clear, as before stated; and though we could not escape to the open +water, we were yet enabled to enter the harbor again, which we did, +followed by the fire of the pirate barque. + +The wind now had almost fallen away again, so that the sloop, driven by +her oars, and enabled by her light draught to cross the shoals and bars +which we could not make, began to draw up with us, endeavoring with all +diligence to board us. Nevertheless, we contrived to make a running +fight of it for almost an hour. + +At last, the other vessel having repaired her damages, and having some +time since floated clear off, came down upon us in aid of her consort, +for the sloop was very plainly filling rapidly, having heeled over so +much to one side that her decks were greatly exposed to our fire. + +For all this long time the _Greenwich_ and Ostender had been riding at +about three or four miles distant, not being able to escape to open +water whilst the pirates held the channel. But so far from coming to our +assistance, they made no sign of help or fired so much as a single gun +in our aid. + +By this time more than half of my officers and men had been either +killed or wounded, so that when I beheld the barque, crowded with naked, +howling wretches, thirsting for our blood, come bearing down upon us, +and when I beheld how little hope there was of Captain Kirby's coming to +our assistance, I could see no other chance for our safety than to run +the _Cassandra_ ashore, and, if possible, to escape to the beach as best +we could. Accordingly, I gave the necessary orders to Mr. White, and the +_Cassandra_ laid her course for the beach, closely followed only by the +pirate barque, the sloop having already been run ashore about half a +mile below to keep her from sinking. + +In five minutes the _Cassandra_ struck, grounding at about fifty yards +from the shore. The pirate drew fully four feet less water, but it +pleased God that she stuck fast on higher ground, so that, after all, +they were prevented from boarding us. + +Here we fought, for nearly an hour, the last, and I know not whether it +was not the bloodiest engagement of that whole day; nor can I +sufficiently praise the behavior not only of the officers, but of the +men, who even in this extremity behaved with the most extraordinary +courage, though the crew of the sloop supplied the larger vessel with +three boatfuls of fresh men. + +Meantime the _Greenwich_ followed the lead of the Ostender and stood +clear away to sea, leaving us struggling in the very jaws of death. Soon +after the pirate craft floated clear off with the rising tide, and +immediately fell to work fitting out warps to haul out under our stern, +though still at some distance from us. + +Seeing this, no hope remained for us but to leave the ship, if possible, +with the passengers and such of our men as were still alive, trusting to +Providence not only to bring us safe away, but to keep us all in that +desolate country amongst a strange and savage people. + + + + +IX. + + +As said above, it was now past six o'clock, and Mr. White and the +boatswain were the only unwounded officers with whom I dared intrust the +command of the boats in executing my plans for leaving the ship.[B] + +[B] Mr. Richards, the third mate, had been killed by a grape bullet when +we ran down upon the larger of the pirate crafts. He was a young man of +great promise, of but twenty-two years of age, and my cousin's son. + +The long-boat and the gig were all that remained sound and uninjured, +the others having been shot or stove during the engagement. It was +arranged that Mr. Jeks, the boatswain, should command the long-boat, and +Mr. White the gig. The passengers and the less seriously wounded were to +go in the long-boat; Mr. White to take those who had been more +dangerously hurt in the gig. + +By this time the wind had died down again, and it was as calm as it had +been the two days before, so that the smoke hung thick about the ship +and upon the water, and did not drift away. Although, because of this +thick cloud, we could not see our enemy, and so could not point our guns +with any sureness of aim, it also prevented him from seeing us and what +we were about, so that all our movements were concealed from him as his +were from us. + +Mr. Langely having come upon deck at this time, though very weak and +feeble from the pain of his wound, I intrusted the clearing away and +lowering of the boats to him, while I went below to advise the women of +our plans, and to tell them to get together such matters as they might +need in this emergency. I found them in a most pitiable state, having +been sent below at the first sign of the approaching battle, and left +by themselves for all this long time with no light but that of a +lantern slung from the deck above, hearing the uproar of the fight and +the groans of the wounded without once knowing whether matters were +going for us or against us. + +The two ladies sat, or rather crouched, upon a chest or box, holding one +another by the hand. Mistress Ann lay huddled in a corner in a most +extreme state of terror and distraction. + +I may even yet see in my mind's eye how Mistress Pamela appeared when I +clambered down the ladder: her face was as white as marble, and her eyes +gazed out from the shadow of her brows with a most intense and burning +glance. My heart bled for the poor creatures when I thought how much +they must have suffered since they were sent to this dreadful place. + +So soon as they saw me they fell to screaming, and clung to one another. +Nor did I wonder at their distraction when I beheld myself a few +minutes later in the glass in my cabin, for my face and hands were +blackened with the smoke of the powder, my shirt and waistcoat were +stained with the blood which had poured out from the wound in my head, +and around my brow was bound a bloody napkin which I had hastily wrapped +about my head so soon as I had recovered from the first effects of my +wound. But just then I knew not how I looked, nor reckoned anything of +it, for in a fight such as we had passed through one has little time to +think of such matters. + +"Ladies," said I, speaking as gently as I could, "be not afraid; it is +I, Captain Mackra." + +At this Mrs. Evans burst into a great passion of weeping, with her face +buried in her hands, while Mistress Pamela still regarded me, though +with a fixed and stony stare. + +"Oh God!" she cried; "and are you hurt?" And she pointed with her +outstretched finger to my head. + +[Illustration: SO SOON AS THEY SAW ME THEY FELL TO SCREAMING, AND CLUNG +TO ONE ANOTHER.] + +"Why, no," says I, making shift to force a laugh in spite of the anxiety +with which I was consumed; "it is a mere scratch, and nothing to speak +of. There is no time now to talk of such little matters as this, but +only of leaving the ship, for we can defend ourselves no longer. Get +together what things you need from your cabin, and make haste, for there +is no time to lose." + +I believe that Mistress Ann had fainted clean away when she had caught +sight of me climbing down the ladder, for we found that she was in no +condition to move, so I picked her up in my arms and bore her to the +great cabin, the others following close behind. There I left them and +went again upon deck, where I found that they were bringing the wounded +up from below. + +I hope I may never see such a sight again to the very last day of my +life, for it is one thing to behold a man shot in the heat of an action, +and another and a mightily different thing to see one of one's own +shipmates carried groaning in a hammock wet and stained with his blood. + +We had so grounded that we lay within fifty yards of the shore, and it +could take but a little while for a boat to go thither and return to the +ship again. Nevertheless, I deemed it necessary to give the Rose of +Paradise into the keeping of some one going upon this first passage, and +upon whom I could entirely rely. The boatswain had the care of the +women, which was, of course, of the first importance of all; therefore, +there remained no one in whose hands I could place it with as much +confidence as in those of Mr. White. + +It was very necessary to keep up the show of fighting, lest the pirates +should think we had surrendered, and so come aboard of us, but all hands +who could be spared from the guns were engaged in lowering the wounded +into the long-boat and gig. + +Leaving Mr. Langely in charge of this, I took Mr. White into my cabin; +there I opened the locker that I had made in my berth, and took out the +box containing the jewel. + +"Sir," said I, "I am about to show you a sign both of my regard and of +my esteem. In this box is a jewel worth above three hundred thousand +pounds; this I intrust for the present into your keeping. When you get +to the shore you will not return with the gig, but will remain where you +are, sending the boat back under some one whom you may choose among your +crew. Should I perish, or should the pirates board this ship before you +return (in which event I cannot hope to escape with my life), you will +convey this trust to Mr. Longways, the Company's agent at the king's +town. And now, sir, I wish you God's speed." + +Mr. White was about to reply, but I checked him, telling him that he +could best show his regard for me by leaving the ship without further +words. + +We quitted my cabin together, and just outside we met Captain Leach, +whom I had noticed repeatedly for the last half-hour, and never very far +away from me. He came directly towards Mr. White and me, but he did not +so much as glance at the box that Mr. White held, but spoke to me. + +"I came upon Mistress Pamela Boon's account," said he. "The women are +ready to quit the ship, and Mistress Ann is yet in a dead swoon." + +"I will go to them," said I; and then turning to Mr. White, I said, very +seriously, "Remember!" + +He did not answer, but bowed his head, and I turned and left him, +Captain Leach following close behind me. He did not enter with me into +the great cabin, but waited without, and when I came out a few minutes +later I saw that he was gone. + +I found the ladies waiting in the cabin, each with a bundle tied up in a +kerchief. The waiting-woman lay upon the floor, still in a swoon, with +Mistress Pamela kneeling beside her, chafing and slapping her hands, +whilst Mrs. Evans sat at the table with her face buried in her palms. So +soon as I entered Mistress Pamela arose. + +"Sir," said she, "Captain Leach told me he would inform you that we were +ready." + +"So he did, madam," said I, "and I am come to help you embark." + +As there was no sign of the waiting-woman's revival from her fit, I was +constrained to carry her upon the deck, as I had already done from +below. + +The boat under command of Mr. White was already gone, for it had taken +several minutes for me to bring the women upon deck. We stowed them into +the long-boat, and it pushed off immediately and was lost in the smoke. +We then brought up the rest of the wounded from below, who were those +who had been most desperately hurt in the action. These we laid upon the +deck, so as to be in readiness for lowering into the boats so soon as +they should return. In the mean time I had given orders to those not +thus occupied with the wounded to load many of the guns, with +slow-matches in the breeches to burn from five to ten minutes. Thus the +firing might be kept up after all had left the ship, whereby we hoped +that the pirates would be stayed a while from boarding and so discover +our absence. In about ten minutes the gig returned without Mr. White, +and the master's mate, who was in command in his stead, said that he had +remained ashore with the women, as I had commanded him. In a very little +while, the long-boat also returning, we got all hands aboard and pushed +off, the guns still firing now and then as the slow-matches burned down. +So we came safe to shore, but with no time to spare, for by the great +shouts that were presently raised we knew that the pirates had come +aboard the _Cassandra_, and in less than three minutes after the last +man had quitted her. Not more than fifteen or twenty minutes had been +occupied in making ready and quitting the ship; for which celerity, and +for the great coolness shown in this trying emergency, all praise is due +both to the officers and the men. The fight had lasted for more than +four hours and a half, during which time we had nine men killed, among +whom was the third mate above mentioned, and twenty-two wounded, three +of whom afterwards died upon the island. + +Besides the clothes and valuables which many had fetched away with +them[C] we had also brought off with us from the ship a quantity of +musquets and pistols, and a dozen or more rounds of ammunition for each +able-bodied man. + +[C] I may say here that I myself was but poorly equipped in this +respect, having not only forgot my watch, which I had left hanging in my +cabin, but being also without shoes and stockings, which I had stripped +off so that I might more readily swim for it if the pirates should come +aboard whilst the boats were gone on their first trip to the shore. At +the last moment I was so busied in supervising the lowering of the +wounded into the boats that I did not think of returning for the one or +of securing the other. + +As soon as we landed we plunged directly into the thick brush, which +there grew close down to the edge of the beach. Having thrust our way +through these thickets for some distance, we found the others waiting +for us at a little open space at the base of three palm-trees which +stood about two hundred yards from the shore, it being then nigh to +sunset, and with but little chance of the pirates following us that day. + +Mr. White was standing near my passengers, who were gathered together in +a group, but one of them was missing. _It was Captain Leach._ + +"And where is Captain Leach?" I cried, looking directly at Mr. White. + +He gazed at me in an exceedingly strange manner, and I saw that he grew +as pale as death to the very lips. "And did he not come in the boat +with you, sir?" said he at last, in a low and husky voice. + +At these words a terrible fear came over me. "Where is the box I gave +you?" I cried; and seeing that he was not like to answer, repeated the +question--"Where is the box I gave you?" + +By way of reply Mr. White fumbled for a moment or two in his +waistcoat-pocket, and presently handed me a scrap of paper. I opened it, +and tried to read, though my hand trembled so that I could hardly +contrive to make out what it was. But in spite of that, and the blurring +of my eyesight, every word and every letter is stamped upon my memory as +upon a plate of brass. + +It was written as though in mine own handwriting, and very hastily +scrawled, but so like that I could not have told it myself had I not +known it to be a forgery. + +These were the words: + +"_Sir,--I have altered my mind in regard to the box. Please deliver it +to the bearer (Captain Leach), who will take present charge of it, and +will convey it to me._ + + "John Mackra." + +As I still held the letter in my hand, gazing stupidly at it, but seeing +nothing, the whole villany of the business was, as it were, revealed to +me. I saw that when Captain Leach had left the ship in the native canoe +two nights ago he had come straight to the pirates and had made some +bargain with them for that accursed Rose of Paradise; that when he had +gone