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diff --git a/973-0.txt b/973-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffc7bee --- /dev/null +++ b/973-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7322 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 973 *** + + + + +HOWARD PYLE'S BOOK OF PIRATES + + + + +Fiction, Fact & Fancy concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the +Spanish Main: From the writing & Pictures of Howard Pyle: + + +Compiled by Merle Johnson + + + + +CONTENTS + + FOREWORD BY MERLE JOHNSON + + PREFACE + + I. BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + II. THE GHOST OF CAPTAIN BRAND + III. WITH THE BUCCANEERS + IV. TOM CHIST AND THE TREASURE BOX + V. JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + VI. BLUESKIN THE PIRATE + VII. CAPTAIN SCARFIELD + + + + +FOREWORD + +PIRATES, Buccaneers, Marooners, those cruel but picturesque sea wolves +who once infested the Spanish Main, all live in present-day conceptions +in great degree as drawn by the pen and pencil of Howard Pyle. + +Pyle, artist-author, living in the latter half of the nineteenth +century and the first decade of the twentieth, had the fine faculty of +transposing himself into any chosen period of history and making +its people flesh and blood again--not just historical puppets. His +characters were sketched with both words and picture; with both words +and picture he ranks as a master, with a rich personality which makes +his work individual and attractive in either medium. + +He was one of the founders of present-day American illustration, and his +pupils and grand-pupils pervade that field to-day. While he bore no +such important part in the world of letters, his stories are modern in +treatment, and yet widely read. His range included historical treatises +concerning his favorite Pirates (Quaker though he was); fiction, with +the same Pirates as principals; Americanized version of Old World fairy +tales; boy stories of the Middle Ages, still best sellers to growing +lads; stories of the occult, such as In Tenebras and To the Soil of the +Earth, which, if newly published, would be hailed as contributions to +our latest cult. + +In all these fields Pyle's work may be equaled, surpassed, save in one. +It is improbable that anyone else will ever bring his combination of +interest and talent to the depiction of these old-time Pirates, any more +than there could be a second Remington to paint the now extinct Indians +and gun-fighters of the Great West. + +Important and interesting to the student of history, the +adventure-lover, and the artist, as they are, these Pirate stories and +pictures have been scattered through many magazines and books. Here, in +this volume, they are gathered together for the first time, perhaps +not just as Mr. Pyle would have done, but with a completeness and +appreciation of the real value of the material which the author's +modesty might not have permitted. MERLE JOHNSON. + + + + +PREFACE + +WHY is it that a little spice of deviltry lends not an unpleasantly +titillating twang to the great mass of respectable flour that goes to +make up the pudding of our modern civilization? And pertinent to this +question another--Why is it that the pirate has, and always has had, +a certain lurid glamour of the heroical enveloping him round about? Is +there, deep under the accumulated debris of culture, a hidden groundwork +of the old-time savage? Is there even in these well-regulated times an +unsubdued nature in the respectable mental household of every one of us +that still kicks against the pricks of law and order? To make my meaning +more clear, would not every boy, for instance--that is, every boy of any +account--rather be a pirate captain than a Member of Parliament? And +we ourselves--would we not rather read such a story as that of Captain +Avery's capture of the East Indian treasure ship, with its beautiful +princess and load of jewels (which gems he sold by the handful, history +sayeth, to a Bristol merchant), than, say, one of Bishop Atterbury's +sermons, or the goodly Master Robert Boyle's religious romance of +"Theodora and Didymus"? It is to be apprehended that to the unregenerate +nature of most of us there can be but one answer to such a query. + +In the pleasurable warmth the heart feels in answer to tales of +derring-do Nelson's battles are all mightily interesting, but, even in +spite of their romance of splendid courage, I fancy that the majority of +us would rather turn back over the leaves of history to read how Drake +captured the Spanish treasure ship in the South Sea, and of how he +divided such a quantity of booty in the Island of Plate (so named +because of the tremendous dividend there declared) that it had to be +measured in quart bowls, being too considerable to be counted. + +Courage and daring, no matter how mad and ungodly, have always a +redundancy of vim and life to recommend them to the nether man that lies +within us, and no doubt his desperate courage, his battle against the +tremendous odds of all the civilized world of law and order, have had +much to do in making a popular hero of our friend of the black flag. But +it is not altogether courage and daring that endear him to our hearts. +There is another and perhaps a greater kinship in that lust for wealth +that makes one's fancy revel more pleasantly in the story of the +division of treasure in the pirate's island retreat, the hiding of his +godless gains somewhere in the sandy stretch of tropic beach, there to +remain hidden until the time should come to rake the doubloons up +again and to spend them like a lord in polite society, than in the most +thrilling tales of his wonderful escapes from commissioned cruisers +through tortuous channels between the coral reefs. + +And what a life of adventure is his, to be sure! A life of constant +alertness, constant danger, constant escape! An ocean Ishmaelite, he +wanders forever aimlessly, homelessly; now unheard of for months, now +careening his boat on some lonely uninhabited shore, now appearing +suddenly to swoop down on some merchant vessel with rattle of musketry, +shouting, yells, and a hell of unbridled passions let loose to rend and +tear. What a Carlislean hero! What a setting of blood and lust and flame +and rapine for such a hero! + +Piracy, such as was practiced in the flower of its days--that is, during +the early eighteenth century--was no sudden growth. It was an evolution, +from the semi-lawful buccaneering of the sixteenth century, just as +buccaneering was upon its part, in a certain sense, an evolution from +the unorganized, unauthorized warfare of the Tudor period. + +For there was a deal of piratical smack in the anti-Spanish ventures +of Elizabethan days. Many of the adventurers--of the Sir Francis Drake +school, for instance--actually overstepped again and again the bounds +of international law, entering into the realms of de facto piracy. +Nevertheless, while their doings were not recognized officially by the +government, the perpetrators were neither punished nor reprimanded for +their excursions against Spanish commerce at home or in the West Indies; +rather were they commended, and it was considered not altogether a +discreditable thing for men to get rich upon the spoils taken from +Spanish galleons in times of nominal peace. Many of the most reputable +citizens and merchants of London, when they felt that the queen failed +in her duty of pushing the fight against the great Catholic Power, +fitted out fleets upon their own account and sent them to levy good +Protestant war of a private nature upon the Pope's anointed. + +Some of the treasures captured in such ventures were immense, +stupendous, unbelievable. For an example, one can hardly credit the +truth of the "purchase" gained by Drake in the famous capture of the +plate ship in the South Sea. + +One of the old buccaneer writers of a century later says: "The Spaniards +affirm to this day that he took at that time twelvescore tons of +plate and sixteen bowls of coined money a man (his number being then +forty-five men in all), insomuch that they were forced to heave much of +it overboard, because his ship could not carry it all." + +Maybe this was a very greatly exaggerated statement put by the author +and his Spanish authorities, nevertheless there was enough truth in it +to prove very conclusively to the bold minds of the age that tremendous +profits--"purchases" they called them--were to be made from piracy. The +Western World is filled with the names of daring mariners of those old +days, who came flitting across the great trackless ocean in their little +tublike boats of a few hundred tons burden, partly to explore unknown +seas, partly--largely, perhaps--in pursuit of Spanish treasure: +Frobisher, Davis, Drake, and a score of others. + +In this left-handed war against Catholic Spain many of the adventurers +were, no doubt, stirred and incited by a grim, Calvinistic, puritanical +zeal for Protestantism. But equally beyond doubt the gold and silver and +plate of the "Scarlet Woman" had much to do with the persistent energy +with which these hardy mariners braved the mysterious, unknown terrors +of the great unknown ocean that stretched away to the sunset, there in +faraway waters to attack the huge, unwieldy, treasure-laden galleons +that sailed up and down the Caribbean Sea and through the Bahama +Channel. + +Of all ghastly and terrible things old-time religious war was the most +ghastly and terrible. One can hardly credit nowadays the cold, callous +cruelty of those times. Generally death was the least penalty that +capture entailed. When the Spaniards made prisoners of the English, the +Inquisition took them in hand, and what that meant all the world knows. +When the English captured a Spanish vessel the prisoners were tortured, +either for the sake of revenge or to compel them to disclose where +treasure lay hidden. Cruelty begat cruelty, and it would be hard to +say whether the Anglo-Saxon or the Latin showed himself to be most +proficient in torturing his victim. + +When Cobham, for instance, captured the Spanish ship in the Bay of +Biscay, after all resistance was over and the heat of the battle had +cooled, he ordered his crew to bind the captain and all of the crew and +every Spaniard aboard--whether in arms or not--to sew them up in the +mainsail and to fling them overboard. There were some twenty dead bodies +in the sail when a few days later it was washed up on the shore. + +Of course such acts were not likely to go unavenged, and many an +innocent life was sacrificed to pay the debt of Cobham's cruelty. + +Nothing could be more piratical than all this. Nevertheless, as was +said, it was winked at, condoned, if not sanctioned, by the law; and it +was not beneath people of family and respectability to take part in it. +But by and by Protestantism and Catholicism began to be at somewhat less +deadly enmity with each other; religious wars were still far enough from +being ended, but the scabbard of the sword was no longer flung away +when the blade was drawn. And so followed a time of nominal peace, and a +generation arose with whom it was no longer respectable and worthy--one +might say a matter of duty--to fight a country with which one's own +land was not at war. Nevertheless, the seed had been sown; it had been +demonstrated that it was feasible to practice piracy against Spain and +not to suffer therefor. Blood had been shed and cruelty practiced, and, +once indulged, no lust seems stronger than that of shedding blood and +practicing cruelty. + +Though Spain might be ever so well grounded in peace at home, in the +West Indies she was always at war with the whole world--English, French, +Dutch. It was almost a matter of life or death with her to keep her hold +upon the New World. At home she was bankrupt and, upon the earthquake +of the Reformation, her power was already beginning to totter and to +crumble to pieces. America was her treasure house, and from it alone +could she hope to keep her leaking purse full of gold and silver. So it +was that she strove strenuously, desperately, to keep out the world from +her American possessions--a bootless task, for the old order upon which +her power rested was broken and crumbled forever. But still she strove, +fighting against fate, and so it was that in the tropical America it was +one continual war between her and all the world. Thus it came that, +long after piracy ceased to be allowed at home, it continued in those +far-away seas with unabated vigor, recruiting to its service all that +lawless malign element which gathers together in every newly opened +country where the only law is lawlessness, where might is right and +where a living is to be gained with no more trouble than cutting a +throat. {signature Howard Pyle His Mark} + + + + +HOWARD PILE'S BOOK OF PIRATES + + + + +Chapter I. BUCCANEERS AND MAROONERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN + +JUST above the northwestern shore of the old island of Hispaniola--the +Santo Domingo of our day--and separated from it only by a narrow channel +of some five or six miles in width, lies a queer little hunch of an +island, known, because of a distant resemblance to that animal, as +the Tortuga de Mar, or sea turtle. It is not more than twenty miles in +length by perhaps seven or eight in breadth; it is only a little spot of +land, and as you look at it upon the map a pin's head would almost cover +it; yet from that spot, as from a center of inflammation, a burning fire +of human wickedness and ruthlessness and lust overran the world, and +spread terror and death throughout the Spanish West Indies, from St. +Augustine to the island of Trinidad, and from Panama to the coasts of +Peru. + +About the middle of the seventeenth century certain French adventurers +set out from the fortified island of St. Christopher in longboats and +hoys, directing their course to the westward, there to discover new +islands. Sighting Hispaniola "with abundance of joy," they landed, and +went into the country, where they found great quantities of wild cattle, +horses, and swine. + +Now vessels on the return voyage to Europe from the West Indies needed +revictualing, and food, especially flesh, was at a premium in the +islands of the Spanish Main; wherefore a great profit was to be turned +in preserving beef and pork, and selling the flesh to homeward-bound +vessels. + +The northwestern shore of Hispaniola, lying as it does at the eastern +outlet of the old Bahama Channel, running between the island of Cuba and +the great Bahama Banks, lay almost in the very main stream of travel. +The pioneer Frenchmen were not slow to discover the double advantage to +be reaped from the wild cattle that cost them nothing to procure, and a +market for the flesh ready found for them. So down upon Hispaniola they +came by boatloads and shiploads, gathering like a swarm of mosquitoes, +and overrunning the whole western end of the island. There they +established themselves, spending the time alternately in hunting the +wild cattle and buccanning(1) the meat, and squandering their hardly +earned gains in wild debauchery, the opportunities for which were never +lacking in the Spanish West Indies. + + (1) Buccanning, by which the "buccaneers" gained their name, + was of process of curing thin strips of meat by salting, + smoking, and drying in the sun. + +At first the Spaniards thought nothing of the few travel-worn Frenchmen +who dragged their longboats and hoys up on the beach, and shot a wild +bullock or two to keep body and soul together; but when the few grew to +dozens, and the dozens to scores, and the scores to hundreds, it was a +very different matter, and wrathful grumblings and mutterings began to +be heard among the original settlers. + +But of this the careless buccaneers thought never a whit, the only thing +that troubled them being the lack of a more convenient shipping point +than the main island afforded them. + +This lack was at last filled by a party of hunters who ventured across +the narrow channel that separated the main island from Tortuga. Here +they found exactly what they needed--a good harbor, just at the junction +of the Windward Channel with the old Bahama Channel--a spot where +four-fifths of the Spanish-Indian trade would pass by their very +wharves. + +There were a few Spaniards upon the island, but they were a quiet folk, +and well disposed to make friends with the strangers; but when more +Frenchmen and still more Frenchmen crossed the narrow channel, until +they overran the Tortuga and turned it into one great curing house for +the beef which they shot upon the neighboring island, the Spaniards grew +restive over the matter, just as they had done upon the larger island. + +Accordingly, one fine day there came half a dozen great boatloads +of armed Spaniards, who landed upon the Turtle's Back and sent the +Frenchmen flying to the woods and fastnesses of rocks as the chaff flies +before the thunder gust. That night the Spaniards drank themselves +mad and shouted themselves hoarse over their victory, while the beaten +Frenchmen sullenly paddled their canoes back to the main island again, +and the Sea Turtle was Spanish once more. + +But the Spaniards were not contented with such a petty triumph as that +of sweeping the island of Tortuga free from the obnoxious strangers, +down upon Hispaniola they came, flushed with their easy victory, and +determined to root out every Frenchman, until not one single buccaneer +remained. For a time they had an easy thing of it, for each French +hunter roamed the woods by himself, with no better company than his +half-wild dogs, so that when two or three Spaniards would meet such a +one, he seldom if ever came out of the woods again, for even his resting +place was lost. + +But the very success of the Spaniards brought their ruin along with it, +for the buccaneers began to combine together for self-protection, +and out of that combination arose a strange union of lawless man with +lawless man, so near, so close, that it can scarce be compared to +any other than that of husband and wife. When two entered upon this +comradeship, articles were drawn up and signed by both parties, a common +stock was made of all their possessions, and out into the woods they +went to seek their fortunes; thenceforth they were as one man; they +lived together by day, they slept together by night; what one suffered, +the other suffered; what one gained, the other gained. The only +separation that came betwixt them was death, and then the survivor +inherited all that the other left. And now it was another thing with +Spanish buccaneer hunting, for two buccaneers, reckless of life, quick +of eye, and true of aim, were worth any half dozen of Spanish islanders. + +By and by, as the French became more strongly organized for mutual +self-protection, they assumed the offensive. Then down they came upon +Tortuga, and now it was the turn of the Spanish to be hunted off the +island like vermin, and the turn of the French to shout their victory. + +Having firmly established themselves, a governor was sent to the French +of Tortuga, one M. le Passeur, from the island of St. Christopher; the +Sea Turtle was fortified, and colonists, consisting of men of doubtful +character and women of whose character there could be no doubt whatever, +began pouring in upon the island, for it was said that the buccaneers +thought no more of a doubloon than of a Lima bean, so that this was the +place for the brothel and the brandy shop to reap their golden harvest, +and the island remained French. + +Hitherto the Tortugans had been content to gain as much as possible from +the homeward-bound vessels through the orderly channels of legitimate +trade. It was reserved for Pierre le Grand to introduce piracy as a +quicker and more easy road to wealth than the semi-honest exchange they +had been used to practice. + +Gathering together eight-and-twenty other spirits as hardy and reckless +as himself, he put boldly out to sea in a boat hardly large enough to +hold his crew, and running down the Windward Channel and out into the +Caribbean Sea, he lay in wait for such a prize as might be worth the +risks of winning. + +For a while their luck was steadily against them; their provisions and +water began to fail, and they saw nothing before them but starvation +or a humiliating return. In this extremity they sighted a Spanish ship +belonging to a "flota" which had become separated from her consorts. + +The boat in which the buccaneers sailed might, perhaps, have served for +the great ship's longboat; the Spaniards out-numbered them three to +one, and Pierre and his men were armed only with pistols and cutlasses; +nevertheless this was their one and their only chance, and they +determined to take the Spanish ship or to die in the attempt. Down upon +the Spaniard they bore through the dusk of the night, and giving orders +to the "chirurgeon" to scuttle their craft under them as they were +leaving it, they swarmed up the side of the unsuspecting ship and upon +its decks in a torrent--pistol in one hand and cutlass in the other. A +part of them ran to the gun room and secured the arms and ammunition, +pistoling or cutting down all such as stood in their way or offered +opposition; the other party burst into the great cabin at the heels of +Pierre le Grand, found the captain and a party of his friends at cards, +set a pistol to his breast, and demanded him to deliver up the ship. +Nothing remained for the Spaniard but to yield, for there was no +alternative between surrender and death. And so the great prize was won. + +It was not long before the news of this great exploit and of the vast +treasure gained reached the ears of the buccaneers of Tortuga and +Hispaniola. Then what a hubbub and an uproar and a tumult there was! +Hunting wild cattle and buccanning the meat was at a discount, and the +one and only thing to do was to go a-pirating; for where one such prize +had been won, others were to be had. + +In a short time freebooting assumed all of the routine of a regular +business. Articles were drawn up betwixt captain and crew, compacts were +sealed, and agreements entered into by the one party and the other. + +In all professions there are those who make their mark, those who +succeed only moderately well, and those who fail more or less entirely. +Nor did pirating differ from this general rule, for in it were men who +rose to distinction, men whose names, something tarnished and rusted by +the lapse of years, have come down even to us of the present day. + +Pierre Francois, who, with his boatload of six-and-twenty desperadoes, +ran boldly into the midst of the pearl fleet off the coast of +South America, attacked the vice admiral under the very guns of two +men-of-war, captured his ship, though she was armed with eight guns and +manned with threescore men, and would have got her safely away, only +that having to put on sail, their mainmast went by the board, whereupon +the men-of-war came up with them, and the prize was lost. + +But even though there were two men-of-war against all that remained of +six-and-twenty buccaneers, the Spaniards were glad enough to make terms +with them for the surrender of the vessel, whereby Pierre Francois and +his men came off scot-free. + +Bartholomew Portuguese was a worthy of even more note. In a boat manned +with thirty fellow adventurers he fell upon a great ship off Cape +Corrientes, manned with threescore and ten men, all told. + +Her he assaulted again and again, beaten off with the very pressure of +numbers only to renew the assault, until the Spaniards who survived, +some fifty in all, surrendered to twenty living pirates, who poured upon +their decks like a score of blood-stained, powder-grimed devils. + +They lost their vessel by recapture, and Bartholomew Portuguese +barely escaped with his life through a series of almost unbelievable +adventures. But no sooner had he fairly escaped from the clutches of the +Spaniards than, gathering together another band of adventurers, he fell +upon the very same vessel in the gloom of the night, recaptured her when +she rode at anchor in the harbor of Campeche under the guns of the fort, +slipped the cable, and was away without the loss of a single man. He +lost her in a hurricane soon afterward, just off the Isle of Pines; but +the deed was none the less daring for all that. + +Another notable no less famous than these two worthies was Roch +Braziliano, the truculent Dutchman who came up from the coast of Brazil +to the Spanish Main with a name ready-made for him. Upon the very first +adventure which he undertook he captured a plate ship of fabulous value, +and brought her safely into Jamaica; and when at last captured by the +Spaniards, he fairly frightened them into letting him go by truculent +threats of vengeance from his followers. + +Such were three of the pirate buccaneers who infested the Spanish +Main. There were hundreds no less desperate, no less reckless, no less +insatiate in their lust for plunder, than they. + +The effects of this freebooting soon became apparent. The risks to be +assumed by the owners of vessels and the shippers of merchandise became +so enormous that Spanish commerce was practically swept away from these +waters. No vessel dared to venture out of port excepting under escort +of powerful men-of-war, and even then they were not always secure from +molestation. Exports from Central and South America were sent to Europe +by way of the Strait of Magellan, and little or none went through the +passes between the Bahamas and the Caribbees. + +So at last "buccaneering," as it had come to be generically called, +ceased to pay the vast dividends that it had done at first. The cream +was skimmed off, and only very thin milk was left in the dish. Fabulous +fortunes were no longer earned in a ten days' cruise, but what money +was won hardly paid for the risks of the winning. There must be a new +departure, or buccaneering would cease to exist. + +Then arose one who showed the buccaneers a new way to squeeze money out +of the Spaniards. This man was an Englishman--Lewis Scot. + +The stoppage of commerce on the Spanish Main had naturally tended to +accumulate all the wealth gathered and produced into the chief fortified +cities and towns of the West Indies. As there no longer existed prizes +upon the sea, they must be gained upon the land, if they were to be +gained at all. Lewis Scot was the first to appreciate this fact. + +Gathering together a large and powerful body of men as hungry for +plunder and as desperate as himself, he descended upon the town of +Campeche, which he captured and sacked, stripping it of everything that +could possibly be carried away. + +When the town was cleared to the bare walls Scot threatened to set the +torch to every house in the place if it was not ransomed by a large sum +of money which he demanded. With this booty he set sail for Tortuga, +where he arrived safely--and the problem was solved. + +After him came one Mansvelt, a buccaneer of lesser note, who first made +a descent upon the isle of Saint Catharine, now Old Providence, which he +took, and, with this as a base, made an unsuccessful descent upon Neuva +Granada and Cartagena. His name might not have been handed down to us +along with others of greater fame had he not been the master of that +most apt of pupils, the great Captain Henry Morgan, most famous of +all the buccaneers, one time governor of Jamaica, and knighted by King +Charles II. + +After Mansvelt followed the bold John Davis, native of Jamaica, where he +sucked in the lust of piracy with his mother's milk. With only fourscore +men, he swooped down upon the great city of Nicaragua in the darkness of +the night, silenced the sentry with the thrust of a knife, and then +fell to pillaging the churches and houses "without any respect or +veneration." + +Of course it was but a short time until the whole town was in an uproar +of alarm, and there was nothing left for the little handful of men to do +but to make the best of their way to their boats. They were in the town +but a short time, but in that time they were able to gather together and +to carry away money and jewels to the value of fifty thousand pieces of +eight, besides dragging off with them a dozen or more notable prisoners, +whom they held for ransom. + +And now one appeared upon the scene who reached a far greater height +than any had arisen to before. This was Francois l'Olonoise, who +sacked the great city of Maracaibo and the town of Gibraltar. Cold, +unimpassioned, pitiless, his sluggish blood was never moved by one +single pulse of human warmth, his icy heart was never touched by one ray +of mercy or one spark of pity for the hapless wretches who chanced to +fall into his bloody hands. + +Against him the governor of Havana sent out a great war vessel, and with +it a negro executioner, so that there might be no inconvenient delays of +law after the pirates had been captured. But l'Olonoise did not wait for +the coming of the war vessel; he went out to meet it, and he found it +where it lay riding at anchor in the mouth of the river Estra. At the +dawn of the morning he made his attack sharp, unexpected, decisive. In a +little while the Spaniards were forced below the hatches, and the vessel +was taken. Then came the end. One by one the poor shrieking wretches +were dragged up from below, and one by one they were butchered in cold +blood, while l'Olonoise stood upon the poop deck and looked coldly down +upon what was being done. Among the rest the negro was dragged upon the +deck. He begged and implored that his life might be spared, promising to +tell all that might be asked of him. L'Olonoise questioned him, and when +he had squeezed him dry, waved his hand coldly, and the poor black went +with the rest. Only one man was spared; him he sent to the governor of +Havana with a message that henceforth he would give no quarter to any +Spaniard whom he might meet in arms--a message which was not an empty +threat. + +The rise of l'Olonoise was by no means rapid. He worked his way up by +dint of hard labor and through much ill fortune. But by and by, after +many reverses, the tide turned, and carried him with it from one success +to another, without let or stay, to the bitter end. + +Cruising off Maracaibo, he captured a rich prize laden with a vast +amount of plate and ready money, and there conceived the design of +descending upon the powerful town of Maracaibo itself. Without loss of +time he gathered together five hundred picked scoundrels from Tortuga, +and taking with him one Michael de Basco as land captain, and two +hundred more buccaneers whom he commanded, down he came into the Gulf of +Venezuela and upon the doomed city like a blast of the plague. Leaving +their vessels, the buccaneers made a land attack upon the fort that +stood at the mouth of the inlet that led into Lake Maracaibo and guarded +the city. + +The Spaniards held out well, and fought with all the might that +Spaniards possess; but after a fight of three hours all was given up and +the garrison fled, spreading terror and confusion before them. As +many of the inhabitants of the city as could do so escaped in boats to +Gibraltar, which lies to the southward, on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, +at the distance of some forty leagues or more. + +Then the pirates marched into the town, and what followed may be +conceived. It was a holocaust of lust, of passion, and of blood such as +even the Spanish West Indies had never seen before. Houses and churches +were sacked until nothing was left but the bare walls; men and women +were tortured to compel them to disclose where more treasure lay hidden. + +Then, having wrenched all that they could from Maracaibo, they +entered the lake and descended upon Gibraltar, where the rest of the +panic-stricken inhabitants were huddled together in a blind terror. + +The governor of Merida, a brave soldier who had served his king in +Flanders, had gathered together a troop of eight hundred men, had +fortified the town, and now lay in wait for the coming of the pirates. +The pirates came all in good time, and then, in spite of the brave +defense, Gibraltar also fell. Then followed a repetition of the scenes +that had been enacted in Maracaibo for the past fifteen days, only here +they remained for four horrible weeks, extorting money--money! ever +money!--from the poor poverty-stricken, pest-ridden souls crowded into +that fever hole of a town. + +Then they left, but before they went they demanded still more money--ten +thousand pieces of eight--as a ransom for the town, which otherwise +should be given to the flames. There was some hesitation on the part of +the Spaniards, some disposition to haggle, but there was no hesitation +on the part of l'Olonoise. The torch WAS set to the town as he had +promised, whereupon the money was promptly paid, and the pirates were +piteously begged to help quench the spreading flames. This they were +pleased to do, but in spite of all their efforts nearly half of the town +was consumed. + +After that they returned to Maracaibo again, where they demanded a +ransom of thirty thousand pieces of eight for the city. There was no +haggling here, thanks to the fate of Gibraltar; only it was utterly +impossible to raise that much money in all of the poverty-stricken +region. But at last the matter was compromised, and the town was +redeemed for twenty thousand pieces of eight and five hundred head of +cattle, and tortured Maracaibo was quit of them. + +In the Ile de la Vache the buccaneers shared among themselves two +hundred and sixty thousand pieces of eight, besides jewels and bales of +silk and linen and miscellaneous plunder to a vast amount. + +Such was the one great deed of l'Olonoise; from that time his star +steadily declined--for even nature seemed fighting against such a +monster--until at last he died a miserable, nameless death at the hands +of an unknown tribe of Indians upon the Isthmus of Darien. + +And now we come to the greatest of all the buccaneers, he who stands +pre-eminent among them, and whose name even to this day is a charm +to call up his deeds of daring, his dauntless courage, his truculent +cruelty, and his insatiate and unappeasable lust for gold--Capt. Henry +Morgan, the bold Welshman, who brought buccaneering to the height and +flower of its glory. + +Having sold himself, after the manner of the times, for his passage +across the seas, he worked out his time of servitude at the Barbados. As +soon as he had regained his liberty he entered upon the trade of piracy, +wherein he soon reached a position of considerable prominence. He was +associated with Mansvelt at the time of the latter's descent upon +Saint Catharine's Isle, the importance of which spot, as a center of +operations against the neighboring coasts, Morgan never lost sight of. + +The first attempt that Capt. Henry Morgan ever made against any town +in the Spanish Indies was the bold descent upon the city of Puerto del +Principe in the island of Cuba, with a mere handful of men. It was +a deed the boldness of which has never been outdone by any of a like +nature--not even the famous attack upon Panama itself. Thence they +returned to their boats in the very face of the whole island of Cuba, +aroused and determined upon their extermination. Not only did they make +good their escape, but they brought away with them a vast amount of +plunder, computed at three hundred thousand pieces of eight, besides +five hundred head of cattle and many prisoners held for ransom. + +But when the division of all this wealth came to be made, lo! there were +only fifty thousand pieces of eight to be found. What had become of the +rest no man could tell but Capt. Henry Morgan himself. Honesty among +thieves was never an axiom with him. + +Rude, truculent, and dishonest as Captain Morgan was, he seems to have +had a wonderful power of persuading the wild buccaneers under him to +submit everything to his judgment, and to rely entirely upon his word. +In spite of the vast sum of money that he had very evidently made away +with, recruits poured in upon him, until his band was larger and better +equipped than ever. + +And now it was determined that the plunder harvest was ripe at Porto +Bello, and that city's doom was sealed. The town was defended by two +strong castles thoroughly manned, and officered by as gallant a soldier +as ever carried Toledo steel at his side. But strong castles and gallant +soldiers weighed not a barleycorn with the buccaneers when their blood +was stirred by the lust of gold. + +Landing at Puerto Naso, a town some ten leagues westward of Porto Bello, +they marched to the latter town, and coming before the castle, boldly +demanded its surrender. It was refused, whereupon Morgan threatened that +no quarter should be given. Still surrender was refused; and then the +castle was attacked, and after a bitter struggle was captured. Morgan +was as good as his word: every man in the castle was shut in the guard +room, the match was set to the powder magazine, and soldiers, castle, +and all were blown into the air, while through all the smoke and the +dust the buccaneers poured into the town. Still the governor held out in +the other castle, and might have made good his defense, but that he was +betrayed by the soldiers under him. Into the castle poured the howling +buccaneers. But still the governor fought on, with his wife and daughter +clinging to his knees and beseeching him to surrender, and the blood +from his wounded forehead trickling down over his white collar, until a +merciful bullet put an end to the vain struggle. + +Here were enacted the old scenes. Everything plundered that could be +taken, and then a ransom set upon the town itself. + +This time an honest, or an apparently honest, division was made of +the spoils, which amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand pieces of +eight, besides merchandise and jewels. + +The next towns to suffer were poor Maracaibo and Gibraltar, now just +beginning to recover from the desolation wrought by l'Olonoise. Once +more both towns were plundered of every bale of merchandise and of every +plaster, and once more both were ransomed until everything was squeezed +from the wretched inhabitants. + +Here affairs were like to have taken a turn, for when Captain Morgan +came up from Gibraltar he found three great men-of-war lying in the +entrance to the lake awaiting his coming. Seeing that he was hemmed in +the narrow sheet of water, Captain Morgan was inclined to compromise +matters, even offering to relinquish all the plunder he had gained if +he were allowed to depart in peace. But no; the Spanish admiral would +hear nothing of this. Having the pirates, as he thought, securely in +his grasp, he would relinquish nothing, but would sweep them from the +face of the sea once and forever. + +That was an unlucky determination for the Spaniards to reach, for +instead of paralyzing the pirates with fear, as he expected it would do, +it simply turned their mad courage into as mad desperation. + +A great vessel that they had taken with the town of Maracaibo was +converted into a fire ship, manned with logs of wood in montera caps and +sailor jackets, and filled with brimstone, pitch, and palm leaves soaked +in oil. Then out of the lake the pirates sailed to meet the Spaniards, +the fire ship leading the way, and bearing down directly upon the +admiral's vessel. At the helm stood volunteers, the most desperate and +the bravest of all the pirate gang, and at the ports stood the logs of +wood in montera caps. So they came up with the admiral, and grappled +with his ship in spite of the thunder of all his great guns, and then +the Spaniard saw, all too late, what his opponent really was. + +He tried to swing loose, but clouds of smoke and almost instantly a mass +of roaring flames enveloped both vessels, and the admiral was lost. The +second vessel, not wishing to wait for the coming of the pirates, bore +down upon the fort, under the guns of which the cowardly crew sank +her, and made the best of their way to the shore. The third vessel, not +having an opportunity to escape, was taken by the pirates without the +slightest resistance, and the passage from the lake was cleared. So +the buccaneers sailed away, leaving Maracaibo and Gibraltar prostrate a +second time. + +And now Captain Morgan determined to undertake another venture, the like +of which had never been equaled in all of the annals of buccaneering. +This was nothing less than the descent upon and the capture of Panama, +which was, next to Cartagena, perhaps, the most powerful and the most +strongly fortified city in the West Indies. + +In preparation for this venture he obtained letters of marque from the +governor of Jamaica, by virtue of which elastic commission he began +immediately to gather around him all material necessary for the +undertaking. + +When it became known abroad that the great Captain Morgan was about +undertaking an adventure that was to eclipse all that was ever done +before, great numbers came flocking to his standard, until he had +gathered together an army of two thousand or more desperadoes and +pirates wherewith to prosecute his adventure, albeit the venture itself +was kept a total secret from everyone. Port Couillon, in the island of +Hispaniola, over against the Ile de la Vache, was the place of muster, +and thither the motley band gathered from all quarters. Provisions had +been plundered from the mainland wherever they could be obtained, and by +the 24th of October, 1670 (O. S.), everything was in readiness. + +The island of Saint Catharine, as it may be remembered, was at one time +captured by Mansvelt, Morgan's master in his trade of piracy. It had +been retaken by the Spaniards, and was now thoroughly fortified by them. +Almost the first attempt that Morgan had made as a master pirate was the +retaking of Saint Catharine's Isle. In that undertaking he had failed; +but now, as there was an absolute need of some such place as a base +of operations, he determined that the place must be taken. And it was +taken. + +The Spaniards, during the time of their possession, had fortified it +most thoroughly and completely, and had the governor thereof been as +brave as he who met his death in the castle of Porto Bello, there might +have been a different tale to tell. As it was, he surrendered it in a +most cowardly fashion, merely stipulating that there should be a sham +attack by the buccaneers, whereby his credit might be saved. And so +Saint Catharine was won. + +The next step to be taken was the capture of the castle of Chagres, +which guarded the mouth of the river of that name, up which river the +buccaneers would be compelled to transport their troops and provisions +for the attack upon the city of Panama. This adventure was undertaken by +four hundred picked men under command of Captain Morgan himself. + +The castle of Chagres, known as San Lorenzo by the Spaniards, stood upon +the top of an abrupt rock at the mouth of the river, and was one of +the strongest fortresses for its size in all of the West Indies. This +stronghold Morgan must have if he ever hoped to win Panama. + +The attack of the castle and the defense of it were equally fierce, +bloody, and desperate. Again and again the buccaneers assaulted, and +again and again they were beaten back. So the morning came, and it +seemed as though the pirates had been baffled this time. But just at +this juncture the thatch of palm leaves on the roofs of some of the +buildings inside the fortifications took fire, a conflagration followed, +which caused the explosion of one of the magazines, and in the +paralysis of terror that followed, the pirates forced their way into +the fortifications, and the castle was won. Most of the Spaniards +flung themselves from the castle walls into the river or upon the rocks +beneath, preferring death to capture and possible torture; many who +were left were put to the sword, and some few were spared and held as +prisoners. + +So fell the castle of Chagres, and nothing now lay between the +buccaneers and the city of Panama but the intervening and trackless +forests. + +And now the name of the town whose doom was sealed was no secret. + +Up the river of Chagres went Capt. Henry Morgan and twelve hundred men, +packed closely in their canoes; they never stopped, saving now and then +to rest their stiffened legs, until they had come to a place known as +Cruz de San Juan Gallego, where they were compelled to leave their boats +on account of the shallowness of the water. + +Leaving a guard of one hundred and sixty men to protect their boats as +a place of refuge in case they should be worsted before Panama, they +turned and plunged into the wilderness before them. + +There a more powerful foe awaited them than a host of Spaniards +with match, powder, and lead--starvation. They met but little or no +opposition in their progress; but wherever they turned they found every +fiber of meat, every grain of maize, every ounce of bread or meal, swept +away or destroyed utterly before them. Even when the buccaneers had +successfully overcome an ambuscade or an attack, and had sent the +Spaniards flying, the fugitives took the time to strip their dead +comrades of every grain of food in their leathern sacks, leaving nothing +but the empty bags. + +Says the narrator of these events, himself one of the expedition, "They +afterward fell to eating those leathern bags, as affording something to +the ferment of their stomachs." + +Ten days they struggled through this bitter privation, doggedly forcing +their way onward, faint with hunger and haggard with weakness and fever. +Then, from the high hill and over the tops of the forest trees, they saw +the steeples of Panama, and nothing remained between them and their goal +but the fighting of four Spaniards to every one of them--a simple thing +which they had done over and over again. + +Down they poured upon Panama, and out came the Spaniards to meet them; +four hundred horse, two thousand five hundred foot, and two thousand +wild bulls which had been herded together to be driven over the +buccaneers so that their ranks might be disordered and broken. The +buccaneers were only eight hundred strong; the others had either +fallen in battle or had dropped along the dreary pathway through the +wilderness; but in the space of two hours the Spaniards were flying +madly over the plain, minus six hundred who lay dead or dying behind +them. + +As for the bulls, as many of them as were shot served as food there and +then for the half-famished pirates, for the buccaneers were never more +at home than in the slaughter of cattle. + +Then they marched toward the city. Three hours' more fighting and +they were in the streets, howling, yelling, plundering, gorging, +dram-drinking, and giving full vent to all the vile and nameless lusts +that burned in their hearts like a hell of fire. And now followed the +usual sequence of events--rapine, cruelty, and extortion; only this time +there was no town to ransom, for Morgan had given orders that it should +be destroyed. The torch was set to it, and Panama, one of the greatest +cities in the New World, was swept from the face of the earth. Why the +deed was done, no man but Morgan could tell. Perhaps it was that all +the secret hiding places for treasure might be brought to light; but +whatever the reason was, it lay hidden in the breast of the great +buccaneer himself. For three weeks Morgan and his men abode in this +dreadful place; and they marched away with ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE +beasts of burden loaded with treasures of gold and silver and jewels, +besides great quantities of merchandise, and six hundred prisoners held +for ransom. + +Whatever became of all that vast wealth, and what it amounted to, no +man but Morgan ever knew, for when a division was made it was found that +there was only TWO HUNDRED PIECES OF EIGHT TO EACH MAN. + +When this dividend was declared a howl of execration went up, under +which even Capt. Henry Morgan quailed. At night he and four other +commanders slipped their cables and ran out to sea, and it was said that +these divided the greater part of the booty among themselves. But the +wealth plundered at Panama could hardly have fallen short of a million +and a half of dollars. Computing it at this reasonable figure, the +various prizes won by Henry Morgan in the West Indies would stand as +follows: Panama, $1,500,000; Porto Bello, $800,000; Puerto del +Principe, $700,000; Maracaibo and Gibraltar, $400,000; various piracies, +$250,000--making a grand total of $3,650,000 as the vast harvest of +plunder. With this fabulous wealth, wrenched from the Spaniards by +means of the rack and the cord, and pilfered from his companions by the +meanest of thieving, Capt. Henry Morgan retired from business, honored +of all, rendered famous by his deeds, knighted by the good King Charles +II, and finally appointed governor of the rich island of Jamaica. + +Other buccaneers followed him. Campeche was taken and sacked, and even +Cartagena itself fell; but with Henry Morgan culminated the glory of +the buccaneers, and from that time they declined in power and wealth and +wickedness until they were finally swept away. + +The buccaneers became bolder and bolder. In fact, so daring were their +crimes that the home governments, stirred at last by these outrageous +barbarities, seriously undertook the suppression of the freebooters, +lopping and trimming the main trunk until its members were scattered +hither and thither, and it was thought that the organization was +exterminated. But, so far from being exterminated, the individual +members were merely scattered north, south, east, and west, each forming +a nucleus around which gathered and clustered the very worst of the +offscouring of humanity. + +The result was that when the seventeenth century was fairly packed away +with its lavender in the store chest of the past, a score or more +bands of freebooters were cruising along the Atlantic seaboard in armed +vessels, each with a black flag with its skull and crossbones at the +fore, and with a nondescript crew made up of the tags and remnants of +civilized and semicivilized humanity (white, black, red, and yellow), +known generally as marooners, swarming upon the decks below. + +Nor did these offshoots from the old buccaneer stem confine their +depredations to the American seas alone; the East Indies and the African +coast also witnessed their doings, and suffered from them, and even the +Bay of Biscay had good cause to remember more than one visit from them. + +Worthy sprigs from so worthy a stem improved variously upon the +parent methods; for while the buccaneers were content to prey upon the +Spaniards alone, the marooners reaped the harvest from the commerce of +all nations. + +So up and down the Atlantic seaboard they cruised, and for the fifty +years that marooning was in the flower of its glory it was a sorrowful +time for the coasters of New England, the middle provinces, and the +Virginias, sailing to the West Indies with their cargoes of salt fish, +grain, and tobacco. Trading became almost as dangerous as privateering, +and sea captains were chosen as much for their knowledge of the +flintlock and the cutlass as for their seamanship. + +As by far the largest part of the trading in American waters was +conducted by these Yankee coasters, so by far the heaviest blows, and +those most keenly felt, fell upon them. Bulletin after bulletin came +to port with its doleful tale of this vessel burned or that vessel +scuttled, this one held by the pirates for their own use or that one +stripped of its goods and sent into port as empty as an eggshell from +which the yolk had been sucked. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and +Charleston suffered alike, and worthy ship owners had to leave off +counting their losses upon their fingers and take to the slate to keep +the dismal record. + +"Maroon--to put ashore on a desert isle, as a sailor, under pretense of +having committed some great crime." Thus our good Noah Webster gives us +the dry bones, the anatomy, upon which the imagination may construct a +specimen to suit itself. + +It is thence that the marooners took their name, for marooning was +one of their most effective instruments of punishment or revenge. If a +pirate broke one of the many rules which governed the particular band +to which he belonged, he was marooned; did a captain defend his ship to +such a degree as to be unpleasant to the pirates attacking it, he +was marooned; even the pirate captain himself, if he displeased his +followers by the severity of his rule, was in danger of having the same +punishment visited upon him which he had perhaps more than once visited +upon another. + +The process of marooning was as simple as terrible. A suitable place was +chosen (generally some desert isle as far removed as possible from the +pathway of commerce), and the condemned man was rowed from the ship to +the beach. Out he was bundled upon the sand spit; a gun, a half dozen +bullets, a few pinches of powder, and a bottle of water were chucked +ashore after him, and away rowed the boat's crew back to the ship, +leaving the poor wretch alone to rave away his life in madness, or to +sit sunken in his gloomy despair till death mercifully released him from +torment. It rarely if ever happened that anything was known of him after +having been marooned. A boat's crew from some vessel, sailing by chance +that way, might perhaps find a few chalky bones bleaching upon the white +sand in the garish glare of the sunlight, but that was all. And such +were marooners. + +By far the largest number of pirate captains were Englishmen, for, +from the days of good Queen Bess, English sea captains seemed to have +a natural turn for any species of venture that had a smack of piracy +in it, and from the great Admiral Drake of the old, old days, to the +truculent Morgan of buccaneering times, the Englishman did the boldest +and wickedest deeds, and wrought the most damage. + +First of all upon the list of pirates stands the bold Captain Avary, one +of the institutors of marooning. Him we see but dimly, half hidden by +the glamouring mists of legends and tradition. Others who came afterward +outstripped him far enough in their doings, but he stands pre-eminent as +the first of marooners of whom actual history has been handed down to us +of the present day. + +When the English, Dutch, and Spanish entered into an alliance to +suppress buccaneering in the West Indies, certain worthies of Bristol, +in old England, fitted out two vessels to assist in this laudable +project; for doubtless Bristol trade suffered smartly from the Morgans +and the l'Olonoises of that old time. One of these vessels was named the +Duke, of which a certain Captain Gibson was the commander and Avary the +mate. + +Away they sailed to the West Indies, and there Avary became impressed by +the advantages offered by piracy, and by the amount of good things that +were to be gained by very little striving. + +One night the captain (who was one of those fellows mightily addicted +to punch), instead of going ashore to saturate himself with rum at the +ordinary, had his drink in his cabin in private. While he lay snoring +away the effects of his rum in the cabin, Avary and a few other +conspirators heaved the anchor very leisurely, and sailed out of the +harbor of Corunna, and through the midst of the allied fleet riding at +anchor in the darkness. + +By and by, when the morning came, the captain was awakened by the +pitching and tossing of the vessel, the rattle and clatter of the tackle +overhead, and the noise of footsteps passing and repassing hither and +thither across the deck. Perhaps he lay for a while turning the matter +over and over in his muddled head, but he presently rang the bell, and +Avary and another fellow answered the call. + +"What's the matter?" bawls the captain from his berth. + +"Nothing," says Avary, coolly. + +"Something's the matter with the ship," says the captain. "Does she +drive? What weather is it?" + +"Oh no," says Avary; "we are at sea." + +"At sea?" + +"Come, come!" says Avary: "I'll tell you; you must know that I'm the +captain of the ship now, and you must be packing from this here cabin. +We are bound to Madagascar, to make all of our fortunes, and if you're a +mind to ship for the cruise, why, we'll be glad to have you, if you will +be sober and mind your own business; if not, there is a boat alongside, +and I'll have you set ashore." + +The poor half-tipsy captain had no relish to go a-pirating under the +command of his backsliding mate, so out of the ship he bundled, and away +he rowed with four or five of the crew, who, like him, refused to join +with their jolly shipmates. + +The rest of them sailed away to the East Indies, to try their fortunes +in those waters, for our Captain Avary was of a high spirit, and had +no mind to fritter away his time in the West Indies squeezed dry by +buccaneer Morgan and others of lesser note. No, he would make a bold +stroke for it at once, and make or lose at a single cast. + +On his way he picked up a couple of like kind with himself--two sloops +off Madagascar. With these he sailed away to the coast of India, and for +a time his name was lost in the obscurity of uncertain history. But +only for a time, for suddenly it flamed out in a blaze of glory. It was +reported that a vessel belonging to the Great Mogul, laden with treasure +and bearing the monarch's own daughter upon a holy pilgrimage to Mecca +(they being Mohammedans), had fallen in with the pirates, and after a +short resistance had been surrendered, with the damsel, her court, and +all the diamonds, pearls, silk, silver, and gold aboard. It was rumored +that the Great Mogul, raging at the insult offered to him through his +own flesh and blood, had threatened to wipe out of existence the few +English settlements scattered along the coast; whereat the honorable +East India Company was in a pretty state of fuss and feathers. Rumor, +growing with the telling, has it that Avary is going to marry the +Indian princess, willy-nilly, and will turn rajah, and eschew piracy as +indecent. As for the treasure itself, there was no end to the extent to +which it grew as it passed from mouth to mouth. + +Cracking the nut of romance and exaggeration, we come to the kernel of +the story--that Avary did fall in with an Indian vessel laden with great +treasure (and possibly with the Mogul's daughter), which he captured, +and thereby gained a vast prize. + +Having concluded that he had earned enough money by the trade he had +undertaken, he determined to retire and live decently for the rest of +his life upon what he already had. As a step toward this object, he set +about cheating his Madagascar partners out of their share of what had +been gained. He persuaded them to store all the treasure in his vessel, +it being the largest of the three; and so, having it safely in hand, he +altered the course of his ship one fine night, and when the morning +came the Madagascar sloops found themselves floating upon a wide ocean +without a farthing of the treasure for which they had fought so hard, +and for which they might whistle for all the good it would do them. + +At first Avary had a great part of a mind to settle at Boston, in +Massachusetts, and had that little town been one whit less bleak and +forbidding, it might have had the honor of being the home of this famous +man. As it was, he did not like the looks of it, so he sailed away to +the eastward, to Ireland, where he settled himself at Biddeford, in +hopes of an easy life of it for the rest of his days. + +Here he found himself the possessor of a plentiful stock of jewels, such +as pearls, diamonds, rubies, etc., but with hardly a score of honest +farthings to jingle in his breeches pocket. He consulted with a certain +merchant of Bristol concerning the disposal of the stones--a fellow +not much more cleanly in his habits of honesty than Avary himself. +This worthy undertook to act as Avary's broker. Off he marched with +the jewels, and that was the last that the pirate saw of his Indian +treasure. + +Perhaps the most famous of all the piratical names to American ears are +those of Capt. Robert Kidd and Capt. Edward Teach, or "Blackbeard." + +Nothing will be ventured in regard to Kidd at this time, nor in regard +to the pros and cons as to whether he really was or was not a pirate, +after all. For many years he was the very hero of heroes of piratical +fame, there was hardly a creek or stream or point of land along our +coast, hardly a convenient bit of good sandy beach, or hump of rock, or +water-washed cave, where fabulous treasures were not said to have been +hidden by this worthy marooner. Now we are assured that he never was +a pirate, and never did bury any treasure, excepting a certain chest, +which he was compelled to hide upon Gardiner's Island--and perhaps even +it was mythical. + +So poor Kidd must be relegated to the dull ranks of simply respectable +people, or semirespectable people at best. + +But with "Blackbeard" it is different, for in him we have a real, +ranting, raging, roaring pirate per se--one who really did bury +treasure, who made more than one captain walk the plank, and who +committed more private murders than he could number on the fingers of +both hands; one who fills, and will continue to fill, the place to which +he has been assigned for generations, and who may be depended upon to +hold his place in the confidence of others for generations to come. + +Captain Teach was a Bristol man born, and learned his trade on board of +sundry privateers in the East Indies during the old French war--that of +1702--and a better apprenticeship could no man serve. At last, somewhere +about the latter part of the year 1716, a privateering captain, one +Benjamin Hornigold, raised him from the ranks and put him in command of +a sloop--a lately captured prize and Blackbeard's fortune was made. It +was a very slight step, and but the change of a few letters, to convert +"privateer" into "pirate," and it was a very short time before Teach +made that change. Not only did he make it himself, but he persuaded his +old captain to join with him. + +And now fairly began that series of bold and lawless depredations which +have made his name so justly famous, and which placed him among the very +greatest of marooning freebooters. + +"Our hero," says the old historian who sings of the arms and bravery of +this great man--"our hero assumed the cognomen of Blackbeard from that +large quantity of hair which, like a frightful meteor, covered his whole +face, and frightened America more than any comet that appeared there +in a long time. He was accustomed to twist it with ribbons into small +tails, after the manner of our Ramillies wig, and turn them about his +ears. In time of action he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three +brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoleers; he stuck lighted +matches under his hat, which, appearing on each side of his face, and +his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild, made him altogether such a +figure that imagination cannot form an idea of a Fury from hell to look +more frightful." + +The night before the day of the action in which he was killed he sat up +drinking with some congenial company until broad daylight. One of them +asked him if his poor young wife knew where his treasure was hidden. +"No," says Blackbeard; "nobody but the devil and I knows where it is, +and the longest liver shall have all." + +As for that poor young wife of his, the life that he and his rum-crazy +shipmates led her was too terrible to be told. + +For a time Blackbeard worked at his trade down on the Spanish Main, +gathering, in the few years he was there, a very neat little fortune in +the booty captured from sundry vessels; but by and by he took it into +his head to try his luck along the coast of the Carolinas; so off +he sailed to the northward, with quite a respectable little fleet, +consisting of his own vessel and two captured sloops. From that time he +was actively engaged in the making of American history in his small way. + +He first appeared off the bar of Charleston Harbor, to the no small +excitement of the worthy town of that ilk, and there he lay for five +or six days, blockading the port, and stopping incoming and outgoing +vessels at his pleasure, so that, for the time, the commerce of the +province was entirely paralyzed. All the vessels so stopped he held as +prizes, and all the crews and passengers (among the latter of whom was +more than one provincial worthy of the day) he retained as though they +were prisoners of war. + +And it was a mightily awkward thing for the good folk of Charleston to +behold day after day a black flag with its white skull and crossbones +fluttering at the fore of the pirate captain's craft, over across the +level stretch of green salt marshes; and it was mightily unpleasant, +too, to know that this or that prominent citizen was crowded down with +the other prisoners under the hatches. + +One morning Captain Blackbeard finds that his stock of medicine is low. +"Tut!" says he, "we'll turn no hair gray for that." So up he calls the +bold Captain Richards, the commander of his consort the Revenge sloop, +and bids him take Mr. Marks (one of his prisoners), and go up to +Charleston and get the medicine. There was no task that suited our +Captain Richards better than that. Up to the town he rowed, as bold as +brass. "Look ye," says he to the governor, rolling his quid of tobacco +from one cheek to another--"look ye, we're after this and that, and if +we don't get it, why, I'll tell you plain, we'll burn them bloody crafts +of yours that we've took over yonder, and cut the weasand of every +clodpoll aboard of 'em." + +There was no answering an argument of such force as this, and the +worshipful governor and the good folk of Charleston knew very well +that Blackbeard and his crew were the men to do as they promised. So +Blackbeard got his medicine, and though it cost the colony two thousand +dollars, it was worth that much to the town to be quit of him. + +They say that while Captain Richards was conducting his negotiations +with the governor his boat's crew were stumping around the streets of +the town, having a glorious time of it, while the good folk glowered +wrathfully at them, but dared venture nothing in speech or act. + +Having gained a booty of between seven and eight thousand dollars from +the prizes captured, the pirates sailed away from Charleston Harbor to +the coast of North Carolina. + +And now Blackbeard, following the plan adopted by so many others of his +kind, began to cudgel his brains for means to cheat his fellows out of +their share of the booty. + +At Topsail Inlet he ran his own vessel aground, as though by accident. +Hands, the captain of one of the consorts, pretending to come to his +assistance, also grounded HIS sloop. Nothing now remained but for those +who were able to get away in the other craft, which was all that was +now left of the little fleet. This did Blackbeard with some forty of his +favorites. The rest of the pirates were left on the sand spit to await +the return of their companions--which never happened. + +As for Blackbeard and those who were with him, they were that much +richer, for there were so many the fewer pockets to fill. But even yet +there were too many to share the booty, in Blackbeard's opinion, and so +he marooned a parcel more of them--some eighteen or twenty--upon a naked +sand bank, from which they were afterward mercifully rescued by another +freebooter who chanced that way--a certain Major Stede Bonnet, of whom +more will presently be said. About that time a royal proclamation had +been issued offering pardon to all pirates in arms who would surrender +to the king's authority before a given date. So up goes Master +Blackbeard to the Governor of North Carolina and makes his neck safe by +surrendering to the proclamation--albeit he kept tight clutch upon what +he had already gained. + +And now we find our bold Captain Blackbeard established in the good +province of North Carolina, where he and His Worship the Governor struck +up a vast deal of intimacy, as profitable as it was pleasant. There is +something very pretty in the thought of the bold sea rover giving up his +adventurous life (excepting now and then an excursion against a trader +or two in the neighboring sound, when the need of money was pressing); +settling quietly down into the routine of old colonial life, with a +young wife of sixteen at his side, who made the fourteenth that he had +in various ports here and there in the world. + +Becoming tired of an inactive life, Blackbeard afterward resumed his +piratical career. He cruised around in the rivers and inlets and sounds +of North Carolina for a while, ruling the roost and with never a one to +say him nay, until there was no bearing with such a pest any longer. So +they sent a deputation up to the Governor of Virginia asking if he would +be pleased to help them in their trouble. + +There were two men-of-war lying at Kicquetan, in the James River, at the +time. To them the Governor of Virginia applies, and plucky Lieutenant +Maynard, of the Pearl, was sent to Ocracoke Inlet to fight this pirate +who ruled it down there so like the cock of a walk. There he found +Blackbeard waiting for him, and as ready for a fight as ever the +lieutenant himself could be. Fight they did, and while it lasted it +was as pretty a piece of business of its kind as one could wish to +see. Blackbeard drained a glass of grog, wishing the lieutenant luck +in getting aboard of him, fired a broadside, blew some twenty of the +lieutenant's men out of existence, and totally crippled one of his +little sloops for the balance of the fight. After that, and under cover +of the smoke, the pirate and his men boarded the other sloop, and then +followed a fine old-fashioned hand-to-hand conflict betwixt him and the +lieutenant. First they fired their pistols, and then they took to it +with cutlasses--right, left, up and down, cut and slash--until the +lieutenant's cutlass broke short off at the hilt. Then Blackbeard would +have finished him off handsomely, only up steps one of the lieutenant's +men and fetches him a great slash over the neck, so that the lieutenant +came off with no more hurt than a cut across the knuckles. + +At the very first discharge of their pistols Blackbeard had been shot +through the body, but he was not for giving up for that--not he. As said +before, he was of the true roaring, raging breed of pirates, and stood +up to it until he received twenty more cutlass cuts and five additional +shots, and then fell dead while trying to fire off an empty pistol. +After that the lieutenant cut off the pirate's head, and sailed away in +triumph, with the bloody trophy nailed to the bow of his battered sloop. + +Those of Blackbeard's men who were not killed were carried off to +Virginia, and all of them tried and hanged but one or two, their names, +no doubt, still standing in a row in the provincial records. + +But did Blackbeard really bury treasures, as tradition says, along the +sandy shores he haunted? + +Master Clement Downing, midshipman aboard the Salisbury, wrote a book +after his return from the cruise to Madagascar, whither the Salisbury +had been ordered, to put an end to the piracy with which those waters +were infested. He says: + +"At Guzarat I met with a Portuguese named Anthony de Sylvestre; he came +with two other Portuguese and two Dutchmen to take on in the Moor's +service, as many Europeans do. This Anthony told me he had been among +the pirates, and that he belonged to one of the sloops in Virginia when +Blackbeard was taken. He informed me that if it should be my lot ever +to go to York River or Maryland, near an island called Mulberry Island, +provided we went on shore at the watering place, where the shipping used +most commonly to ride, that there the pirates had buried considerable +sums of money in great chests well clamped with iron plates. As to my +part, I never was that way, nor much acquainted with any that ever used +those parts; but I have made inquiry, and am informed that there is such +a place as Mulberry Island. If any person who uses those parts should +think it worth while to dig a little way at the upper end of a small +cove, where it is convenient to land, he would soon find whether the +information I had was well grounded. Fronting the landing place are five +trees, among which, he said, the money was hid. I cannot warrant the +truth of this account; but if I was ever to go there, I should find some +means or other to satisfy myself, as it could not be a great deal out +of my way. If anybody should obtain the benefit of this account, if it +please God that they ever come to England, 'tis hoped they will remember +whence they had this information." + +Another worthy was Capt. Edward Low, who learned his trade of +sail-making at good old Boston town, and piracy at Honduras. No one +stood higher in the trade than he, and no one mounted to more lofty +altitudes of bloodthirsty and unscrupulous wickedness. 'Tis strange that +so little has been written and sung of this man of might, for he was as +worthy of story and of song as was Blackbeard. + +It was under a Yankee captain that he made his first cruise--down to +Honduras, for a cargo of logwood, which in those times was no better +than stolen from the Spanish folk. + +One day, lying off the shore, in the Gulf of Honduras, comes Master Low +and the crew of the whaleboat rowing across from the beach, where they +had been all morning chopping logwood. + +"What are you after?" says the captain, for they were coming back with +nothing but themselves in the boat. + +"We're after our dinner," says Low, as spokesman of the party. + +"You'll have no dinner," says the captain, "until you fetch off another +load." + +"Dinner or no dinner, we'll pay for it," says Low, wherewith he up with +a musket, squinted along the barrel, and pulled the trigger. + +Luckily the gun hung fire, and the Yankee captain was spared to steal +logwood a while longer. + +All the same, that was no place for Ned Low to make a longer stay, so +off he and his messmates rowed in a whaleboat, captured a brig out at +sea, and turned pirates. + +He presently fell in with the notorious Captain Lowther, a fellow after +his own kidney, who put the finishing touches to his education and +taught him what wickedness he did not already know. + +And so he became a master pirate, and a famous hand at his craft, and +thereafter forever bore an inveterate hatred of all Yankees because of +the dinner he had lost, and never failed to smite whatever one of +them luck put within his reach. Once he fell in with a ship off South +Carolina--the Amsterdam Merchant, Captain Williamson, commander--a +Yankee craft and a Yankee master. He slit the nose and cropped the ears +of the captain, and then sailed merrily away, feeling the better for +having marred a Yankee. + +New York and New England had more than one visit from the doughty +captain, each of which visits they had good cause to remember, for he +made them smart for it. + +Along in the year 1722 thirteen vessels were riding at anchor in front +of the good town of Marblehead. Into the harbor sailed a strange craft. +"Who is she?" say the townsfolk, for the coming of a new vessel was no +small matter in those days. + +Who the strangers were was not long a matter of doubt. Up goes the black +flag, and the skull and crossbones to the fore. + +"'Tis the bloody Low," say one and all; and straightway all was flutter +and commotion, as in a duck pond when a hawk pitches and strikes in the +midst. + +It was a glorious thing for our captain, for here were thirteen Yankee +crafts at one and the same time. So he took what he wanted, and then +sailed away, and it was many a day before Marblehead forgot that visit. + +Some time after this he and his consort fell foul of an English sloop +of war, the Greyhound, whereby they were so roughly handled that Low was +glad enough to slip away, leaving his consort and her crew behind him, +as a sop to the powers of law and order. And lucky for them if no worse +fate awaited them than to walk the dreadful plank with a bandage around +the blinded eyes and a rope around the elbows. So the consort was taken, +and the crew tried and hanged in chains, and Low sailed off in as pretty +a bit of rage as ever a pirate fell into. + +The end of this worthy is lost in the fogs of the past: some say that he +died of a yellow fever down in New Orleans; it was not at the end of a +hempen cord, more's the pity. + +Here fittingly with our strictly American pirates should stand Major +Stede Bonnet along with the rest. But in truth he was only a poor +half-and-half fellow of his kind, and even after his hand was fairly +turned to the business he had undertaken, a qualm of conscience would +now and then come across him, and he would make vast promises to +forswear his evil courses. + +However, he jogged along in his course of piracy snugly enough until he +fell foul of the gallant Colonel Rhett, off Charleston Harbor, whereupon +his luck and his courage both were suddenly snuffed out with a puff of +powder smoke and a good rattling broadside. Down came the "Black Roger" +with its skull and crossbones from the fore, and Colonel Rhett had the +glory of fetching back as pretty a cargo of scoundrels and cutthroats as +the town ever saw. + +After the next assizes they were strung up, all in a row--evil apples +ready for the roasting. + +"Ned" England was a fellow of different blood--only he snapped his whip +across the back of society over in the East Indies and along the hot +shores of Hindustan. + +The name of Capt. Howel Davis stands high among his fellows. He was the +Ulysses of pirates, the beloved not only of Mercury, but of Minerva. + +He it was who hoodwinked the captain of a French ship of double the size +and strength of his own, and fairly cheated him into the surrender of +his craft without the firing of a single pistol or the striking of a +single blow; he it was who sailed boldly into the port of Gambia, on the +coast of Guinea, and under the guns of the castle, proclaiming himself +as a merchant trading for slaves. + +The cheat was kept up until the fruit of mischief was ripe for the +picking; then, when the governor and the guards of the castle were +lulled into entire security, and when Davis's band was scattered about +wherever each man could do the most good, it was out pistol, up cutlass, +and death if a finger moved. They tied the soldiers back to back, and +the governor to his own armchair, and then rifled wherever it pleased +them. After that they sailed away, and though they had not made the +fortune they had hoped to glean, it was a good snug round sum that they +shared among them. + +Their courage growing high with success, they determined to attempt the +island of Del Principe--a prosperous Portuguese settlement on the +coast. The plan for taking the place was cleverly laid, and would have +succeeded, only that a Portuguese negro among the pirate crew turned +traitor and carried the news ashore to the governor of the fort. +Accordingly, the next day, when Captain Davis came ashore, he found +there a good strong guard drawn up as though to honor his coming. But +after he and those with him were fairly out of their boat, and well away +from the water side, there was a sudden rattle of musketry, a cloud of +smoke, and a dull groan or two. Only one man ran out from under that +pungent cloud, jumped into the boat, and rowed away; and when it lifted, +there lay Captain Davis and his companions all of a heap, like a pile of +old clothes. + +Capt. Bartholomew Roberts was the particular and especial pupil +of Davis, and when that worthy met his death so suddenly and so +unexpectedly in the unfortunate manner above narrated, he was chosen +unanimously as the captain of the fleet, and he was a worthy pupil of +a worthy master. Many were the poor fluttering merchant ducks that this +sea hawk swooped upon and struck; and cleanly and cleverly were they +plucked before his savage clutch loosened its hold upon them. + +"He made a gallant figure," says the old narrator, "being dressed in a +rich crimson waistcoat and breeches and red feather in his hat, a gold +chain around his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it, a sword in +his hand, and two pair of pistols hanging at the end of a silk sling +flung over his shoulders according to the fashion of the pyrates." +Thus he appeared in the last engagement which he fought--that with the +Swallow--a royal sloop of war. A gallant fight they made of it, those +bulldog pirates, for, finding themselves caught in a trap betwixt the +man-of-war and the shore, they determined to bear down upon the king's +vessel, fire a slapping broadside into her, and then try to get away, +trusting to luck in the doing, and hoping that their enemy might be +crippled by their fire. + +Captain Roberts himself was the first to fall at the return fire of the +Swallow; a grapeshot struck him in the neck, and he fell forward across +the gun near to which he was standing at the time. A certain fellow +named Stevenson, who was at the helm, saw him fall, and thought