aboard the _Greenwich_ and the Ostender the next day, it was not to +secure a passage for himself, but rather to persuade them to sacrifice +the _Cassandra_, and so save their own wretched hulks; that when he had +sent me to the women in the great cabin it was to get rid of me so that +he might tamper with Mr. White; and last of all, that he had kept this +forged letter about him for just such an occasion as this. Then I +thought of my shipmates killed and wounded, of my vessel and cargo lost, +of all these poor people outcasts upon this savage, desert coast, with +no present prospect or hope of help, and of the stone itself thus +cheated out of my hands at the last moment, and after all the suffering +and the blood that had been shed. There came a great roaring in mine +ears, all things began to reel before my sight, a dark cloud seemed to +encompass me, and then I knew nothing more. + + + + +X. + + +After I had thus swooned away, which happened both from the fever of my +wound and the loss of blood, there followed a long time during which +everything was confused and dream-like. I may call to mind what seemed +to me a great and toilsome journey, but so commingled with the visions +of my fever that I knew not whether it had taken hours, days, or weeks, +and of which I may remember almost nothing. After that I have a memory +of tossing upon a pallet which was both rough and hard, of a darkened +and silent room, and of people coming and going and talking in whispers. +Then one morning I awoke as though from a deep sleep, and felt that the +heat of the fever had left me, though mightily weak and weary. This +awakening must have happened betwixt four and five o'clock in the +morning, for the mat which hung at the door had been raised, and a cool +and refreshing breeze swept through the mud hut. + +I lay for a long time looking out of the door towards which my couch was +facing, and through which I could see hillocks of gray sand intermingled +with rich and luxuriant vegetation; beyond, the rim of the ocean +stretched like a black thread against the gray sky. I gave no thought to +anything, but lay quite still, feeling mighty peaceful and quiet. +By-and-by I turned mine eyes and saw that some one sat beside me, and +that it was Mr. White. He did not see that I was observing him, but sat +reading his Bible, for he was a young man of great earnestness of +spirit. The sight of him brought first one thing and then another back +to my memory, until the whole was complete as I have told it. + +"Mr. White," said I. I spoke very quietly, but he could not have started +more violently had a clap of thunder sounded from the sky. He came +straight to me, and laid his hand upon my forehead. "Yes," said I, +making shift to smile, "the fever has left me now; and will you tell me +where I am?" + +"Sir," says he, "you are safe, and in the king's town; and now I will go +and tell the surgeon of the bettering of your condition." So saying he +left me, and Mr. Greenacre, the surgeon, presently came to me. He told +me that all hands had been brought safe to the king's town; that I might +set my mind at rest both regarding the passengers and the crew; and that +I must not now talk further, but should seek to rest myself, which was +very necessary for me to do in my present condition. Nor was I inclined +to disobey this command, but presently closed mine eyes and fell into a +most refreshing slumber, from which I did not awake until nigh sunset, +when I found that Mr. White was once more beside me. When he saw that I +was awake he made as if he would again go and call the surgeon, but I +stopped him from doing as he intended. + +"Stay, Mr. White," said I. "I should like now to know something more of +what has happened. How long have I been lying in this condition?" + +"About six days, sir," said he. And then, in a trembling voice, "Oh, +Captain Mackra, can you forgive me for the injury I have done?" + +"Why, sir," said I, "I have nothing to forgive, nor have you done +anything for which to beseech forgiveness. What you did you did with the +best intent; nor can I blame you for being so deceived by such a wicked +and cunning villain as Captain Leach. And now tell me, what news is +there of the pirates?" To this he answered that they were still lying at +anchor in the bay on the east side of the island, repairing the damages +which we had wrought; that the chief or them was one Edward England, a +fellow of great note among these wicked villains; that they had been so +enraged at that bloody fight, which had cost them so dear, that they had +set a reward of two thousand pounds upon my head; and that the king of +the island had offered us his protection, and had undertaken to guard us +securely from any attack the pirates might be inclined to make against +us. But, nevertheless, lest any of the natives should be of a mind to +betray me for this great and magnificent reward, it had been deemed best +that it should be reported that I had been killed in the late +engagement. + +After having recounted these things as briefly as possible, Mr. White +again went in search of the surgeon, who soon came, and put a very +cheerful face upon my case, which he said was now without doubt upon the +mend. + +After having eaten a very hearty supper of rich and savory broth, I was +so far refreshed as to be able to receive some few who particularly +desired to have speech with me, and who were presently ushered in by +Mr. Greenacre. + +The first to come was my former acquaintance, Mr. Longways, the +Company's agent, and with him a great tall native chief, who had rather +the appearance of a Malay than an African negro, and who was none other +than King Kulakula himself. With these two came a black interpreter from +Mozambique, for King Coffee could not speak one single word of English, +but only a little Dutch, which he had picked up from the traders along +the coast. + +After them came the two ladies, escorted by Mr. Langely, who had now so +far recovered from his wound as to be able to be about with ease, +although he still carried his arm in a sling. + +Mrs. Evans, when she saw me, gushed into tears, but Mistress Pamela came +straight to me, took my hand, and set it to her lips, though I strove my +best to stay her from doing so. "Sir," said she, "what do we not owe to +our brave preserver, who hath brought us safe through all this great +trouble!" + +"No, madam," cried I, hastily, for I could not bear that she should lay +credit to me, who had so little earned it, seeing how helpless I had +been in bringing them safe off from the _Cassandra_--"no, madam, give no +credit to me; give it first of all to God, and then to Mr. Langely, who, +though so sorely wounded, brought you, I understand, safe through the +wilderness to this place." + +After they had so spoken, comes King Kulakula forward with the +interpreter, and through the black man expressed many kind and +condescending wishes for the continued bettering of my condition. He +furthermore gave me every assurance that we should all be protected from +our enemies so long as we chose to remain at that place. + +After a little while my visitors left me, except Mr. Longways, who, by +permission of the surgeon, remained behind to exchange a few words with +me. I then observed for the first time how sadly different he was in his +appearance from what he had been; for the jauntiness of his carriage was +gone, and he looked mightily perturbed in his spirits. + +So soon as he had made sure that no one was by to overhear us, he began +without preface to talk about the Rose of Paradise, saying that Mr. +White had told him that it had been lost, and also some details of the +matter; that that loss meant ruin to him, who could say no word in his +own defence excepting by letter, while I had every opportunity of +stating my case in my own fashion to the East India Company when I +should come home, and so clear myself and leave him in the mire. But in +spite of that it was his opinion that even I, with all these advantages +in my favor, would have great trouble in making matters straight; for +the loss of three hundred thousand pounds, besides my ship and cargo, +was a thing that was not likely to be passed over very lightly. I could +hardly forbear smiling at this discourse, although it was of such a +serious nature, for it seemed very strange to me that Mr. Longways +should so readily suspect me of being disposed to ruin him. + +"Sir," said I, "I know not what you would do in such a case as this, but +I tell you plain that if I am compelled to make an unfortunate report to +the East India Company, I will make it without blaming you or myself or +any one, but simply tell the truth, and so let them adjudge the matter +as they see fit." + +"That is it, sir," cried he--"that is it, sir. If the Company are +informed that I betrayed this important secret to Captain Leach, I'll +have to whistle for it a long time out in the cold before I get a snug +berth with them again." + +"I am mightily sorry for you," said I, gravely. "But of course, sir, +that is a matter concerning which you alone are responsible. +Nevertheless, I must tell you that I am not inclined to leave this +place without endeavoring to recover that which has been so +unfortunately lost." + +"What, sir!" he cried; "do you mean to say that you will undertake to +recover the Rose of Paradise again? And how do you purpose doing it, may +I ask?" + +"You may ask, sir," says I, smiling; "but as for my telling you, why, +that is a very different matter." + +Yet I had determined upon one point almost as soon as Mr. White had +informed me who was the pirate captain into whose hands the _Cassandra_ +had fallen, and that was to go aboard of the pirate craft, and to speak +with Captain Edward England himself. I had known him before he had +entered into the nefarious life which he now followed, and while he was +still first mate of the _Lady Alice_. I was then with Captain Wraxel in +the West Indies, and had met England at Kingston, in the island of +Jamaica, upon which occasion he had appeared to conceive quite a liking +for me, though I cannot say it was returned in kind. I knew him as a +wild and reckless blade, but neither blood-thirsty nor cruel, and making +every allowance for the change in his nature which this wicked life +might effect, I did not believe that injury would happen to me if I +could once gain his promise of safety in visiting his ship. + +As for the jewel, I did not believe that Captain Leach would disclose +the secret of it without he had been compelled to do so; wherefore, if +he had it still in his own keeping, I entertained a hope that I might by +some trick or other snatch the precious stone away from him again. In +that event I did not believe he would say anything, for fear that the +pirates might punish him for keeping it a secret from them. + +But although I could perceive, as Mr. Longways had said, that it was of +great importance both to his future and mine own that the Rose of +Paradise should be regained, I ventured my life not so much in the hope +of obtaining the stone as of procuring some means by which all hands +might be able to quit the island; for we--and more especially the +women--could not but be in constant danger from the bloody wretches +thirsting for revenge on account of the check which we of the +_Cassandra_ had lately put upon them. Wherefore I thought it best that I +should boldly visit the pirate captain, for I had great hopes of being +able to persuade him to allow us to escape, and even of procuring from +him some means to that end. + +In any case, the venture could not but be of advantage to us, for even +if I should perish, their revenge might thereby be satisfied, and they +might depart without molesting the rest of the ship's company, for they +were pleased to regard me as the chief cause of all their mishaps in the +late engagement. + +Before I dared venture aboard the pirate craft it was necessary that I +should first write a letter to the captain, and also that I should have +a trustworthy person to convey my communication to him; nor did I give +two thoughts to this matter, for common justice pointed to Mr. White as +the only fitting one to be my messenger; accordingly I sent for him, and +he soon came. I told him that I desired to open communication with the +pirate captain upon a matter of great importance, and that I gave him +this opportunity towards redeeming his self-respect by conveying my +message to Captain England. Nor have I ever seen a man more grateful +than Mr. White upon this occasion; two or three times he strove to +speak, and when he did contrive to do so it was only simply to say, +"Sir, I thank you." + +The surgeon having given me permission, I wrote my letter, and Mr. White +took it that very night, having no companion with him but two natives +who acted as guides. I have a copy of the letter, made at the time, +which runs as follows: + +_"To Captain Edward England:_ + +_"Sir,--I write you this in a most forlorn and distressing situation._ + +_"Having defended ourselves, our ship, and those intrusted to our +keeping, from you, who sought to encompass our destruction by all means +in your power, we now find ourselves reduced to the necessity of +imploring aid from you, who so lately sought our lives. Nor would we +even yet ask anything from you were it not for three poor and helpless +women, whose safety here is a matter of uncertainty from day to day, and +who, without aid is extended to them, may perish miserably in this +desolate and savage land._ + +_"Sir, though a wild and ungoverned nature, I never knew you to be a +cruel man; therefore I ask this aid of you for the sake of these three +women._ + +_"Furthermore, I ask that you do not hastily refuse this plea for aid, +but may allow me to come aboard of your craft and speak to you in +person._ + +_"I know that there is with you one who is mine enemy, because of a great +injury which he hath done me, and who will no doubt conspire against my +life--I mean Captain Leach, lately one of my passengers, and who, I +suspect, along with others, betrayed us into your hands. But although I +believe he would seek my life, yet I am willing to trust it into your +hands if you will promise me safety in my coming and my going._ + +_"Sir, I beseech you to grant me this speech with you, that I may plead +the cause of the weak and helpless, and am, sir,_ + +_"Your very obedient and humble servant,_ + + "John Mackra." + + + + +XI. + + +Mr. White was only gone for a little more than two days, and when he +returned he brought with him a letter from the pirate captain. The +communication ran thus: + +_"To Captain John Mackra, late of the 'Cassandra:'_ + +_"Sir,--If you choose to risk your life by coming hither, devil a word +have I to say against it. They're a wild set of blades under me, and +mind the helm no better than a washing-tub, so that my orders have +little or no weight with them. All the same, if you're the man to come +aboard, and have the courage to face the matter out, I'll do what I can +to see that no harm happens to you. But if you'll take a friend's advice +you'll stay where you are, and let a bad matter cure itself, for you +know very well that there is no use splicing a rotten rope. As for the +pickle you're in, lay that to your luck, and not to me._ + + "Edward England." + +I was none too well pleased with this precious epistle, for I could see +very readily how little command Captain England held upon the