he was +wounded. At the lifting of the arm the body rolled over upon the deck, +and the man saw that the captain was dead. "Whereupon," says the old +history, "he" [Stevenson] "gushed into tears, and wished that the next +shot might be his portion." After their captain's death the pirate crew +had no stomach for more fighting; the "Black Roger" was struck, and one +and all surrendered to justice and the gallows. + +Such is a brief and bald account of the most famous of these pirates. +But they are only a few of a long list of notables, such as Captain +Martel, Capt. Charles Vane (who led the gallant Colonel Rhett, of South +Carolina, such a wild-goose chase in and out among the sluggish creeks +and inlets along the coast), Capt. John Rackam, and Captain Anstis, +Captain Worley, and Evans, and Philips, and others--a score or more of +wild fellows whose very names made ship captains tremble in their shoes +in those good old times. + +And such is that black chapter of history of the past--an evil chapter, +lurid with cruelty and suffering, stained with blood and smoke. Yet +it is a written chapter, and it must be read. He who chooses may +read betwixt the lines of history this great truth: Evil itself is an +instrument toward the shaping of good. Therefore the history of evil as +well as the history of good should be read, considered, and digested. + + + + +Chapter II. THE GHOST OF CAPTAIN BRAND + +IT is not so easy to tell why discredit should be cast upon a man +because of something that his grandfather may have done amiss, but the +world, which is never overnice in its discrimination as to where to lay +the blame, is often pleased to make the innocent suffer in the place of +the guilty. + +Barnaby True was a good, honest, biddable lad, as boys go, but yet he +was not ever allowed altogether to forget that his grandfather had +been that very famous pirate, Capt. William Brand, who, after so many +marvelous adventures (if one may believe the catchpenny stories and +ballads that were written about him), was murdered in Jamaica by Capt. +John Malyoe, the commander of his own consort, the Adventure galley. + +It has never been denied, that ever I heard, that up to the time of +Captain Brand's being commissioned against the South Sea pirates he had +always been esteemed as honest, reputable a sea captain as could be. + +When he started out upon that adventure it was with a ship, the Royal +Sovereign, fitted out by some of the most decent merchants of New York. +The governor himself had subscribed to the adventure, and had himself +signed Captain Brand's commission. So, if the unfortunate man went +astray, he must have had great temptation to do so, many others behaving +no better when the opportunity offered in those far-away seas where so +many rich purchases might very easily be taken and no one the wiser. + +To be sure, those stories and ballads made our captain to be a most +wicked, profane wretch; and if he were, why, God knows he suffered and +paid for it, for he laid his bones in Jamaica, and never saw his home +or his wife and daughter again after he had sailed away on the Royal +Sovereign on that long misfortunate voyage, leaving them in New York to +the care of strangers. + +At the time when he met his fate in Port Royal Harbor he had obtained +two vessels under his command--the Royal Sovereign, which was the boat +fitted out for him in New York, and the Adventure galley, which he was +said to have taken somewhere in the South Seas. With these he lay in +those waters of Jamaica for over a month after his return from the +coasts of Africa, waiting for news from home, which, when it came, was +of the very blackest; for the colonial authorities were at that time +stirred up very hot against him to take him and hang him for a pirate, +so as to clear their own skirts for having to do with such a fellow. So +maybe it seemed better to our captain to hide his ill-gotten treasure +there in those far-away parts, and afterward to try and bargain with it +for his life when he should reach New York, rather than to sail straight +for the Americas with what he had earned by his piracies, and so risk +losing life and money both. + +However that might be, the story was that Captain Brand and his gunner, +and Captain Malyoe of the Adventure and the sailing master of the +Adventure all went ashore together with a chest of money (no one of them +choosing to trust the other three in so nice an affair), and buried the +treasure somewhere on the beach of Port Royal Harbor. The story then has +it that they fell a-quarreling about a future division or the money, +and that, as a wind-up to the affair, Captain Malyoe shot Captain Brand +through the head, while the sailing master of the Adventure served the +gunner of the Royal Sovereign after the same fashion through the body, +and that the murderers then went away, leaving the two stretched out +in their own blood on the sand in the staring sun, with no one to know +where the money was hid but they two who had served their comrades so. + +It is a mighty great pity that anyone should have a grandfather who +ended his days in such a sort as this, but it was no fault of Barnaby +True's, nor could he have done anything to prevent it, seeing that he +was not even born into the world at the time that his grandfather turned +pirate, and was only one year old when he so met his tragical end. +Nevertheless, the boys with whom he went to school never tired of +calling him "Pirate," and would sometimes sing for his benefit that +famous catchpenny song beginning thus: + + Oh, my name was Captain Brand, + A-sailing, + And a-sailing; + Oh, my name was Captain Brand, + A-sailing free. + Oh, my name was Captain Brand, + And I sinned by sea and land, + For I broke God's just command, + A-sailing free. + +'Twas a vile thing to sing at the grandson of so misfortunate a man, and +oftentimes little Barnaby True would double up his fists and would fight +his tormentors at great odds, and would sometimes go back home with a +bloody nose to have his poor mother cry over him and grieve for him. + +Not that his days were all of teasing and torment, neither; for if his +comrades did treat him so, why, then, there were other times when he +and they were as great friends as could be, and would go in swimming +together where there was a bit of sandy strand along the East River +above Fort George, and that in the most amicable fashion. Or, maybe +the very next day after he had fought so with his fellows, he would go +a-rambling with them up the Bowerie Road, perhaps to help them steal +cherries from some old Dutch farmer, forgetting in such adventure what a +thief his own grandfather had been. + +Well, when Barnaby True was between sixteen and seventeen years old he +was taken into employment in the countinghouse of Mr. Roger Hartright, +the well-known West India merchant, and Barnaby's own stepfather. + +It was the kindness of this good man that not only found a place for +Barnaby in the countinghouse, but advanced him so fast that against our +hero was twenty-one years old he had made four voyages as supercargo to +the West Indies in Mr. Hartright's ship, the Belle Helen, and soon after +he was twenty-one undertook a fifth. Nor was it in any such subordinate +position as mere supercargo that he acted, but rather as the +confidential agent of Mr. Hartright, who, having no children of his +own, was very jealous to advance our hero into a position of trust and +responsibility in the countinghouse, as though he were indeed a son, so +that even the captain of the ship had scarcely more consideration aboard +than he, young as he was in years. + +As for the agents and correspondents of Mr. Hartright throughout these +parts, they also, knowing how the good man had adopted his interests, +were very polite and obliging to Master Barnaby--especially, be it +mentioned, Mr. Ambrose Greenfield, of Kingston, Jamaica, who, upon the +occasions of his visits to those parts, did all that he could to make +Barnaby's stay in that town agreeable and pleasant to him. + +So much for the history of our hero to the time of the beginning of this +story, without which you shall hardly be able to understand the purport +of those most extraordinary adventures that befell him shortly after he +came of age, nor the logic of their consequence after they had occurred. + +For it was during his fifth voyage to the West Indies that the first of +those extraordinary adventures happened of which I shall have presently +to tell. + +At that time he had been in Kingston for the best part of four weeks, +lodging at the house of a very decent, respectable widow, by name Mrs. +Anne Bolles, who, with three pleasant and agreeable daughters, kept a +very clean and well-served lodging house in the outskirts of the town. + +One morning, as our hero sat sipping his coffee, clad only in loose +cotton drawers, a shirt, and a jacket, and with slippers upon his feet, +as is the custom in that country, where everyone endeavors to keep as +cool as may be while he sat thus sipping his coffee Miss Eliza, the +youngest of the three daughters, came and gave him a note, which, +she said, a stranger had just handed in at the door, going away again +without waiting for a reply. You may judge of Barnaby's surprise when he +opened the note and read as follows: + + MR. BARNABY TRUE. + + SIR,--Though you don't know me, I know you, and I tell you + this: if you will be at Pratt's Ordinary on Harbor Street + on Friday next at eight o'clock of the evening, and will + accompany the man who shall say to you, "The Royal Sovereign + is come in," you shall learn something the most to your + advantage that ever befell you. Sir, keep this note, and + show it to him who shall address these words to you, so to + certify that you are the man he seeks. + +Such was the wording of the note, which was without address, and without +any superscription whatever. + +The first emotion that stirred Barnaby was one of extreme and profound +amazement. Then the thought came into his mind that some witty fellow, +of whom he knew a good many in that town--and wild, waggish pranks they +were was attempting to play off some smart jest upon him. But all +that Miss Eliza could tell him when he questioned her concerning the +messenger was that the bearer of the note was a tall, stout man, with +a red neckerchief around his neck and copper buckles to his shoes, and +that he had the appearance of a sailorman, having a great big queue +hanging down his back. But, Lord! what was such a description as that +in a busy seaport town, full of scores of men to fit such a likeness? +Accordingly, our hero put away the note into his wallet, determining to +show it to his good friend Mr. Greenfield that evening, and to ask his +advice upon it. So he did show it, and that gentleman's opinion was the +same as his--that some wag was minded to play off a hoax upon him, and +that the matter of the letter was all nothing but smoke. + +Nevertheless, though Barnaby was thus confirmed in his opinion as to the +nature of the communication he had received, he yet determined in his +own mind that he would see the business through to the end, and would be +at Pratt's Ordinary, as the note demanded, upon the day and at the time +specified therein. + +Pratt's Ordinary was at that time a very fine and well-known place of +its sort, with good tobacco and the best rum that ever I tasted, and had +a garden behind it that, sloping down to the harbor front, was planted +pretty thick with palms and ferns grouped into clusters with flowers and +plants. Here were a number of little tables, some in little grottoes, +like our Vauxhall in New York, and with red and blue and white paper +lanterns hung among the foliage, whither gentlemen and ladies used +sometimes to go of an evening to sit and drink lime juice and sugar and +water (and sometimes a taste of something stronger), and to look out +across the water at the shipping in the cool of the night. + +Thither, accordingly, our hero went, a little before the time appointed +in the note, and passing directly through the Ordinary and the garden +beyond, chose a table at the lower end of the garden and close to the +water's edge, where he would not be easily seen by anyone coming into +the place. Then, ordering some rum and water and a pipe of tobacco, he +composed himself to watch for the appearance of those witty fellows whom +he suspected would presently come thither to see the end of their prank +and to enjoy his confusion. + +The spot was pleasant enough; for the land breeze, blowing strong and +full, set the leaves of the palm tree above his head to rattling and +clattering continually against the sky, where, the moon then being about +full, they shone every now and then like blades of steel. The waves also +were splashing up against the little landing place at the foot of the +garden, sounding very cool in the night, and sparkling all over the +harbor where the moon caught the edges of the water. A great many +vessels were lying at anchor in their ridings, with the dark, prodigious +form of a man-of-war looming up above them in the moonlight. + +There our hero sat for the best part of an hour, smoking his pipe of +tobacco and sipping his grog, and seeing not so much as a single thing +that might concern the note he had received. + +It was not far from half an hour after the time appointed in the note, +when a rowboat came suddenly out of the night and pulled up to the +landing place at the foot of the garden above mentioned, and three +or four men came ashore in the darkness. Without saying a word among +themselves they chose a near-by table and, sitting down, ordered rum +and water, and began drinking their grog in silence. They might have +sat there about five minutes, when, by and by, Barnaby True became aware +that they were observing him very curiously; and then almost immediately +one, who was plainly the leader of the party, called out to him: + +"How now, messmate! Won't you come and drink a dram of rum with us?" + +"Why, no," says Barnaby, answering very civilly; "I have drunk enough +already, and more would only heat my blood." + +"All the same," quoth the stranger, "I think you will come and drink +with us; for, unless I am mistook, you are Mr. Barnaby True, and I am +come here to tell you that the Royal Sovereign is come in." + +Now I may honestly say that Barnaby True was never more struck aback in +all his life than he was at hearing these words uttered in so unexpected +a manner. He had been looking to hear them under such different +circumstances that, now that his ears heard them addressed to him, and +that so seriously, by a perfect stranger, who, with others, had thus +mysteriously come ashore out of the darkness, he could scarce believe +that his ears heard aright. His heart suddenly began beating at a +tremendous rate, and had he been an older and wiser man, I do believe +he would have declined the adventure, instead of leaping blindly, as +he did, into that of which he could see neither the beginning nor the +ending. But being barely one-and-twenty years of age, and having an +adventurous disposition that would have carried him into almost anything +that possessed a smack of uncertainty or danger about it, he contrived +to say, in a pretty easy tone (though God knows how it was put on for +the occasion): + +"Well, then, if that be so, and if the Royal Sovereign is indeed +come in, why, I'll join you, since you are so kind as to ask me." And +therewith he went across to the other table, carrying his pipe with him, +and sat down and began smoking, with all the appearance of ease he could +assume upon the occasion. + +"Well, Mr. Barnaby True," said the man who had before addressed him, so +soon as Barnaby had settled himself, speaking in a low tone of voice, +so there would be no danger of any others hearing the words--"Well, Mr. +Barnaby True--for I shall call you by your name, to show you that though +I know you, you don't know me I am glad to see that you are man enough +to enter thus into an affair, though you can't see to the bottom of it. +For it shows me that you are a man of mettle, and are deserving of the +fortune that is to befall you to-night. Nevertheless, first of all, I +am bid to say that you must show me a piece of paper that you have about +you before we go a step farther." + +"Very well," said Barnaby; "I have it here safe and sound, and see +it you shall." And thereupon and without more ado he fetched out his +wallet, opened it, and handed his interlocutor the mysterious note he +had received the day or two before. Whereupon the other, drawing to him +the candle, burning there for the convenience of those who would smoke +tobacco, began immediately reading it. + +This gave Barnaby True a moment or two to look at him. He was a tall, +stout man, with a red handkerchief tied around his neck, and with copper +buckles on his shoes, so that Barnaby True could not but wonder whether +he was not the very same man who had given the note to Miss Eliza Bolles +at the door of his lodging house. + +"'Tis all right and straight as it should be," the other said, after he +had so glanced his eyes over the note. "And now that the paper is read" +(suiting his action to his words), "I'll just burn it, for safety's +sake." + +And so he did, twisting it up and setting it to the flame of the candle. + +"And now," he said, continuing his address, "I'll tell you what I am +here for. I was sent to ask you if you're man enough to take your life +in your own hands and to go with me in that boat down there? Say 'Yes,' +and we'll start away without wasting more time, for the devil is ashore +here at Jamaica--though you don't know what that means--and if he gets +ahead of us, why, then we may whistle for what we are after. Say 'No,' +and I go away again, and I promise you you shall never be troubled again +in this sort. So now speak up plain, young gentleman, and tell us +what is your mind in this business, and whether you will adventure any +farther or not." + +If our hero hesitated it was not for long. I cannot say that his courage +did not waver for a moment; but if it did, it was, I say, not for long, +and when he spoke up it was with a voice as steady as could be. + +"To be sure I'm man enough to go with you," he said; "and if you mean +me any harm I can look out for myself; and if I can't, why, here is +something can look out for me," and therewith he lifted up the flap of +his coat pocket and showed the butt of a pistol he had fetched with him +when he had set out from his lodging house that evening. + +At this the other burst out a-laughing. "Come," says he, "you are indeed +of right mettle, and I like your spirit. All the same, no one in all the +world means you less ill than I, and so, if you have to use that barker, +'twill not be upon us who are your friends, but only upon one who is +more wicked than the devil himself. So come, and let us get away." + +Thereupon he and the others, who had not spoken a single word for all +this time, rose from the table, and he having paid the scores of all, +they all went down together to the boat that still lay at the landing +place at the bottom of the garden. + +Thus coming to it, our hero could see that it was a large yawl boat +manned with half a score of black men for rowers, and there were two +lanterns in the stern sheets, and three or four iron shovels. + +The man who had conducted the conversation with Barnaby True for all +this time, and who was, as has been said, plainly the captain of the +party, stepped immediately down into the boat; our hero followed, and +the others followed after him; and instantly they were seated the boat +was shoved off and the black men began pulling straight out into the +harbor, and so, at some distance away, around under the stern of the +man-of-war. + +Not a word was spoken after they had thus left the shore, and presently +they might all have been ghosts, for the silence of the party. Barnaby +True was too full of his own thoughts to talk--and serious enough +thoughts they were by this time, with crimps to trepan a man at every +turn, and press gangs to carry a man off so that he might never be heard +of again. As for the others, they did not seem to choose to say anything +now that they had him fairly embarked upon their enterprise. + +And so the crew pulled on in perfect silence for the best part of an +hour, the leader of the expedition directing the course of the boat +straight across the harbor, as though toward the mouth of the Rio Cobra +River. Indeed, this was their destination, as Barnaby could after a +while see, by the low point of land with a great long row of coconut +palms upon it (the appearance of which he knew very well), which by and +by began to loom up out of the milky dimness of the moonlight. As they +approached the river they found the tide was running strong out of +it, so that some distance away from the stream it gurgled and rippled +alongside the boat as the crew of black men pulled strongly against +it. Thus they came up under what was either a point of land or an islet +covered with a thick growth of mangrove trees. But still no one spoke a +single word as to their destination, or what was the business they had +in hand. + +The night, now that they were close to the shore, was loud with the +noise of running tide-water, and the air was heavy with the smell of mud +and marsh, and over all the whiteness of the moonlight, with a few stars +pricking out here and there in the sky; and all so strange and silent +and mysterious that Barnaby could not divest himself of the feeling that +it was all a dream. + +So, the rowers bending to the oars, the boat came slowly around from +under the clump of mangrove bushes and out into the open water again. + +Instantly it did so the leader of the expedition called out in a sharp +voice, and the black men instantly lay on their oars. + +Almost at the same instant Barnaby True became aware that there was +another boat coming down the river toward where they lay, now drifting +with the strong tide out into the harbor again, and he knew that it was +because of the approach of that boat that the other had called upon his +men to cease rowing. + +The other boat, as well as he could see in the distance, was full of +men, some of whom appeared to be armed, for even in the dusk of the +darkness the shine of the moonlight glimmered sharply now and then on +the barrels of muskets or pistols, and in the silence that followed +after their own rowing had ceased Barnaby True could hear the chug! +chug! of the oars sounding louder and louder through the watery +stillness of the night as the boat drew nearer and nearer. But he knew +nothing of what it all meant, nor whether these others were friends or +enemies, or what was to happen next. + +The oarsmen of the approaching boat did not for a moment cease +their rowing, not till they had come pretty close to Barnaby and his +companions. Then a man who sat in the stern ordered them to cease +rowing, and as they lay on their oars he stood up. As they passed by, +Barnaby True could see him very plain, the moonlight shining full upon +him--a large, stout gentleman with a round red face, and clad in a fine +laced coat of red cloth. Amidship of the boat was a box or chest about +the bigness of a middle-sized traveling trunk, but covered all over +with cakes of sand and dirt. In the act of passing, the gentleman, still +standing, pointed at it with an elegant gold-headed cane which he held +in his hand. "Are you come after this, Abraham Dawling?" says he, and +thereat his countenance broke into as evil, malignant a grin as ever +Barnaby True saw in all of his life. + +The other did not immediately reply so much as a single word, but sat +as still as any stone. Then, at last, the other boat having gone by, he +suddenly appeared to regain his wits, for he bawled out after it, "Very +well, Jack Malyoe! very well, Jack Malyoe! you've got ahead of us this +time again, but next time is the third, and then it shall be our turn, +even if William Brand must come back from hell to settle with you." + +This he shouted out as the other boat passed farther and farther away, +but to it my fine gentleman made no reply except to burst out into a +great roaring fit of laughter. + +There was another man among the armed men in the stern of the passing +boat--a villainous, lean man with lantern jaws, and the top of his head +as bald as the palm of my hand. As the boat went away into the night +with the tide and the headway the oars had given it, he grinned so that +the moonlight shone white on his big teeth. Then, flourishing a great +big pistol, he said, and Barnaby could hear every word he spoke, "Do but +give me the word, Your Honor, and I'll put another bullet through the +son of a sea cook." + +But the gentleman said some words to forbid him, and therewith the boat +was gone away into the night, and presently Barnaby could hear that +the men at the oars had begun rowing again, leaving them lying there, +without a single word being said for a long time. + +By and by one of those in Barnaby's boat spoke up. "Where shall you go +now?" he said. + +At this the leader of the expedition appeared suddenly to come back to +himself, and to find his voice again. "Go?" he roared out. "Go to the +devil! Go? Go where you choose! Go? Go back again--that's where we'll +go!" and therewith he fell a-cursing and swearing until he foamed at +the lips, as though he had gone clean crazy, while the black men began +rowing back again across the harbor as fast as ever they could lay oars +into the water. + +They put Barnaby True ashore below the old custom house; but so +bewildered and shaken was he by all that had happened, and by what he +had seen, and by the names that he heard spoken, that he was scarcely +conscious of any of the familiar things among which he found himself +thus standing. And so he walked up the moonlit street toward his lodging +like one drunk or bewildered; for "John Malyoe" was the name of +the captain of the Adventure galley--he who had shot Barnaby's own +grandfather--and "Abraham Dawling" was the name of the gunner of the +Royal Sovereign who had been shot at the same time with the pirate +captain, and who, with him, had been left stretched out in the staring +sun by the murderers. + +The whole business had occupied hardly two hours, but it was as though +that time was no part of Barnaby's life, but all a part of some other +life, so dark and strange and mysterious that it in no wise belonged to +him. + +As for that box covered all over with mud, he could only guess at that +time what it contained and what the finding of it signified. + +But of this our hero said nothing to anyone, nor did he tell a single +living soul what he had seen that night, but nursed it in his own mind, +where it lay so big for a while that he could think of little or nothing +else for days after. + +Mr. Greenfield, Mr. Hartright's correspondent and agent in these parts, +lived in a fine brick house just out of the town, on the Mona Road, +his family consisting of a wife and two daughters--brisk, lively young +ladies with black hair and eyes, and very fine bright teeth that shone +whenever they laughed, and with a plenty to say for themselves. Thither +Barnaby True was often asked to a family dinner; and, indeed, it was a +pleasant home to visit, and to sit upon the veranda and smoke a cigarro +with the good old gentleman and look out toward the mountains, while the +young ladies laughed and talked, or played upon the guitar and sang. And +oftentimes so it was strongly upon Barnaby's mind to speak to the good +gentleman and tell him what he had beheld that night out in the harbor; +but always he would think better of it and hold his peace, falling to +thinking, and smoking away upon his cigarro at a great rate. + +A day or two before the Belle Helen sailed from Kingston Mr. Greenfield +stopped Barnaby True as he was going through the office to bid him to +come to dinner that night (for there within the tropics they breakfast +at eleven o'clock and take dinner in the cool of the evening, because of +the heat, and not at midday, as we do in more temperate latitudes). "I +would have you meet," says Mr. Greenfield, "your chief passenger for +New York, and his granddaughter, for whom the state cabin and the two +staterooms are to be fitted as here ordered [showing a letter]--Sir John +Malyoe and Miss Marjorie Malyoe. Did you ever hear tell of Capt. Jack +Malyoe, Master Barnaby?" + +Now I do believe that Mr. Greenfield had no notion at all that old +Captain Brand was Barnaby True's own grandfather and Capt. John Malyoe +his murderer, but when he so thrust at him the name of that man, what +with that in itself and the late adventure through which he himself had +just passed, and with his brooding upon it until it was so prodigiously +big in his mind, it was like hitting him a blow to so fling the +questions at him. Nevertheless, he was able to reply, with a pretty +straight face, that he had heard of Captain Malyoe and who he was. + +"Well," says Mr. Greenfield, "if Jack Malyoe was a desperate pirate and +a wild, reckless blade twenty years ago, why, he is Sir John Malyoe now +and the owner of a fine estate in Devonshire. Well, Master Barnaby, when +one is a baronet and come into the inheritance of a fine estate (though +I do hear it is vastly cumbered with debts), the world will wink its eye +to much that he may have done twenty years ago. I do hear say, though, +that his own kin still turn the cold shoulder to him." + +To this address Barnaby answered nothing, but sat smoking away at his +cigarro at a great rate. + +And so that night Barnaby True came face to face for the first time with +the man who murdered his own grandfather--the greatest beast of a man +that ever he met in all of his life. + +That time in the harbor he had seen Sir John Malyoe at a distance and +in the darkness; now that he beheld him near by it seemed to him that he +had never looked at a more evil face in all his life. Not that the man +was altogether ugly, for he had a good nose and a fine double chin; but +his eyes stood out like balls and were red and watery, and he winked +them continually, as though they were always smarting; and his lips +were thick and purple-red, and his fat, red cheeks were mottled here +and there with little clots of purple veins; and when he spoke his voice +rattled so in his throat that it made one wish to clear one's own throat +to listen to him. So, what with a pair of fat, white hands, and that +hoarse voice, and his swollen face, and his thick lips sticking out, it +seemed to Barnaby True he had never seen a countenance so distasteful to +him as that one into which he then looked. + +But if Sir John Malyoe was so displeasing to our hero's taste, why, the +granddaughter, even this first time he beheld her, seemed to him to be +the most beautiful, lovely young lady that ever he saw. She had a thin, +fair skin, red lips, and yellow hair--though it was then powdered pretty +white for the occasion--and the bluest eyes that Barnaby beheld in all +of his life. A sweet, timid creature, who seemed not to dare so much as +to speak a word for herself without looking to Sir John for leave to do +so, and would shrink and shudder whenever he would speak of a sudden to +her or direct a sudden glance upon her. When she did speak, it was in so +low a voice that one had to bend his head to hear her, and even if she +smiled would catch herself and look up as though to see if she had leave +to be cheerful. + +As for Sir John, he sat at dinner like a pig, and gobbled and ate and +drank, smacking his lips all the while, but with hardly a word to either +her or Mrs. Greenfield or to Barnaby True; but with a sour, sullen air, +as though he would say, "Your damned victuals and drink are no better +than they should be, but I must eat 'em or nothing." A great bloated +beast of a man! + +Only after dinner was over and the young lady and the two misses sat off +in a corner together did Barnaby hear her talk with any ease. Then, to +be sure, her tongue became loose, and she prattled away at a great rate, +though hardly above her breath, until of a sudden her grandfather called +out, in his hoarse, rattling voice, that it was time to go. Whereupon +she stopped short in what she was saying and jumped up from her chair, +looking as frightened as though she had been caught in something amiss, +and was to be punished for it. + +Barnaby True and Mr. Greenfield both went out to see the two into their +coach, where Sir John's man stood holding the lantern. And who should +he be, to be sure, but that same lean villain with bald head who had +offered to shoot the leader of our hero's expedition out on the harbor +that night! For, one of the circles of light from the lantern shining +up into his face, Barnaby True knew him the moment he clapped eyes upon +him. Though he could not have recognized our hero, he grinned at him in +the most impudent, familiar fashion, and never so much as touched his +hat either to him or to Mr. Greenfield; but as soon as his master +and his young mistress had entered the coach, banged to the door and +scrambled up on the seat alongside the driver, and so away without a +word, but with another impudent grin, this time favoring both Barnaby +and the old gentleman. + +Such were these two, master and man, and what Barnaby saw of them then +was only confirmed by further observation--the most hateful couple he +ever knew; though, God knows, what they afterward suffered should wipe +out all complaint against them. + +The next day Sir John Malyoe's belongings began to come aboard the Belle +Helen, and in the afternoon that same lean, villainous manservant comes +skipping across the gangplank as nimble as a goat, with two black men +behind him lugging a great sea chest. "What!" he cried out, "and so you +is the supercargo, is you? Why, I thought you was more account when +I saw you last night a-sitting talking with His Honor like his equal. +Well, no matter; 'tis something to have a brisk, genteel young fellow +for a supercargo. So come, my hearty, lend a hand, will you, and help me +set His Honor's cabin to rights." + +What a speech was this to endure from such a fellow, to be sure! and +Barnaby so high in his own esteem, and holding himself a gentleman! +Well, what with his distaste for the villain, and what with such odious +familiarity, you can guess into what temper so impudent an address must +have cast him. "You'll find the steward in yonder," he said, "and +he'll show you the cabin," and therewith turned and walked away with +prodigious dignity, leaving the other standing where he was. + +As he entered his own cabin he could not but see, out of the tail of his +eye, that the fellow was still standing where he had left him, regarding +him with a most evil, malevolent countenance, so that he had the +satisfaction of knowing that he had made one enemy during that voyage +who was not very likely to forgive or forget what he must regard as a +slight put upon him. + +The next day Sir John Malyoe himself came aboard, accompanied by his +granddaughter, and followed by this man, and he followed again by four +black men, who carried among them two trunks, not large in size, but +prodigious heavy in weight, and toward which Sir John and his follower +devoted the utmost solicitude and care to see that they were properly +carried into the state cabin he was to occupy. Barnaby True was standing +in the great cabin as they passed close by him; but though Sir John +Malyoe looked hard at him and straight in the face, he never so much as +spoke a single word, or showed by a look or a sign that he knew who our +hero was. At this the serving man, who saw it all with eyes as quick as +a cat's, fell to grinning and chuckling to see Barnaby in his turn so +slighted. + +The young lady, who also saw it all, flushed up red, then in the instant +of passing looked straight at our hero, and bowed and smiled at him with +a most sweet and gracious affability, then the next moment recovering +herself, as though mightily frightened at what she had done. + +The same day the Belle Helen sailed, with as beautiful, sweet weather as +ever a body could wish for. + +There were only two other passengers aboard, the Rev. Simon Styles, the +master of a flourishing academy in Spanish Town, and his wife, a good, +worthy old couple, but very quiet, and would sit in the great cabin by +the hour together reading, so that, what with Sir John Malyoe staying +all the time in his own cabin with those two trunks he held so precious, +it fell upon Barnaby True in great part to show attention to the young +lady; and glad enough he was of the opportunity, as anyone may guess. +For when you consider a brisk, lively young man of one-and-twenty and a +sweet, beautiful miss of seventeen so thrown together day after day for +two weeks, the weather being very fair, as I have said, and the ship +tossing and bowling along before a fine humming breeze that sent white +caps all over the sea, and with nothing to do but sit and look at that +blue sea and the bright sky overhead, it is not hard to suppose what was +to befall, and what pleasure it was to Barnaby True to show attention to +her. + +But, oh! those days when a man is young, and, whether wisely or no, +fallen in love! How often during that voyage did our hero lie awake in +his berth at night, tossing this way and that without sleep--not that +he wanted to sleep if he could, but would rather lie so awake thinking +about her and staring into the darkness! + +Poor fool! He might have known that the end must come to such a fool's +paradise before very long. For who was he to look up to Sir John +Malyoe's granddaughter, he, the supercargo of a merchant ship, and she +the granddaughter of a baronet. + +Nevertheless, things went along very smooth and pleasant, until one +evening, when all came of a sudden to an end. At that time he and the +young lady had been standing for a long while together, leaning over +the rail and looking out across the water through the dusk toward the +westward, where the sky was still of a lingering brightness. She had +been mightily quiet and dull all that evening, but now of a sudden she +began, without any preface whatever, to tell Barnaby about herself and +her affairs. She said that she and her grandfather were going to New +York that they might take passage thence to Boston town, there to meet +her cousin Captain Malyoe, who was stationed in garrison at that place. +Then she went on to say that Captain Malyoe was the next heir to the +Devonshire estate, and that she and he were to be married in the fall. + +But, poor Barnaby! what a fool was he, to be sure! Methinks when she +first began to speak about Captain Malyoe he knew what was coming. But +now that she had told him, he could say nothing, but stood there staring +across the ocean, his breath coming hot and dry as ashes in his throat. +She, poor thing, went on to say, in a very low voice, that she had liked +him from the very first moment she had seen him, and had been very happy +for these days, and would always think of him as a dear friend who had +been very kind to her, who had so little pleasure in life, and so would +always remember him. + +Then they were both silent, until at last Barnaby made shift to say, +though in a hoarse and croaking voice, that Captain Malyoe must be a +very happy man, and that if he were in Captain Malyoe's place he would +be the happiest man in the world. Thus, having spoken, and so found his +tongue, he went on to tell her, with his head all in a whirl, that he, +too, loved her, and that what she had told him struck him to the heart, +and made him the most miserable, unhappy wretch in the whole world. + +She was not angry at what he said, nor did she turn to look at him, but +only said, in a low voice, he should not talk so, for that it could only +be a pain to them both to speak of such things, and that whether she +would or no, she must do everything as her grandfather bade her, for +that he was indeed a terrible man. + +To this poor Barnaby could only repeat that he loved her with all his +heart, that he had hoped for nothing in his love, but that he was now +the most miserable man in the world. + +It was at this moment, so tragic for him, that some one who had been +hiding nigh them all the while suddenly moved away, and Barnaby True +could see in the gathering darkness that it was that villain manservant +of Sir John Malyoe's and knew that he must have overheard all that had +been said. + +The man went straight to the great cabin, and poor Barnaby, his brain +all atingle, stood looking after him, feeling that now indeed the last +drop of bitterness had been added to