wretches +under him. Nevertheless, it did not alter my determination to to go +aboard of the pirate craft and to speak with him. I was the more +inclined to do this as I felt well assured that the pirates could not +now be as hot for my blood as they had been at first. + + * * * * * + +It was necessary for me to get away from the king's town without +confiding my determination to any one, or any one having knowledge of my +departure, for I knew very well that there was not one of my officers +but would have stayed me from acting on my plans had they been informed +of them, even if they should find it needful to use force to prevent my +going. + +It was the evening of the eighth day since the fight when Mr. White +returned with Captain England's letter, and I determined that that very +night should witness my departure upon my enterprise, which to one +looking coolly upon it might seem little if any better than the frantic +act of a madman. Nor was it that I myself was unconscious of the +magnitude of these dangers, for I entered upon them only because that in +the desperate state of our necessities I could see no other course out +of our difficulties, and so had to choose this for lack of a better. +Accordingly, as said above, I determined to set out that very night, for +nothing could be gained by further delay. + +There was no other choice left me but to make my way along the beach, +which, although it would increase the distance by five or six miles, +would yet afford me a sound and level highway for my journeying, the +sand being firm and hard when the water was out at low tide. + +That night I wrote a lengthy letter to Mr. Langely, giving him full +particulars as to what I was about to undertake, and also instructions +as to how he should proceed in the event of my not returning from my +adventure. I also wrote my will, and settled all my affairs as well as I +was able. This took until nigh midnight. + +All this I managed to do without the knowledge of any one, and by the +light of a little wick floating in a dish of oil, the flame of which I +kept so well shaded that no one perceived it in all that time. + +About one o'clock I came out from my hut, and found the stars shining +most beautifully in the sky, and all the air full of the noises of the +night. I did not tarry, however, but walked straight to the beach, and +along it towards the northern end of the island, around which and beyond +the cape I knew the bay to lie, about ten leagues distant from the +king's town. + +I had only been twice upon my feet since the fever had left me, and +found that I was far more weak than I had supposed myself to be, so that +I had to rest myself at frequent intervals. However, I managed to cover +some ten miles of my journey by about six o'clock in the morning, by +which time I was so exhausted that I could go no farther, but had to lie +down under the shade of the bushes and rest myself for a long time. + +I speak of these things to show why it was that my journey should have +occupied nigh upon two days, for it was not until the afternoon of the +second day that I came within sight of a boat, drawn up on the beach, +which I knew to belong to the pirates, and from which the crew had gone +into the thickets, either to search for game or for water. + +I had eaten nothing all that day, for I had not thought that my journey +would have taken me so long, and I did not care to burden myself with +any more food than necessary. So I was glad to see the boat, not only +being very weary, but also having my feet so badly blistered by the +unwonted exposure to the hot sun on the bare sand that it was only with +pain that I could take a single step. + +As I drew nigh, two fellows who had been lying in the shade upon the +further side sprang to their feet and hailed me. + +"Who are you?" says one of them--a great black-bearded fellow with a +dirty yellow handkerchief tied around his head, a ragged scarf about his +loins, a brace of pistols hanging from a leathern belt, and a dirty +shirt opened at the breast, showing a hairy throat and chest. + +"I am Captain John Mackra," said I, and I sat down upon the gunwale of +the boat, for I could go no farther. + +[Illustration: "I AM CAPTAIN JOHN MACKRA," SAID I, AND I SAT DOWN UPON +THE GUNWALE OF THE BOAT.] + +"The devil you are!" says he, and he stared at me from top to toe as +though I had been some strange creature the like of which he had never +beheld before. Then, without another word, he put his fingers to his +lips and gave a great, long, shrill whistle. I presently heard a great +crackling in the bushes and the noise of loud voices, and soon there +burst out of the thickets six or eight great, bearded, dirty, villanous +rascals, who came running down to the boat, having caught sight of me, +and knowing me to be a stranger. "It's Captain Leach," said the one of +the pirates who had not yet spoken--a young fellow of not more than +twenty. + +Some of those who had just come had been drinking, as could be very +plainly seen from the way in which they acted. One of them was for +killing me off-hand, and I verily believe would have done so, in spite +of all that the others could do or say, had not another of them knocked +him down with an oar with such a blow that I thought at first the fellow +had been killed outright. + +After that they bound me hand and foot, and chucked me into the +stern-sheets of the boat along with the fellow who had been knocked down +by the oar, and who lay without life or motion, as though neither were +of more account than so much old junk. After that they shoved off from +the beach in the direction of my old craft the _Cassandra_, which rode +at anchor about a mile and a half or two miles away. + +The boat had hardly come alongside when the news of my coming ran fore +and aft like a train of powder. They hoisted me upon deck and laid me +just aft of the main-mast, whilst a great crowd gathered round me and +stared at me, some of them grinning and some of them cursing me. + +Most of them were more or less in liquor, and it was this circumstance +that came nigh to costing me my life, and this was how it happened: + +One great fellow with a dreadful scar across his face gave me a kick in +the loins which I thought at first had finished me, and for no cause +that I could see but that he was drunk and in a savage humor. One or two +of them sang out to him not to kill me just then, but he made no answer +except by aiming another kick at my head, which I warded off with my +arm so that it did me little or no harm. He drew back his foot for +another blow, but just then an iron belaying-pin came whizzing through +the air and struck the fellow in the jaw, knocking him down upon the +deck as though he had been shot. + +I turned mine eyes and saw that it was Captain England himself who had +struck the blow. + +"Look 'ee," says he, "we'll have none of this; if killing is to be done, +it is to be done lawyer-like. He's come aboard himself, and if he's to +be killed he's to be killed after his trial, and not before." + +There was a moment or two of pause, for Captain England had drawn a +brace of pistols, and held one cocked in either hand; but just then up +stepped a fellow who it was very plain to see was of some account +amongst them, for his clothes were of rich stuff, and he had a gold +chain with a cross slung around his neck, and golden ear-rings in his +ears. He walked up to England until he stood face to face with him. + +"Look 'ee, Ned England," says he, "what I've got to say is this: you're +carrying things with too high a hand to suit us easy-going fellows. D'ye +think you're king or emperor, and that we're nigger slaves, that you +knock us about as it suits your humor?" + +I had expected that England would have shot the fellow down where he +stood, but he stayed his hand, and by the muttering of the rest I knew +that the speaker carried most of them with him. + +"Look 'ee, now," says he, more boldly, "didn't we choose you for our +captain ourselves? And here you knock us around with belaying-pins as +though you owned every man of us; and all for what? Why, for giving this +here precious sea-captain an innocent kick or two for all of the good +fellows he's sent to h--ll since ten days ago. What I say is, hang him +up to the yard-arm;" and he fetched me a terrible kick in the side +without taking his eyes from his captain's face. + +At this time, although I heard what was said, I thought but little of +what was passing about me, my mind being beclouded with my weakness and +my pains, for I had wellnigh swooned from the agony of those two kicks +upon my flank and loins. Therefore I lay with mine eyes shut, feeling +deathly sick and faint. + +A time of silence followed, though how long it might be I could not +exactly tell. Then I heard Captain England speak, the words coming to my +ears as though from a great distance, because of my condition. + +"D--n you, Burke, what do I care for the fellow? If you want the man's +life, take it!" and I knew that he swung upon his heel and walked away. + + + + +XII. + + +I could not at that minute see that anything stood between me and death, +for the pirates were so bent upon my immediate destruction that they set +about getting ready a line to hang me up without more ado. + +Yet though I had cause to apprehend that the very next moment would be +my last upon earth, the dread of death was in no wise keen upon me, for +in my half-swoon I lay as one in a dream, and neither saw nor heard very +clearly the preparations they were making for my destruction, and so was +mercifully spared that pain. But God in His great mercy determined it +otherwise than was the intention of these wicked men, for just at that +moment some one forward began bawling out, in a great hoarse voice, +"Where is Jack Mackra? Where is he, I say? Show him to me! ---- ---- +---- ye! out of my way, and let me get at him!" + +As I might turn my head, I looked whence my voice came, and there saw, +as in a dream, a great, tall, lantern-jawed man, with a patch over one +eye and a crutch under his left arm. In his right hand he held a long +sharp knife, with which he jabbed at those who stood in his way, so that +they were glad enough to make room for him, one or two of them cursing +him, the others grinning and laughing as though it were all a fine piece +of sport. As those around me drew aside I beheld him more plainly; his +left leg had been cut off at the knee, he was loose-jointed and +ungainly, and he had one of the most villanous countenances that it was +ever my fortune to look into. I could also see that he, like many of the +others, had been drinking. It was very plain that he was a great +favorite amongst the rest, for they made room for him and took all his +curses and many blows, which he gave with his crutch, without either +answering him or striving to defend themselves. Even the fellow who had +spoken so boldly to the captain's face, and whom I afterwards found to +be the chief of the "lords," as they are pleased to call those in +authority amongst them, grinned and stood aside as the villanous cripple +came and leaned over me. + +"D--n you," says he, "and is it you, Jack Mackra? Then I have a score to +pay you that has stood on the slate for this many a day." + +He turned me over upon my face with his crutch, and the next moment I +felt the cords that tied my hands give way, and knew that they had been +cut, then my legs and feet were loosened from their lashings, and I was +a free man. I heard the fellow say, "Get up!" whereupon I stood upon my +feet and gazed about me, though my brain still swam, and all things +appeared blurred and distorted to my sight, the sky and the sea and the +faces around me being all strangely mingled together. Then presently, +as my confusion began to fade away from me, I heard the one-legged man +speaking to me. + +"And do you know who I am?" said he. + +"No," says I, at last gathering my wits to speak; "I cannot bring you to +mind." + +"Why," says he, "don't you remember Jimmy Ward, the cook aboard the +_Pembroke Castle_--him as you saved from five drunken Spanish devils +over at Honduras? Hey? don't you mind how they had me down under the +table, jabbing at me with their d--d snickershees and swearing that they +would cut the living heart out of me? If it hadn't been for you, it +would have been all over with Jimmy Ward at that time." He waited for an +answer, but as yet I could say nothing. "Well, I haven't forgot it if +you have," he continued; "I owe you a good turn, and I'll pay it if I +have to bleed for it." + +Just then up steps the fellow who had faced England so boldly a moment +or two before. "Come, come, Jimmy," says he, "a joke's a joke, and I can +laugh as loud as any; but here's a man has done us more damage than +anybody we've fell in with since we ran foul of the _Eagle_." + +"Hang him up!" Hang him up!" sang out several of those who stood around, +and I verily believe the business would have gone against me, after all, +only for Captain England, who must have been near for all this time, and +who came to the aid of the cripple. Both together, they contrived so to +argue and talk and threaten the others that the end of the matter was +they led me off to the captain's cabin, the one on one side of me and +the other on the other, whilst the crowd followed behind, though they +came no further than the door, which was clapped to in their faces. + +"You've had a narrow miss of it," says England, so soon as we were come +fairly within and had sat down, "and you've nobody to thank for it but +yourself, for if you'd minded what I told you you'd have staid where you +were and let your bad luck sail her own craft without putting your hand +to the helm. Even yet I don't know if we'll be able to get you off, for +Tom Burke is hot for your blood, and will get it if he's able." + +"That he will," says Ward; "for he's not the man to give up what he's +laid his hand to." + +"Have you had anything to eat?" said England, presently. + +"Not since five o'clock this morning," said I. + +"Why," said he, "you'll have to be fed, whether they hang you or no." +Whereupon he fetched out from a locker a great lot of biscuit and a +decanter of the very port-wine with which I had entertained Mr. Longways +when he came aboard the _Cassandra_ with The Rose of Paradise; nor have +I ever tasted food that was more refreshing than that which I then ate, +for I was wellnigh exhausted with hunger. + +No one spoke for a while, and England walked up and down the cabin with +his hands clasped behind his back. During all this time I had been +looking around me, and of a sudden my heart seemed to leap into my +throat, for in the corner of the cabin, lying amongst a lot of litter, +where it seemed to have been flung as of no account, I saw the iron +despatch-box. + +My danger had been so great and my mind in such a maze for all this time +that there had been no room in my brain for other matters, the very +objects of my adventure having been forgotten for a while; but with the +sight of this everything came back to me with a rush, and I wondered for +the first time that I had not yet seen my betrayer. + +"Where is Captain Leach?" said I to England. + +He stopped short in his walk, and regarded me with a very strange +expression, which at the time I could in no wise understand. + +"Why," says he, presently, "he was shot--shot by accident--when we first +came aboard of this here craft after you left her." + +I sat silent