his trouble to have such a wretch +overhear what he had said. + +The young lady could not have seen the fellow, for she continued leaning +over the rail, and Barnaby True, standing at her side, not moving, but +in such a tumult of many passions that he was like one bewildered, and +his heart beating as though to smother him. + +So they stood for I know not how long when, of a sudden, Sir John +Malyoe comes running out of the cabin, without his hat, but carrying his +gold-headed cane, and so straight across the deck to where Barnaby and +the young lady stood, that spying wretch close at his heels, grinning +like an imp. + +"You hussy!" bawled out Sir John, so soon as he had come pretty near +them, and in so loud a voice that all on deck might have heard the +words; and as he spoke he waved his cane back and forth as though he +would have struck the young lady, who, shrinking back almost upon the +deck, crouched as though to escape such a blow. "You hussy!" he bawled +out with vile oaths, too horrible here to be set down. "What do you do +here with this Yankee supercargo, not fit for a gentlewoman to wipe her +feet upon? Get to your cabin, you hussy" (only it was something worse he +called her this time), "before I lay this cane across your shoulders!" + +What with the whirling of Barnaby's brains and the passion into which he +was already melted, what with his despair and his love, and his anger at +this address, a man gone mad could scarcely be less accountable for his +actions than was he at that moment. Hardly knowing what he did, he put +his hand against Sir John Malyoe's breast and thrust him violently back, +crying out upon him in a great, loud, hoarse voice for threatening a +young lady, and saying that for a farthing he would wrench the stick out +of his hand and throw it overboard. + +Sir John went staggering back with the push Barnaby gave him, and then +caught himself up again. Then, with a great bellow, ran roaring at our +hero, whirling his cane about, and I do believe would have struck him +(and God knows then what might have happened) had not his manservant +caught him and held him back. + +"Keep back!" cried out our hero, still mighty hoarse. "Keep back! If you +strike me with that stick I'll fling you overboard!" + +By this time, what with the sound of loud voices and the stamping of +feet, some of the crew and others aboard were hurrying up, and the next +moment Captain Manly and the first mate, Mr. Freesden, came running out +of the cabin. But Barnaby, who was by this fairly set agoing, could not +now stop himself. + +"And who are you, anyhow," he cried out, "to threaten to strike me and +to insult me, who am as good as you? You dare not strike me! You may +shoot a man from behind, as you shot poor Captain Brand on the Rio Cobra +River, but you won't dare strike me face to face. I know who you are and +what you are!" + +By this time Sir John Malyoe had ceased to endeavor to strike him, but +stood stock-still, his great bulging eyes staring as though they would +pop out of his head. + +"What's all this?" cries Captain Manly, bustling up to them with Mr. +Freesden. "What does all this mean?" + +But, as I have said, our hero was too far gone now to contain himself +until all that he had to say was out. + +"The damned villain insulted me and insulted the young lady," he cried +out, panting in the extremity of his passion, "and then he threatened +to strike me with his cane. But I know who he is and what he is. I know +what he's got in his cabin in those two trunks, and where he found +it, and whom it belongs to. He found it on the shores of the Rio Cobra +River, and I have only to open my mouth and tell what I know about it." + +At this Captain Manly clapped his hand upon our hero's shoulder and fell +to shaking him so that he could scarcely stand, calling out to him the +while to be silent. "What do you mean?" he cried. "An officer of this +ship to quarrel with a passenger of mine! Go straight to your cabin, and +stay there till I give you leave to come out again." + +At this Master Barnaby came somewhat back to himself and into his +wits again with a jump. "But he threatened to strike me with his cane, +Captain," he cried out, "and that I won't stand from any man!" + +"No matter what he did," said Captain Manly, very sternly. "Go to your +cabin, as I bid you, and stay there till I tell you to come out again, +and when we get to New York I'll take pains to tell your stepfather of +how you have behaved. I'll have no such rioting as this aboard my ship." + +Barnaby True looked around him, but the young lady was gone. Nor, in the +blindness of his frenzy, had he seen when she had gone nor whither she +went. As for Sir John Malyoe, he stood in the light of a lantern, his +face gone as white as ashes, and I do believe if a look could kill, the +dreadful malevolent stare he fixed upon Barnaby True would have slain +him where he stood. + +After Captain Manly had so shaken some wits into poor Barnaby he, +unhappy wretch, went to his cabin, as he was bidden to do, and there, +shutting the door upon himself, and flinging himself down, all dressed +as he was, upon his berth, yielded himself over to the profoundest +passion of humiliation and despair. + +There he lay for I know not how long, staring into the darkness, until +by and by, in spite of his suffering and his despair, he dozed off into +a loose sleep, that was more like waking than sleep, being possessed +continually by the most vivid and distasteful dreams, from which he +would awaken only to doze off and to dream again. + +It was from the midst of one of these extravagant dreams that he was +suddenly aroused by the noise of a pistol shot, and then the noise of +another and another, and then a great bump and a grinding jar, and then +the sound of many footsteps running across the deck and down into the +great cabin. Then came a tremendous uproar of voices in the great cabin, +the struggling as of men's bodies being tossed about, striking violently +against the partitions and bulkheads. At the same instant arose a +screaming of women's voices, and one voice, and that Sir John Malyoe's, +crying out as in the greatest extremity: "You villains! You damned +villains!" and with the sudden detonation of a pistol fired into the +close space of the great cabin. + +Barnaby was out in the middle of his cabin in a moment, and taking only +time enough to snatch down one of the pistols that hung at the head of +his berth, flung out into the great cabin, to find it as black as night, +the lantern slung there having been either blown out or dashed out into +darkness. The prodigiously dark space was full of uproar, the hubbub +and confusion pierced through and through by that keen sound of women's +voices screaming, one in the cabin and the other in the stateroom +beyond. Almost immediately Barnaby pitched headlong over two or three +struggling men scuffling together upon the deck, falling with a great +clatter and the loss of his pistol, which, however, he regained almost +immediately. + +What all the uproar meant he could not tell, but he presently heard +Captain Manly's voice from somewhere suddenly calling out, "You bloody +pirate, would you choke me to death?" wherewith some notion of what had +happened came to him like a dash, and that they had been attacked in the +night by pirates. + +Looking toward the companionway, he saw, outlined against the darkness +of the night without, the blacker form of a man's figure, standing still +and motionless as a statue in the midst of all this hubbub, and so by +some instinct he knew in a moment that that must be the master maker +of all this devil's brew. Therewith, still kneeling upon the deck, he +covered the bosom of that shadowy figure pointblank, as he thought, with +his pistol, and instantly pulled the trigger. + +In the flash of red light, and in the instant stunning report of the +pistol shot, Barnaby saw, as stamped upon the blackness, a broad, flat +face with fishy eyes, a lean, bony forehead with what appeared to be +a great blotch of blood upon the side, a cocked hat trimmed with gold +lace, a red scarf across the breast, and the gleam of brass buttons. +Then the darkness, very thick and black, swallowed everything again. + +But in the instant Sir John Malyoe called out, in a great loud voice: +"My God! 'Tis William Brand!" Therewith came the sound of some one +falling heavily down. + +The next moment, Barnaby's sight coming back to him again in the +darkness, he beheld that dark and motionless figure still standing +exactly where it had stood before, and so knew either that he had missed +it or else that it was of so supernatural a sort that a leaden bullet +might do it no harm. Though if it was indeed an apparition that Barnaby +beheld in that moment, there is this to say, that he saw it as plain as +ever he saw a living man in all of his life. + +This was the last our hero knew, for the next moment somebody--whether +by accident or design he never knew--struck him such a terrible violent +blow upon the side of the head that he saw forty thousand stars flash +before his eyeballs, and then, with a great humming in his head, swooned +dead away. + +When Barnaby True came back to his senses again it was to find himself +being cared for with great skill and nicety, his head bathed with cold +water, and a bandage being bound about it as carefully as though a +chirurgeon was attending to him. + +He could not immediately recall what had happened to him, nor until he +had opened his eyes to find himself in a strange cabin, extremely well +fitted and painted with white and gold, the light of a lantern shining +in his eyes, together with the gray of the early daylight through the +dead-eye. Two men were bending over him--one, a negro in a striped +shirt, with a yellow handkerchief around his head and silver earrings in +his ears; the other, a white man, clad in a strange outlandish dress of +a foreign make, and with great mustachios hanging down, and with gold +earrings in his ears. + +It was the latter who was attending to Barnaby's hurt with such extreme +care and gentleness. + +All this Barnaby saw with his first clear consciousness after his swoon. +Then remembering what had befallen him, and his head beating as though +it would split asunder, he shut his eyes again, contriving with great +effort to keep himself from groaning aloud, and wondering as to what +sort of pirates these could be who would first knock a man in the head +so terrible a blow as that which he had suffered, and then take +such care to fetch him back to life again, and to make him easy and +comfortable. + +Nor did he open his eyes again, but lay there gathering his wits +together and wondering thus until the bandage was properly tied about +his head and sewed together. Then once more he opened his eyes, and +looked up to ask where he was. + +Either they who were attending to him did not choose to reply, or else +they could not speak English, for they made no answer, excepting by +signs; for the white man, seeing that he was now able to speak, and +so was come back into his senses again, nodded his head three or four +times, and smiled with a grin of his white teeth, and then pointed, as +though toward a saloon beyond. At the same time the negro held up our +hero's coat and beckoned for him to put it on, so that Barnaby, seeing +that it was required of him to meet some one without, arose, though with +a good deal of effort, and permitted the negro to help him on with his +coat, still feeling mightily dizzy and uncertain upon his legs, his head +beating fit to split, and the vessel rolling and pitching at a great +rate, as though upon a heavy ground swell. + +So, still sick and dizzy, he went out into what was indeed a fine saloon +beyond, painted in white and gilt like the cabin he had just quitted, +and fitted in the nicest fashion, a mahogany table, polished very +bright, extending the length of the room, and a quantity of bottles, +together with glasses of clear crystal, arranged in a hanging rack +above. + +Here at the table a man was sitting with his back to our hero, clad in +a rough pea-jacket, and with a red handkerchief tied around his throat, +his feet stretched out before him, and he smoking a pipe of tobacco with +all the ease and comfort in the world. + +As Barnaby came in he turned round, and, to the profound astonishment +of our hero, presented toward him in the light of the lantern, the dawn +shining pretty strong through the skylight, the face of that very man +who had conducted the mysterious expedition that night across Kingston +Harbor to the Rio Cobra River. + +This man looked steadily at Barnaby True for a moment or two, and +then burst out laughing; and, indeed, Barnaby, standing there with the +bandage about his head, must have looked a very droll picture of that +astonishment he felt so profoundly at finding who was this pirate into +whose hands he had fallen. + +"Well," says the other, "and so you be up at last, and no great harm +done, I'll be bound. And how does your head feel by now, my young +master?" + +To this Barnaby made no reply, but, what with wonder and the dizziness +of his head, seated himself at the table over against the speaker, +who pushed a bottle of rum toward him, together with a glass from the +swinging shelf above. + +He watched Barnaby fill his glass, and so soon as he had done so began +immediately by saying: "I do suppose you think you were treated +mightily ill to be so handled last night. Well, so you were treated ill +enough--though who hit you that crack upon the head I know no more than +a child unborn. Well, I am sorry for the way you were handled, but there +is this much to say, and of that you may believe me, that nothing was +meant to you but kindness, and before you are through with us all you +will believe that well enough." + +Here he helped himself to a taste of grog, and sucking in his lips, +went on again with what he had to say. "Do you remember," said he, "that +expedition of ours in Kingston Harbor, and how we were all of us balked +that night?" + +"Why, yes," said Barnaby True, "nor am I likely to forget it." + +"And do you remember what I said to that villain, Jack Malyoe, that +night as his boat went by us?" + +"As to that," said Barnaby True, "I do not know that I can say yes or +no, but if you will tell me, I will maybe answer you in kind." + +"Why, I mean this," said the other. "I said that the villain had got the +better of us once again, but that next time it would be our turn, even +if William Brand himself had to come back from hell to put the business +through." + +"I remember something of the sort," said Barnaby, "now that you speak of +it, but still I am all in the dark as to what you are driving at." + +The other looked at him very cunningly for a little while, his head on +one side, and his eyes half shut. Then, as if satisfied, he suddenly +burst out laughing. "Look hither," said he, "and I'll show you +something," and therewith, moving to one side, disclosed a couple of +traveling cases or small trunks with brass studs, so exactly like those +that Sir John Malyoe had fetched aboard at Jamaica that Barnaby, putting +this and that together, knew that they must be the same. + +Our hero had a strong enough suspicion as to what those two cases +contained, and his suspicions had become a certainty when he saw Sir +John Malyoe struck all white at being threatened about them, and his +face lowering so malevolently as to look murder had he dared do it. But, +Lord! what were suspicions or even certainty to what Barnaby True's two +eyes beheld when that man lifted the lids of the two cases--the locks +thereof having already been forced--and, flinging back first one lid and +then the other, displayed to Barnaby's astonished sight a great treasure +of gold and silver! Most of it tied up in leathern bags, to be sure, +but many of the coins, big and little, yellow and white, lying loose and +scattered about like so many beans, brimming the cases to the very top. + +Barnaby sat dumb-struck at what he beheld; as to whether he breathed +or no, I cannot tell; but this I know, that he sat staring at that +marvelous treasure like a man in a trance, until, after a few seconds of +this golden display, the other banged down the lids again and burst out +laughing, whereupon he came back to himself with a jump. + +"Well, and what do you think of that?" said the other. "Is it not enough +for a man to turn pirate for? But," he continued, "it is not for the +sake of showing you this that I have been waiting for you here so long +a while, but to tell you that you are not the only passenger aboard, but +that there is another, whom I am to confide to your care and attention, +according to orders I have received; so, if you are ready, Master +Barnaby, I'll fetch her in directly." He waited for a moment, as though +for Barnaby to speak, but our hero not replying, he arose and, putting +away the bottle of rum and the glasses, crossed the saloon to a door +like that from which Barnaby had come a little while before. This he +opened, and after a moment's delay and a few words spoken to some one +within, ushered thence a young lady, who came out very slowly into the +saloon where Barnaby still sat at the table. + +It was Miss Marjorie Malyoe, very white, and looking as though stunned +or bewildered by all that had befallen her. + +Barnaby True could never tell whether the amazing strange voyage that +followed was of long or of short duration; whether it occupied three +days or ten days. For conceive, if you choose, two people of flesh +and blood moving and living continually in all the circumstances and +surroundings as of a nightmare dream, yet they two so happy together +that all the universe beside was of no moment to them! How was anyone +to tell whether in such circumstances any time appeared to be long or +short? Does a dream appear to be long or to be short? + +The vessel in which they sailed was a brigantine of good size and build, +but manned by a considerable crew, the most strange and outlandish in +their appearance that Barnaby had ever beheld--some white, some yellow, +some black, and all tricked out with gay colors, and gold earrings +in their ears, and some with great long mustachios, and others with +handkerchiefs tied around their heads, and all talking a language +together of which Barnaby True could understand not a single word, but +which might have been Portuguese from one or two phrases he caught. Nor +did this strange, mysterious crew, of God knows what sort of men, seem +to pay any attention whatever to Barnaby or to the young lady. They +might now and then have looked at him and her out of the corners of +their yellow eyes, but that was all; otherwise they were indeed like +the creatures of a nightmare dream. Only he who was the captain of +this outlandish crew would maybe speak to Barnaby a few words as to the +weather or what not when he would come down into the saloon to mix a +glass of grog or to light a pipe of tobacco, and then to go on deck +again about his business. Otherwise our hero and the young lady were +left to themselves, to do as they pleased, with no one to interfere with +them. + +As for her, she at no time showed any great sign of terror or of fear, +only for a little while was singularly numb and quiet, as though dazed +with what had happened to her. Indeed, methinks that wild beast, her +grandfather, had so crushed her spirit by his tyranny and his violence +that nothing that happened to her might seem sharp and keen, as it does +to others of an ordinary sort. + +But this was only at first, for afterward her face began to grow +singularly clear, as with a white light, and she would sit quite still, +permitting Barnaby to gaze, I know not how long, into her eyes, her face +so transfigured and her lips smiling, and they, as it were, neither +of them breathing, but hearing, as in another far-distant place, the +outlandish jargon of the crew talking together in the warm, bright +sunlight, or the sound of creaking block and tackle as they hauled upon +the sheets. + +Is it, then, any wonder that Barnaby True could never remember whether +such a voyage as this was long or short? + +It was as though they might have sailed so upon that wonderful voyage +forever. You may guess how amazed was Barnaby True when, coming upon +deck one morning, he found the brigantine riding upon an even keel, +at anchor off Staten Island, a small village on the shore, and the +well-known roofs and chimneys of New York town in plain sight across the +water. + +'Twas the last place in the world he had expected to see. + +And, indeed, it did seem strange to lie there alongside Staten Island +all that day, with New York town so nigh at hand and yet so impossible +to reach. For whether he desired to escape or no, Barnaby True could not +but observe that both he and the young lady were so closely watched that +they might as well have been prisoners, tied hand and foot and laid in +the hold, so far as any hope of getting away was concerned. + +All that day there was a deal of mysterious coming and going aboard +the brigantine, and in the afternoon a sailboat went up to the town, +carrying the captain, and a great load covered over with a tarpaulin in +the stern. What was so taken up to the town Barnaby did not then guess, +but the boat did not return again till about sundown. + +For the sun was just dropping below the water when the captain came +aboard once more and, finding Barnaby on deck, bade him come down into +the saloon, where they found the young lady sitting, the broad light of +the evening shining in through the skylight, and making it all pretty +bright within. + +The captain commanded Barnaby to be seated, for he had something of +moment to say to him; whereupon, as soon as Barnaby had taken his +place alongside the young lady, he began very seriously, with a preface +somewhat thus: "Though you may think me the captain of this brigantine, +young gentleman, I am not really so, but am under orders, and so have +only carried out those orders of a superior in all these things that I +have done." Having so begun, he went on to say that there was one thing +yet remaining for him to do, and that the greatest thing of all. He said +that Barnaby and the young lady had not been fetched away from the Belle +Helen as they were by any mere chance of accident, but that 'twas all a +plan laid by a head wiser than his, and carried out by one whom he must +obey in all things. He said that he hoped that both Barnaby and the +young lady would perform willingly what they would be now called upon +to do, but that whether they did it willingly or no, they must, for that +those were the orders of one who was not to be disobeyed. + +You may guess how our hero held his breath at all this; but whatever +might have been his expectations, the very wildest of them all did not +reach to that which was demanded of him. "My orders are these," said the +other, continuing: "I am to take you and the young lady ashore, and to +see that you are married before I quit you; and to that end a very +good, decent, honest minister who lives ashore yonder in the village was +chosen and hath been spoken to and is now, no doubt, waiting for you to +come. Such are my orders, and this is the last thing I am set to do; so +now I will leave you alone together for five minutes to talk it over, +but be quick about it, for whether willing or not, this thing must be +done." + +Thereupon he went away, as he had promised, leaving those two alone +together, Barnaby like one turned into stone, and the young lady, her +face turned away, flaming as red as fire in the fading light. + +Nor can I tell what Barnaby said to her, nor what words he used, but +only, all in a tumult, with neither beginning nor end he told her that +God knew he loved her, and that with all his heart and soul, and that +there was nothing in all the world for him but her; but, nevertheless, +if she would not have it as had been ordered, and if she were not +willing to marry him as she was bidden to do, he would rather die +than lend himself to forcing her to do such a thing against her will. +Nevertheless, he told her she must speak up and tell him yes or no, and +that God knew he would give all the world if she would say "yes." + +All this and more he said in such a tumult of words that there was no +order in their speaking, and she sitting there, her bosom rising and +falling as though her breath stifled her. Nor may I tell what she +replied to him, only this, that she said she would marry him. At this he +took her into his arms and set his lips to hers, his heart all melting +away in his bosom. + +So presently came the captain back into the saloon again, to find +Barnaby sitting there holding her hand, she with her face turned away, +and his heart beating like a trip hammer, and so saw that all was +settled as he would have it. Wherewith he wished them both joy, and gave +Barnaby his hand. + +The yawlboat belonging to the brigantine was ready and waiting alongside +when they came upon deck, and immediately they descended to it and took +their seats. So they landed, and in a little while were walking up the +village street in the darkness, she clinging to his arm as though she +would swoon, and the captain of the brigantine and two other men from +aboard following after them. And so to the minister's house, finding him +waiting for them, smoking his pipe in the warm evening, and walking up +and down in front of his own door. He immediately conducted them into +the house, where, his wife having fetched a candle, and two others +of the village folk being present, the good man having asked several +questions as to their names and their age and where they were from, +the ceremony was performed, and the certificate duly signed by those +present--excepting the men who had come ashore from the brigantine, and +who refused to set their hands to any paper. + +The same sailboat that had taken the captain up to the town in the +afternoon was waiting for them at the landing place, whence, the +captain, having wished them Godspeed, and having shaken Barnaby very +heartily by the hand, they pushed off, and, coming about, ran away with +the slant of the wind, dropping the shore and those strange beings alike +behind them into the night. + +As they sped away through the darkness they could hear the creaking of +the sails being hoisted aboard of the brigantine, and so knew that she +was about to put to sea once more. Nor did Barnaby True ever set eyes +upon those beings again, nor did anyone else that I ever heard tell of. + +It was nigh midnight when they made Mr. Hartright's wharf at the foot of +Wall Street, and so the streets were all dark and silent and deserted as +they walked up to Barnaby's home. + +You may conceive of the wonder and amazement of Barnaby's dear +stepfather when, clad in a dressing gown and carrying a lighted candle +in his hand, he unlocked and unbarred the door, and so saw who it +was had aroused him at such an hour of the night, and the young and +beautiful lady whom Barnaby had fetched with him. + +The first thought of the good man was that the Belle Helen had come into +port; nor did Barnaby undeceive him as he led the way into the house, +but waited until they were all safe and sound in privily together before +he should unfold his strange and wonderful story. + +"This was left for you by two foreign sailors this afternoon, Barnaby," +the good old man said, as he led the way through the hall, holding up +the candle at the same time, so that Barnaby might see an object that +stood against the wainscoting by the door of the dining room. + +Nor could Barnaby refrain from crying out with amazement when he saw +that it was one of the two chests of treasure that Sir John Malyoe had +fetched from Jamaica, and which the pirates had taken from the Belle +Helen. As for Mr. Hartright, he guessed no more what was in it than the +man in the moon. + +The next day but one brought the Belle Helen herself into port, with the +terrible news not only of having been attacked at night by pirates, but +also that Sir John Malyoe was dead. For whether it was the sudden shock +of the sight of his old captain's face--whom he himself had murdered +and thought dead and buried--flashing so out against the darkness, or +whether it was the strain of passion that overset his brains, certain +it is that when the pirates left the Belle Helen, carrying with them the +young lady and Barnaby and the traveling trunks, those left aboard +the Belle Helen found Sir John Malyoe lying in a fit upon the floor, +frothing at the mouth and black in the face, as though he had been +choked, and so took him away to his berth, where, the next morning about +ten o'clock, he died, without once having opened his eyes or spoken a +single word. + +As for the villain manservant, no one ever saw him afterward; though +whether he jumped overboard, or whether the pirates who so attacked the +ship had carried him away bodily, who shall say? + +Mr. Hartright, after he had heard Barnaby's story, had been very +uncertain as to the ownership of the chest of treasure that had been +left by those men for Barnaby, but the news of the death of Sir John +Malyoe made the matter very easy for him to decide. For surely if that +treasure did not belong to Barnaby, there could be no doubt that it must +belong to his wife, she being Sir John Malyoe's legal heir. And so it +was that that great fortune (in actual computation amounting to upward +of sixty-three thousand pounds) came to Barnaby True, the grandson of +that famous pirate, William Brand; the English estate in Devonshire, in +default of male issue of Sir John Malyoe, descended to Captain Malyoe, +whom the young lady was to have married. + +As for the other case of treasure, it was never heard of again, nor +could Barnaby ever guess whether it was divided as booty among the +pirates, or whether they had carried it away with them to some strange +and foreign land, there to share it among themselves. + +And so the ending of the story, with only this to observe, that whether +that strange appearance of Captain Brand's face by the light of the +pistol was a ghostly and spiritual appearance, or whether he was present +in flesh and blood, there is only to say that he was never heard of +again; nor had he ever been heard of till that time since the day he was +so shot from behind by Capt. John Malyoe on the banks of the Rio Cobra +River in the year 1733. + + + + +Chapter III. WITH THE BUCCANEERS + +Being an Account of Certain Adventures that Befell Henry Mostyn Under +Capt. H. Morgan in the Year 1665-66 + + +I. + +ALTHOUGH this narration has more particularly to do with the taking of +the Spanish vice admiral in the harbor of Porto Bello, and of the rescue +therefrom of Le Sieur Simon, his wife and daughter (the adventure +of which was successfully achieved by Captain Morgan, the famous +buccaneer), we shall, nevertheless, premise something of the earlier +history of Master Harry Mostyn, whom you may, if you please, consider as +the hero of the several circumstances recounted in these pages. + +In the year 1664 our hero's father embarked from Portsmouth, in England, +for the Barbados, where he owned a considerable sugar plantation. +Thither to those parts of America he transported with himself his whole +family, of whom our Master Harry was the fifth of eight children--a +great lusty fellow as little fitted for the Church (for which he was +designed) as could be. At the time of this story, though not above +sixteen years old, Master Harry Mostyn was as big and well-grown as many +a man of twenty, and of such a reckless and dare-devil spirit that no +adventure was too dangerous or too mischievous for him to embark upon. + +At this time there was a deal of talk in those parts of the Americas +concerning Captain Morgan, and the prodigious successes he was having +pirating against the Spaniards. + +This man had once been an indentured servant with Mr. Rolls, a sugar +factor at the Barbados. Having served out his time, and being of lawless +disposition, possessing also a prodigious appetite for adventure, he +joined with others of his kidney, and, purchasing a caravel of three +guns, embarked fairly upon that career of piracy the most successful +that ever was heard of in the world. + +Master Harry had known this man very well while he was still with Mr. +Rolls, serving as a clerk at that gentleman's sugar wharf, a tall, +broad-shouldered, strapping fellow, with red cheeks, and thick red lips, +and rolling blue eyes, and hair as red as any chestnut. Many knew him +for a bold, gruff-spoken man, but no one at that time suspected that he +had it in him to become so famous and renowned as he afterward grew to +be. + +The fame of his exploits had been the talk of those parts for above a +twelvemonth, when, in the latter part of the year 1665, Captain Morgan, +having made a very successful expedition against the Spaniards into the +Gulf of Campeche--where he took several important purchases from +the plate fleet--came to the Barbados, there to fit out another such +venture, and to enlist recruits. + +He and certain other adventurers had purchased a vessel of some five +hundred tons, which they proposed to convert into a pirate by cutting +portholes for cannon, and running three or four carronades across +her main deck. The name of this ship, be it mentioned, was the Good +Samaritan, as ill-fitting a name as could be for such a craft, which, +instead of being designed for the healing of wounds, was intended to +inflict such devastation as those wicked men proposed. + +Here was a piece of mischief exactly fitted to our hero's tastes; +wherefore, having made up a bundle of clothes, and with not above a +shilling in his pocket, he made an excursion into the town to seek +for Captain Morgan. There he found the great pirate established at an +ordinary, with a little court of ragamuffins and swashbucklers gathered +about him, all talking very loud, and drinking healths in raw rum as +though it were sugared water. + +And what a fine figure our buccaneer had grown, to be sure! How +different from the poor, humble clerk upon the sugar wharf! What a deal +of gold braid! What a fine, silver-hilled Spanish sword! What a gay +velvet sling, hung with three silver-mounted pistols! If Master Harry's +mind had not been made up before, to be sure such a spectacle of glory +would have determined it. + +This figure of war our hero asked to step aside with him, and when they +had come into a corner, proposed to the other what he intended, and that +he had a mind to enlist as a gentleman adventurer upon this expedition. +Upon this our rogue of a buccaneer captain burst out a-laughing, and +fetching Master Harry a great thump upon the back, swore roundly that he +would make a man of him, and that it was a pity to make a parson out of +so good a piece of stuff. + +Nor was Captain Morgan less good than his word, for when the Good +Samaritan set sail with a favoring wind for the island of Jamaica, +Master Harry found himself established as one of the adventurers aboard. + + +II + +Could you but have seen the town of Port Royal as it appeared in the +year 1665 you would have beheld a sight very well worth while looking +upon. There were no fine houses at that time, and no great counting +houses built of brick, such as you may find nowadays, but a crowd of +board and wattled huts huddled along the streets, and all so gay with +flags and bits of color that Vanity Fair itself could not have been +gayer. To this place came all the pirates and buccaneers that infested +those parts, and men shouted and swore and gambled, and poured out money +like water, and then maybe wound up their merrymaking by dying of fever. +For the sky in these torrid latitudes is all full of clouds overhead, +and as hot as any blanket, and when the sun shone forth it streamed down +upon the smoking sands so that the houses were ovens and the streets +were furnaces; so it was little wonder that men died like rats in a +hole. But little they appeared to care for that; so that everywhere you +might behold a multitude of painted women and Jews and merchants and +pirates, gaudy with red scarfs and gold braid and all sorts of odds and +ends of foolish finery, all fighting and gambling and bartering for that +ill-gotten treasure of the be-robbed Spaniard. + +Here, arriving, Captain Morgan found a hearty welcome, and a message +from the governor awaiting him, the message bidding him attend His +Excellency upon the earliest occasion that offered. Whereupon, taking +our hero (of whom he had grown prodigiously fond) along with him, our +pirate went, without any loss of time, to visit Sir Thomas Modiford, who +was then the royal governor of all this devil's brew of wickedness. + +They found His Excellency seated in a great easy-chair, under the shadow +of a slatted veranda, the floor whereof was paved with brick. He +was clad, for the sake of coolness, only in his shirt, breeches, and +stockings, and he wore slippers on his feet. He was smoking a great +cigarro of tobacco, and a goblet of lime juice and water and rum stood +at his elbow on a table. Here, out of the glare of the heat, it was all +very cool and pleasant, with a sea breeze blowing violently in through +the slats, setting them a-rattling now and then, and stirring Sir +Thomas's long hair, which he had pushed back for the sake of coolness. + +The purport of this interview, I may tell you, concerned the rescue of +one Le Sieur Simon, who, together with his wife and daughter, was held +captive by the Spaniards. + +This gentleman adventurer (Le Sieur Simon) had, a few years before, been +set up by the buccaneers as governor of the island of Santa Catharina. +This place, though well fortified by the Spaniards, the buccaneers +had seized upon, establishing themselves thereon, and so infesting the +commerce of those seas that no Spanish fleet was safe from them. At last +the Spaniards, no longer able to endure these assaults against their +commerce, sent a great force against the freebooters to drive them out +of their island stronghold. This they did, retaking Santa Catharina, +together with its governor, his wife, and daughter, as well as the whole +garrison of buccaneers. + +This garrison was sent by their conquerors, some to the galleys, some +to the mines, some to no man knows where. The governor himself--Le Sieur +Simon--was to be sent to Spain, there to stand his trial for piracy. + +The news of all this, I may tell you, had only just been received in +Jamaica, having been brought thither by a Spanish captain, one Don +Roderiguez Sylvia, who was, besides, the bearer of dispatches to the +Spanish authorities relating the whole affair. + +Such, in fine, was the purport of this interview, and as our hero +and his captain walked back together from the governor's house to the +ordinary where they had taken up their inn, the buccaneer assured his +companion that he purposed to obtain those dispatches from the Spanish +captain that very afternoon, even if he had to use force to seize them. + +All this, you are to understand, was undertaken only because of the +friendship that the governor and Captain Morgan entertained for Le Sieur +Simon. And, indeed, it was wonderful how honest and how faithful were +these wicked men in their dealings with one another. For you must know +that Governor Modiford and Le Sieur Simon and the buccaneers were all of +one kidney--all taking a share in the piracies of those times, and all +holding by one another as though they were the honestest men in the +world. Hence it was they were all so determined to rescue Le Sieur Simon +from the Spaniards. + + +III + +Having reached his ordinary after his interview with the governor, +Captain Morgan found there a number of his companions, such as usually +gathered at that place to be in attendance upon him--some, those +belonging to the Good Samaritan; others, those who hoped to obtain +benefits from him; others, those ragamuffins who gathered around him +because he was famous, and because it pleased them to be of his court +and to be called his followers. For nearly always your successful pirate +had such a little court surrounding him. + +Finding a dozen or more of these rascals gathered there, Captain Morgan +informed them of his present purpose that he was going to find the +Spanish captain to demand his papers of him, and calling upon them to +accompany him. + +With this following at his heels, our buccaneer started off down the +street, his lieutenant, a Cornishman named Bartholomew Davis, upon one +hand and our hero upon the other. So they paraded the streets for the +best part of an hour before they found the Spanish captain. For whether +he