for a great long time after this, nor could I think of one +word to say, for of all the things which my mind had forecasted, this +was the very furthest from my imaginings. So I sat staring at the pirate +captain, who, upon his part, sat gazing back again at me, answering my +look with a grin. I had been well assured that Captain Leach had stolen +the jewel, but was it possible that I had misjudged him in suspecting +that he had betrayed us to the pirates, and that they, finding him alive +upon the vessel, whence he had not had sufficient time to escape, had +thereupon instantly murthered him, as is their custom upon such +occasions? "And tell me this," said I at last, "was it through Captain +Leach's machinations that we were betrayed into your hands?" + +"Why," says he, "I may tell you plain, if I had never met Captain Leach +I should never have ventured into this harbor in the face of three armed +vessels lying across the channel." + +"Then I was not mistaken," said I. But I dared ask no more questions, +lest the pirate captain's suspicions should be aroused, for, from the +appearance of the despatch-box, which did not yet seem to have been +tampered with, but rather held as of no account whatever, I did not +believe that Captain Leach had betrayed the presence of the jewel to the +pirate, but rather had reserved the secret for his own advantage, which, +indeed, was the most likely supposition that could be imagined. If now I +could but by some means or other contrive to find opportunity to examine +the box, I could very speedily tell whether the lock had been forced; +which would, in my estimation, decide whether or not the jewel was still +safe and undiscovered. + +Presently Ward spoke. "And how," said he, "did you come to get into such +a pickle as I found you, sir?" + +I told him the main reason for my visit in as few words and with as +little circumlocution as possible; how I had entertained hopes of +procuring a promise of safety for my passengers and ship's crew, and +even possibly of obtaining some means of transportation from the place +where they now were to one of greater ease and security. Both men +listened without a word to what I said, and when I had ended Ward pursed +his mouth up in a most comical fashion, and gave a great long whistle, +half under his breath, regarding me the while with his one eye as round +as a saucer. + +"And do you mean to say," says he, "that you, a sick man, have gone and +travelled ten leagues all for to give yourself up to such a gang of +bloody cutthroats as we be?" + +"Why, yes," says I; "sure ten leagues is not such a long journey that +one need make much of a stir about it." + +"Ten leagues be blowed!" says he. "Suppose they had shot you dead when +they had found out who you were; what then?" + +"But they did not shoot me," said I. + +"But perhaps they may kill you yet," put in England. + +"That matter is neither in your hands nor mine," said I. + +Ward looked in a very droll manner, first at England and then at me. +"Well, I'm blowed!" he said at last. + +At this Captain England burst into a great loud laugh. "Why," says he, +"it would be a vast pity to let a man of such spirit lose his life after +all. What d'ye say, Ward?" + +"I say yes," said Ward, and he thumped his fist down on the table; "and +by the Eternal he shall get what he wants--in reason--Tom Burke and the +devil notwithstanding!" + +"Come," says England; "come, Ward, we'll go and fetch Burke in, and see +if we can't drink him into a good humor." And so saying both men went +out of the cabin, shutting the door behind them. As soon as their backs +were turned I sprang to where the despatch-box lay, snatched it up, and +began eagerly examining it. It was still securely locked; the lid had +not been forced, and I could see no marks of violence upon it. But I had +just then but short time for such an examination, for in a little while +I heard footsteps outside, whereupon I replaced the box where I had +found it and resumed my chair, composing my countenance as far as I was +able to do. Presently I heard voices at the door, and from their tones I +could gather that Captain England and the crippled cook were trying to +persuade Burke to come into the cabin, he being mightily unwilling to +do so. For a while they held the door ajar, and I could hear Burke +cursing and swearing at a great rate, and calling Heaven to witness that +he would have my life before he was done with me. Meantime the others +were busied in talking to him, and soothing him, and reasoning with him, +but all to no purpose. No; he would come in and drink a glass of grog +with them, if that was what they were after, but he would have my +life--yes, he would; and he was not to be wheedled out of his purpose by +soft words either. So they, after a while, all came into the cabin and +sat down to the table, though Burke never so much as turned his eyes in +my direction. + +Captain England brought out a bottle of Jamaica, which he set upon the +board, and each of the three pirates mixed himself a glass of grog. +Burke drank three or four glasses of the stuff without its seeming in +the least to smooth his ill-temper. The cripple kept pace with him in +his drinking, at which I was mightily anxious, for when such bloody +wretches as they become heated with liquor, it is a toss of a farthing +whether they murder a man in their sport or lavish caresses upon him. +However, I was glad to see that Captain England drank but sparingly, +wherefore I entertained great hopes that he would remain sufficiently +cool to prevent any violence being used against me. + +But I greatly doubt that my life would have been in danger under any +circumstances, for after a while, as Burke became more warmed in his +cups, his displeasure against me became more and more softened. At +first, without speaking directly to me, he began, with many imprecations +upon his own head, to say that though he was a bloody sea-pirate, and a +murderer, and a thief, he knew a man of courage when he saw him, and +loved him as his brother. By-and-by he insisted upon shaking hands with +me across the table, swearing that if harm had happened to me through +him he would have repented it to the very last day of his life. I now +perceived that the time had come for me to act; accordingly I began, +first by hints and afterwards by direct appeals, to beseech them that +they would give me the smaller of their two crafts, which had been so +injured in the late engagement that it was still lying upon the beach +where they had run it aground, and from which position they had made no +efforts to rescue it. I had noticed the craft as I came down the beach, +and though I observed that she had been very much shattered by the +broadsides which we had fired into her, I yet had hopes that if I could +get possession of her I might be able to patch her up sufficiently to +transport my passengers and crew to some place of greater security than +the island offered, even perhaps to Bombay, weather permitting. I had +thought that the pirates would have made some objection, and I believe +that even England himself was startled at the boldness of my request, +for he looked anxiously at the others, but ventured nothing. However, I +think that that very boldness recommended itself to these reckless +spirits, for they granted what I desired with hardly a word of +objection. Emboldened by this, I went still further, and besought them +to give me back some of the cargo which they had captured along with the +_Cassandra_. + +At this, though he said nothing, Captain England grinned as though +vastly amused. Nor was I wrong in venturing such a seemingly foolhardy +request, for not only did they promise to give me back one hundred and +twenty-nine bales of the Company's goods, but also gave me a written +agreement to that effect, which they each of them signed, Captain +England first of all. + +I may say here that though it might seem absurd to set any value upon a +mere written agreement signed by such bloody and lawless men, it was +really of very great moment, for these fellows have a vast respect and +regard for any instrument to which they set their hand, wherefore I knew +that the chances were many to one that they would do as they promised, +after once having superscribed to it. + +Then, with my heart beating so that I could hardly speak, I turned to +Captain England. "And you, sir," said I, "will you grant me one small +favor?" + +"That depends upon what it is," says he. + +I looked at him steadily for a moment or two whilst I was collecting +myself; then I spoke with all the coolness I could command, although I +felt that I could scarcely forbear trembling at this trying moment. +"Why, sir," says I, "if my despatches are lost, I can make but a poor +sort of a report to the Honorable Company." + +"Well, John Mackra, and how can I help you in that?" said he, very +coolly. + +"Easily enough," said I. "Yonder is my despatch-box in the corner, +which can be of but little use to you, and yet it is of great import to +me." + +"And you want it?" says he. + +"Indeed yes," said I, "though of course that is as you please." + +He regarded me for a while in silence, his head upon one side, and his +face twisted up into a most droll, quizzical, cunning expression, of +which I could make nothing whatever. + +"And is that all that you want of me?" said he. + +I nodded my head, for I could not trust myself to speak. + +Upon this he burst suddenly into a great loud laugh, and gave the table +a thump with his fist which made the glasses jingle. I sat regarding +him, not knowing what to make of it all; but his next words were a vast +relief to me. + +"Why," says he, "I thought you were going to ask me for something of +some account. If that is all you want, it is yours, and welcome to it." + +Finding all three of the pirates to be in such a complacent mood, I +asked them for some of my clothes, for those that I had hung in tatters +about me, and, as said before, I was in my bare feet. But this they +would not do, Master Burke asking me whether they had not granted enough +already, without giving me togs to cover my bloody carcass. Upon this I +perceived that I had gotten all that I was likely to obtain, and so had +to go without my clothes. + +The pirates were for keeping me on board all night, that they might, as +they were pleased to say, entertain me in a decent fashion. But I, +having gained possession of the precious despatch-box, and trembling +with anxiety lest by some sudden shift of luck it should be taken away +from me again, was most eagerly anxious to take myself away. England +himself urged my departure. So about seven o'clock I was put ashore, +with the despatch-box in my possession, giving thanks that I had come +off from my adventure with such exceeding good fortune, for I felt that +I had not only recovered the most precious prize of all, but England had +promised to do his uttermost to hold the others to their written +agreement, saying that if he were successful he would depart in two +days, leaving the bales of goods behind upon the shore. + + + + +XIII. + + +England himself chose a crew to row me across the beach, and I have no +doubt selected the least reprehensible of all the gang; for although +they said little to me, they showed no disposition either to be insolent +or to offer violence to me; one of them even took off his jacket and +laid it in the stern-sheets for me to sit upon. And truly, in spite of +their wicked ways, there is not so much difference betwixt some of these +fellows and the common sailors in our merchant service, excepting that +the poor wretches have been led astray by evil counsel until they have +broken the laws and committed outrages upon the high-seas, and so are +become outlawed and desperate. Moreover, I believe there are many of +them who would return to better ways had they opportunity of so doing, +and were not afraid of suffering for the evil things which they have +committed. + +But at that time I thought little or nothing of how they regarded me, my +only desire being to get ashore, that I might hide the precious +despatch-box in some place of safety. This I did as soon as might be +after I had landed, burying the casket in the sand, and marking the +place so that I might know it again. + +Some little distance beyond where I had been put ashore from the pirate +boat I came upon a party of my own men under Mr. White, who had been +despatched after me by Mr. Langely so soon as he had read the +communication which I had left behind me at the king's town, and who had +for some time been lying hidden in the thickets, whence they might +observe the pirates and still remain unseen by them. + +I may confess that I was mightily glad to behold such kind and friendly +faces again, nor did they seem less rejoiced than myself at the +meeting. They would not allow me to walk, but making a litter of two +saplings, bore me by turns upon the way, so that against the morning had +come we were safe in the king's town once more. + +Mr. Longways was among the first to visit me, and betrayed the most +lively signs of joy upon finding that I had been fortunate enough to +secure the great ruby once more, though he regretted that I had not +fetched the box with me instead of having buried it in the sand, so that +we might have assured ourselves of the safety of the treasure. Upon this +point I put him at his ease by convincing him that the box was in such a +condition and of such an appearance as to make me feel certain that it +had neither been forced nor the lock tampered with. + +We only remained in the king's town about three days longer; at the end +of that time the lookout which we had placed at the cape came in and +reported that the pirate crafts had hoisted sail and borne away to the +southward, leaving behind them the battered hulk of the smallest vessel, +as they had promised to do. This much many had expected of them, but I +doubt if any excepting myself had ventured to hope that they would +fulfill the other part of the agreement to which they had superscribed, +viz., to leave behind them the bales of goods which in their +half-drunken fit of generosity they had promised. Yet there they were, +neatly stacked upon the beach, and even covered with a tarpaulin. And I +know not whether it may be merely superstition upon their part or no, +but this much I have frequently observed, that sailors of whatever +condition have such a vast regard and respect for any paper or written +document that they will go to great extremity before they will do aught +to rupture or disobey the articles of such a bond. So it was that I was +not so much surprised at this fulfillment as either Mr. Langely or Mr. +White. By this time I was sufficiently recovered of my fever and of my +wound to take upon me the direction of affairs once more; accordingly, +in the space of two weeks, we had so far patched up the battered hulk of +the pirate craft as to make her tolerably sea-worthy, provided we +encountered no great stress of weather. + +It took us about a week longer to victual and water the vessel (the +bales of goods which I had begged from the pirates having been already +stowed away under cover), so that it was not until the 18th of August +that we were able to leave the country--which we did, giving thanks for +all the mercies that had been vouchsafed to us in this trying and +terrible time. + +We were becalmed off the coast of Arabia, where we suffered greatly from +the scarcity