had got wind that Captain Morgan was searching for him, or whether, +finding himself in a place so full of his enemies, he had buried himself +in some place of hiding, it is certain that the buccaneers had traversed +pretty nearly the whole town before they discovered that he was lying +at a certain auberge kept by a Portuguese Jew. Thither they went, and +thither Captain Morgan entered with the utmost coolness and composure of +demeanor, his followers crowding noisily in at his heels. + +The space within was very dark, being lighted only by the doorway and by +two large slatted windows or openings in the front. + +In this dark, hot place not over-roomy at the best--were gathered twelve +or fifteen villainous-appearing men, sitting at tables and drinking +together, waited upon by the Jew and his wife. Our hero had no trouble +in discovering which of this lot of men was Captain Sylvia, for not +only did Captain Morgan direct his glance full of war upon him, but the +Spaniard was clad with more particularity and with more show of finery +than any of the others who were there. + +Him Captain Morgan approached and demanded his papers, whereunto the +other replied with such a jabber of Spanish and English that no man +could have understood what he said. To this Captain Morgan in turn +replied that he must have those papers, no matter what it might cost him +to obtain them, and thereupon drew a pistol from his sling and presented +it at the other's head. + +At this threatening action the innkeeper's wife fell a-screaming, and +the Jew, as in a frenzy, besought them not to tear the house down about +his ears. + +Our hero could hardly tell what followed, only that all of a sudden +there was a prodigious uproar of combat. Knives flashed everywhere, +and then a pistol was fired so close to his head that he stood like one +stunned, hearing some one crying out in a loud voice, but not knowing +whether it was a friend or a foe who had been shot. Then another pistol +shot so deafened what was left of Master Harry's hearing that his ears +rang for above an hour afterward. By this time the whole place was +full of gunpowder smoke, and there was the sound of blows and oaths and +outcrying and the clashing of knives. + +As Master Harry, who had no great stomach for such a combat, and no very +particular interest in the quarrel, was making for the door, a little +Portuguese, as withered and as nimble as an ape, came ducking under the +table and plunged at his stomach with a great long knife, which, had +it effected its object, would surely have ended his adventures then and +there. Finding himself in such danger, Master Harry snatched up a heavy +chair, and, flinging it at his enemy, who was preparing for another +attack, he fairly ran for it out of the door, expecting every instant to +feel the thrust of the blade betwixt his ribs. + +A considerable crowd had gathered outside, and others, hearing the +uproar, were coming running to join them. With these our hero stood, +trembling like a leaf, and with cold chills running up and down his back +like water at the narrow escape from the danger that had threatened him. + +Nor shall you think him a coward, for you must remember he was hardly +sixteen years old at the time, and that this was the first affair of the +sort he had encountered. Afterward, as you shall learn, he showed that +he could exhibit courage enough at a pinch. + +While he stood there, endeavoring to recover his composure, the while +the tumult continued within, suddenly two men came running almost +together out of the door, a crowd of the combatants at their heels. The +first of these men was Captain Sylvia; the other, who was pursuing him, +was Captain Morgan. + +As the crowd about the door parted before the sudden appearing of these, +the Spanish captain, perceiving, as he supposed, a way of escape opened +to him, darted across the street with incredible swiftness toward an +alleyway upon the other side. Upon this, seeing his prey like to get +away from him, Captain Morgan snatched a pistol out of his sling, and +resting it for an instant across his arm, fired at the flying Spaniard, +and that with so true an aim that, though the street was now full of +people, the other went tumbling over and over all of a heap in the +kennel, where he lay, after a twitch or two, as still as a log. + +At the sound of the shot and the fall of the man the crowd scattered +upon all sides, yelling and screaming, and the street being thus pretty +clear, Captain Morgan ran across the way to where his victim lay, his +smoking pistol still in his hand, and our hero following close at his +heels. + +Our poor Harry had never before beheld a man killed thus in an instant +who a moment before had been so full of life and activity, for when +Captain Morgan turned the body over upon its back he could perceive at a +glance, little as he knew of such matters, that the man was stone-dead. +And, indeed, it was a dreadful sight for him who was hardly more than +a child. He stood rooted for he knew not how long, staring down at the +dead face with twitching fingers and shuddering limbs. Meantime a great +crowd was gathering about them again. As for Captain Morgan, he went +about his work with the utmost coolness and deliberation imaginable, +unbuttoning the waistcoat and the shirt of the man he had murdered with +fingers that neither twitched nor shook. There were a gold cross and +a bunch of silver medals hung by a whipcord about the neck of the dead +man. This Captain Morgan broke away with a snap, reaching the jingling +baubles to Harry, who took them in his nerveless hand and fingers that +he could hardly close upon what they held. + +The papers Captain Morgan found in a wallet in an inner breast pocket of +the Spaniard's waistcoat. These he examined one by one, and finding them +to his satisfaction, tied them up again, and slipped the wallet and its +contents into his own pocket. + +Then for the first time he appeared to observe Master Harry, who, +indeed, must have been standing, the perfect picture of horror and +dismay. Whereupon, bursting out a-laughing, and slipping the pistol he +had used back into its sling again, he fetched poor Harry a great slap +upon the back, bidding him be a man, for that he would see many such +sights as this. + +But indeed, it was no laughing matter for poor Master Harry, for it was +many a day before his imagination could rid itself of the image of the +dead Spaniard's face; and as he walked away down the street with his +companions, leaving the crowd behind them, and the dead body where it +lay for its friends to look after, his ears humming and ringing from +the deafening noise of the pistol shots fired in the close room, and the +sweat trickling down his face in drops, he knew not whether all that +had passed had been real, or whether it was a dream from which he might +presently awaken. + + +IV + +The papers Captain Morgan had thus seized upon as the fruit of the +murder he had committed must have been as perfectly satisfactory to him +as could be, for having paid a second visit that evening to Governor +Modiford, the pirate lifted anchor the next morning and made sail toward +the Gulf of Darien. There, after cruising about in those waters for +about a fortnight without falling in with a vessel of any sort, at the +end of that time they overhauled a caravel bound from Porto Bello to +Cartagena, which vessel they took, and finding her loaded with nothing +better than raw hides, scuttled and sank her, being then about twenty +leagues from the main of Cartagena. From the captain of this vessel +they learned that the plate fleet was then lying in the harbor of Porto +Bello, not yet having set sail thence, but waiting for the change of the +winds before embarking for Spain. Besides this, which was a good deal +more to their purpose, the Spaniards told the pirates that the Sieur +Simon, his wife, and daughter were confined aboard the vice admiral of +that fleet, and that the name of the vice admiral was the Santa Maria y +Valladolid. + +So soon as Captain Morgan had obtained the information he desired he +directed his course straight for the Bay of Santo Blaso, where he might +lie safely within the cape of that name without any danger of discovery +(that part of the mainland being entirely uninhabited) and yet be within +twenty or twenty-five leagues of Porto Bello. + +Having come safely to this anchorage, he at once declared his intentions +to his companions, which were as follows: + +That it was entirely impossible for them to hope to sail their vessel +into the harbor of Porto Bello, and to attack the Spanish vice admiral +where he lay in the midst of the armed flota; wherefore, if anything was +to be accomplished, it must be undertaken by some subtle design rather +than by open-handed boldness. Having so prefaced what he had to say, he +now declared that it was his purpose to take one of the ship's boats and +to go in that to Porto Bello, trusting for some opportunity to occur to +aid him either in the accomplishment of his aims or in the gaining of +some further information. Having thus delivered himself, he invited any +who dared to do so to volunteer for the expedition, telling them plainly +that he would constrain no man to go against his will, for that at best +it was a desperate enterprise, possessing only the recommendation that +in its achievement the few who undertook it would gain great renown, and +perhaps a very considerable booty. + +And such was the incredible influence of this bold man over his +companions, and such was their confidence in his skill and cunning, that +not above a dozen of all those aboard hung back from the undertaking, +but nearly every man desired to be taken. + +Of these volunteers Captain Morgan chose twenty--among others our Master +Harry--and having arranged with his lieutenant that if nothing was heard +from the expedition at the end of three days he should sail for Jamaica +to await news, he embarked upon that enterprise, which, though never +heretofore published, was perhaps the boldest and the most desperate of +all those that have since made his name so famous. For what could be a +more unparalleled undertaking than for a little open boat, containing +but twenty men, to enter the harbor of the third strongest fortress of +the Spanish mainland with the intention of cutting out the Spanish vice +admiral from the midst of a whole fleet of powerfully armed vessels, and +how many men in all the world do you suppose would venture such a thing? + +But there is this to be said of that great buccaneer: that if he +undertook enterprises so desperate as this, he yet laid his plans +so well that they never went altogether amiss. Moreover, the very +desperation of his successes was of such a nature that no man could +suspect that he would dare to undertake such things, and accordingly his +enemies were never prepared to guard against his attacks. Aye, had he +but worn the king's colors and served under the rules of honest war, he +might have become as great and as renowned as Admiral Blake himself. + +But all that is neither here nor there; what I have to tell you now is +that Captain Morgan in this open boat with his twenty mates reached the +Cape of Salmedina toward the fall of day. Arriving within view of the +harbor they discovered the plate fleet at anchor, with two men-of-war +and an armed galley riding as a guard at the mouth of the harbor, scarce +half a league distant from the other ships. Having spied the fleet in +this posture, the pirates presently pulled down their sails and rowed +along the coast, feigning to be a Spanish vessel from Nombre de Dios. So +hugging the shore, they came boldly within the harbor, upon the opposite +side of which you might see the fortress a considerable distance away. + +Being now come so near to the consummation of their adventure, Captain +Morgan required every man to make an oath to stand by him to the last, +whereunto our hero swore as heartily as any man aboard, although his +heart, I must needs confess, was beating at a great rate at the approach +of what was to happen. Having thus received the oaths of all his +followers, Captain Morgan commanded the surgeon of the expedition that, +when the order was given, he, the medico, was to bore six holes in the +boat, so that, it sinking under them, they might all be compelled to +push forward, with no chance of retreat. And such was the ascendancy of +this man over his followers, and such was their awe of him, that not one +of them uttered even so much as a murmur, though what he had commanded +the surgeon to do pledged them either to victory or to death, with no +chance to choose between. Nor did the surgeon question the orders he had +received, much less did he dream of disobeying them. + +By now it had fallen pretty dusk, whereupon, spying two fishermen in a +canoe at a little distance, Captain Morgan demanded of them in Spanish +which vessel of those at anchor in the harbor was the vice admiral, for +that he had dispatches for the captain thereof. Whereupon the fishermen, +suspecting nothing, pointed to them a galleon of great size riding at +anchor not half a league distant. + +Toward this vessel accordingly the pirates directed their course, and +when they had come pretty nigh, Captain Morgan called upon the surgeon +that now it was time for him to perform the duty that had been laid upon +him. Whereupon the other did as he was ordered, and that so thoroughly +that the water presently came gushing into the boat in great streams, +whereat all hands pulled for the galleon as though every next moment was +to be their last. + +And what do you suppose were our hero's emotions at this time? Like all +in the boat, his awe of Captain Morgan was so great that I do believe he +would rather have gone to the bottom than have questioned his command, +even when it was to scuttle the boat. Nevertheless, when he felt the +cold water gushing about his feet (for he had taken off his shoes and +stockings) he became possessed with such a fear of being drowned that +even the Spanish galleon had no terrors for him if he could only feel +the solid planks thereof beneath his feet. + +Indeed, all the crew appeared to be possessed of a like dismay, for they +pulled at the oars with such an incredible force that they were under +the quarter of the galleon before the boat was half filled with water. + +Here, as they approached, it then being pretty dark and the moon not +yet having risen, the watch upon the deck hailed them, whereupon Captain +Morgan called out in Spanish that he was Capt. Alvarez Mendazo, and that +he brought dispatches for the vice admiral. + +But at that moment, the boat being now so full of water as to be +logged, it suddenly tilted upon one side as though to sink beneath them, +whereupon all hands, without further orders, went scrambling up the +side, as nimble as so many monkeys, each armed with a pistol in one hand +and a cutlass in the other, and so were upon deck before the watch could +collect his wits to utter any outcry or to give any other alarm than to +cry out, "Jesu bless us! who are these?" at which words somebody knocked +him down with the butt of a pistol, though who it was our hero could not +tell in the darkness and the hurry. + +Before any of those upon deck could recover from their alarm or those +from below come up upon deck, a part of the pirates, under the carpenter +and the surgeon, had run to the gun room and had taken possession of the +arms, while Captain Morgan, with Master Harry and a Portuguese called +Murillo Braziliano, had flown with the speed of the wind into the great +cabin. + +Here they found the captain of the vice admiral playing at cards +with the Sieur Simon and a friend, Madam Simon and her daughter being +present. + +Captain Morgan instantly set his pistol at the breast of the Spanish +captain, swearing with a most horrible fierce countenance that if he +spake a word or made any outcry he was a dead man. As for our hero, +having now got his hand into the game, he performed the same service for +the Spaniard's friend, declaring he would shoot him dead if he opened +his lips or lifted so much as a single finger. + +All this while the ladies, not comprehending what had occurred, had sat +as mute as stones; but now having so far recovered themselves as to find +a voice, the younger of the two fell to screaming, at which the Sieur +Simon called out to her to be still, for these were friends who had come +to help them, and not enemies who had come to harm them. + +All this, you are to understand, occupied only a little while, for in +less than a minute three or four of the pirates had come into the cabin, +who, together with the Portuguese, proceeded at once to bind the +two Spaniards hand and foot, and to gag them. This being done to our +buccaneer's satisfaction, and the Spanish captain being stretched out +in the corner of the cabin, he instantly cleared his countenance of its +terrors, and bursting forth into a great loud laugh, clapped his hand +to the Sieur Simon's, which he wrung with the best will in the world. +Having done this, and being in a fine humor after this his first +success, he turned to the two ladies. "And this, ladies," said he, +taking our hero by the hand and presenting him, "is a young gentleman +who has embarked with me to learn the trade of piracy. I recommend him +to your politeness." + +Think what a confusion this threw our Master Harry into, to be sure, +who at his best was never easy in the company of strange ladies! You may +suppose what must have been his emotions to find himself thus introduced +to the attention of Madam Simon and her daughter, being at the time in +his bare feet, clad only in his shirt and breeches, and with no hat upon +his head, a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other. However, +he was not left for long to his embarrassments, for almost immediately +after he had thus far relaxed, Captain Morgan fell of a sudden serious +again, and bidding the Sieur Simon to get his ladies away into some +place of safety, for the most hazardous part of this adventure was yet +to occur, he quitted the cabin with Master Harry and the other pirates +(for you may call him a pirate now) at his heels. + +Having come upon deck, our hero beheld that a part of the Spanish crew +were huddled forward in a flock like so many sheep (the others being +crowded below with the hatches fastened upon them), and such was the +terror of the pirates, and so dreadful the name of Henry Morgan, that +not one of those poor wretches dared to lift up his voice to give any +alarm, nor even to attempt an escape by jumping overboard. + +At Captain Morgan's orders, these men, together with certain of his own +company, ran nimbly aloft and began setting the sails, which, the night +now having fallen pretty thick, was not for a good while observed by any +of the vessels riding at anchor about them. + +Indeed, the pirates might have made good their escape, with at most only +a shot or two from the men-of-war, had it not then been about the full +of the moon, which, having arisen, presently discovered to those of the +fleet that lay closest about them what was being done aboard the vice +admiral. + +At this one of the vessels hailed them, and then after a while, +having no reply, hailed them again. Even then the Spaniards might not +immediately have suspected anything was amiss but only that the +vice admiral for some reason best known to himself was shifting his +anchorage, had not one of the Spaniards aloft--but who it was Captain +Morgan was never able to discover--answered the hail by crying out that +the vice admiral had been seized by the pirates. + +At this the alarm was instantly given and the mischief done, for +presently there was a tremendous bustle through that part of the fleet +lying nighest the vice admiral--a deal of shouting of orders, a beating +of drums, and the running hither and thither of the crews. + +But by this time the sails of the vice admiral had filled with a strong +land breeze that was blowing up the harbor, whereupon the carpenter, +at Captain Morgan's orders, having cut away both anchors, the galleon +presently bore away up the harbor, gathering headway every moment with +the wind nearly dead astern. The nearest vessel was the only one that +for the moment was able to offer any hindrance. This ship, having by +this time cleared away one of its guns, was able to fire a parting shot +against the vice-admiral, striking her somewhere forward, as our hero +could see by a great shower of splinters that flew up in the moonlight. + +At the sound of the shot all the vessels of the flota not yet disturbed +by the alarm were aroused at once, so that the pirates had the +satisfaction of knowing that they would have to run the gantlet of +all the ships between them and the open sea before they could reckon +themselves escaped. + +And, indeed, to our hero's mind it seemed that the battle which followed +must have been the most terrific cannonade that was ever heard in the +world. It was not so ill at first, for it was some while before the +Spaniards could get their guns clear for action, they being not the +least in the world prepared for such an occasion as this. But by and by +first one and then another ship opened fire upon the galleon, until it +seemed to our hero that all the thunders of heaven let loose upon them +could not have created a more prodigious uproar, and that it was not +possible that they could any of them escape destruction. + +By now the moon had risen full and round, so that the clouds of smoke +that rose in the air appeared as white as snow. The air seemed full of +the hiss and screaming of shot, each one of which, when it struck the +galleon, was magnified by our hero's imagination into ten times its +magnitude from the crash which it delivered and from the cloud of +splinters it would cast up into the moonlight. At last he suddenly +beheld one poor man knocked sprawling across the deck, who, as he raised +his arm from behind the mast, disclosed that the hand was gone from it, +and that the shirt sleeve was red with blood in the moonlight. At this +sight all the strength fell away from poor Harry, and he felt sure that +a like fate or even a worse must be in store for him. + +But, after all, this was nothing to what it might have been in +broad daylight, for what with the darkness of night, and the little +preparation the Spaniards could make for such a business, and +the extreme haste with which they discharged their guns (many not +understanding what was the occasion of all this uproar), nearly all the +shot flew so wide of the mark that not above one in twenty struck that +at which it was aimed. + +Meantime Captain Morgan, with the Sieur Simon, who had followed him +upon deck, stood just above where our hero lay behind the shelter of the +bulwark. The captain had lit a pipe of tobacco, and he stood now in the +bright moonlight close to the rail, with his hands behind him, looking +out ahead with the utmost coolness imaginable, and paying no more +attention to the din of battle than though it were twenty leagues away. +Now and then he would take his pipe from his lips to utter an order to +the man at the wheel. Excepting this he stood there hardly moving at +all, the wind blowing his long red hair over his shoulders. + +Had it not been for the armed galley the pirates might have got the +galleon away with no great harm done in spite of all this cannonading, +for the man-of-war which rode at anchor nighest to them at the mouth +of the harbor was still so far away that they might have passed it by +hugging pretty close to the shore, and that without any great harm being +done to them in the darkness. But just at this moment, when the open +water lay in sight, came this galley pulling out from behind the point +of the shore in such a manner as either to head our pirates off entirely +or else to compel them to approach so near to the man-of-war that that +latter vessel could bring its guns to bear with more effect. + +This galley, I must tell you, was like others of its kind such as you +may find in these waters, the hull being long and cut low to the water +so as to allow the oars to dip freely. The bow was sharp and projected +far out ahead, mounting a swivel upon it, while at the stern a number of +galleries built one above another into a castle gave shelter to several +companies of musketeers as well as the officers commanding them. + +Our hero could behold the approach of this galley from above the +starboard bulwarks, and it appeared to him impossible for them to +hope to escape either it or the man-of-war. But still Captain Morgan +maintained the same composure that he had exhibited all the while, only +now and then delivering an order to the man at the wheel, who, putting +the helm over, threw the bows of the galleon around more to the +larboard, as though to escape the bow of the galley and get into the +open water beyond. This course brought the pirates ever closer and +closer to the man-of-war, which now began to add its thunder to the din +of the battle, and with so much more effect that at every discharge you +might hear the crashing and crackling of splintered wood, and now and +then the outcry or groaning of some man who was hurt. Indeed, had it +been daylight, they must at this juncture all have perished, though, +as was said, what with the night and the confusion and the hurry, they +escaped entire destruction, though more by a miracle than through any +policy upon their own part. + +Meantime the galley, steering as though to come aboard of them, had now +come so near that it, too, presently began to open its musketry fire +upon them, so that the humming and rattling of bullets were presently +added to the din of cannonading. + +In two minutes more it would have been aboard of them, when in a moment +Captain Morgan roared out of a sudden to the man at the helm to put it +hard a starboard. In response the man ran the wheel over with the utmost +quickness, and the galleon, obeying her helm very readily, came around +upon a course which, if continued, would certainly bring them into +collision with their enemy. + +It is possible at first the Spaniards imagined the pirates intended to +escape past their stern, for they instantly began backing oars to keep +them from getting past, so that the water was all of a foam about them, +at the same time they did this they poured in such a fire of musketry +that it was a miracle that no more execution was accomplished than +happened. + +As for our hero, methinks for the moment he forgot all about everything +else than as to whether or no his captain's maneuver would succeed, for +in the very first moment he divined, as by some instinct, what Captain +Morgan purposed doing. + +At this moment, so particular in the execution of this nice design, +a bullet suddenly struck down the man at the wheel. Hearing the sharp +outcry, our Harry turned to see him fall forward, and then to his hands +and knees upon the deck, the blood running in a black pool beneath him, +while the wheel, escaping from his hands, spun over until the spokes +were all of a mist. + +In a moment the ship would have fallen off before the wind had not our +hero, leaping to the wheel (even as Captain Morgan shouted an order for +some one to do so), seized the flying spokes, whirling them back again, +and so bringing the bow of the galleon up to its former course. + +In the first moment of this effort he had reckoned of nothing but of +carrying out his captain's designs. He neither thought of cannon balls +nor of bullets. But now that his task was accomplished, he came suddenly +back to himself to find the galleries of the galley aflame with musket +shots, and to become aware with a most horrible sinking of the spirits +that all the shots therefrom were intended for him. He cast his eyes +about him with despair, but no one came to ease him of his task, which, +having undertaken, he had too much spirit to resign from carrying +through to the end, though he was well aware that the very next instant +might mean his sudden and violent death. His ears hummed and rang, and +his brain swam as light as a feather. I know not whether he breathed, +but he shut his eyes tight as though that might save him from the +bullets that were raining about him. + +At this moment the Spaniards must have discovered for the first time the +pirates' design, for of a sudden they ceased firing, and began to shout +out a multitude of orders, while the oars lashed the water all about +with a foam. But it was too late then for them to escape, for within a +couple of seconds the galleon struck her enemy a blow so violent upon +the larboard quarter as nearly to hurl our Harry upon the deck, and then +with a dreadful, horrible crackling of wood, commingled with a yelling +of men's voices, the galley was swung around upon her side, and the +galleon, sailing into the open sea, left nothing of her immediate enemy +but a sinking wreck, and the water dotted all over with bobbing heads +and waving hands in the moonlight. + +And now, indeed, that all danger was past and gone, there were plenty +to come running to help our hero at the wheel. As for Captain Morgan, +having come down upon the main deck, he fetches the young helmsman a +clap upon the back. "Well, Master Harry," says he, "and did I not tell +you I would make a man of you?" Whereat our poor Harry fell a-laughing, +but with a sad catch in his voice, for his hands trembled as with an +ague, and were as cold as ice. As for his emotions, God knows he was +nearer crying than laughing, if Captain Morgan had but known it. + +Nevertheless, though undertaken under the spur of the moment, I protest +it was indeed a brave deed, and I cannot but wonder how many young +gentlemen of sixteen there are to-day who, upon a like occasion, would +act as well as our Harry. + + +V + +The balance of our hero's adventures were of a lighter sort than those +already recounted, for the next morning the Spanish captain (a very +polite and well-bred gentleman) having fitted him out with a shift of +his own clothes, Master Harry was presented in a proper form to the +ladies. For Captain Morgan, if he had felt a liking for the young man +before, could not now show sufficient regard for him. He ate in the +great cabin and was petted by all. Madam Simon, who was a fat and +red-faced lady, was forever praising him, and the young miss, who was +extremely well-looking, was as continually making eyes at him. + +She and Master Harry, I must tell you, would spend hours together, she +making pretense of teaching him French, although he was so possessed +with a passion of love that he was nigh suffocated with it. She, upon +her part, perceiving his emotions, responded with extreme good nature +and complacency, so that had our hero been older, and the voyage proved +longer, he might have become entirely enmeshed in the toils of his +fair siren. For all this while, you are to understand, the pirates were +making sail straight for Jamaica, which they reached upon the third day +in perfect safety. + +In that time, however, the pirates had well-nigh gone crazy for joy; for +when they came to examine their purchase they discovered her cargo to +consist of plate to the prodigious sum of L180,000 in value. 'Twas a +wonder they did not all make themselves drunk for joy. No doubt they +would have done so had not Captain Morgan, knowing they were still in +the exact track of the Spanish fleets, threatened them that the first +man among them who touched a drop of rum without his permission he would +shoot him dead upon the deck. This threat had such effect that they all +remained entirely sober until they had reached Port Royal Harbor, which +they did about nine o'clock in the morning. + +And now it was that our hero's romance came all tumbling down about his +ears with a run. For they had hardly come to anchor in the harbor when +a boat came from a man-of-war, and who should come stepping aboard but +Lieutenant Grantley (a particular friend of our hero's father) and his +own eldest brother Thomas, who, putting on a very stern face, informed +Master Harry that he was a desperate and hardened villain who was sure +to end at the gallows, and that he was to go immediately back to his +home again. He told our embryo pirate that his family had nigh gone +distracted because of his wicked and ungrateful conduct. Nor could our +hero move him from his inflexible purpose. "What," says our Harry, "and +will you not then let me wait until our prize is divided and I get my +share?" + +"Prize, indeed!" says his brother. "And do you then really think that +your father would consent to your having a share in this terrible bloody +and murthering business?" + +And so, after a good deal of argument, our hero was constrained to go; +nor did he even have an opportunity to bid adieu to his inamorata. Nor +did he see her any more, except from a distance, she standing on the +poop deck as he was rowed away from her, her face all stained with +crying. For himself, he felt that there was no more joy in life; +nevertheless, standing up in the stern of the boat, he made shift, +though with an aching heart, to deliver her a fine bow with the hat he +had borrowed from the Spanish captain, before his brother bade him sit +down again. + +And so to the ending of this story, with only this to relate, that our +Master Harry, so far from going to the gallows, became in good time a +respectable and wealthy sugar merchant with an English wife and a +fine family of children, whereunto, when the mood was upon him, he has +sometimes told these adventures (and sundry others not here recounted), +as I have told them unto you. + + + + +Chapter IV. TOM CHIST AND THE TREASURE BOX + +An Old-time Story of the Days of Captain Kidd + + +I + +TO tell about Tom Chist, and how he got his name, and how he came to be +living at the little settlement of Henlopen, just inside the mouth of +the Delaware Bay, the story must begin as far back as 1686, when a great +storm swept the Atlantic coast from end to end. During the heaviest part +of the hurricane a bark went ashore on the Hen-and-Chicken Shoals, just +below Cape Henlopen and at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, and Tom Chist +was the only soul of all those on board the ill-fated vessel who escaped +alive. + +This story must first be told, because it was on account of the strange +and miraculous escape that happened to him at that time that he gained +the name that was given to him. + +Even as late as that time of the American colonies, the little scattered +settlement at Henlopen, made up of English, with a few Dutch and Swedish +people, was still only a spot upon the face of the great American +wilderness that spread away, with swamp and forest, no man knew how far +to the westward. That wilderness was not only full of wild beasts, but +of Indian savages, who every fall would come in wandering tribes +to spend the winter along the shores of the fresh-water lakes below +Henlopen. There for four or five months they would live upon fish and +clams and wild ducks and geese, chipping their arrowheads, and making +their earthenware pots and pans under the lee of the sand hills and pine +woods below the Capes. + +Sometimes on Sundays, when the Rev. Hillary Jones would be preaching +in the little log church back in the woods, these half-clad red savages +would come in from the cold, and sit squatting in the back part of the +church, listening stolidly to the words that had no meaning for them. + +But about the wreck of the bark in 1686. Such a wreck as that which then +went ashore on the Hen-and-Chicken Shoals was a godsend to the poor and +needy settlers in the wilderness where so few good things ever came. +For the vessel went to pieces during the night, and the next morning +the beach was strewn with wreckage--boxes and barrels, chests and spars, +timbers and planks, a plentiful and bountiful harvest, to be gathered up +by the settlers as they chose, with no one to forbid or prevent them. + +The name of the bark, as found painted on some of the water barrels +and sea chests, was the Bristol Merchant, and she no doubt hailed from +England. + +As was said, the only soul who escaped alive off the wreck was Tom +Chist. + +A settler, a fisherman named Matt Abrahamson, and his daughter Molly, +found Tom. He was washed up on the beach among the wreckage, in a great +wooden box which had been securely tied around with a rope and lashed +between two spars--apparently for better protection in beating through +the surf. Matt Abrahamson thought he had found something of more than +usual value when he came upon this chest; but when he cut the cords +and broke open the box with his broadax, he could not have been more +astonished had he beheld a salamander instead of a baby of nine or ten +months old lying half smothered in the blankets that covered the bottom +of the chest. + +Matt Abrahamson's daughter Molly had had a baby who had died a month or +so before. So when she saw the little one lying there in the bottom of +the chest, she cried out in a great loud voice that the Good Man had +sent her another baby in place of her own. + +The rain was driving before the hurricane storm in dim, slanting sheets, +and so she wrapped up the baby in the man's coat she wore and ran off +home without waiting to gather up any more of the wreckage. + +It was Parson Jones who gave the foundling his name. When the news +came to his ears of what Matt Abrahamson had found he went over to the +fisherman's cabin to see the child. He examined the clothes in which the +baby was dressed. They were of fine linen and handsomely stitched, and +the reverend gentleman opined that the foundling's parents must have +been of quality. A kerchief had been wrapped around the baby's neck and +under its arms and tied behind, and in the corner, marked with very fine +needlework, were the initials T. C. + +"What d'ye call him, Molly?" said Parson Jones. He was standing, as he +spoke, with his back to the fire, warming his palms before the blaze. +The pocket of the greatcoat he wore bulged out with a big case bottle of +spirits which he had gathered up out of the wreck that afternoon. "What +d'ye call him, Molly?" + +"I'll call him Tom, after my own baby." + +"That goes very well with the initial on the kerchief," said Parson +Jones. "But what other name d'ye give him? Let it be something to go +with the C." + +"I don't know," said Molly. + +"Why not call him 'Chist,' since he was born in a chist out of the sea? +'Tom Chist'--the name goes off like a flash in the pan." And so "Tom +Chist" he was called and "Tom Chist" he was christened. + +So much for the beginning of the history of Tom Chist. The story of +Captain Kidd's treasure box does not begin until the late spring of +1699. + +That was the year that the famous pirate captain, coming up from the +West Indies, sailed his sloop into the Delaware Bay, where he lay for +over a month waiting for news from his friends in New York. + +For he had sent word to that town asking if the coast was clear for him +to return home with the rich prize he had brought from the Indian seas +and the coast of Africa, and meantime he lay there in the Delaware Bay +waiting for a reply. Before he left he turned the whole of Tom Chist's +life topsy-turvy with something that he brought ashore. + +By that time Tom Chist had grown into a strong-limbed, thick-jointed boy +of fourteen or fifteen years of age. It was a miserable dog's life he +lived with old Matt Abrahamson, for the old fisherman was in his cups +more than half the time, and when he was so there was hardly a day +passed that he did not give Tom a curse or a buffet or, as like as not, +an actual beating. One would have thought that such treatment would +have broken the spirit of the poor little foundling, but it had just the +opposite effect upon Tom Chist, who was one of your stubborn, sturdy, +stiff-willed fellows who only grow harder and more tough the more they +are ill-treated. It had been a long time now since he had made any +outcry or complaint at the hard usage he suffered from old Matt. At +such times he would shut his teeth and bear whatever came to him, until +sometimes the half-drunken old man would be driven almost mad by his +stubborn silence. Maybe he would stop in the midst of the beating he +was administering, and, grinding his teeth, would cry out: "Won't ye say +naught? Won't ye say naught? Well, then, I'll see if I can't make ye +say naught." When things had reached such a pass as this Molly would +generally interfere to protect her foster son, and then she and Tom +would together fight the old man until they had wrenched the stick or +the strap out of his hand. Then