of water; but being brought safely through that and other +dangers, we arrived at last at Bombay, where we dropped anchor early in +the afternoon of the 13th of October, it being nigh upon two months +since we had left the coast of Juanna. + +I immediately sent a message to the Governor, Mr. Boon, notifying him of +the safe arrival of Mistress Pamela, and that I was now ready to deliver +the despatch-box at such time as he should choose to appoint. I also +forwarded to him by the messenger a full report of all that had +happened, and of the loss of the _Cassandra_ in the engagement on the +23d of July. + +In about an hour and a half Mr. Boon came aboard. He spoke most kindly +and flatteringly of the service which he was pleased to say I had +rendered the Company. He urged me to accompany him to the shore, but +though I was mightily inclined to accept of his kindness, I was forced +to decline at that time; for, finding that the Company's ship, the _City +of London_, was about ready to sail, I had determined to send by her a +brief account of the things herein narrated, and was at that moment +engaged in writing the letter which was afterwards so widely published +both in the newspapers and in Captain Johnson's book relating to the +lives of the nine famous pirate captains. Finding that I could not just +then quit the ship, he insisted that I should sup with them that very +night. I was only too glad to accept of this, for I had determined that +I would discover in what manner of regard Mistress Pamela held me, and +that without loss of time. I had now every right to offer my addresses +to her, which I had not had heretofore. Accordingly, having delivered +the despatch-box into Mr. Boon's hands with feelings of the most sincere +and heart-felt relief, and having obtained his receipt for the same, I +escorted Mistress Pamela to the Governor's boat, thence returning to my +own cabin feeling strangely lonely and melancholic. + +This was about half-past two o'clock in the afternoon; at about four a +small boat came alongside, and a young man of some twenty-three years +of age stepped upon the deck, who introduced himself as Mr. Whitcomb, +the Governor's secretary. He brought a written message from the Governor +requesting my immediate presence at the Residency upon a matter of the +very first importance. I turned to Mr. Whitcomb and asked if he knew +what was the nature of the business the Governor would have with me. + +He said no, but that the Governor and Mr. Elliott, the Company's agent, +had been closeted together with Mr. McFarland and Mr. Hansel, of the +banking-house, for some time, and then had sent this message to me by +him, which was plainly one of very great consequence. + +I immediately entered the boat with the secretary, and was rowed to the +shore, where, when we had come to the Residency, I found the four +gentlemen waiting for me. They were seated around a table, whereon was +the despatch-box and my written report, which consumed some six or eight +sheets of paper. The Governor invited me to be seated, which I had +hardly done when one of the company, whom I afterwards found to be Mr. +Elliott, began questioning me. I answered fully to everything he asked, +the others listening, and now and then putting in a word, or asking for +fuller particulars upon some point or other which was perhaps more +obscure. When I came to the part that related to Captain Leach I saw +them glance at one another in a very peculiar way; but I continued +without stopping until I had told everything concerning the matter from +the beginning to the end. No one said anything for a little time, until +at last Mr. Elliott spoke: + +"Do I correctly understand from this report," says he, touching the +papers which lay upon the table as he spoke, "that Mr. Longways betrayed +the nature of the contents of the despatch-box both to you and to +Captain Leach?" + +"Yes, sir," said I. + +"And you are sure that no one knew of the presence +of the jewel but you and he?" + +"Yes, sir," said I, again. + +At this the gentlemen exchanged glances, and Mr. Elliott continued his +questioning. + +"And did you not know that Captain Leach had been left behind when you +quitted the _Cassandra_?" + +"Why, no, sir," said I. "It was intended that he should go in the first +passage of the long-boat with the boatswain." + +"But did you not say that you helped the women aboard of the long-boat?" + +"Yes, sir, I did," I said. + +There was a pause of a moment or two, and all sat regarding me. +Presently Mr. Elliott spoke again. + +"And did you not then see that Captain Leach was absent from the boat?" +said he. + +"No, sir," said I, "I did not; the boat was very full, and the air so +thick with gunpowder smoke that I could see little or nothing at any +distance." + +"But did you not then take care to see that all your passengers were +safe aboard?" + +"Why, no, sir," said I. "The order had been passed for all passengers to +go aboard the long-boat, and I supposed that Captain Leach had obeyed +with the rest. I was so occupied with the safety of the women just then +that I thought of nothing else." + +"You say that the pirate England told you that Captain Leach had been +killed when they first came aboard the _Cassandra_. Did you take any +other evidence in the matter than his word?" + +"Why, no, sir," said I, "I did not." + +Mr. Elliott said "Humph!" and another short space of silence followed, +during which he played absently with the leaves of my report. + +"But tell me, Captain Mackra," said he, presently, "did you not speak to +any one of your suspicions concerning Captain Leach after he had +quitted the ship on the night of the 21st in such a mysterious manner?" + +"Why, no, sir," said I; "for I saw no sufficient grounds to accuse him +of any underhand practices." + +"And yet," said a thin, middle-aged gentleman, with a sharp voice, whom +I afterwards found to be Mr. McFarland--"and yet you saw him quit the +_Cassandra_ in a most suspicious manner, and under the most suspicious +circumstances, and also had reason to suspect him of having knowledge of +the jewel. Why, then, did you not examine him publicly or put him under +arrest after he returned?" + +"Sir," said I, "I disliked Captain Leach, and feared that my prejudice +might lead me astray." + +"But, Captain Mackra," said the Governor, "your personal feelings should +never interfere with your duty." + +I knew not where all these matters tended, but I began to be mightily +troubled in my mind concerning them. However, I had little time for +thought, for Mr. Elliott began questioning me again. He asked me if I +had told any one of my intended visit to the pirate-ship, of whom I had +seen there, and of what inducements I had offered to persuade them to +give me one of their crafts and return such a quantity of the Company's +goods. He cross-questioned me so keenly in regard to the last point that +I found myself tripping more than once, for it is mightily difficult to +remember all of the petty details even of such an important event as +that. I believe that I answered more loosely than I otherwise would have +done from the agitation into which I was cast by the serious shape which +matters seemed to be taking. + +"Sir," I cried to Mr. Elliott, "do you blame me for getting back so much +of the Company's goods as I was able?" + +"I blame you for nothing, Captain Mackra," said he. "I merely question +you in regard to a matter of great importance." + +"But, sir," I said, hotly, "am I to be blamed for losing my ship after a +hard-fought battle? You should recollect, sir, that I was wounded in the +Company's service; methinks, sir, that should weigh some in my favor." + +"But, Captain Mackra," said Mr. McFarland, very seriously, "are not +accidents likely to happen to any one under any circumstances? Captain +Leach, you may remember, was killed in spite of all the precautions he +may have taken to preserve his life." + +A great weight of dread seemed to have been settling upon me as the +examination had progressed, but at these words it was as though a sudden +light flashed upon me; I rose slowly from my chair, and stood with my +hand leaning upon the table. For a moment or two my head swam with +vertigo, and I passed my hand across my forehead. "I am not so well, +gentlemen," said I, "as I was some time since, for I have gone through +many hardships; therefore I beseech you to excuse me if I have appeared +weak in the manner or the matter of my discourse." Then turning to the +Governor, "Will you be pleased to tell me, sir, what all this means?" + +"Sir," said he, in a low tone, "the ruby has been stolen, and was not in +the box when you gave it to me." + +I stood looking around at them for a while; I know that I must have been +very pale, for Mr. McFarland sprang to his feet. + +"Captain Mackra, you are ill," he said; "will you not be seated?" + +I shook my head impatiently, and collecting myself, I said, very slowly +and somewhat unsteadily, "Do you suspect me of being instrumental in +taking it?" + +[Illustration: I ROSE SLOWLY FROM MY CHAIR, AND STOOD WITH MY HAND +LEANING UPON THE TABLE.] + +No one answered for an instant. Then the Governor said, "No, Captain +Mackra, we suspect you of nothing; only it is best that you should +return to England and make your report to the Company in person. +Meanwhile you will make no effort to leave this country until I find +means to secure your passage for you." + +"I am to consider myself under arrest?" said I. + +"No, sir," said the Governor, kindly, "not under arrest; but you must +hold yourself prepared to stand your examination before the proper +agents of the Company at London, and at such time as they may decide +upon." + + + + +XIV. + + +So soon as I had left the Residency I went straight aboard my craft. I +entered my cabin, locked the door, and began pacing up and down, +striving to collect my thoughts and to shape them into some sort of +order. At first I was possessed with a most ungovernable fury--that I, +who had suffered so much, who had fought till I could fight no more, and +who had freely risked my life in the Company's cause, should now be +accused of stealing that very thing that had cost me such suffering and +so great a weight of trouble. But by-and-by the ferment of my spirits +began somewhat to subside, and I could look matters more coolly in the +face. Then, instead of anger, I became consumed with anxiety, for I +began, little by little, to perceive what a dreadful cloud of suspicion +overshadowed me. I had acted to the best of my light in not accusing +Captain Leach of what I feared might be unfounded suspicions bred of my +dislike of his person. Now all men would think that I was leagued with +him in robbing the Company of the great ruby. In return for my +forbearance in not making a public accusation against him, he had +betrayed me and all that were aboard the _Cassandra_, and now every one +would believe that I had aided him in that as in the rest. He had +remained behind in the hopes of joining the pirates, and so securing +himself in the possession of his booty. Instead of accomplishing this, +he had perished miserably on board of that craft, wet with the blood of +those whom he had betrayed; but as for me, how could I ever disprove the +horrid charge that I had deserted my confederate in guilt, leaving him +to his death, so that I might gain all for myself. The very fact of my +taking my life into my hands, and going so freely among those wicked +and bloody wretches, instead of weighing in my favor, would seem to +point to some sort of bargain with them whereby I was the gainer; for +who would believe that they would voluntarily have resigned so great a +part of those things which they had a short time before torn away from +us at the cost of so much blood? Even the fact of my having so carefully +guarded the secret of the stone might be twisted into sinister +suspicions against me. + +As for those bright hopes that I had but lately entertained, how could I +now raise my eyes towards Mistress Pamela, or how could I look for +anything, who was stained with such dreadful suspicions, without +prospect of being cleansed from them? + +Perceiving all these things so clearly, I resigned myself to the depths +of gloomy despair, for the more I bent my mind upon these matters the +less did I see my way clear from my entanglements. I sat long into the +night, thinking and thinking, until the temptation came upon me to shoot +out my brains, and be quit of all my troubles in that sudden manner. In +this extremity I flung myself upon my knees and prayed most fervently, +and after a while was more at peace, though with no clearer knowledge as +to how I might better my condition. So I went to my berth, where I was +presently sound asleep, with all my troubles forgot. + +A day or two after these things had befallen comes one of the Company's +clerks aboard, with an order from Mr. Elliott relieving me of my +command, and appointing Mr. Langely in my stead. This appointment Mr. +Langely would have refused had I not urged him to accept of it, seeing +he could better settle the affairs of which he would be in charge than +one who would come aboard a stranger. Accordingly he consented to do as +I advised, though protesting against it most earnestly. + +About two weeks after our arrival at Bombay the Governor notified me +that the Company's ship _Lavinia_ was about quitting her anchorage, and +that he had secured a berth to England in her for me. I was very well +pleased that the Governor had hit upon this one ship of all others in +the Company's service, for her commander, Captain Croker, was an old and +well-tried friend of mine, and one with whom it would be more pleasing +to be consociated at a time of such extreme ill fortune as I was then +suffering under. I went aboard her at once, and was most kindly received +by Captain Croker, whom I found had had a very comfortable berth fitted +up for me, and had arranged all things to make my voyage as pleasant as +possible. + +The day after I came aboard, wind and tide being fair, and Captain +Croker having received his orders, we hoisted anchor and sailed out of +the harbor, and by four o'clock had dropped the land astern. + +During the first part of that voyage, before I had contrived to leave +the _Lavinia_, of which I shall hereafter tell, my mind was constantly +and continually filled with my troubles, so that they were the first +thing which I remembered in the morning, and the last thing which I +forgot before I fell asleep. But that which puzzled me more than +anything else was to account for the mysterious manner in which the Rose +of Paradise had been spirited away from the iron despatch-box, and what +had become of it after it had passed from Mr. White's possession. Of +this I thought and pondered until my brain grew weary. + +One night, we being at that time becalmed off the Gulf of Arabia, I sat +upon the poop-deck looking out over the water and into the sky, dusted +all over with an infinite quantity of stars, and with my mind still +moving upon the same old track which it had so often travelled before. I +know not whether it was the refreshing silence which reigned all about +me, but of a sudden it seemed as though the uncertainties which had +beset my mind were removed, and the whole matter stood before me with a +most marvellous clearness. Then I knew, as plain as though it had been +revealed to me, that the only man in the world who either had the Rose +of Paradise in his possession, or knew where it was hidden, was Captain +Edward England. + +I do not think that I came to this conclusion through any line of +reasoning, but rather with a sudden leap of thought; but as soon as I +had fairly grasped it I marvelled at the dulness of my understanding, +which should have prevented my perceiving it before; for every single +circumstance that had happened pointed but in one direction, and that +was towards the end which I had but just reached. + +It was as plain as the light of day that when Captain Leach went aboard +of the pirate craft on the night of the 21st of July, Captain England +would require him to explain his object in betraying the _Cassandra_ +into their hands; and it was equally plain that Leach would have to tell +the truth; for it was not likely that he could deceive such a sharp and +cunning blade as that famous freebooter. I recalled the strange look +which Captain England had given me when he told me that Captain Leach +had been "shot by accident" upon their coming aboard the _Cassandra_; +whereupon, regarding matters from my present stand-point, I felt assured +that England had killed Leach with his own hand, so that with him the +secret of the stone might perish from amongst them. I also felt +convinced that he must, with great care and circumspection, have picked +the lock of the despatch-box and have despoiled it of its contents, +which he had kept for himself without informing any of his shipmates of +what he had found. + +I could not at first account for the treatment that I had met with at +the pirates' hands, nor why I had not been shot so soon as I had +stepped upon their decks, for it was plain to see that that would be the +easiest and quickest way for Captain England to rid himself of me; yet +it was very apparent to me that he desired that my life should be saved, +and was even inclined to show me some kindness after his own fashion; +and I do verily believe that that wicked and bloody man entertained a +sincere regard for my person, and had it in his mind to do me a good +turn; for even the very worst of men have some seed of kindness in them, +otherwise they could not be of our human brotherhood, but wild beasts, +thinking only of rending and tearing one another. + +But I could easily perceive that so soon as England felt assured of my +coming aboard of his craft, he would strive to mislead me into thinking +that he knew nothing of the stone, lest by some inadvertent word I +should betray a knowledge of it to the others, and he would have to +share his spoil with them. Therefore he would carefully lock the box +again, and would toss it in the corner to lead me to think he knew +nothing of the contents. + +All this train of reasoning I followed out in my mind, and when I +recalled the quizzical, cunning look which the rogue had given me when I +asked for the despatch-box, I felt certainly assured that I was right. + +I remember that when I had clearly cogitated all this out in my own mind +I felt as though one step had been gained towards the recovery of the +stone, and for an instant it seemed as though a great part of the weight +of despondency had been lifted from my breast. But the next moment it +settled upon me again when I brought to mind that I was as far as ever +from regaining the jewel; for I knew not where the pirates then were, +and even if I did know, and was venturesome enough to face their captain +a second time, it was not likely that he would be so complacent as to +give back such a great treasure for the mere asking. Nor do I think it +likely that I would ever have gained anything by this knowledge which +had come to me (unless I might have used it to help my case with the +East India Company) had not Providence seen fit to send me help in a +most strange and unexpected manner. And thus it was: + +One morning when I came upon deck I saw several of the passengers, +together with the captain and the first mate, standing at the lee side +of the ship and looking out forward, Captain Croker with a glass to his +eye. Upon inquiring they told me that the lookout had some little time +before sighted a small open boat, which had been signalling the ship +with what they were now able to make out was a shirt tied to the blade +of an oar. We ran down to the boat, which we reached in twenty or thirty +minutes, and then hove to, and it came alongside. + +There were three men in her, who seemed to be in a mightily good +condition for castaways in an open boat. I stood looking down into it +along with other of the passengers, watching the men as they took in +their oars and laid them along the thwarts. Just then one of the fellows +raised his face and looked up; and when I saw him I could not forbear a +sudden exclamation of amazement. I remember one of my fellow-passengers, +a Mr. Wilson, who stood next to me, asked me what was the matter. I made +some excuse or other that was of little consequence, but the truth was +that I recognized the fellow as that very pirate who had first kicked me +in the loins when I lay bound upon the deck of the _Cassandra_, and whom +Captain England had knocked down with the iron belaying-pin. + +However, the fellow did not recognize me, for I was a very different +object now than when he had seen me lying upon the pirate deck, pinched +with my sickness, barefoot and half naked, and my cheeks and chin +covered over with a week's growth of beard. The three fellows presently +came aboard, and were brought aft to the quarter-deck, where Captain +Croker stood, just below the rail of the deck above. They told a very +straightforward story, and I could not help admiring at their coolness +and the clever way in which they passed it off. They said that they had +been part of the crew of the brigantine _Ormond_, which had been lost in +a storm about a hundred and twenty leagues north of the island of +Madagascar. That the captain and six of the crew had taken the +long-boat, and that they had become separated from her in the darkness +two nights before. They answered all of Captain Croker's questions in a +very straightforward manner, and with all the appearance of truth. After +satisfying himself, he told them that they might go below and get +something to eat, and that he would carry them to England as a part of +the ship's crew. + +[Illustration: THE THREE FELLOWS WERE BROUGHT AFT TO THE QUARTER-DECK, +WHERE CAPTAIN CROKER STOOD, JUST BELOW THE RAIL OF THE DECK ABOVE.] + +At first I was inclined to tell the real truth concerning them to +Captain Croker, but on second thoughts I determined to see what the +fellows had to say for themselves; for I only recognized one of them, +and, after all, their story might be true, and that one have given up +his wicked trade in the four or five months since I had last seen him. + +About an hour after this I saw my friend the pirate engaged forward in +coiling a rope. I came to him and watched him for a while, but he kept +steadily on with what he was about, and said nothing to me. + +"Well, sir," said I, after a bit, "and how was Captain England when you +saw him last?" + +The fellow started up as suddenly as though the rope had changed to an +adder in his hands. He looked about him as though to see if any one were +near and had overheard what I said to him, and then recovered himself +with amazing quickness. He grinned in a simple manner, and chucked his +thumb up to his forelock. "What was it you were saying, sir?" says he. +"I didn't just understand you." + +"Come, come," said I; "that will never pass amongst old friends. Why, +don't you remember me?" + +He looked at me in a mightily puzzled fashion for a while. "No, sir; +asking your pardon, sir," said he, "I don't remember you." + +"What!" said I, "have you forgot Captain Mackra, and how you gave him a +kick in the side when he lay on the deck of the _Cassandra_, down off +Juanna?" As the fellow looked at me I saw him change from red to yellow +and from yellow to blue; his jaw dropped, and his eyes started as though +a spirit from the dead had risen up from the decks in front of him. +"So," said I, "I see you remember me now." + +"For God's sake, sir," said he, "don't ruin a poor devil who wants to +make himself straight with the world. I was drunk when I kicked you, +sir--the Lord knows I was; you wouldn't hang me for that, sir, would +you?" + +"That depends," said I, sternly, "upon whether you answer my questions +without telling me a lie, as you did Captain Croker just now." + +"I wish I may die, sir," said he, "if what I tell you ain't so. We all +three of us left the _Royal James_ last night--she was the _Cassandra_, +sir, but we christened her a new name, and hoisted the Black Roger over +her. We got scared, sir, at the way things was going since Ned England +left us and Tom Burke turned captain; for he ain't the man England was, +and that's the truth. All we ask now, sir, is to start fair and square +again; and so be if we don't hang for this, I wish I may be struck dead, +sir, if I, for one, go back to the bloody trade again. So all I want is +to have a fair trial, and I begs of you, sir, that you won't say the +word that would hang us all up to the yard-arms as quick as a wink." I +am mightily afraid that I did not hear the last of the fellow's +discourse, for one part of the speech that he had dropped went through +me like a shot. "How is that?" I cried. "Was not Captain England with +you when you deserted the ship?" + +"Why, no, sir," says he. "You see, sir, when we sailed away from Juanna, +Tom Burke began to move heaven and earth against England, and back of +him he had all of the worst of the crew aboard. First of all he began +setting matters by the ears because England and Ward had been wheedled +into giving you--asking your pardon, sir--a good sound vessel and all +them bales of cloth stuff. I tell you plain, sir, Burke would never have +let you had 'em if he hadn't wanted to use the matter against England. +Well, sir, one night Ward fell overboard--nobody knowed how--and there +was an end of him. After that they weren't long in getting rid of +England, I can tell you." + +"Yes, yes," I cried, impatiently, "but how +did you get rid of him?" + +"Why, sir," says he, "they marooned him on a little island off the +Mauritius, and six others with him; they was--" + +"Never mind them," I cried; "but tell me, do you know what became of +him?" + +"Why, yes, sir," says he; "leastways we knew of him by hearsay; and this +was how: About eight weeks ago we ran into a cove on the south shore of +Mauritius to clean both ships, which had grown mightily foul. While we +lay there on the careen a parcel of the crew who had been off hunting +for game fetched back one of the self-same fellows we had marooned two +months and more before. He told us that England and his shipmates had +made a little craft out of bits of boards and barrel-staves, and had +crossed over to the Mauritius in a spell of fair weather, though it was +five leagues and more away." + +To all this I listened with the greatest intentness. "And is that all +you know of him?" said I. "And can you not tell whether he is yet on the +island?" + +The fellow looked at me for a moment out of the corners of his eyes +without speaking. "Look 'ee, sir," said he, after a little while, "what +I wants to know is this: be ye seeking to harm Ned England or not?" + +"And do you trouble yourself about that?" says I. "Sure he can be no +friend of yours, for did I not myself see him knock out a parcel of your +teeth with an iron belaying-pin?" + +"Yes, you did," says he; "but I bear him no grudge for that." + +"Why," said I, "then neither do I bear him a grudge, and I give you my +word of honor that I mean no harm to him." + +The fellow looked at me earnestly for a while. "You wants to know where +Ned England is, don't you, sir?" said he. + +I nodded my head. "And I wants to be perserved from hanging, don't I?" + +I nodded my head again. + +"Then look 'ee, sir," says he, "we'll strike a bit of a bargain: if +you'll promise to say nothing to harm me and my shipmates, I'll tell you +where to find Ned England." + +I considered the matter for a while. The fellow had told me a +straightforward story, nor did I doubt that he intended to break away +from his evil courses. I may truly say that I verily believe I would not +have betrayed the three poor wretches under any circumstances. "Very +well," said I, "I promise to keep my part of the bargain." + +"Upon your honor?" said he. + +"Upon my honor," said I. + +"Then, sir," said he, "you will find him at Port Louis, in the +Mauritius," and he turned upon his heel and walked away. + + + + +XV. + + +I was filled with the greatest exultation by the knowledge which I had +gained through the deserter from the pirates, for not only had I +discovered the whereabouts of the one man in all of the world whom I +felt well convinced had knowledge of the Rose of Paradise, but that man +no longer had a crew of wicked and bloody wretches back of him, but +stood, like me, upon his own footing. Therefore I determined that I +would by some means or other either regain the treasure or perish in the +attempt, for I would rather die than live a life of dishonor such as now +seemed to lie before me. However, I plainly perceived that if I would +recover the treasure I would have to escape from the ship by some means +or other whilst we were upon our passage and near the isle of +Mauritius, for if I lost time by going home and standing my examination, +many things might occur which would lose the chance to me forever: +England might quit the Mauritius, or gather together another crew of +pirates upon his own account, for with such a treasure as the Rose of +Paradise he had it clearly in his power to do that and much more. + +At that time our English vessels were used to lay their course up and +down the Mozambique Channel, and not along the eastern coast of +Madagascar; for the Mauritius and other islands which lie to the +north-east of that land belong to the French or Dutch, as those in the +Channel belong to us. Therefore it was necessary to my purpose that I +should persuade Captain Croker to alter his course, so as to run down +outside the island instead of through the Channel, for it was plain to +see that even if I should be able to escape from the _Lavinia_ to Juanna +or to any of the coadjacent islands, I would be as far as ever from +getting to Mauritius, which lieth many leagues away around the northern +end of Madagascar. + +So I determined to make a clean breast of it, and confide the whole plan +to Captain Croker from beginning to end, only I would say nothing as to +how I had gained my knowledge of England's whereabouts, for I would not +break the promise which I had given to the deserter, as told above. + +As no time was to be lost in following out the plans which I had +determined upon, I requested that I might have speech with Captain +Croker that very night. I told him everything concerning the affair from +beginning to end, adding nothing and omitting nothing. Although so old +and so well-tried a friend, he was cast into the utmost depths of wonder +and amazement at my audacity in proposing that he should alter the +course of his vessel, and at my boldness in daring to tell him my plans +for escaping from the restraint under which I had been placed. He +questioned me closely concerning many matters: as to what led me to +think that England was the present possessor of the jewel; as to how I +proposed to