old Matt would chase them out of doors +and around and around the house for maybe half an hour, until his anger +was cool, when he would go back again, and for a time the storm would be +over. + +Besides his foster mother, Tom Chist had a very good friend in Parson +Jones, who used to come over every now and then to Abrahamson's hut upon +the chance of getting a half dozen fish for breakfast. He always had a +kind word or two for Tom, who during the winter evenings would go over +to the good man's house to learn his letters, and to read and write and +cipher a little, so that by now he was able to spell the words out of +the Bible and the almanac, and knew enough to change tuppence into four +ha'pennies. + +This is the sort of boy Tom Chist was, and this is the sort of life he +led. + +In the late spring or early summer of 1699 Captain Kidd's sloop sailed +into the mouth of the Delaware Bay and changed the whole fortune of his +life. + +And this is how you come to the story of Captain Kidd's treasure box. + + +II + +Old Matt Abrahamson kept the flat-bottomed boat in which he went fishing +some distance down the shore, and in the neighborhood of the old wreck +that had been sunk on the Shoals. This was the usual fishing ground of +the settlers, and here old Matt's boat generally lay drawn up on the +sand. + +There had been a thunderstorm that afternoon, and Tom had gone down the +beach to bale out the boat in readiness for the morning's fishing. + +It was full moonlight now, as he was returning, and the night sky was +full of floating clouds. Now and then there was a dull flash to the +westward, and once a muttering growl of thunder, promising another storm +to come. + +All that day the pirate sloop had been lying just off the shore back of +the Capes, and now Tom Chist could see the sails glimmering pallidly in +the moonlight, spread for drying after the storm. He was walking up the +shore homeward when he became aware that at some distance ahead of him +there was a ship's boat drawn up on the little narrow beach, and a +group of men clustered about it. He hurried forward with a good deal of +curiosity to see who had landed, but it was not until he had come close +to them that he could distinguish who and what they were. Then he knew +that it must be a party who had come off the pirate sloop. They had +evidently just landed, and two men were lifting out a chest from the +boat. One of them was a negro, naked to the waist, and the other was a +white man in his shirt sleeves, wearing petticoat breeches, a Monterey +cap upon his head, a red bandanna handkerchief around his neck, and +gold earrings in his ears. He had a long, plaited queue hanging down +his back, and a great sheath knife dangling from his side. Another man, +evidently the captain of the party, stood at a little distance as +they lifted the chest out of the boat. He had a cane in one hand and a +lighted lantern in the other, although the moon was shining as bright +as day. He wore jack boots and a handsome laced coat, and he had a +long, drooping mustache that curled down below his chin. He wore a fine, +feathered hat, and his long black hair hung down upon his shoulders. + +All this Tom Chist could see in the moonlight that glinted and twinkled +upon the gilt buttons of his coat. + +They were so busy lifting the chest from the boat that at first they did +not observe that Tom Chist had come up and was standing there. It was +the white man with the long, plaited queue and the gold earrings that +spoke to him. "Boy, what do you want here, boy?" he said, in a rough, +hoarse voice. "Where d'ye come from?" And then dropping his end of the +chest, and without giving Tom time to answer, he pointed off down the +beach, and said, "You'd better be going about your own business, if you +know what's good for you; and don't you come back, or you'll find what +you don't want waiting for you." + +Tom saw in a glance that the pirates were all looking at him, and then, +without saying a word, he turned and walked away. The man who had spoken +to him followed him threateningly for some little distance, as though +to see that he had gone away as he was bidden to do. But presently he +stopped, and Tom hurried on alone, until the boat and the crew and +all were dropped away behind and lost in the moonlight night. Then he +himself stopped also, turned, and looked back whence he had come. + +There had been something very strange in the appearance of the men +he had just seen, something very mysterious in their actions, and he +wondered what it all meant, and what they were going to do. He stood +for a little while thus looking and listening. He could see nothing, and +could hear only the sound of distant talking. What were they doing on +the lonely shore thus at night? Then, following a sudden impulse, he +turned and cut off across the sand hummocks, skirting around inland, but +keeping pretty close to the shore, his object being to spy upon them, +and to watch what they were about from the back of the low sand hills +that fronted the beach. + +He had gone along some distance in his circuitous return when he became +aware of the sound of voices that seemed to be drawing closer to him +as he came toward the speakers. He stopped and stood listening, and +instantly, as he stopped, the voices stopped also. He crouched there +silently in the bright, glimmering moonlight, surrounded by the silent +stretches of sand, and the stillness seemed to press upon him like a +heavy hand. Then suddenly the sound of a man's voice began again, and as +Tom listened he could hear some one slowly counting. "Ninety-one," +the voice began, "ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five, +ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred, one +hundred and one"--the slow, monotonous count coming nearer and nearer; +"one hundred and two, one hundred and three, one hundred and four," and +so on in its monotonous reckoning. + +Suddenly he saw three heads appear above the sand hill, so close to +him that he crouched down quickly with a keen thrill, close beside the +hummock near which he stood. His first fear was that they might have +seen him in the moonlight; but they had not, and his heart rose again +as the counting voice went steadily on. "One hundred and twenty," it +was saying--"and twenty-one, and twenty-two, and twenty-three, and +twenty-four," and then he who was counting came out from behind +the little sandy rise into the white and open level of shimmering +brightness. + +It was the man with the cane whom Tom had seen some time before the +captain of the party who had landed. He carried his cane under his arm +now, and was holding his lantern close to something that he held in his +hand, and upon which he looked narrowly as he walked with a slow and +measured tread in a perfectly straight line across the sand, counting +each step as he took it. "And twenty-five, and twenty-six, and +twenty-seven, and twenty-eight, and twenty-nine, and thirty." + +Behind him walked two other figures; one was the half-naked negro, the +other the man with the plaited queue and the earrings, whom Tom had seen +lifting the chest out of the boat. Now they were carrying the heavy box +between them, laboring through the sand with shuffling tread as they +bore it onward. As he who was counting pronounced the word "thirty," +the two men set the chest down on the sand with a grunt, the white +man panting and blowing and wiping his sleeve across his forehead. And +immediately he who counted took out a slip of paper and marked something +down upon it. They stood there for a long time, during which Tom lay +behind the sand hummock watching them, and for a while the silence was +uninterrupted. In the perfect stillness Tom could hear the washing of +the little waves beating upon the distant beach, and once the far-away +sound of a laugh from one of those who stood by the ship's boat. + +One, two, three minutes passed, and then the men picked up the chest +and started on again; and then again the other man began his counting. +"Thirty and one, and thirty and two, and thirty and three, and thirty +and four"--he walked straight across the level open, still looking +intently at that which he held in his hand--"and thirty and five, +and thirty and six, and thirty and seven," and so on, until the three +figures disappeared in the little hollow between the two sand hills on +the opposite side of the open, and still Tom could hear the sound of the +counting voice in the distance. + +Just as they disappeared behind the hill there was a sudden faint flash +of light; and by and by, as Tom lay still listening to the counting, +he heard, after a long interval, a far-away muffled rumble of distant +thunder. He waited for a while, and then arose and stepped to the top +of the sand hummock behind which he had been lying. He looked all about +him, but there was no one else to be seen. Then he stepped down from the +hummock and followed in the direction which the pirate captain and the +two men carrying the chest had gone. He crept along cautiously, stopping +now and then to make sure that he still heard the counting voice, and +when it ceased he lay down upon the sand and waited until it began +again. + +Presently, so following the pirates, he saw the three figures again in +the distance, and, skirting around back of a hill of sand covered with +coarse sedge grass, he came to where he overlooked a little open level +space gleaming white in the moonlight. + +The three had been crossing the level of sand, and were now not more +than twenty-five paces from him. They had again set down the chest, upon +which the white man with the long queue and the gold earrings had seated +to rest himself, the negro standing close beside him. The moon shone +as bright as day and full upon his face. It was looking directly at Tom +Chist, every line as keen cut with white lights and black shadows as +though it had been carved in ivory and jet. He sat perfectly motionless, +and Tom drew back with a start, almost thinking he had been discovered. +He lay silent, his heart beating heavily in his throat; but there was +no alarm, and presently he heard the counting begin again, and when he +looked once more he saw they were going away straight across the little +open. A soft, sliding hillock of sand lay directly in front of them. +They did not turn aside, but went straight over it, the leader helping +himself up the sandy slope with his cane, still counting and still +keeping his eyes fixed upon that which he held in his hand. Then they +disappeared again behind the white crest on the other side. + +So Tom followed them cautiously until they had gone almost half a mile +inland. When next he saw them clearly it was from a little sandy rise +which looked down like the crest of a bowl upon the floor of sand +below. Upon this smooth, white floor the moon beat with almost dazzling +brightness. + +The white man who had helped to carry the chest was now kneeling, busied +at some work, though what it was Tom at first could not see. He was +whittling the point of a stick into a long wooden peg, and when, by and +by, he had finished what he was about, he arose and stepped to where he +who seemed to be the captain had stuck his cane upright into the ground +as though to mark some particular spot. He drew the cane out of the +sand, thrusting the stick down in its stead. Then he drove the long +peg down with a wooden mallet which the negro handed to him. The sharp +rapping of the mallet upon the top of the peg sounded loud the perfect +stillness, and Tom lay watching and wondering what it all meant. The +man, with quick-repeated blows, drove the peg farther and farther +down into the sand until it showed only two or three inches above the +surface. As he finished his work there was another faint flash of light, +and by and by another smothered rumble of thunder, and Tom, as he looked +out toward the westward, saw the silver rim of the round and sharply +outlined thundercloud rising slowly up into the sky and pushing the +other and broken drifting clouds before it. + +The two white men were now stooping over the peg, the negro man watching +them. Then presently the man with the cane started straight away from +the peg, carrying the end of a measuring line with him, the other end +of which the man with the plaited queue held against the top of the peg. +When the pirate captain had reached the end of the measuring line he +marked a cross upon the sand, and then again they measured out another +stretch of space. + +So they measured a distance five times over, and then, from where Tom +lay, he could see the man with the queue drive another peg just at the +foot of a sloping rise of sand that swept up beyond into a tall white +dune marked sharp and clear against the night sky behind. As soon as +the man with the plaited queue had driven the second peg into the ground +they began measuring again, and so, still measuring, disappeared in +another direction which took them in behind the sand dune where Tom no +longer could see what they were doing. + +The negro still sat by the chest where the two had left him, and so +bright was the moonlight that from where he lay Tom could see the glint +of it twinkling in the whites of his eyeballs. + +Presently from behind the hill there came, for the third time, the sharp +rapping sound of the mallet driving still another peg, and then after a +while the two pirates emerged from behind the sloping whiteness into the +space of moonlight again. + +They came direct to where the chest lay, and the white man and the black +man lifting it once more, they walked away across the level of open +sand, and so on behind the edge of the hill and out of Tom's sight. + + +III + +Tom Chist could no longer see what the pirates were doing, neither did +he dare to cross over the open space of sand that now lay between +them and him. He lay there speculating as to what they were about, and +meantime the storm cloud was rising higher and higher above the horizon, +with louder and louder mutterings of thunder following each dull flash +from out the cloudy, cavernous depths. In the silence he could hear +an occasional click as of some iron implement, and he opined that the +pirates were burying the chest, though just where they were at work he +could neither see nor tell. + +Still he lay there watching and listening, and by and by a puff of warm +air blew across the sand, and a thumping tumble of louder thunder leaped +from out the belly of the storm cloud, which every minute was coming +nearer and nearer. Still Tom Chist lay watching. + +Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, the three figures reappeared from behind +the sand hill, the pirate captain leading the way, and the negro and +white man following close behind him. They had gone about halfway across +the white, sandy level between the hill and the hummock behind which Tom +Chist lay, when the white man stopped and bent over as though to tie his +shoe. + +This brought the negro a few steps in front of his companion. + +That which then followed happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly, so +swiftly, that Tom Chist had hardly time to realize what it all meant +before it was over. As the negro passed him the white man arose suddenly +and silently erect, and Tom Chist saw the white moonlight glint upon the +blade of a great dirk knife which he now held in his hand. He took one, +two silent, catlike steps behind the unsuspecting negro. Then there was +a sweeping flash of the blade in the pallid light, and a blow, the thump +of which Tom could distinctly hear even from where he lay stretched out +upon the sand. There was an instant echoing yell from the black man, who +ran stumbling forward, who stopped, who regained his footing, and then +stood for an instant as though rooted to the spot. + +Tom had distinctly seen the knife enter his back, and even thought that +he had seen the glint of the point as it came out from the breast. + +Meantime the pirate captain had stopped, and now stood with his hand +resting upon his cane looking impassively on. + +Then the black man started to run. The white man stood for a while +glaring after him; then he, too, started after his victim upon the run. +The black man was not very far from Tom when he staggered and fell. +He tried to rise, then fell forward again, and lay at length. At that +instant the first edge of the cloud cut across the moon, and there was a +sudden darkness; but in the silence Tom heard the sound of another blow +and a groan, and then presently a voice calling to the pirate captain +that it was all over. + +He saw the dim form of the captain crossing the level sand, and then, as +the moon sailed out from behind the cloud, he saw the white man standing +over a black figure that lay motionless upon the sand. + +Then Tom Chist scrambled up and ran away, plunging down into the hollow +of sand that lay in the shadows below. Over the next rise he ran, and +down again into the next black hollow, and so on over the sliding, +shifting ground, panting and gasping. It seemed to him that he could +hear footsteps following, and in the terror that possessed him he almost +expected every instant to feel the cold knife blade slide between his +own ribs in such a thrust from behind as he had seen given to the poor +black man. + +So he ran on like one in a nightmare. His feet grew heavy like lead, he +panted and gasped, his breath came hot and dry in his throat. But still +he ran and ran until at last he found himself in front of old Matt +Abrahamson's cabin, gasping, panting, and sobbing for breath, his knees +relaxed and his thighs trembling with weakness. + +As he opened the door and dashed into the darkened cabin (for both Matt +and Molly were long ago asleep in bed) there was a flash of light, and +even as he slammed to the door behind him there was an instant peal of +thunder, heavy as though a great weight had been dropped upon the roof +of the sky, so that the doors and windows of the cabin rattled. + + +IV + +Then Tom Chist crept to bed, trembling, shuddering, bathed in sweat, his +heart beating like a trip hammer, and his brain dizzy from that long, +terror-inspired race through the soft sand in which he had striven to +outstrip he knew not what pursuing horror. + +For a long, long time he lay awake, trembling and chattering with +nervous chills, and when he did fall asleep it was only to drop into +monstrous dreams in which he once again saw ever enacted, with various +grotesque variations, the tragic drama which his waking eyes had beheld +the night before. + +Then came the dawning of the broad, wet daylight, and before the rising +of the sun Tom was up and out of doors to find the young day dripping +with the rain of overnight. + +His first act was to climb the nearest sand hill and to gaze out toward +the offing where the pirate ship had been the day before. + +It was no longer there. + +Soon afterward Matt Abrahamson came out of the cabin and he called +to Tom to go get a bite to eat, for it was time for them to be away +fishing. + +All that morning the recollection of the night before hung over Tom +Chist like a great cloud of boding trouble. It filled the confined area +of the little boat and spread over the entire wide spaces of sky and sea +that surrounded them. Not for a moment was it lifted. Even when he was +hauling in his wet and dripping line with a struggling fish at the end +of it a recurrent memory of what he had seen would suddenly come upon +him, and he would groan in spirit at the recollection. He looked at Matt +Abrahamson's leathery face, at his lantern jaws cavernously and stolidly +chewing at a tobacco leaf, and it seemed monstrous to him that the old +man should be so unconscious of the black cloud that wrapped them all +about. + +When the boat reached the shore again he leaped scrambling to the beach, +and as soon as his dinner was eaten he hurried away to find the Dominie +Jones. + +He ran all the way from Abrahamson's hut to the parson's house, hardly +stopping once, and when he knocked at the door he was panting and +sobbing for breath. + +The good man was sitting on the back-kitchen doorstep smoking his +long pipe of tobacco out into the sunlight, while his wife within was +rattling about among the pans and dishes in preparation of their supper, +of which a strong, porky smell already filled the air. + +Then Tom Chist told his story, panting, hurrying, tumbling one word over +another in his haste, and Parson Jones listened, breaking every now and +then into an ejaculation of wonder. The light in his pipe went out and +the bowl turned cold. + +"And I don't see why they should have killed the poor black man," said +Tom, as he finished his narrative. + +"Why, that is very easy enough to understand," said the good reverend +man. "'Twas a treasure box they buried!" + +In his agitation Mr. Jones had risen from his seat and was now stumping +up and down, puffing at his empty tobacco pipe as though it were still +alight. + +"A treasure box!" cried out Tom. + +"Aye, a treasure box! And that was why they killed the poor black man. +He was the only one, d'ye see, besides they two who knew the place +where 'twas hid, and now that they've killed him out of the way, there's +nobody but themselves knows. The villains--Tut, tut, look at that now!" +In his excitement the dominie had snapped the stem of his tobacco pipe +in two. + +"Why, then," said Tom, "if that is so, 'tis indeed a wicked, bloody +treasure, and fit to bring a curse upon anybody who finds it!" + +"'Tis more like to bring a curse upon the soul who buried it," said +Parson Jones, "and it may be a blessing to him who finds it. But tell +me, Tom, do you think you could find the place again where 'twas hid?" + +"I can't tell that," said Tom, "'twas all in among the sand humps, d'ye +see, and it was at night into the bargain. Maybe we could find the marks +of their feet in the sand," he added. + +"'Tis not likely," said the reverend gentleman, "for the storm last +night would have washed all that away." + +"I could find the place," said Tom, "where the boat was drawn up on the +beach." + +"Why, then, that's something to start from, Tom," said his friend. "If +we can find that, then maybe we can find whither they went from there." + +"If I was certain it was a treasure box," cried out Tom Chist, "I would +rake over every foot of sand betwixt here and Henlopen to find it." + +"'Twould be like hunting for a pin in a haystack," said the Rev. Hilary +Jones. + +As Tom walked away home, it seemed as though a ton's weight of gloom had +been rolled away from his soul. The next day he and Parson Jones were to +go treasure-hunting together; it seemed to Tom as though he could hardly +wait for the time to come. + + +V + +The next afternoon Parson Jones and Tom Chist started off together upon +the expedition that made Tom's fortune forever. Tom carried a spade over +his shoulder and the reverend gentleman walked along beside him with his +cane. + +As they jogged along up the beach they talked together about the only +thing they could talk about--the treasure box. "And how big did you say +'twas?" quoth the good gentleman. + +"About so long," said Tom Chist, measuring off upon the spade, "and +about so wide, and this deep." + +"And what if it should be full of money, Tom?" said the reverend +gentleman, swinging his cane around and around in wide circles in the +excitement of the thought, as he strode along briskly. "Suppose it +should be full of money, what then?" + +"By Moses!" said Tom Chist, hurrying to keep up with his friend, "I'd +buy a ship for myself, I would, and I'd trade to Injyy and to Chiny to +my own boot, I would. Suppose the chist was all full of money, sir, and +suppose we should find it; would there be enough in it, d'ye suppose, to +buy a ship?" + +"To be sure there would be enough, Tom, enough and to spare, and a good +big lump over." + +"And if I find it 'tis mine to keep, is it, and no mistake?" + +"Why, to be sure it would be yours!" cried out the parson, in a loud +voice. "To be sure it would be yours!" He knew nothing of the law, but +the doubt of the question began at once to ferment in his brain, and he +strode along in silence for a while. "Whose else would it be but yours +if you find it?" he burst out. "Can you tell me that?" + +"If ever I have a ship of my own," said Tom Chist, "and if ever I sail +to Injy in her, I'll fetch ye back the best chist of tea, sir, that ever +was fetched from Cochin Chiny." + +Parson Jones burst out laughing. "Thankee, Tom," he said; "and I'll +thankee again when I get my chist of tea. But tell me, Tom, didst thou +ever hear of the farmer girl who counted her chickens before they were +hatched?" + +It was thus they talked as they hurried along up the beach together, +and so came to a place at last where Tom stopped short and stood looking +about him. "'Twas just here," he said, "I saw the boat last night. I +know 'twas here, for I mind me of that bit of wreck yonder, and that +there was a tall stake drove in the sand just where yon stake stands." + +Parson Jones put on his barnacles and went over to the stake toward +which Tom pointed. As soon as he had looked at it carefully he called +out: "Why, Tom, this hath been just drove down into the sand. 'Tis +a brand-new stake of wood, and the pirates must have set it here +themselves as a mark, just as they drove the pegs you spoke about down +into the sand." + +Tom came over and looked at the stake. It was a stout piece of oak +nearly two inches thick; it had been shaped with some care, and the top +of it had been painted red. He shook the stake and tried to move it, but +it had been driven or planted so deeply into the sand that he could not +stir it. "Aye, sir," he said, "it must have been set here for a mark, +for I'm sure 'twas not here yesterday or the day before." He stood +looking about him to see if there were other signs of the pirates' +presence. At some little distance there was the corner of something +white sticking up out of the sand. He could see that it was a scrap of +paper, and he pointed to it, calling out: "Yonder is a piece of paper, +sir. I wonder if they left that behind them?" + +It was a miraculous chance that placed that paper there. There was only +an inch of it showing, and if it had not been for Tom's sharp eyes, it +would certainly have been overlooked and passed by. The next windstorm +would have covered it up, and all that afterward happened never would +have occurred. "Look, sir," he said, as he struck the sand from it, "it +hath writing on it." + +"Let me see it," said Parson Jones. He adjusted the spectacles a little +more firmly astride of his nose as he took the paper in his hand and +began conning it. "What's all this?" he said; "a whole lot of figures +and nothing else." And then he read aloud, "'Mark--S. S. W. S. by S.' +What d'ye suppose that means, Tom?" + +"I don't know, sir," said Tom. "But maybe we can understand it better if +you read on." + +"'Tis all a great lot of figures," said Parson Jones, "without a +grain of meaning in them so far as I can see, unless they be sailing +directions." And then he began reading again: "'Mark--S. S. W. by S. 40, +72, 91, 130, 151, 177, 202, 232, 256, 271'--d'ye see, it must be sailing +directions--'299, 335, 362, 386, 415, 446, 469, 491, 522, 544, 571, +598'--what a lot of them there be '626, 652, 676, 695, 724, 851, 876, +905, 940, 967. Peg. S. E. by E. 269 foot. Peg. S. S. W. by S. 427 foot. +Peg. Dig to the west of this six foot.'" + +"What's that about a peg?" exclaimed Tom. "What's that about a peg? And +then there's something about digging, too!" It was as though a sudden +light began shining into his brain. He felt himself growing quickly very +excited. "Read that over again, sir," he cried. "Why, sir, you remember +I told you they drove a peg into the sand. And don't they say to dig +close to it? Read it over again, sir--read it over again!" + +"Peg?" said the good gentleman. "To be sure it was about a peg. Let's +look again. Yes, here it is. 'Peg S. E. by E. 269 foot.'" + +"Aye!" cried out Tom Chist again, in great excitement. "Don't you +remember what I told you, sir, 269 foot? Sure that must be what I saw +'em measuring with the line." + +Parson Jones had now caught the flame of excitement that was blazing up +so strongly in Tom's breast. He felt as though some wonderful thing was +about to happen to them. "To be sure, to be sure!" he called out, in a +great big voice. "And then they measured out 427 foot south-southwest by +south, and they then drove another peg, and then they buried the box +six foot to the west of it. Why, Tom--why, Tom Chist! if we've read this +aright, thy fortune is made." + +Tom Chist stood staring straight at the old gentleman's excited face, +and seeing nothing but it in all the bright infinity of sunshine. Were +they, indeed, about to find the treasure chest? He felt the sun very hot +upon his shoulders, and he heard the harsh, insistent jarring of a tern +that hovered and circled with forked tail and sharp white wings in the +sunlight just above their heads; but all the time he stood staring into +the good old gentleman's face. + +It was Parson Jones who first spoke. "But what do all these figures +mean?" And Tom observed how the paper shook and rustled in the tremor of +excitement that shook his hand. He raised the paper to the focus of his +spectacles and began to read again. "'Mark 40, 72, 91--'" + +"Mark?" cried out Tom, almost screaming. "Why, that must mean the stake +yonder; that must be the mark." And he pointed to the oaken stick with +its red tip blazing against the white shimmer of sand behind it. + +"And the 40 and 72 and 91," cried the old gentleman, in a voice equally +shrill--"why, that must mean the number of steps the pirate was counting +when you heard him." + +"To be sure that's what they mean!" cried Tom Chist. "That is it, and +it can be nothing else. Oh, come, sir--come, sir; let us make haste and +find it!" + +"Stay! stay!" said the good gentleman, holding up his hand; and again +Tom Chist noticed how it trembled and shook. His voice was steady +enough, though very hoarse, but his hand shook and trembled as +though with a palsy. "Stay! stay! First of all, we must follow these +measurements. And 'tis a marvelous thing," he croaked, after a little +pause, "how this paper ever came to be here." + +"Maybe it was blown here by the storm," suggested Tom Chist. + +"Like enough; like enough," said Parson Jones. "Like enough, after the +wretches had buried the chest and killed the poor black man, they were +so buffeted and bowsed about by the storm that it was shook out of the +man's pocket, and thus blew away from him without his knowing aught of +it." + +"But let us find the box!" cried out Tom Chist, flaming with his +excitement. + +"Aye, aye," said the good man; "only stay a little, my boy, until we +make sure what we're about. I've got my pocket compass here, but we must +have something to measure off the feet when we have found the peg. You +run across to Tom Brooke's house and fetch that measuring rod he used +to lay out his new byre. While you're gone I'll pace off the distance +marked on the paper with my pocket compass here." + + +VI + +Tom Chist was gone for almost an hour, though he ran nearly all the +way and back, upborne as on the wings of the wind. When he returned, +panting, Parson Jones was nowhere to be seen, but Tom saw his footsteps +leading away inland, and he followed the scuffling marks in the smooth +surface across the sand humps and down into the hollows, and by and by +found the good gentleman in a spot he at once knew as soon as he laid +his eyes upon it. + +It was the open space where the pirates had driven their first peg, and +where Tom Chist had afterward seen them kill the poor black man. Tom +Chist gazed around as though expecting to see some sign of the tragedy, +but the space was as smooth and as undisturbed as a floor, excepting +where, midway across it, Parson Jones, who was now stooping over +something on the ground, had trampled it all around about. + +When Tom Chist saw him he was still bending over, scraping away from +something he had found. + +It was the first peg! + +Inside of half an hour they had found the second and third pegs, and Tom +Chist stripped off his coat, and began digging like mad down into the +sand, Parson Jones standing over him watching him. The sun was sloping +well toward the west when the blade of Tom Chist's spade struck upon +something hard. + +If it had been his own heart that he had hit in the sand his breast +could hardly have thrilled more sharply. + +It was the treasure box! + +Parson Jones himself leaped down into the hole, and began scraping away +the sand with his hands as though he had gone crazy. At last, with some +difficulty, they tugged and hauled the chest up out of the sand to the +surface, where it lay covered all over with the grit that clung to it. +It was securely locked and fastened with a padlock, and it took a good +many blows with the blade of the spade to burst the bolt. Parson Jones +himself lifted the lid. Tom Chist leaned forward and gazed down into the +open box. He would not have been surprised to have seen it filled full +of yellow gold and bright jewels. It was filled half full of books and +papers, and half full of canvas bags tied safely and securely around and +around with cords of string. + +Parson Jones lifted out one of the bags, and it jingled as he did so. It +was full of money. + +He cut the string, and with trembling, shaking hands handed the bag to +Tom, who, in an ecstasy of wonder and dizzy with delight, poured out +with swimming sight upon the coat spread on the ground a cataract of +shining silver money that rang and twinkled and jingled as it fell in a +shining heap upon the coarse cloth. + +Parson Jones held up both hands into the air, and Tom stared at what he +saw, wondering whether it was all so, and whether he was really awake. +It seemed to him as though he was in a dream. + +There were two-and-twenty bags in all in the chest: ten of them full of +silver money, eight of them full of gold money, three of them full of +gold dust, and one small bag with jewels wrapped up in wad cotton and +paper. + +"'Tis enough," cried out Parson Jones, "to make us both rich men as long +as we live." + +The burning summer sun, though sloping in the sky, beat down upon them +as hot as fire; but neither of them noticed it. Neither did they notice +hunger nor thirst nor fatigue, but sat there as though in a trance, with +the bags of money scattered on the sand around them, a great pile of +money heaped upon the coat, and the open chest beside them. It was an +hour of sundown before Parson Jones had begun fairly to examine the +books and papers in the chest. + +Of the three books, two were evidently log books of the pirates who had +been lying off the mouth of the Delaware Bay all this time. The other +book was written in Spanish, and was evidently the log book of some +captured prize. + +It was then, sitting there upon the sand, the good old gentleman reading +in his high, cracking voice, that they first learned from the bloody +records in those two books who it was who had been lying inside the Cape +all this time, and that it was the famous Captain Kidd. Every now and +then the reverend gentleman would stop to exclaim, "Oh, the bloody +wretch!" or, "Oh, the desperate, cruel villains!" and then would go on +reading again a scrap here and a scrap there. + +And all the while Tom Chist sat and listened, every now and then +reaching out furtively and touching the heap of money still lying upon +the coat. + +One might be inclined to wonder why Captain Kidd had kept those bloody +records. He had probably laid them away because they so incriminated +many of the great people of the colony of New York that, with the +books in evidence, it would have been impossible to bring the pirate to +justice without dragging a dozen or more fine gentlemen into the dock +along with him. If he could have kept them in his own possession they +would doubtless have been a great weapon of defense to protect him from +the gallows. Indeed, when Captain Kidd was finally brought to conviction +and hung, he was not accused of his piracies, but of striking a mutinous +seaman upon the head with a bucket and accidentally killing him. The +authorities did not dare try him for piracy. He was really hung because +he was a pirate, and we know that it was the log books that Tom Chist +brought to New York that did the business for him; he was accused and +convicted of manslaughter for killing of his own ship carpenter with a +bucket. + +So Parson Jones, sitting there in the slanting light, read through these +terrible records of piracy, and Tom, with the pile of gold and silver +money beside him, sat and listened to him. + +What a spectacle, if anyone had come upon them! But they were alone, +with the vast arch of sky empty above them and the wide white stretch of +sand a desert around them. The sun sank lower and lower, until there was +only time to glance through the other papers in the chest. + +They were nearly all goldsmiths' bills of exchange drawn in favor of +certain of the most prominent merchants of New York. Parson Jones, as he +read over the names, knew of nearly all the gentlemen by hearsay. Aye, +here was this gentleman; he thought that name would be among 'em. What? +Here is Mr. So-and-so. Well, if all they say is true, the villain has +robbed one of his own best friends. "I wonder," he said, "why the +wretch should have hidden these papers so carefully away with the other +treasures, for they could do him no good?" Then, answering his own +question: "Like enough because these will give him a hold over the +gentlemen to whom they are drawn so that he can make a good bargain for +his own neck before he gives the bills back to their owners. I tell you +what it is, Tom," he continued, "it is you yourself shall go to New York +and bargain for the return of these papers. 'Twill be as good as another +fortune to you." + +The majority of the bills were drawn in favor of one Richard +Chillingsworth, Esquire. "And he is," said Parson Jones, "one of the +richest men in the province of New York. You shall go to him with the +news of what we have found." + +"When shall I go?" said Tom Chist. + +"You shall go upon the very first boat we can catch," said the parson. +He had turned, still holding the bills in his hand, and was now +fingering over the pile of money that yet lay tumbled out upon the coat. +"I wonder, Tom," said he, "if you could spare me a score or so of these +doubloons?" + +"You shall have fifty score, if you choose," said Tom, bursting with +gratitude and with generosity in his newly found treasure. + +"You are as fine a lad as ever I saw, Tom," said the parson, "and I'll +thank you to the last day of my life." + +Tom scooped up a double handful of silver money. "Take it sir," he +said, "and you may have as much more as you want of it." + +He poured it into the dish that the good man made of his hands, and +the parson made a motion as though to empty it into his pocket. Then +he stopped, as though a sudden doubt had occurred to him. "I don't know +that 'tis fit for me to take this pirate money, after all," he said. + +"But you are welcome to it," said Tom. + +Still the parson hesitated. "Nay," he burst out, "I'll not take it; 'tis +blood money." And as he spoke he chucked the whole double handful into +the now empty chest, then arose and dusted the sand from his breeches. +Then, with a great deal of bustling energy, he helped to tie the bags +again and put them all back into the chest. + +They reburied the chest in the place whence they had taken it, and then +the parson folded the precious paper of directions, placed it carefully +in his wallet, and his wallet in his pocket. "Tom," he said, for the +twentieth time, "your fortune has been made this day." + +And Tom Chist, as he rattled in his breeches pocket the half dozen +doubloons he had kept out of his treasure, felt that what his friend had +said was true. + +As the two went back homeward across the level space of sand Tom Chist +suddenly stopped stock-still and stood looking about him. "'Twas just +here," he said, digging his heel down into the sand, "that they killed +the poor black man." + +"And here he lies buried for all time," said Parson Jones; and as he +spoke he dug his cane down into the sand. Tom Chist shuddered. He would +not have been surprised if the ferrule of the cane had struck something +soft beneath that level surface. But it did not, nor was any sign of +that tragedy ever seen again. For, whether the pirates had carried away +what they had done and buried it elsewhere, or whether the storm in +blowing the sand had completely leveled off and hidden all sign of that +tragedy where it was enacted, certain it is that it never came to sight +again--at least so far as Tom Chist and the Rev. Hilary Jones ever knew. + + +VII + +This is the story of the treasure box. All that remains now is to +conclude the story of Tom Chist, and to tell of what came of him in the +end. + +He did not go back again to live with old Matt Abrahamson. Parson Jones +had now taken charge of him and his fortunes, and Tom did not have to go +back to the fisherman's hut. + +Old Abrahamson talked a great deal about it, and would come in his cups +and harangue good Parson Jones, making a vast protestation of what he +would do to Tom--if he ever caught him--for running away. But Tom on all +these occasions kept carefully out of his way, and nothing came of the +old man's threatenings. + +Tom used to go over to see his foster mother now and then, but always +when the old man was from home. And Molly Abrahamson used to warn him +to keep out of her father's way. "He's in as vile a humor as ever I see, +Tom," she said; "he sits sulking all day long, and 'tis my belief he'd +kill ye if he caught ye." + +Of course Tom said nothing, even to her, about the treasure, and he and +the reverend gentleman kept the knowledge thereof to themselves. About +three weeks later Parson Jones managed to get him shipped aboard of a +vessel bound for New York town, and a few days later Tom Chist landed +at that place. He had never been in such a town before, and he could +not sufficiently wonder and marvel at the number of brick houses, at +the multitude of people coming and going along the fine, hard, earthen +sidewalk, at the shops and the stores where goods hung in the windows, +and, most of all, the fortifications and the battery at the point, +at the rows of threatening cannon, and at the scarlet-coated sentries +pacing up and down the ramparts. All this was very wonderful, and so +were the clustered boats riding at anchor in the harbor. It was like a +new world, so different was it from the sand hills and the sedgy levels +of Henlopen. + +Tom Chist took up his lodgings at a coffee house near to the town hall, +and thence he sent by the postboy a letter written by Parson Jones +to Master Chillingsworth. In a little while the boy returned with +a message, asking Tom to come up to Mr. Chillingsworth's house that +afternoon at two o'clock. + +Tom went thither with a great deal of trepidation, and his heart fell +away altogether when he found it a fine, grand brick house, three +stories high, and with wrought-iron letters across the front. + +The counting house was in the same building; but Tom, because of Mr. +Jones's letter, was conducted directly into the parlor, where the great +rich man was awaiting his coming. He was sitting in a leather-covered +armchair, smoking a pipe of tobacco, and with a bottle of fine old +Madeira close to his elbow. + +Tom had not had a chance to buy a new suit of clothes yet, and so he +cut no very fine figure in the rough dress he had brought with him from +Henlopen. Nor did Mr. Chillingsworth seem to think very highly of his +appearance, for he sat looking sideways at Tom as he smoked. + +"Well, my lad," he said, "and what is this great thing you have to +tell me that is so mightily wonderful? I got what's-his-name--Mr. +Jones's--letter, and now I am ready to hear what you have to say." + +But if he thought but little of his visitor's appearance at first, he +soon changed his sentiments toward him, for Tom had not spoken twenty +words when Mr. Chillingsworth's whole aspect changed. He straightened +himself up in his seat, laid aside his pipe, pushed away his glass of +Madeira, and bade Tom take a chair. + +He listened without a word as Tom Chist told of the buried treasure, of +how he had seen the poor negro murdered, and of how he and Parson +Jones had recovered the chest again. Only once did Mr. Chillingsworth +interrupt the narrative. "And to think," he cried, "that the villain +this very day walks about New York town as though he were an honest man, +ruffling it with the best of us! But if we can only get hold of these +log books you speak of. Go on; tell me more of this." + +When Tom Chist's narrative was ended, Mr. Chillingsworth's bearing was +as different as daylight is from dark. He asked a thousand questions, +all in the most polite and gracious tone imaginable, and not only urged +a glass of his fine old Madeira upon Tom, but asked him to stay +to supper. There was nobody to be there, he said, but his wife and +daughter. + +Tom, all in a panic at the very thought of the two ladies, sturdily +refused to stay even for the dish of tea Mr. Chillingsworth offered him. + +He did not know that he was destined to stay there as long as he should +live. + +"And now," said Mr. Chillingsworth, "tell me about yourself." + +"I have nothing to tell, Your Honor," said Tom, "except that I was +washed up out of the sea." + +"Washed up out of the sea!" exclaimed Mr. Chillingsworth. "Why, how was +that? Come, begin at the beginning, and tell me all." + +Thereupon Tom Chist did as he was bidden, beginning at the very +beginning and telling everything just as Molly Abrahamson had often told +it to him. As he continued, Mr. Chillingsworth's interest changed into +an appearance of stronger and stronger excitement. Suddenly he jumped up +out of his chair and began to walk up and down the room. + +"Stop! stop!" he cried out at last, in the midst of something Tom was +saying. "Stop! stop! Tell me; do you know the name of the vessel that +was wrecked, and from which you were washed ashore?" + +"I've heard it said," said Tom Chist, "'twas the Bristol Merchant." + +"I knew it! I knew it!" exclaimed the great man, in a loud voice, +flinging his hands up into the air. "I felt it was so the moment you +began the story. But tell me this, was there nothing found with you with +a mark or a name upon it?" + +"There was a kerchief," said Tom, "marked with a T and a C." + +"Theodosia Chillingsworth!" cried out the merchant. "I knew it! I knew +it! Heavens! to think of anything so wonderful happening as this! Boy! +boy! dost thou know who thou art? Thou art my own brother's son. His +name was Oliver Chillingsworth, and he was my partner in business, +and thou art his son." Then he ran out into the entryway, shouting and +calling for his wife and daughter to come. + +So Tom Chist--or Thomas Chillingsworth, as he now was to be called--did +stay to supper, after all. + +This is the story, and I hope you may like it. For Tom Chist became +rich and great, as was to be supposed, and he married his pretty cousin +Theodosia (who had been named for his own mother, drowned in the Bristol +Merchant). + +He did not forget his friends, but had Parson Jones brought to New York +to live. + +As to Molly and Matt Abrahamson, they both enjoyed a pension of ten +pounds a year for as long as they lived; for now that all was well with +him, Tom bore no grudge against the old fisherman for all the drubbings +he had suffered. + +The treasure box was brought on to New York, and if Tom Chist did not +get all the money there was in it (as Parson Jones had opined he would) +he got at least a good big lump of it. + +And it is my belief that those log books did more to get Captain Kidd +arrested in Boston town and hanged in London than anything else that was +brought up against him. + + + + +Chapter V. JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + + +I + +WE, of these times, protected as we are by the laws and by the number +of people about us, can hardly comprehend such a life as that of the +American colonies in the early part of the eighteenth century, when +it was possible for a pirate like Capt. Teach, known as Blackbeard, to +exist, and for the governor and the secretary of the province in which +he lived perhaps to share his plunder, and to shelter and to protect him +against the law. + +At that time the American colonists were in general a rough, rugged +people, knowing nothing of the finer things of life. They lived mostly +in little settlements, separated by long distances from one another, +so that they could neither make nor enforce laws to protect themselves. +Each man or little group of men had to depend upon his or their own +strength to keep what belonged to them, and to prevent fierce men or +groups of men from seizing what did not belong to them. + +It is the natural disposition of everyone to get all that he can. Little +children, for instance, always try to take away from others that which +they want, and to keep it for their own. It is only by constant teaching +that they learn that they must not do so; that they must not take +by force what does not belong to them. So it is only by teaching and +training that people learn to be honest and not to take what is not +theirs. When this teaching is not sufficient to make a man learn to be +honest, or when there is something in the man's nature that makes him +not able to learn, then he only lacks the opportunity to seize upon the +things he wants, just as he would do if he were a little child. + +In the colonies at that time, as was just said, men were too few and +scattered to protect themselves against those who had made up their +minds to take by force that which they wanted, and so it was that men +lived an unrestrained and lawless life, such as we of these times of +better government can hardly comprehend. + +The usual means of commerce between province and province was by water +in coasting vessels. These coasting vessels were so defenseless, and the +different colonial governments were so ill able to protect them, +that those who chose to rob them could do it almost without danger to +themselves. + +So it was that all the western world was, in those days, infested +with armed bands of cruising freebooters or pirates, who used to stop +merchant vessels and take from them what they chose. + +Each province in those days was ruled over by a royal governor appointed +by the king. Each governor, at one time, was free to do almost as he +pleased in his own province. He was accountable only to the king and his +government, and England was so distant that he was really responsible +almost to nobody but himself. + +The governors were naturally just as desirous to get rich quickly, +just as desirous of getting all that they could for themselves, as was +anybody else only they had been taught and had been able to learn that +it was not right to be an actual pirate or robber. They wanted to be +rich easily and quickly, but the desire was not strong enough to lead +them to dishonor themselves in their own opinion and in the opinion of +others by gratifying their selfishness. They would even have stopped +the pirates from doing what they did if they could, but their provincial +governments were too weak to prevent the freebooters from robbing +merchant vessels, or to punish them when they came ashore. The provinces +had no navies, and they really had no armies; neither were there enough +people living within the community to enforce the laws against those +stronger and fiercer men who were not honest. + +After the things the pirates seized from merchant vessels were once +stolen they were altogether lost. Almost never did any owner apply for +them, for it would be useless to do so. The stolen goods and merchandise +lay in the storehouses of the pirates, seemingly without any owner +excepting the pirates themselves. + +The governors and the secretaries of the colonies would not dishonor +themselves by pirating upon merchant vessels, but it did not seem so +wicked after the goods were stolen--and so altogether lost--to take a +part of that which seemed to have no owner. + +A child is taught that it is a very wicked thing to take, for instance, +by force, a lump of sugar from another child; but when a wicked child +has seized the sugar from another and taken it around the corner, and +that other child from whom he has seized it has gone home crying, it +does not seem so wicked for the third child to take a bite of the sugar +when it is offered to him, even if he thinks it has been taken from some +one else. + +It was just so, no doubt, that it did not seem so wicked to Governor +Eden and Secretary Knight of North Carolina, or to Governor Fletcher of +New York, or to other colonial governors, to take a part of the booty +that the pirates, such as Blackbeard, had stolen. It did not even seem +very wicked to compel such pirates to give up a part of what was not +theirs, and which seemed to have no owner. + +In Governor Eden's time, however, the colonies had begun to be more +thickly peopled, and the laws had gradually become stronger and stronger +to protect men in the possession of what was theirs. Governor Eden was +the last of the colonial governors who had dealings with the pirates, +and Blackbeard was almost the last of the pirates who, with his banded +men, was savage and powerful enough to come and go as he chose among the +people whom he plundered. + +Virginia, at that time, was the greatest and the richest of all the +American colonies, and upon the farther side of North Carolina was +the province of South Carolina, also strong and rich. It was these two +colonies that suffered the most from Blackbeard, and it began to be +that the honest men that lived in them could endure no longer to be +plundered. + +The merchants and traders and others who suffered cried out loudly for +protection, so loudly that the governors of these provinces could not +help hearing them. + +Governor Eden was petitioned to act against the pirates, but he would +do nothing, for he felt very friendly toward Blackbeard--just as a child +who has had a taste of the stolen sugar feels friendly toward the child +who gives it to him. + +At last, when Blackbeard sailed up into the very heart of Virginia, +and seized upon and carried away the daughter of that colony's foremost +people, the governor of Virginia, finding that the governor of North +Carolina would do nothing to punish the outrage, took the matter into +his own hands and issued a proclamation offering a reward of one hundred +pounds for Blackbeard, alive or dead, and different sums for the other +pirates who were his followers. + +Governor Spottiswood had the right to issue the proclamation, but he had +no right to commission Lieutenant Maynard, as he did, to take down an +armed force into the neighboring province and to attack the pirates in +the waters of the North Carolina sounds. It was all a part of the rude +and lawless condition of the colonies at the time that such a thing +could have been done. + +The governor's proclamation against the pirates was issued upon the +eleventh day of November. It was read in the churches the Sunday +following and was posted upon the doors of all the government custom +offices in lower Virginia. Lieutenant Maynard, in the boats that Colonel +Parker had already fitted out to go against the pirates, set sail upon +the seventeenth of the month for Ocracoke. Five days later the battle +was fought. + +Blackbeard's sloop was lying inside of Ocracoke Inlet among the +shoals and sand bars when he first heard of Governor Spottiswood's +proclamation. + +There had been a storm, and a good many vessels had run into the +inlet for shelter. Blackbeard knew nearly all of the captains of these +vessels, and it was from them that he first heard of the proclamation. + +He had gone aboard one of the vessels--a coaster from Boston. The wind +was still blowing pretty hard from the southeast. There were maybe a +dozen vessels lying within the inlet at that time, and the captain of +one of them was paying the Boston skipper a visit when Blackbeard came +aboard. The two captains had been talking together. They instantly +ceased when the pirate came down into the cabin, but he had heard enough +of their conversation to catch its drift. "Why d'ye stop?" he said. +"I heard what you said. Well, what then? D'ye think I mind it at all? +Spottiswood is going to send his bullies down here after me. That's +what you were saying. Well, what then? You don't think I'm afraid of his +bullies, do you?" + +"Why, no, Captain, I didn't say you was afraid," said the visiting +captain. + +"And what right has he got to send down here against me in North +Carolina, I should like to ask you?" + +"He's got none at all," said the Boston captain, soothingly. "Won't you +take a taste of Hollands, Captain?" + +"He's no more right to come blustering down here into Governor Eden's +province than I have to come aboard of your schooner here, Tom Burley, +and to carry off two or three kegs of this prime Hollands for my own +drinking." + +Captain Burley--the Boston man--laughed a loud, forced laugh. "Why, +Captain," he said, "as for two or three kegs of Hollands, you won't +find that aboard. But if you'd like to have a keg of it for your own +drinking, I'll send it to you and be glad enough to do so for old +acquaintance' sake." + +"But I tell you what 'tis, Captain," said the visiting skipper to +Blackbeard, "they're determined and set against you this time. I tell +you, Captain, Governor Spottiswood hath issued a hot proclamation +against you, and 't hath been read out in all the churches. I myself +saw it posted in Yorktown upon the customhouse door and read it there +myself. The governor offers one hundred pounds for you, and fifty pounds +for your officers, and twenty pounds each for your men." + +"Well, then," said Blackbeard, holding up his glass, "here, I wish 'em +good luck, and when they get their hundred pounds for me they'll be in a +poor way to spend it. As for the Hollands," said he, turning to Captain +Burley, "I know what you've got aboard here and what you haven't. D'ye +suppose ye can blind me? Very well, you send over two kegs, and I'll let +you go without search." The two captains were very silent. "As for that +Lieutenant Maynard you're all talking about," said Blackbeard, "why, I +know him very well. He was the one who was so busy with the pirates down +Madagascar way. I believe you'd all like to see him blow me out of the +water, but he can't do it. There's nobody in His Majesty's service I'd +rather meet than Lieutenant Maynard. I'd teach him pretty briskly that +North Carolina isn't Madagascar." + +On the evening of the twenty-second the two vessels under command of +Lieutenant Maynard came into the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet and there +dropped anchor. Meantime the weather had cleared, and all the vessels +but one had gone from the inlet. The one vessel that remained was a New +Yorker. It had been there over a night and a day, and the captain and +Blackbeard had become very good friends. + +The same night that Maynard came into the inlet a wedding was held on +the shore. A number of men and women came up the beach in oxcarts and +sledges; others had come in boats from more distant points and across +the water. + +The captain of the New Yorker and Blackbeard went ashore together a +little after dark. The New Yorker had been aboard of the pirate's sloop +for all the latter part of the afternoon, and he and Blackbeard had been +drinking together in the cabin. The New York man was now a little tipsy, +and he laughed and talked foolishly as he and Blackbeard were rowed +ashore. The pirate sat grim and silent. + +It was nearly dark when they stepped ashore on the beach. The New York +captain stumbled and fell headlong, rolling over and over, and the crew +of the boat burst out laughing. + +The people had already begun to dance in an open shed fronting upon the +shore. There were fires of pine knots in front of the building, lighting +up the interior with a red glare. A negro was playing a fiddle somewhere +inside, and the shed was filled with a crowd of grotesque dancing +figures--men and women. Now and then they called with loud voices as +they danced, and the squeaking of the fiddle sounded incessantly through +the noise of outcries and the stamp and shuffling of feet. + +Captain Teach and the New York captain stood looking on. The New York +man had tilted himself against a post and stood there holding one arm +around it, supporting himself. He waved the other hand foolishly in time +to the music, now and then snapping his thumb and finger. + +The young woman who had just been married approached the two. She had +been dancing, and she was warm and red, her hair blowzed about her head. +"Hi, Captain, won't you dance with me?" she said to Blackbeard. + +Blackbeard stared at her. "Who be you?" he said. + +She burst out laughing. "You look as if you'd eat a body," she cried. + +Blackbeard's face gradually relaxed. "Why, to be sure, you're a brazen +one, for all the world," he said. "Well, I'll dance with you, that I +will. I'll dance the heart out of you." + +He pushed forward, thrusting aside with his elbow the newly made +husband. The man, who saw that Blackbeard had been drinking, burst out +laughing, and the other men and women who had been standing around drew +away, so that in a little while the floor was pretty well cleared. One +could see the negro now; he sat on a barrel at the end of the room. +He grinned with his white teeth and, without stopping in his fiddling, +scraped his bow harshly across the strings, and then instantly changed +the tune to a lively jig. Blackbeard jumped up into the air and clapped +his heels together, giving, as he did so, a sharp, short yell. Then +he began instantly dancing grotesquely and violently. The woman danced +opposite to him, this way and that, with her knuckles on her hips. +Everybody burst out laughing at Blackbeard's grotesque antics. They +laughed again and again, clapping their hands, and the negro scraped +away on his fiddle like fury. The woman's hair came tumbling down her +back. She tucked it back, laughing and panting, and the sweat ran down +her face. She danced and danced. At last she burst out laughing and +stopped, panting. Blackbeard again jumped up in the air and clapped his +heels. Again he yelled, and as he did so, he struck his heels upon the +floor and spun around. Once more everybody burst out laughing, clapping +their hands, and the negro stopped fiddling. + +Near by was a shanty or cabin where they were selling spirits, and by +and by Blackbeard went there with the New York captain, and presently +they began drinking again. "Hi, Captain!" called one of the men, +"Maynard's out yonder in the inlet. Jack Bishop's just come across from +t'other side. He says Mr. Maynard hailed him and asked for a pilot to +fetch him in." + +"Well, here's luck to him, and he can't come in quick enough for me!" +cried out Blackbeard in his hoarse, husky voice. + +"Well, Captain," called a voice, "will ye fight him to-morrow?" + +"Aye," shouted the pirate, "if he can get in to me, I'll try to give +'em what they seek, and all they want of it into the bargain. As for +a pilot, I tell ye what 'tis--if any man hereabouts goes out there to +pilot that villain in 'twill be the worst day's work he ever did in all +of his life. 'Twon't be fit for him to live in these parts of America if +I am living here at the same time." There was a burst of laughter. + +"Give us a toast, Captain! Give us something to drink to! Aye, Captain, +a toast! A toast!" a half dozen voices were calling out at the same +time. + +"Well," cried out the pirate captain, "here's to a good, hot fight +to-morrow, and the best dog on top! 'Twill be, Bang! bang!--this way!" + +He began pulling a pistol out of his pocket, but it stuck in the lining, +and he struggled and tugged at it. The men ducked and scrambled away +from before him, and then the next moment he had the pistol out of +his pocket. He swung it around and around. There was perfect silence. +Suddenly there was a flash and a stunning report, and instantly a crash +and tinkle of broken glass. One of the men cried out, and began picking +and jerking at the back of his neck. "He's broken that bottle all down +my neck," he called out. + +"That's the way 'twill be," said Blackbeard. + +"Lookee," said the owner of the place, "I won't serve out another drop +if 'tis going to be like that. If there's any more trouble I'll blow out +the lantern." + +The sound of the squeaking and scraping of the fiddle and the shouts and +the scuffling feet still came from the shed where the dancing was going +on. + +"Suppose you get your dose to-morrow, Captain," some one called out, +"what then?" + +"Why, if I do," said Blackbeard, "I get it, and that's all there is of +it." + +"Your wife'll be a rich widdy then, won't she?" cried one of the men; +and there was a burst of laughter. + +"Why," said the New York captain,--"why, has a--a bloody p-pirate like +you a wife then--a--like any honest man?" + +"She'll be no richer than she is now," said Blackbeard. + +"She knows where you've hid your money, anyways. Don't she, Captain?" +called out a voice. + +"The civil knows where I've hid my money," said Blackbeard, "and I know +where I've hid it; and the longest liver of the twain will git it all. +And that's all there is of it." + +The gray of early day was beginning to show in the east when Blackbeard +and the New York captain came down to the landing together. The New York +captain swayed and toppled this way and that as he walked, now falling +against Blackbeard, and now staggering away from him. + + +II + +Early in the morning--perhaps eight o'clock--Lieutenant Maynard sent a +boat from the schooner over to the settlement, which lay some four +or five miles distant. A number of men stood lounging on the landing, +watching the approach of the boat. The men rowed close up to the wharf, +and there lay upon their oars, while the boatswain of the schooner, +who was in command of the boat, stood up and asked if there was any man +there who could pilot them over the shoals. + +Nobody answered, but all stared stupidly at him. After a while one of +the men at last took his pipe out of his mouth. "There ben't any pilot +here, master," said he; "we ben't pilots." + +"Why, what a story you do tell!" roared the boatswain. "D'ye suppose +I've never been down here before, not to know that every man about here +knows the passes of the shoals?" + +The fellow still held his pipe in his hand. He looked at another one of +the men. "Do you know the passes in over the shoals, Jem?" said he. + +The man to whom he spoke was a young fellow with long, shaggy, sunburnt +hair hanging over his eyes in an unkempt mass. He shook his head, +grunting, "Na--I don't know naught about t' shoals." + +"'Tis Lieutenant Maynard of His Majesty's navy in command of them +vessels out there," said the boatswain. "He'll give any man five pound +to pilot him in." The men on the wharf looked at one another, but still +no one spoke, and the boatswain stood looking at them. He saw that they +did not choose to answer him. "Why," he said, "I believe you've not got +right wits--that's what I believe is the matter with you. Pull me up +to the landing, men, and I'll go ashore and see if I can find anybody +that's willing to make five pound for such a little bit of piloting as +that." + +After the boatswain had gone ashore the loungers still stood on the +wharf, looking down into the boat, and began talking to one another for +the men below to hear them. "They're coming in," said one, "to blow poor +Blackbeard out of the water." "Aye," said another, "he's so peaceable, +too, he is; he'll just lay still and let 'em blow and blow, he will." +"There's a young fellow there," said another of the men; "he don't look +fit to die yet, he don't. Why, I wouldn't be in his place for a thousand +pound." "I do suppose Blackbeard's so afraid he don't know how to see," +said the first speaker. + +At last one of the men in the boat spoke up. "Maybe he don't know how to +see," said he, "but maybe we'll blow some daylight into him afore we get +through with him." + +Some more of the settlers had come out from the shore to the end of the +wharf, and there was now quite a crowd gathering there, all looking at +the men in the boat. "What do them Virginny 'baccy-eaters do down here +in Caroliny, anyway?" said one of the newcomers. "They've got no call to +be down here in North Caroliny waters." + +"Maybe you can keep us away from coming, and maybe you can't," said a +voice from the boat. + +"Why," answered the man on the wharf, "we could keep you away easy +enough, but you ben't worth the trouble, and that's the truth." + +There was a heavy iron bolt lying near the edge of the landing. One of +the men upon the wharf slyly thrust it out with the end of his foot. It +hung for a moment and then fell into the boat below with a crash. "What +d'ye mean by that?" roared the man in charge of the boat. "What d'ye +mean, ye villains? D'ye mean to stave a hole in us?" + +"Why," said the man who had pushed it, "you saw 'twasn't done a purpose, +didn't you?" + +"Well, you try it again, and somebody'll get hurt," said the man in the +boat, showing the butt end of his pistol. + +The men on the wharf began laughing. Just then the boatswain came down +from the settlement again, and out along the landing. The threatened +turbulence quieted as he approached, and the crowd moved sullenly aside +to let him pass. He did not bring any pilot with him, and he jumped down +into the stern of the boat, saying, briefly, "Push off." The crowd of +loungers stood looking after them as they rowed away, and when the +boat was some distance from the landing they burst out into a volley +of derisive yells. "The villains!" said the boatswain, "they are all in +league together. They wouldn't even let me go up into the settlement to +look for a pilot." + +The lieutenant and his sailing master stood watching the boat as +it approached. "Couldn't you, then, get a pilot, Baldwin?" said Mr. +Maynard, as the boatswain scrambled aboard. + +"No, I couldn't, sir," said the man. "Either they're all banded +together, or else they're all afraid of the villains. They wouldn't even +let me go up into the settlement to find one." + +"Well, then," said Mr. Maynard, "we'll make shift to work in as best we +may by ourselves. 'Twill be high tide against one o'clock. We'll run in +then with sail as far as we can, and then we'll send you ahead with the +boat to sound for a pass, and we'll follow with the sweeps. You know the +waters pretty well, you say." + +"They were saying ashore that the villain hath forty men aboard," said +the boatswain.(2) + + (2) The pirate captain had really only twenty-five men + aboard of his ship at the time of the battle. + +Lieutenant Maynard's force consisted of thirty-five men in the schooner +and twenty-five men in the sloop. He carried neither cannons nor +carronades, and neither of his vessels was very well fitted for the +purpose for which they were designed. The schooner, which he himself +commanded, offered almost no protection to the crew. The rail was not +more than a foot high in the waist, and the men on the deck were almost +entirely exposed. The rail of the sloop was perhaps a little higher, but +it, too, was hardly better adapted for fighting. Indeed, the lieutenant +depended more upon the moral force of official authority to overawe +the pirates than upon any real force of arms or men. He never believed, +until the very last moment, that the pirates would show any real fight. +It is very possible that they might not have done so had they not +thought that the lieutenant had actually no legal right supporting him +in his attack upon them in North Carolina waters. + +It was about noon when anchor was hoisted, and, with the schooner +leading, both vessels ran slowly in before a light wind that had begun +to blow toward midday. In each vessel a man stood in the bows, sounding +continually with lead and line. As they slowly opened up the harbor +within the inlet, they could see the pirate sloop lying about three +miles away. There was a boat just putting off from it to the shore. + +The lieutenant and his sailing master stood together on the roof of +the cabin deckhouse. The sailing master held a glass to his eye. "She +carries a long gun, sir," he said, "and four carronades. She'll be hard +to beat, sir, I do suppose, armed as we are with only light arms for +close fighting." + +The lieutenant laughed. "Why, Brookes," he said, "you seem to think +forever of these men showing fight. You don't know them as I know them. +They have a deal of bluster and make a deal of noise, but when you seize +them and hold them with a strong hand, there's naught of fight left in +them. 'Tis like enough there'll not be so much as a musket fired to-day. +I've had to do with 'em often enough before to know my gentlemen well +by this time." Nor, as was said, was it until the very last that the +lieutenant could be brought to believe that the pirates had any stomach +for a fight. + +The two vessels had reached perhaps within a mile of the pirate sloop +before they found the water too shoal to venture any farther with +the sail. It was then that the boat was lowered as the lieutenant had +planned, and the boatswain went ahead to sound, the two vessels, with +their sails still hoisted but empty of wind, pulling in after with +sweeps. + +The pirate had also hoisted sail, but lay as though waiting for the +approach of the schooner and the sloop. + +The boat in which the boatswain was sounding had run in a considerable +distance ahead of the two vessels, which were gradually creeping up with +the sweeps until they had reached to within less than half a mile of the +pirates--the boat with the boatswain maybe a quarter of a mile closer. +Suddenly there was a puff of smoke from the pirate sloop, and then +another and another, and the next moment there came the three reports of +muskets up the wind. + +"By zounds!" said the lieutenant. "I do believe they're firing on the +boat!" And then he saw the boat turn and begin pulling toward them. + +The boat with the boatswain aboard came rowing rapidly. Again there were +three or four puffs of smoke and three or four subsequent reports from +the distant vessel. Then, in a little while, the boat was alongside, and +the boatswain came scrambling aboard. "Never mind hoisting the boat," +said the lieutenant; "we'll just take her in tow. Come aboard as quick +as you can." Then, turning to the sailing master, "Well, Brookes, you'll +have to do the best you can to get in over the shoals under half sail." + +"But, sir," said the master, "we'll be sure to run aground." + +"Very well, sir," said the lieutenant, "you heard my orders. If we run +aground we run aground, and that's all there is of it." + +"I sounded as far as maybe a little over a fathom," said the mate, "but +the villains would let me go no nearer. I think I was in the channel, +though. 'Tis more open inside, as I mind me of it. There's a kind of +a hole there, and if we get in over the shoals just beyond where I was +we'll be all right." + +"Very well, then, you take the wheel, Baldwin," said the lieutenant, +"and do the best you can for us." + +Lieutenant Maynard stood looking out forward at the pirate vessel, which +they were now steadily nearing under half sail. He could see that there +were signs of bustle aboard and of men running around upon the deck. +Then he walked aft and around the cabin. The sloop was some distance +astern. It appeared to have run aground, and they were trying to push it +off with the sweeps. The lieutenant looked down into the water over +the stern, and saw that the schooner was already raising the mud in her +wane. Then he went forward along the deck. His men were crouching down +along by the low rail, and there was a tense quietness of expectation +about them. The lieutenant looked them over as he passed them. +"Johnson," he said, "do you take the lead and line and go forward and +sound a bit." Then to the others: "Now, my men, the moment we run her +aboard, you get aboard of her as quick as you can, do you understand? +Don't wait for the sloop or think about her, but just see that the +grappling irons are fast, and then get aboard. If any man offers to +resist you, shoot him down. Are you ready, Mr. Cringle?" + +"Aye, aye, sir," said the gunner. + +"Very well, then, be ready, men; we'll be aboard 'em in a minute or +two." + +"There's less than a fathom of water here, sir," sang out Johnson from +the bows. As he spoke there was a sudden soft jar and jerk, then the +schooner was still. They were aground. "Push her off to the lee there! +Let go your sheets!" roared the boatswain from the wheel. "Push her off +to the lee." He spun the wheel around as he spoke. A half a dozen men +sprang up, seized the sweeps, and plunged them into the water. Others +ran to help them, but the sweeps only sank into the mud without moving +the schooner. The sails had fallen off and they were flapping and +thumping and clapping in the wind. Others of the crew had scrambled +to their feet and ran to help those at the sweeps. The lieutenant had +walked quickly aft again. They were very close now to the pirate sloop, +and suddenly some one hailed him from aboard of her. When he turned he +saw that there was a man standing up on the rail of the pirate sloop, +holding by the back stays. "Who are you?" he called, from the distance, +"and whence come you? What do you seek here? What d'ye mean, coming down +on us this way?" + +The lieutenant heard somebody say, "That's Blackbeard hisself." And he +looked with great interest at the distant figure. + +The pirate stood out boldly against the cloudy sky. Somebody seemed to +speak to him from behind. He turned his head and then he turned round +again. "We're only peaceful merchantmen!" he called out. "What authority +have you got to come down upon us this way? If you'll come aboard I'll +show you my papers and that we're only peaceful merchantmen." + +"The villains!" said the lieutenant to the master, who stood beside +him. "They're peaceful merchantmen, are they! They look like peaceful +merchantmen, with four carronades and a long gun aboard!" Then he called +out across the water, "I'll come aboard with my schooner as soon as I +can push her off here." + +"If you undertake to come aboard of me," called the pirate, "I'll shoot +into you. You've got no authority to board me, and I won't have you do +it. If you undertake it 'twill be at your own risk, for I'll neither ask +quarter of you nor give none." + +"Very well," said the lieutenant, "if you choose to try that, you may do +as you please; for I'm coming aboard of you as sure as heaven." + +"Push off the bow there!" called the boatswain at the wheel. "Look +alive! Why don't you push off the bow?" + +"She's hard aground!" answered the gunner. "We can't budge her an inch." + +"If they was to fire into us now," said the sailing master, "they'd +smash us to pieces." + +"They won't fire into us," said the lieutenant. "They won't dare to." +He jumped down from the cabin deckhouse as he spoke, and went forward to +urge the men in pushing off the boat. It was already beginning to move. + +At that moment the sailing master suddenly called out, "Mr. Maynard! Mr. +Maynard! they're going to give us a broadside!" + +Almost before the words were out of his mouth, before Lieutenant Maynard +could turn, there came a loud and deafening crash, and then instantly +another, and a third, and almost as instantly a crackling and rending of +broken wood. There were clean yellow splinters flying everywhere. A man +fell violently against the lieutenant, nearly overturning him, but he +caught at the stays and so saved himself. For one tense moment he stood +holding his breath. Then all about him arose a sudden outcry of groans +and shouts and oaths. The man who had fallen against him was lying face +down upon the deck. His thighs were quivering, and a pool of blood was +spreading and running out from under him. There were other men down, all +about the deck. Some were rising; some were trying to rise; some only +moved. + +There was a distant sound of yelling and cheering and shouting. It was +from the pirate sloop. The pirates were rushing about upon her decks. +They had pulled the cannon back, and, through the grunting sound of +the groans about him, the lieutenant could distinctly hear the thud and +punch of the rammers, and he knew they were going to shoot again. + +The low rail afforded almost no shelter against such a broadside, and +there was nothing for it but to order all hands below for the time +being. + +"Get below!" roared out the lieutenant. "All hands get below and lie +snug for further orders!" In obedience the men ran scrambling below into +the hold, and in a little while the decks were nearly clear except +for the three dead men and some three or four wounded. The boatswain, +crouching down close to the wheel, and the lieutenant himself were the +only others upon deck. Everywhere there were smears and sprinkles of +blood. "Where's Brookes?" the lieutenant called out. + +"He's hurt in the arm, sir, and he's gone below," said the boatswain. + +Thereupon the lieutenant himself walked over to the forecastle hatch, +and, hailing the gunner, ordered him to get up another ladder, so that +the men could be run up on deck if the pirates should undertake to come +aboard. At that moment the boatswain at the wheel called out that the +villains were going to shoot again, and the lieutenant, turning, saw the +gunner aboard of the pirate sloop in the act of touching the iron to the +touchhole. He stooped down. There was another loud and deafening crash +of cannon, one, two, three--four--the last two almost together--and +almost instantly the boatswain called out, "'Tis the sloop, sir! look at +the sloop!" + +The sloop had got afloat again, and had been coming up to the aid of the +schooner, when the pirates fired their second broadside now at her. When +the lieutenant looked at her she was quivering with the impact of the +shot, and the next moment she began falling off to the wind, and he +could see the wounded men rising and falling and struggling upon her +decks. + +At the same moment the boatswain called out that the enemy was coming +aboard, and even as he spoke the pirate sloop came drifting out from the +cloud of smoke that enveloped her, looming up larger and larger as she +came down upon them. The lieutenant still crouched down under the rail, +looking out at them. Suddenly, a little distance away, she came about, +broadside on, and then drifted. She was close aboard now. Something came +flying through the air--another and another. They were bottles. One of +them broke with a crash upon the deck. The others rolled over to +the farther rail. In each of them a quick-match was smoking. Almost +instantly there was a flash and a terrific report, and the air was full +of the whiz and singing of broken particles of glass and iron. There was +another report, and then the whole air seemed full of gunpowder smoke. +"They're aboard of us!" shouted the boatswain, and even as he spoke the +lieutenant roared out, "All hands to repel boarders!" A second later +there came the heavy, thumping bump of the vessels coming together. + +Lieutenant Maynard, as he called out the order, ran forward through the +smoke, snatching one of his pistols out of his pocket and the cutlass +out of its sheath as he did so. Behind him the men were coming, swarming +up from below. There was a sudden stunning report of a pistol, and then +another and another, almost together. There was a groan and the fall of +a heavy body, and then a figure came jumping over the rail, with two or +three more directly following. The lieutenant was in the midst of the +gun powder smoke, when suddenly Blackbeard was before him. The pirate +captain had stripped himself naked to the waist. His shaggy black hair +was falling over his eyes, and he looked like a demon fresh from the +pit, with his frantic face. Almost with the blindness of instinct the +lieutenant thrust out his pistol, firing it as he did so. The pirate +staggered back: he was down--no; he was up again. He had a pistol in +each hand; but there was a stream of blood running down his naked +ribs. Suddenly, the mouth of a pistol was pointing straight at the +lieutenant's head. He ducked instinctively, striking upward with his +cutlass as he did so. There was a stunning, deafening report almost in +his ear. He struck again blindly with his cutlass. He saw the flash of a +sword and flung up his guard almost instinctively, meeting the crash +of the descending blade. Somebody shot from behind him, and at the same +moment he saw some one else strike the pirate. Blackbeard staggered +again, and this time there was a great gash upon his neck. Then one of +Maynard's own men tumbled headlong upon him. He fell with the man, but +almost instantly he had scrambled to his feet again, and as he did so he +saw that the pirate sloop had drifted a little away from them, and that +their grappling irons had evidently parted. His hand was smarting as +though struck with the lash of a whip. He looked around him; the pirate +captain was nowhere to be seen--yes, there he was, lying by the rail. He +raised himself upon his elbow, and the lieutenant saw that he was trying +to point a pistol at him, with an arm that wavered and swayed blindly, +the pistol nearly falling from his fingers. Suddenly his other elbow +gave way and he fell down upon his face. He tried to raise himself--he +fell down again. There was a report and a cloud of smoke, and when it +cleared away Blackbeard had staggered up again. He was a terrible figure +his head nodding down upon his breast. Somebody shot again, and then the +swaying figure toppled and fell. It lay still for a moment--then rolled +over--then lay still again. + +There was a loud splash of men jumping overboard, and then, almost +instantly, the cry of "Quarter! quarter!" The lieutenant ran to the +edge of the vessel. It was as he had thought: the grappling irons of the +pirate sloop had parted, and it had drifted away. The few pirates who +had been left aboard of the schooner had jumped overboard and were now +holding up their hands. "Quarter!" they cried. "Don't shoot!