proceed after I had escaped to the land; and as to how I had +become informed of the pirate's whereabouts, concerning which last +particular I would give him no satisfaction. + +I knew not what he had in his mind, nor where all these questions +tended, and by-and-by left the cabin, though in a sad state of +uncertainty, not knowing how Captain Croker inclined, nor what might be +his feelings in regard to me. + +Nor was my uncertainty lessened for several days, in which time I knew +not what to think, but waited for some sign from him. One evening, +however, the whole matter was resolved in a most simple, natural, and +unexpected manner. + +At that time we were about seventy or eighty leagues north of the island +of Madagascar. All the passengers being at supper, with Captain Croker +at the head of the table, conversation began to run upon those pirates +who had much infested these waters of late. + +"Why," says Captain Croker, "the presence of the rascals has so affected +me that I have determined to alter the course of my vessel, and to run +outside of Madagascar instead of through the Mozambique Channel, for it +is well to have plenty of sea-room either to fight or to run from these +wicked rogues. So now, if the wind holds good, seeing we are such +friends with the Frenchmen in these peaceful days, I purpose stopping at +the Mauritius to take aboard fresh provisions." + +Captain Croker did not look at me whilst he was saying all this, but +studiously kept his eyes upon the plate before him, and presently rose +and left the table. + +As for me, I sat with my heart beating within my breast as though it +would burst asunder, for I saw that my fate was decided at last, and +that one of the greatest happenings in all of my life was soon to come +upon me. + +In two days, as Captain Croker had predicted, we dropped anchor in the +harbor off Port Louis at about three o'clock in the afternoon. I ate but +little supper that night, my mind being so engrossed upon that which I +had undertaken to do. + +We lay about half a mile from the shore, the water in the bay being very +calm and still. I had procured four large calabash gourds, with which I +had made shift to rig up a very decent float or life-preserver, for I +had need of some such aid in my expedition, not being a very expert +swimmer. + +In all this time I had said nothing to Captain Croker, nor he to me; but +about seven o'clock, it being at that time pretty dark, he came to me +where I stood by the rail of the poop-deck. + +"Jack," said he, in a low voice, "are you still in the mind for +carrying this thing through?" + +"Yes, I am," I said. + +"To-night?" says he. + +"To-night," says I. + +"Then God bless you!" said he, and he gave my hand a hearty grip. Then +he turned upon his heel and went below, and I knew that my time for +acting had arrived. + +I had not much fear of sharks, for I had seen enough of those cowardly +creatures to know that they rarely or never attack a swimmer or a moving +man, but only a body floating upon the water as though dead; moreover, +at night they are asleep or in deep water, for they are not often seen +upon the surface after the darkness has fairly fallen. + +After the captain left me I looked around and saw that no one else was +nigh upon the deck. I took my calabash gourds and entered the boat that +hung from the davits astern. Taking a hint from Captain Leach, I had +secured a coil of line by which I might lower myself into the water, +for if I had dropped with a splash I would have been pretty sure to have +been discovered. Having removed my shoes and stockings, which I wrapped +in a piece of tarpaulin, together with my tinder-box and flint and +steel, all of which I secured upon my head, and having slipped the cords +which bound the calabashes under my arms, I slid down the line into the +water astern. + +Having committed my life into the keeping of Providence, I struck out +boldly for the shore, being aided by a current which set towards it, and +directing my course by the lights which glimmered faintly in the +distance. So I reached the beach, and built a fire, whereby I dried my +clothes. Then, having put on my shoes and stockings, which had been kept +pretty dry by the tarpaulin, I walked up the beach in the direction of +the scattered row of houses which, the moon having now risen, stood out +very plain at about a quarter of a mile distant. I found the town to +consist of a great straggling collection of low one-story buildings, +mostly made of woven palm-branches, smeared over with mud which had +dried in the sun. At this time it could not have been much less than +nine o'clock, and all was dark and silent. I went aimlessly here and +there, not knowing whither to direct my steps, until at last I caught +sight of a little twinkle of light, which I perceived came through a +crack of an ill-hung shutter. I went around to the front of the hut, +which seemed larger and better made than others I had seen. Above the +door hung an ill-made sign, and the moon shining full upon it, I could +plainly see a rude picture of a heart with a crown above it, and +underneath, written in great sprawling letters,-- + + "Le Coeur du Roy." + +--From this I knew that it was an ordinary, at which I was greatly +rejoiced, and also what suited me very well was to find that it was +French, for I had no mind to fall in with English people just then, and +I knew enough of French to feel pretty easy with the lingo. So into the +place I stepped, as bold as brass, and ordered a glass of grog and +something to eat. + +There were perhaps half a score of rough, ill-looking fellows gathered +around a dirty table playing at cards by the light from a flame of a bit +of rope's-end stuck in a calabash of grease. They laid down their cards +when I came in, and stared at me in a very forbidding fashion. However, +I paid no attention to them, but sat down at a table at some little +distance, and by-and-by the landlord, a little pot-bellied, red-faced +Frenchman, brought me a glass of hot rum and a dish of greasy stew +seasoned with garlic. He would have entered into talk with me, but I +soon gave him to understand that I had no appetite for conversation just +at this time; so after having made a bargain for lodgings during the +night, he withdrew to a bench in the farther corner of the room, where +I presently saw him fall asleep. + +If I had hoped to escape from meeting my own countrymen, I soon +discovered that I was to be sadly disappointed, for before I had been in +the place a quarter of an hour I found that at least half the fellows +around the table were Englishmen. They were the most villanous, +evil-looking set of men that I had beheld in a long time, and I could +not but feel uneasy, for I had with me gold and silver money to the +value of between ten and eleven guineas, and by their muttering together +and looking in my direction now and then I knew that they were talking +concerning me. + +Presently one of the fellows got up from the table and came over to the +place where I sat. + +"Look 'ee, messmate," said he, seating himself upon the corner of the +table beside me; "be ye English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, or what?" +At first I was of a mind to deny being an Englishman, but on second +thoughts I perceived that it would be useless to do so, there being the +scum of so many peoples at that place that I could not hope to escape +exposure. + +"Why, shipmate," said I, "I'm an Englishman." + +"Where do ye hail from?" said he. + +"Over yonder," said I, pointing in the direction of the _Lavinia_. + +"Did ye come aboard of the craft that ran into the harbor to-day?" + +I nodded my head. + +"Did ye come ashore without leave?" + +I nodded my head again. + +The others had all laid down their cards and were looking at us by this +time, and I knew not what would have been the upshot of the matter had +not the door just then been flung open and a great rough fellow come +stumping into the place. + +"Well," he bawled, in a loud, hoarse voice, "poor Ned is on his way to +h--l hot-foot to-night. I just came by his stew-hole over yonder. +Pah!"--here the fellow spat upon the floor--"he was screeching and +howling and yelling as though the d--l was basting him already." + +"Who's with him now?" says one of the fellows at the table. + +"Who's with him?" says the other, in a mightily contemptuous tone. "Why, +d'ye think that anybody would be such a ---- ---- fool as to stay with him +now, with nothing to be got for it but the black tongue and a cursing?" + +"But what I say is this," said an ill-looking one-eyed fellow: "he's not +the man to serve his trade for all these here years and nothing to show +for it. It's all very well to say that Jack Mackra shot the hoops off +his luck; but you mark my words, he's got a cable out to windward +somewhere, and he ain't goin' to run on the lee shore with an empty +hold." I was so amazed to hear my own name spoken that I knew not at +first whether to believe that which mine ears had heard or whether they +had heard aright. Then it was as though a sudden light flashed upon me. +I needed not the next speech to tell me everything. + +"Well," says one of the fellows, "even if so be as Ned England is going +to smell brimstone before this time to-morrow, I for one see no reason +to lose our game. Come along, Blake," he sang out to the fellow who had +been speaking to me, and who rejoined the others upon being bidden. + +I was in a great ferment of spirits at all this, for I perceived very +clearly that England was mightily sick, and perhaps dying, with that +dangerous fever known as the "black tongue," from which it is a rare +thing for a man to recover with his life. + +I observed that the fellow who had lately come into the ordinary did not +join in the game along with the rest, but sat looking on. By-and-by I +contrived to catch his eye as he glanced in my direction, whereupon I +beckoned to him, and he came over to the table where I sat. Only a few +words passed between us, and those in a very low tone. + +"Is Ned England all alone?" said I. + +"Yes," said he. + +"Will you show me where he is?" said I. + +He shot a quick look at me from under his brows. "How much will you +give?" + +"A guinea" said I. + +"I'll do it." + +"When?" + +"To-morrow morning." + +That was all that passed, and then he moved away and joined the others +at the table. + +The next morning I purchased a good large pistol from mine host, for I +saw that with such companions as I was like to fall in with I would need +some sort of weapon to protect myself. Having loaded it with a brace of +slugs, I thrust it in my belt, and then stepped out of the door, where +I found my acquaintance of the night before waiting for me. + +"Are you ready?" said I. + +"Yes," said he, "I am; but I must see the color of your money before I +go a single step." + +"It is yellow," said I, and held the guinea out in the palm of my hand. + +When he saw it his eyes shone like coals and his fingers began to +twitch. "Hand it over," says he, "and I'll take ye straight." + +"No, no," said I; "avast there, shipmate. You get your money when I see +Captain Edward England, and not before." + +"So be it," says he. "Lay your course straight ahead yonder, and I'll +follow after and tell you how to go." + +I looked coolly into the fellow's face, and could not help grinning. +"Why," says I, "to tell the truth, shipmate" (here I drew my pistol out +of my belt and cocked it), "I have no appetite for a knife betwixt the +ribs; so you'll just march ahead, and if you try any of your tricks +I'll put a brace of bullets through your head as sure as you're alive." + +The fellow looked at me for a while in a puzzled sort of way; then he +grinned, and swinging on his heel strode away, I following close behind +him with the pistol ready cocked in my hand. We went onward in this way +for about half a mile, until we came to a little hut that stood by +itself beyond the rest of the town. My guide stopped short about fifty +paces away from the hut. "There's where you'll find Ned England," said +he, "and I'll go no farther for ten guineas, for I've no notion of +catching the black tongue; and if you'll hearken to a bit of advice, +shipmate, you'll give it a wide berth yourself." + +I felt assured the fellow was telling me the truth, so I paid him his +guinea, and then turned away and left him standing where he was, and as +I stopped in front of the hut and looked back I saw that the man was +yet standing in the very same spot, staring after me. + +I may confess that I myself was somewhat overcome with fear of the +dreadful disease, wherefore I stood for a moment before I knocked upon +the door. But I presently rallied myself, calling to mind that this was +the only means of recovering the Rose of Paradise, even if it was at the +risk of my own life; therefore I knocked loudly on the door with the +butt of my pistol. + +My guide, who stood still in the same place, called out to me that there +was no one to hear my knocking; so I pushed open the door and entered +the hut. + +For a while I saw nothing, for it was very dark within. But I heard a +hoarse and chattering voice, scarce above a whisper, crying continually, +"Hard a-lee!--hard a-lee!--hard a-lee!" + +Presently mine eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and I might see the +things around more clearly. There, in the corner of the room, lying +upon a mat of filthy rags, his body almost a skeleton, his bloodshot +eyes glaring out from under his matted hair, I beheld the famous pirate, +Captain Edward England. + +[Illustration: THERE, IN THE CORNER, I BEHELD THE FAMOUS PIRATE, CAPTAIN +EDWARD ENGLAND.] + + + + +XVI. + + +I may truly say that when I saw the doleful state of the poor wretch, +and how he lay there without so much as a single soul to moisten his +lips or to give him a draught of cold water, I forgot mine own troubles +for the time being, and thought only of his pitiable condition. + +I sometimes misdoubt whether I should have felt grieved for such a +wicked and bloody man, who had for years done nothing but commit the +most dreadful crimes, such as murther and piracy and the like, yet +seeing him thus prostrated, lying helpless, and deserted by all his +kind, I could not help my bowels being stirred by compassion; wherefore +I thought neither of the danger from his fever, nor of the many grievous +injuries which he had done, both to myself and to others, but only of +relieving his present distresses. + +My first consideration was to make him more clean, wherefore I fetched +some water from a rivulet which I had noticed flow nigh to that place, +and washed his hands and face, and so much of his body as seemed to me +fitting. Then I gathered some fresh palm-leaves, and covered them over +with a bit of sail which I found rolled up in the back part of the hut, +and having thus made thereof a clean and comfortable bed, I carried the +poor wretch thither and laid him upon it. + +As I had eaten nothing that morning, I went back into the town and +bought a lump of meat and some fresh fruit, and then back again to the +hut. I noticed here and there some that stood and looked after me, +though they said nothing to me, nor molested me in any manner. I +afterwards found that my guide had so spread the news of my going to +England's hut that many knew it, and accredited me with being a friend +of the pirate's, and even a partaker in his wicked and nefarious deeds. +Whether it was from this or from fear of contagion of the fever I know +not, but certain it is I was never once molested so long as I was upon +that island. + +When I returned to the hut it seemed to me that the sick man had less +fever than when I left him, which perhaps happened from the refreshment +of the washing that I had given him, though it might have been that the +crisis of his distemper had arrived, and that his complaint had now +lessened in its intensity. + +Some time after mid-day I was sitting beside the sick man, fanning both +him and myself, for though the nights were cool at this season of the +year, the middle of the day was both exceeding hot and sultry. He had +ceased in his incessant and continuous muttering and talking, and was +now lying quite silent, though breathing short and quick with the +fever. Suddenly he spoke. "Who are you?" said he, in a quick, sharp +voice. + +I thought at first he was still rambling in his mind, but when I looked +at him I saw that his bloodshot eyes were fixed upon me. I placed my +hand upon his brow, and though still very hot, I fancied that the skin +was not so dry nor so hard as it had been. + +"Who are you?" said he again in the same tone. + +"There," said I, "lie still and rest. You have been mightily sick." + +"Is it Jack Mackra?" said he. + +"Yes," said I. + +"And what do you do here?" said he. + +"I am come to care for you just now," said I; "but now rest quietly, for +I will not answer one single question more, and that I promise you." + +He did not seek to speak again, but lay quite still, as though +meditating; and presently, as I sat fanning him, I saw him close his +eyes, and after a while, by his deep and regular breathing, knew that he +was asleep, and that his fever had turned. + +As I remember all the circumstances concerning these things, I think +that up to this time I had given little if any thought concerning the +treasure of which I had been in quest; but now, seeing the sick man +fairly asleep, and in what seemed to me a fair way to mend, my mind went +instantly back to it again, for I felt well assured that I should find +it or some signs of it about the place where I then was. + +It is not needful to recount all the manner in which I prosecuted my +search for the gem, for not only did I examine every scrap of paper +about the place in hopes of finding some matter concerning it, but I +sounded the walls, and pierced wellnigh every inch of the dirt floor +with a sharpened stick of wood, but found not one single sign of it +anywhere. I even searched in the pockets of the breeches which the sick +man wore, and of his coat and waistcoat, which hung against the wall, +but discovered nothing to reward my search--all that I found there being +a book of needles and thread, a tailor's thimble, a great piece of +tobacco, such as seafaring men always carry with them, a ball of yarn +about half the bigness of an orange, and a hasp-knife. + +I cannot tell the bitter disappointment that took possession of me when +my search proved to be of so little avail; for I had felt so sure of +finding the jewel or some traces of it, and had felt so sure of being +able to secure it again, that I could not bear to give up my search, but +continued it after every hope had expired. + +When I was at last compelled to acknowledge to myself that I had failed, +I fell into a most unreasonable rage at the poor, helpless, +fever-stricken wretch, though I had but just now been doing all that lay +in my power to aid him and to help him in his trouble and his sickness. +"Why should I not leave him to rot where he is?" I cried, in my anger; +"why should I continue to succor one who has done so much to injure me, +and to rob me of all usefulness and honor in this world?" I ran out of +the cabin, and up and down, as one distracted, hardly knowing whither I +went. But by-and-by it was shown me what was right with more clearness, +and that I should not desert the poor and helpless wretch in his hour of +need: wherefore I went back to the hut and fell to work making a broth +for him against he should awake, for I saw that the fever was broken, +and that he was like to get well. + +I did not give over my search for the stone in one day, nor two, nor +three, but continued it whenever the opportunity offered and the pirate +was asleep, but with as little success as at first, though I hunted +everywhere. As for Captain England himself, he began to mend from the +very day upon which I came, for he awoke from his first sleep with his +fever nigh gone, and all the madness cleared away from his head; but he +never once, for a long while, spoke of the strangeness of my caring for +him in his sickness, nor how I came to be there, nor of my reasons for +coming. Nevertheless, from where he lay he followed me with his eyes in +all my motions whenever I was moving about the hut. + +One day, however, after I had been there a little over a week, against +which time he was able to lie in a rude hammock, which I had slung up in +front of the door, he asked me of a sudden if any of his cronies had +lent a hand at nursing him when he was sick, and I told him no. + +"And how came you to undertake it?" says he. + +"Why," said I, "I was here on business, and found you lying nigh dead in +this place." + +He looked at me for a little while in a mightily strange way, and then +suddenly burst into a great loud laugh. After that he lay still for a +while, watching me, but presently he spoke again. + +"And did you find it?" says he. + +"Find what?" I asked, after a bit, for I was struck all aback by the +question, and could not at first find one word to say. But he only burst +out laughing again. "Why," says he, "you psalm-singing, Bible-reading, +straitlaced Puritan skippers are as keen as a sail-needle; you'll come +prying about in a man's house looking for what you would like to find, +and all under pretence of doing an act of humanity, but after all you +find an honest devil of a pirate is a match for you." + +I made no answer to this, but my heart sank within me; for I perceived, +what I might have known before, that he had observed the object of my +coming thither. + +He soon became strong enough to move about the place a little, and from +that time I noticed a great change in him, and that he seemed to regard +me in a very evil way. One evening when I came into the hut, after an +absence in the town, I saw that he had taken down one of his pistols +from the wall, and was loading it and picking the flint. He kept that +pistol by him for a couple of days, and was forever fingering it, +cocking it, and then lowering the hammer again. + +I do not know why he did not shoot me through the brains at this time; +for I verily believe that he had it upon his mind to do so, and that +more than once. And now, in looking back upon the business, it appears +to me to be little less than a miracle that I came forth from this +adventure with my life. Yet had I certainly known that death was waiting +upon me, I doubt that I should have left that place; for in truth, now +that I had escaped from the _Lavinia_, as above narrated, I had nowhere +else to go, nor could I ever show my face in England or amongst my own +people again. Thus matters stood until one morning the whole business +came to an end so suddenly and so unexpectedly that for a long while I +felt as though all might be a dream, from which I should soon awake. + +We were sitting together silently, he in a very moody and bitter humor. +He had his pistol lying across his knees, as he used to do at that time. + +Suddenly he turned to me as though in a fit of rage. "Why do you stay +about this accursed fever hole?" cried he; "what do you want here, with +your saintly face and your godly airs?" + +"I stay here," said I, bitterly, "because I have nowhere else to go." + +"And what do you want?" said he. + +"That you know," said I, "as well as I myself." + +"And do you think," said he, "that I will give it to you?" + +"No," said I, "that I do not." + +"Look 'ee, Jack Mackra," said he, very slowly, "you are the only man +hereabouts who knows anything of that red pebble" (here he raised his +pistol and aimed it directly at my bosom); "why shouldn't I shoot you +down like a dog, and be done with you forever? I've shot many a better +man than you for less than this." + +I felt every nerve thrill as I beheld the pistol set against my breast, +and his cruel, wicked eyes behind the barrel; but I steeled myself to +stand steadily and to face it. + +"You may shoot if you choose, Edward England," said I, "for I have +nothing more to live for. I have lost my honor and all except my life +through you, and you might as well take that as the rest." + +He withdrew the pistol, and sat regarding me for a while with a most +baleful look, and for a time I do believe that my life hung in the +balance with the weight of a feather to move it either way. Suddenly he +thrust his hand into his bosom and drew forth the ball of yarn which I +had observed amongst other things in his pocket. He flung it at me with +all his might, with a great cry as though of rage and of anguish. "Take +it," he roared, "and may the devil go with you! And now away from here, +and be quick about it, or I will put a bullet through your head even +yet." + +I knew as quick as lightning what it was that was wrapped in the ball of +yarn, and leaping forward I snatched it up and ran as fast as I was able +away from that place. I heard another roar, and at the same time the +shot of a pistol and the whiz of a bullet, and my hat went spinning off +before me as though twitched from off my head. I did not tarry to pick +it up, but ran on without stopping: but even yet, to this day, I cannot +tell whether Edward England missed me through purpose or through the +trembling of weakness; for he was a dead-shot, and I myself once saw him +snap the stem of a wineglass with a pistol bullet at an ordinary in +Jamaica. As for me, the whole thing had happened so quickly and so +unexpectedly that I had no time either for joy or exultation, but +continued to run on bareheaded as though bereft of my wits; for I knew I +held in my hand not only the great ruby, but also my honor and all that +was dear to me in my life. + +But although England had so freely given me the stone, I knew that I +must remain in that place no longer. I still had between five and six +guineas left of the money which I had brought ashore with me when I left +the _Lavinia_. With this I hired a French fisherman to transport me to +Madagascar, where I hoped to be able to work my passage either to Europe +or back to the East Indies. + +As fortune would have it, we fell in with an English bark, the +_Kensington_, bound for Calcut, off the north coast of that land, and I +secured a berth aboard of her, shipping as an ordinary seaman; for I had +no mind to tell my name, and so be forced to disclose the secret of the +great treasure which I had with me. After arriving at Calcut I was +fortunate enough to be able to find a vessel ready to sail for Bombay, +whereon I secured a berth, and so arrived safe at that place about the +middle of March. + +I had unrolled the ball of yarn and looked at the stone so soon as I had +been able to do so after getting it into my possession. Then, finding +that it was safe and unhurt, as I had seen it last, I had rolled it up +again, for I could perceive that there was no better hiding-place for it +than the one the cunning pirate had provided. So for all this last +voyage I had carried a fortune of three hundred and fifty thousand +pounds in my pocket, wrapped up in a ball of yarn. + + * * * * * + +It was early in the morning when we arrived at Bombay, and so soon as I +was able I disclosed my name and condition to the captain under whom I +had sailed, and contrived to impress him with the importance of my +commission, without disclosing anything to him in regard to the stone. +He was very complacent to me, and would have had me dress myself in a +more fitting manner, and in some of his own clothes, for I was clad no +better than the other seamen with whom I had consociated for all this +time; but I was too impatient to delay my going ashore for one moment +longer than was needful, so he kindly sent me off without any further +stay. + +I went straight to the Residency, and though the attendants would have +stayed me, I so insisted, both with words and with force, that they were +constrained to show me directly into the presence of the Governor. + +I found him seated with Mistress Pamela at breakfast, beneath the shade +of a wide veranda overlooking a beautiful and luxuriant garden. The +Governor arose as I came forward, looking very much surprised at my +boldness in so forcing my presence upon his privacy. As for Mistress +Pamela, I beheld her eyes grow wide and her face as white as marble, and +thereby knew that she had recognized me upon the instant. + +I came direct to the table, and drawing forth the jewel, still wrapped +in the yarn (for my agitation had been so great that I had not thought +to unroll the covering from the stone), I laid it upon the table, with +my hands trembling as though with an ague. + +"What does all this mean?" cried the Governor. "Who are you, and what do +you want?" For I was mightily changed in my appearance by the rough life +through which I had passed, and he did not recognize me. + +But I only pointed to the ball of yarn. "Open it," I cried; "for God's +sake, open it!" + +I saw a sudden light come into Mistress Pamela's eyes. She clasped her +hands, and repeated after me, "Open it, open it!" The Governor himself +seemed to be impressed by our emotion; for, instead of troubling himself +to unwind the yarn, he snatched up a bread-knife and cut through the +strands, so that they fell apart, and the jewel rolled out upon the +white linen table-cover. + +The Governor gazed upon it as though thunderstruck. Presently he slowly +raised his eyes and looked at me. "What is this?" said he. + +In the mean time I had somewhat recovered from my excessive emotion. +"Sir," said I, "it is the Rose of Paradise." + +"And you?" + +"I am Captain John Mackra." + +The Governor grasped my hand, and shook it most warmly. "Sir," said he, +"Captain Mackra, I am vastly delighted to find you such a man as my +niece has always maintained you to be. The little rebel has led me a +most disturbed and disquieted life ever since I was constrained to order +you back to England under restraint. I now leave you a captive in her +hands, trusting to her to give you a famous dish of tea, whilst I go and +consign this great treasure to some place of safe-keeping. I shall soon +return, for I am most impatient to hear your narrative of those events +which led to the recovery of this stone." + +So saying, he turned and left us, bearing the Rose of Paradise with him, +and I sat down to a dish of tea with Mistress Pamela. + +When the Governor returned he had first to listen to other matters than +those concerning the Rose of Paradise; for, with his consent, Pamela +Boon had promised to be my wife. + + THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rose of Paradise, by Howard Pyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROSE OF PARADISE *** + +***** This file should be named 31673.txt or 31673.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/6/7/31673/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Hillie Plantinga and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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