--quarter!" +And the fight was over. + +The lieutenant looked down at his hand, and then he saw, for the first +time, that there was a great cutlass gash across the back of it, and +that his arm and shirt sleeve were wet with blood. He went aft, holding +the wrist of his wounded hand. The boatswain was still at the wheel. "By +zounds!" said the lieutenant, with a nervous, quavering laugh, "I didn't +know there was such fight in the villains." + +His wounded and shattered sloop was again coming up toward him under +sail, but the pirates had surrendered, and the fight was over. + + + + +Chapter VI. BLUESKIN THE PIRATE + + +I + +CAPE MAY and Cape Henlopen form, as it were, the upper and lower jaws of +a gigantic mouth, which disgorges from its monstrous gullet the cloudy +waters of the Delaware Bay into the heaving, sparkling blue-green of +the Atlantic Ocean. From Cape Henlopen as the lower jaw there juts out a +long, curving fang of high, smooth-rolling sand dunes, cutting sharp and +clean against the still, blue sky above silent, naked, utterly deserted, +excepting for the squat, white-walled lighthouse standing upon the crest +of the highest hill. Within this curving, sheltering hook of sand hills +lie the smooth waters of Lewes Harbor, and, set a little back from the +shore, the quaint old town, with its dingy wooden houses of clapboard +and shingle, looks sleepily out through the masts of the shipping lying +at anchor in the harbor, to the purple, clean-cut, level thread of the +ocean horizon beyond. + +Lewes is a queer, odd, old-fashioned little town, smelling fragrant of +salt marsh and sea breeze. It is rarely visited by strangers. The people +who live there are the progeny of people who have lived there for many +generations, and it is the very place to nurse, and preserve, and care +for old legends and traditions of bygone times, until they grow from +bits of gossip and news into local history of considerable size. As in +the busier world men talk of last year's elections, here these old bits, +and scraps, and odds and ends of history are retailed to the listener +who cares to listen--traditions of the War of 1812, when Beresford's +fleet lay off the harbor threatening to bombard the town; tales of the +Revolution and of Earl Howe's warships, tarrying for a while in the +quiet harbor before they sailed up the river to shake old Philadelphia +town with the thunders of their guns at Red Bank and Fort Mifflin. + +With these substantial and sober threads of real history, other and more +lurid colors are interwoven into the web of local lore--legends of the +dark doings of famous pirates, of their mysterious, sinister comings and +goings, of treasures buried in the sand dunes and pine barrens back of +the cape and along the Atlantic beach to the southward. + +Of such is the story of Blueskin, the pirate. + + +II + +It was in the fall and the early winter of the year 1750, and again +in the summer of the year following, that the famous pirate, Blueskin, +became especially identified with Lewes as a part of its traditional +history. + +For some time--for three or four years--rumors and reports of Blueskin's +doings in the West Indies and off the Carolinas had been brought in now +and then by sea captains. There was no more cruel, bloody, desperate, +devilish pirate than he in all those pirate-infested waters. All kinds +of wild and bloody stories were current concerning him, but it never +occurred to the good folk of Lewes that such stories were some time to +be a part of their own history. + +But one day a schooner came drifting into Lewes harbor--shattered, +wounded, her forecastle splintered, her foremast shot half away, and +three great tattered holes in her mainsail. The mate with one of the +crew came ashore in the boat for help and a doctor. He reported that the +captain and the cook were dead and there were three wounded men aboard. +The story he told to the gathering crowd brought a very peculiar thrill +to those who heard it. They had fallen in with Blueskin, he said, off +Fenwick's Island (some twenty or thirty miles below the capes), and +the pirates had come aboard of them; but, finding that the cargo of the +schooner consisted only of cypress shingles and lumber, had soon quitted +their prize. Perhaps Blueskin was disappointed at not finding a more +valuable capture; perhaps the spirit of deviltry was hotter in him that +morning than usual; anyhow, as the pirate craft bore away she fired +three broadsides at short range into the helpless coaster. The captain +had been killed at the first fire, the cook had died on the way up, +three of the crew were wounded, and the vessel was leaking fast, betwixt +wind and water. + +Such was the mate's story. It spread like wildfire, and in half an hour +all the town was in a ferment. Fenwick's Island was very near home; +Blueskin might come sailing into the harbor at any minute and then--! In +an hour Sheriff Jones had called together most of the able-bodied men +of the town, muskets and rifles were taken down from the chimney places, +and every preparation was made to defend the place against the pirates, +should they come into the harbor and attempt to land. + +But Blueskin did not come that day, nor did he come the next or the +next. But on the afternoon of the third the news went suddenly flying +over the town that the pirates were inside the capes. As the report +spread the people came running--men, women, and children--to the green +before the tavern, where a little knot of old seamen were gathered +together, looking fixedly out toward the offing, talking in low voices. +Two vessels, one bark-rigged, the other and smaller a sloop, were slowly +creeping up the bay, a couple of miles or so away and just inside the +cape. There appeared nothing remarkable about the two crafts, but the +little crowd that continued gathering upon the green stood looking +out across the bay at them none the less anxiously for that. They were +sailing close-hauled to the wind, the sloop following in the wake of her +consort as the pilot fish follows in the wake of the shark. + +But the course they held did not lie toward the harbor, but rather bore +away toward the Jersey shore, and by and by it began to be apparent that +Blueskin did not intend visiting the town. Nevertheless, those who stood +looking did not draw a free breath until, after watching the two pirates +for more than an hour and a half, they saw them--then about six miles +away--suddenly put about and sail with a free wind out to sea again. + +"The bloody villains have gone!" said old Captain Wolfe, shutting his +telescope with a click. + +But Lewes was not yet quit of Blueskin. Two days later a half-breed from +Indian River bay came up, bringing the news that the pirates had sailed +into the inlet--some fifteen miles below Lewes--and had careened the +bark to clean her. + +Perhaps Blueskin did not care to stir up the country people against him, +for the half-breed reported that the pirates were doing no harm, and +that what they took from the farmers of Indian River and Rehoboth they +paid for with good hard money. + +It was while the excitement over the pirates was at its highest fever +heat that Levi West came home again. + + +III + +Even in the middle of the last century the grist mill, a couple of miles +from Lewes, although it was at most but fifty or sixty years old, had +all a look of weather-beaten age, for the cypress shingles, of which it +was built, ripen in a few years of wind and weather to a silvery, hoary +gray, and the white powdering of flour lent it a look as though the +dust of ages had settled upon it, making the shadows within dim, soft, +mysterious. A dozen willow trees shaded with dappling, shivering ripples +of shadow the road before the mill door, and the mill itself, and the +long, narrow, shingle-built, one-storied, hip-roofed dwelling house. +At the time of the story the mill had descended in a direct line of +succession to Hiram White, the grandson of old Ephraim White, who had +built it, it was said, in 1701. + +Hiram White was only twenty-seven years old, but he was already in local +repute as a "character." As a boy he was thought to be half-witted or +"natural," and, as is the case with such unfortunates in small country +towns where everybody knows everybody, he was made a common sport and +jest for the keener, crueler wits of the neighborhood. Now that he was +grown to the ripeness of manhood he was still looked upon as being--to +use a quaint expression--"slack," or "not jest right." He was heavy, +awkward, ungainly and loose-jointed, and enormously, prodigiously +strong. He had a lumpish, thick-featured face, with lips heavy and +loosely hanging, that gave him an air of stupidity, half droll, half +pathetic. His little eyes were set far apart and flat with his face, his +eyebrows were nearly white and his hair was of a sandy, colorless +kind. He was singularly taciturn, lisping thickly when he did talk, +and stuttering and hesitating in his speech, as though his words moved +faster than his mind could follow. It was the custom for local wags to +urge, or badger, or tempt him to talk, for the sake of the ready laugh +that always followed the few thick, stammering words and the stupid +drooping of the jaw at the end of each short speech. Perhaps Squire +Hall was the only one in Lewes Hundred who misdoubted that Hiram was +half-witted. He had had dealings with him and was wont to say that +whoever bought Hiram White for a fool made a fool's bargain. Certainly, +whether he had common wits or no, Hiram had managed his mill to pretty +good purpose and was fairly well off in the world as prosperity went in +southern Delaware and in those days. No doubt, had it come to the pinch, +he might have bought some of his tormentors out three times over. + +Hiram White had suffered quite a financial loss some six months before, +through that very Blueskin who was now lurking in Indian River inlet. +He had entered into a "venture" with Josiah Shippin, a Philadelphia +merchant, to the tune of seven hundred pounds sterling. The money had +been invested in a cargo of flour and corn meal which had been shipped +to Jamaica by the bark Nancy Lee. The Nancy Lee had been captured by the +pirates off Currituck Sound, the crew set adrift in the longboat, and +the bark herself and all her cargo burned to the water's edge. + +Five hundred of the seven hundred pounds invested in the unfortunate +"venture" was money bequeathed by Hiram's father, seven years before, to +Levi West. + +Eleazer White had been twice married, the second time to the widow West. +She had brought with her to her new home a good-looking, long-legged, +black-eyed, black-haired ne'er-do-well of a son, a year or so younger +than Hiram. He was a shrewd, quick-witted lad, idle, shiftless, willful, +ill-trained perhaps, but as bright and keen as a pin. He was the very +opposite to poor, dull Hiram. Eleazer White had never loved his son; he +was ashamed of the poor, slack-witted oaf. Upon the other hand, he was +very fond of Levi West, whom he always called "our Levi," and whom he +treated in every way as though he were his own son. He tried to train +the lad to work in the mill, and was patient beyond what the patience +of most fathers would have been with his stepson's idleness and +shiftlessness. "Never mind," he was used to say. "Levi'll come all +right. Levi's as bright as a button." + +It was one of the greatest blows of the old miller's life when Levi ran +away to sea. In his last sickness the old man's mind constantly turned +to his lost stepson. "Mebby he'll come back again," said he, "and if he +does I want you to be good to him, Hiram. I've done my duty by you and +have left you the house and mill, but I want you to promise that if Levi +comes back again you'll give him a home and a shelter under this roof if +he wants one." And Hiram had promised to do as his father asked. + +After Eleazer died it was found that he had bequeathed five hundred +pounds to his "beloved stepson, Levi West," and had left Squire Hall as +trustee. + +Levi West had been gone nearly nine years and not a word had been heard +from him; there could be little or no doubt that he was dead. + +One day Hiram came into Squire Hall's office with a letter in his hand. +It was the time of the old French war, and flour and corn meal were +fetching fabulous prices in the British West Indies. The letter Hiram +brought with him was from a Philadelphia merchant, Josiah Shippin, with +whom he had had some dealings. Mr. Shippin proposed that Hiram should +join him in sending a "venture" of flour and corn meal to Kingston, +Jamaica. Hiram had slept upon the letter overnight and now he brought +it to the old Squire. Squire Hall read the letter, shaking his head the +while. "Too much risk, Hiram!" said he. "Mr Shippin wouldn't have asked +you to go into this venture if he could have got anybody else to do +so. My advice is that you let it alone. I reckon you've come to me +for advice?" Hiram shook his head. "Ye haven't? What have ye come for, +then?" + +"Seven hundred pounds," said Hiram. + +"Seven hundred pounds!" said Squire Hall. "I haven't got seven hundred +pounds to lend you, Hiram." + +"Five hundred been left to Levi--I got hundred--raise hundred more on +mortgage," said Hiram. + +"Tut, tut, Hiram," said Squire Hall, "that'll never do in the world. +Suppose Levi West should come back again, what then? I'm responsible for +that money. If you wanted to borrow it now for any reasonable venture, +you should have it and welcome, but for such a wildcat scheme--" + +"Levi never come back," said Hiram--"nine years gone Levi's dead." + +"Mebby he is," said Squire Hall, "but we don't know that." + +"I'll give bond for security," said Hiram. + +Squire Hall thought for a while in silence. "Very well, Hiram," said he +by and by, "if you'll do that. Your father left the money, and I don't +see that it's right for me to stay his son from using it. But if it is +lost, Hiram, and if Levi should come back, it will go well to ruin ye." + +So Hiram White invested seven hundred pounds in the Jamaica venture and +every farthing of it was burned by Blueskin, off Currituck Sound. + + +IV + +Sally Martin was said to be the prettiest girl in Lewes Hundred, and +when the rumor began to leak out that Hiram White was courting her the +whole community took it as a monstrous joke. It was the common thing to +greet Hiram himself with, "Hey, Hiram; how's Sally?" Hiram never made +answer to such salutation, but went his way as heavily, as impassively, +as dully as ever. + +The joke was true. Twice a week, rain or shine, Hiram White never +failed to scrape his feet upon Billy Martin's doorstep. Twice a week, on +Sundays and Thursdays, he never failed to take his customary seat by the +kitchen fire. He rarely said anything by way of talk; he nodded to the +farmer, to his wife, to Sally and, when he chanced to be at home, to her +brother, but he ventured nothing further. There he would sit from half +past seven until nine o'clock, stolid, heavy, impassive, his dull eyes +following now one of the family and now another, but always coming back +again to Sally. It sometimes happened that she had other company--some +of the young men of the neighborhood. The presence of such seemed to +make no difference to Hiram; he bore whatever broad jokes might be +cracked upon him, whatever grins, whatever giggling might follow those +jokes, with the same patient impassiveness. There he would sit, silent, +unresponsive; then, at the first stroke of nine o'clock, he would rise, +shoulder his ungainly person into his overcoat, twist his head into +his three-cornered hat, and with a "Good night, Sally, I be going now," +would take his departure, shutting the door carefully to behind him. + +Never, perhaps, was there a girl in the world had such a lover and such +a courtship as Sally Martin. + + +V + +It was one Thursday evening in the latter part of November, about a week +after Blueskin's appearance off the capes, and while the one subject of +talk was of the pirates being in Indian River inlet. The air was still +and wintry; a sudden cold snap had set in and skims of ice had formed +over puddles in the road; the smoke from the chimneys rose straight in +the quiet air and voices sounded loud, as they do in frosty weather. + +Hiram White sat by the dim light of a tallow dip, poring laboriously +over some account books. It was not quite seven o'clock, and he never +started for Billy Martin's before that hour. As he ran his finger slowly +and hesitatingly down the column of figures, he heard the kitchen door +beyond open and shut, the noise of footsteps crossing the floor and the +scraping of a chair dragged forward to the hearth. Then came the sound +of a basket of corncobs being emptied on the smoldering blaze and then +the snapping and crackling of the reanimated fire. Hiram thought nothing +of all this, excepting, in a dim sort of way, that it was Bob, the negro +mill hand, or old black Dinah, the housekeeper, and so went on with his +calculations. + +At last he closed the books with a snap and, smoothing down his hair, +arose, took up the candle, and passed out of the room into the kitchen +beyond. + +A man was sitting in front of the corncob fire that flamed and blazed in +the great, gaping, sooty fireplace. A rough overcoat was flung over the +chair behind him and his hands were spread out to the roaring warmth. +At the sound of the lifted latch and of Hiram's entrance he turned his +head, and when Hiram saw his face he stood suddenly still as though +turned to stone. The face, marvelously altered and changed as it was, +was the face of his stepbrother, Levi West. He was not dead; he had +come home again. For a time not a sound broke the dead, unbroken silence +excepting the crackling of the blaze in the fireplace and the sharp +ticking of the tall clock in the corner. The one face, dull and stolid, +with the light of the candle shining upward over its lumpy features, +looked fixedly, immovably, stonily at the other, sharp, shrewd, +cunning--the red wavering light of the blaze shining upon the high cheek +bones, cutting sharp on the nose and twinkling in the glassy turn of the +black, ratlike eyes. Then suddenly that face cracked, broadened, spread +to a grin. "I have come back again, Hi," said Levi, and at the sound of +the words the speechless spell was broken. + +Hiram answered never a word, but he walked to the fireplace, set the +candle down upon the dusty mantelshelf among the boxes and bottles, and, +drawing forward a chair upon the other side of the hearth, sat down. + +His dull little eyes never moved from his stepbrother's face. There was +no curiosity in his expression, no surprise, no wonder. The heavy under +lip dropped a little farther open and there was more than usual of +dull, expressionless stupidity upon the lumpish face; but that was all. + +As was said, the face upon which he looked was strangely, marvelously +changed from what it had been when he had last seen it nine years +before, and, though it was still the face of Levi West, it was a very +different Levi West than the shiftless ne'er-do-well who had run away to +sea in the Brazilian brig that long time ago. That Levi West had been +a rough, careless, happy-go-lucky fellow; thoughtless and selfish, but +with nothing essentially evil or sinister in his nature. The Levi West +that now sat in a rush-bottom chair at the other side of the fireplace +had that stamped upon his front that might be both evil and sinister. +His swart complexion was tanned to an Indian copper. On one side of his +face was a curious discoloration in the skin and a long, crooked, cruel +scar that ran diagonally across forehead and temple and cheek in a +white, jagged seam. This discoloration was of a livid blue, about the +tint of a tattoo mark. It made a patch the size of a man's hand, lying +across the cheek and the side of the neck. Hiram could not keep his eyes +from this mark and the white scar cutting across it. + +There was an odd sort of incongruity in Levi's dress; a pair of heavy +gold earrings and a dirty red handkerchief knotted loosely around his +neck, beneath an open collar, displaying to its full length the lean, +sinewy throat with its bony "Adam's apple," gave to his costume somewhat +the smack of a sailor. He wore a coat that had once been of fine +plum color--now stained and faded--too small for his lean length, and +furbished with tarnished lace. Dirty cambric cuffs hung at his wrists +and on his fingers were half a dozen and more rings, set with stones +that shone, and glistened, and twinkled in the light of the fire. The +hair at either temple was twisted into a Spanish curl, plastered flat to +the cheek, and a plaited queue hung halfway down his back. + +Hiram, speaking never a word, sat motionless, his dull little eyes +traveling slowly up and down and around and around his stepbrother's +person. + +Levi did not seem to notice his scrutiny, leaning forward, now with +his palms spread out to the grateful warmth, now rubbing them slowly +together. But at last he suddenly whirled his chair around, rasping +on the floor, and faced his stepbrother. He thrust his hand into his +capacious coat pocket and brought out a pipe which he proceeded to fill +from a skin of tobacco. "Well, Hi," said he, "d'ye see I've come back +home again?" + +"Thought you was dead," said Hiram, dully. + +Levi laughed, then he drew a red-hot coal out of the fire, put it upon +the bowl of the pipe and began puffing out clouds of pungent smoke. +"Nay, nay," said he; "not dead--not dead by odds. But [puff] by the +Eternal Holy, Hi, I played many a close game [puff] with old Davy Jones, +for all that." + +Hiram's look turned inquiringly toward the jagged scar and Levi caught +the slow glance. "You're lookin' at this," said he, running his finger +down the crooked seam. "That looks bad, but it wasn't so close as +this"--laying his hand for a moment upon the livid stain. "A cooly devil +off Singapore gave me that cut when we fell foul of an opium junk in the +China Sea four years ago last September. This," touching the disfiguring +blue patch again, "was a closer miss, Hi. A Spanish captain fired a +pistol at me down off Santa Catharina. He was so nigh that the powder +went under the skin and it'll never come out again. ---- his eyes--he +had better have fired the pistol into his own head that morning. But +never mind that. I reckon I'm changed, ain't I, Hi?" + +He took his pipe out of his mouth and looked inquiringly at Hiram, who +nodded. + +Levi laughed. "Devil doubt it," said he, "but whether I'm changed or no, +I'll take my affidavy that you are the same old half-witted Hi that +you used to be. I remember dad used to say that you hadn't no more than +enough wits to keep you out of the rain. And, talking of dad, Hi, I +hearn tell he's been dead now these nine years gone. D'ye know what I've +come home for?" + +Hiram shook his head. + +"I've come for that five hundred pounds that dad left me when he died, +for I hearn tell of that, too." + +Hiram sat quite still for a second or two and then he said, "I put that +money out to venture and lost it all." + +Levi's face fell and he took his pipe out of his mouth, regarding Hiram +sharply and keenly. "What d'ye mean?" said he presently. + +"I thought you was dead--and I put--seven hundred pounds--into Nancy +Lee--and Blueskin burned her--off Currituck." + +"Burned her off Currituck!" repeated Levi. Then suddenly a light seemed +to break upon his comprehension. "Burned by Blueskin!" he repeated, +and thereupon flung himself back in his chair and burst into a short, +boisterous fit of laughter. "Well, by the Holy Eternal, Hi, if that +isn't a piece of your tarnal luck. Burned by Blueskin, was it?" He +paused for a moment, as though turning it over in his mind. Then he +laughed again. "All the same," said he presently, "d'ye see, I can't +suffer for Blueskin's doings. The money was willed to me, fair and true, +and you have got to pay it, Hiram White, burn or sink, Blueskin or no +Blueskin." Again he puffed for a moment or two in reflective silence. +"All the same, Hi," said he, once more resuming the thread of talk, "I +don't reckon to be too hard on you. You be only half-witted, anyway, and +I sha'n't be too hard on you. I give you a month to raise that money, +and while you're doing it I'll jest hang around here. I've been in +trouble, Hi, d'ye see. I'm under a cloud and so I want to keep here, as +quiet as may be. I'll tell ye how it came about: I had a set-to with a +land pirate in Philadelphia, and somebody got hurt. That's the reason +I'm here now, and don't you say anything about it. Do you understand?" + +Hiram opened his lips as though it was his intent to answer, then seemed +to think better of it and contented himself by nodding his head. + +That Thursday night was the first for a six-month that Hiram White did +not scrape his feet clean at Billy Martin's doorstep. + + +VI + +Within a week Levi West had pretty well established himself among his +old friends and acquaintances, though upon a different footing from +that of nine years before, for this was a very different Levi from that +other. Nevertheless, he was none the less popular in the barroom of the +tavern and at the country store, where he was always the center of a +group of loungers. His nine years seemed to have been crowded full of +the wildest of wild adventures and happenings, as well by land as by +sea, and, given an appreciative audience, he would reel off his yarns by +the hour, in a reckless, devil-may-care fashion that set agape even old +sea dogs who had sailed the western ocean since boyhood. Then he seemed +always to have plenty of money, and he loved to spend it at the tavern +tap-room, with a lavishness that was at once the wonder and admiration +of gossips. + +At that time, as was said, Blueskin was the one engrossing topic of +talk, and it added not a little to Levi's prestige when it was found +that he had actually often seen that bloody, devilish pirate with his +own eyes. A great, heavy, burly fellow, Levi said he was, with a beard +as black as a hat--a devil with his sword and pistol afloat, but not so +black as he was painted when ashore. He told of many adventures in which +Blueskin figured and was then always listened to with more than usual +gaping interest. + +As for Blueskin, the quiet way in which the pirates conducted themselves +at Indian River almost made the Lewes folk forget what he could do when +the occasion called. They almost ceased to remember that poor shattered +schooner that had crawled with its ghastly dead and groaning wounded +into the harbor a couple of weeks since. But if for a while they forgot +who or what Blueskin was, it was not for long. + +One day a bark from Bristol, bound for Cuba and laden with a valuable +cargo of cloth stuffs and silks, put into Lewes harbor to take in water. +The captain himself came ashore and was at the tavern for two or +three hours. It happened that Levi was there and that the talk was +of Blueskin. The English captain, a grizzled old sea dog, listened to +Levi's yarns with not a little contempt. He had, he said, sailed in the +China Sea and the Indian Ocean too long to be afraid of any hog-eating +Yankee pirate such as this Blueskin. A junk full of coolies armed with +stink-pots was something to speak of, but who ever heard of the likes of +Blueskin falling afoul of anything more than a Spanish canoe or a Yankee +coaster? + +Levi grinned. "All the same, my hearty," said he, "if I was you I'd +give Blueskin a wide berth. I hear that he's cleaned the vessel that was +careened awhile ago, and mebby he'll give you a little trouble if you +come too nigh him." + +To this the Englishman only answered that Blueskin might be----, and +that the next afternoon, wind and weather permitting, he intended to +heave anchor and run out to sea. + +Levi laughed again. "I wish I might be here to see what'll happen," said +he, "but I'm going up the river to-night to see a gal and mebby won't be +back again for three or four days." + +The next afternoon the English bark set sail as the captain promised, +and that night Lewes town was awake until almost morning, gazing at a +broad red glare that lighted up the sky away toward the southeast. Two +days afterward a negro oysterman came up from Indian River with news +that the pirates were lying off the inlet, bringing ashore bales of +goods from their larger vessel and piling the same upon the beach under +tarpaulins. He said that it was known down at Indian River that Blueskin +had fallen afoul of an English bark, had burned her and had murdered the +captain and all but three of the crew, who had joined with the pirates. + +The excitement over this terrible happening had only begun to subside +when another occurred to cap it. One afternoon a ship's boat, in which +were five men and two women, came rowing into Lewes harbor. It was the +longboat of the Charleston packet, bound for New York, and was commanded +by the first mate. The packet had been attacked and captured by the +pirates about ten leagues south by east of Cape Henlopen. The pirates +had come aboard of them at night and no resistance had been offered. +Perhaps it was that circumstance that saved the lives of all, for no +murder or violence had been done. Nevertheless, officers, passengers +and crew had been stripped of everything of value and set adrift in +the boats and the ship herself had been burned. The longboat had become +separated from the others during the night and had sighted Henlopen a +little after sunrise. + +It may be here said that Squire Hall made out a report of these two +occurrences and sent it up to Philadelphia by the mate of the packet. +But for some reason it was nearly four weeks before a sloop of war was +sent around from New York. In the meanwhile, the pirates had disposed +of the booty stored under the tarpaulins on the beach at Indian River +inlet, shipping some of it away in two small sloops and sending the rest +by wagons somewhere up the country. + + +VII + +Levi had told the English captain that he was going up-country to visit +one of his lady friends. He was gone nearly two weeks. Then once more +he appeared, as suddenly, as unexpectedly, as he had done when he first +returned to Lewes. Hiram was sitting at supper when the door opened and +Levi walked in, hanging up his hat behind the door as unconcernedly as +though he had only been gone an hour. He was in an ugly, lowering humor +and sat himself down at the table without uttering a word, resting his +chin upon his clenched fist and glowering fixedly at the corn cake while +Dinah fetched him a plate and knife and fork. + +His coming seemed to have taken away all of Hiram's appetite. He pushed +away his plate and sat staring at his stepbrother, who presently fell +to at the bacon and eggs like a famished wolf. Not a word was said until +Levi had ended his meal and filled his pipe. "Look'ee, Hiram," said he, +as he stooped over the fire and raked out a hot coal. "Look'ee, Hiram! +I've been to Philadelphia, d'ye see, a-settlin' up that trouble I told +you about when I first come home. D'ye understand? D'ye remember? D'ye +get it through your skull?" He looked around over his shoulder, waiting +as though for an answer. But getting none, he continued: "I expect two +gentlemen here from Philadelphia to-night. They're friends of mine and +are coming to talk over the business and ye needn't stay at home, Hi. +You can go out somewhere, d'ye understand?" And then he added with a +grin, "Ye can go to see Sally." + +Hiram pushed back his chair and arose. He leaned with his back against +the side of the fireplace. "I'll stay at home," said he presently. + +"But I don't want you to stay at home, Hi," said Levi. "We'll have to +talk business and I want you to go!" + +"I'll stay at home," said Hiram again. + +Levi's brow grew as black as thunder. He ground his teeth together and +for a moment or two it seemed as though an explosion was coming. But he +swallowed his passion with a gulp. "You're a----pig-headed, half-witted +fool," said he. Hiram never so much as moved his eyes. "As for you," +said Levi, whirling round upon Dinah, who was clearing the table, and +glowering balefully upon the old negress, "you put them things down and +git out of here. Don't you come nigh this kitchen again till I tell +ye to. If I catch you pryin' around may I be----, eyes and liver, if I +don't cut your heart out." + +In about half an hour Levi's friends came; the first a little, thin, +wizened man with a very foreign look. He was dressed in a rusty black +suit and wore gray yarn stockings and shoes with brass buckles. The +other was also plainly a foreigner. He was dressed in sailor fashion, +with petticoat breeches of duck, a heavy pea-jacket, and thick boots, +reaching to the knees. He wore a red sash tied around his waist, and +once, as he pushed back his coat, Hiram saw the glitter of a pistol +butt. He was a powerful, thickset man, low-browed and bull-necked, his +cheek, and chin, and throat closely covered with a stubble of blue-black +beard. He wore a red kerchief tied around his head and over it a cocked +hat, edged with tarnished gilt braid. + +Levi himself opened the door to them. He exchanged a few words outside +with his visitors, in a foreign language of which Hiram understood +nothing. Neither of the two strangers spoke a word to Hiram: the little +man shot him a sharp look out of the corners of his eyes and the burly +ruffian scowled blackly at him, but beyond that neither vouchsafed him +any regard. + +Levi drew to the shutters, shot the bolt in the outer door, and tilted +a chair against the latch of the one that led from the kitchen into the +adjoining room. Then the three worthies seated themselves at the table +which Dinah had half cleared of the supper china, and were presently +deeply engrossed over a packet of papers which the big, burly man had +brought with him in the pocket of his pea-jacket. The confabulation was +conducted throughout in the same foreign language which Levi had used +when first speaking to them--a language quite unintelligible to Hiram's +ears. Now and then the murmur of talk would rise loud and harsh over +some disputed point; now and then it would sink away to whispers. + +Twice the tall clock in the corner whirred and sharply struck the +hour, but throughout the whole long consultation Hiram stood silent, +motionless as a stock, his eyes fixed almost unwinkingly upon the three +heads grouped close together around the dim, flickering light of the +candle and the papers scattered upon the table. + +Suddenly the talk came to an end, the three heads separated and the +three chairs were pushed back, grating harshly. Levi rose, went to the +closet and brought thence a bottle of Hiram's apple brandy, as coolly +as though it belonged to himself. He set three tumblers and a crock of +water upon the table and each helped himself liberally. + +As the two visitors departed down the road, Levi stood for a while at +the open door, looking after the dusky figures until they were swallowed +in the darkness. Then he turned, came in, shut the door, shuddered, took +a final dose of the apple brandy and went to bed, without, since his +first suppressed explosion, having said a single word to Hiram. + +Hiram, left alone, stood for a while, silent, motionless as ever, then +he looked slowly about him, gave a shake of the shoulders as though to +arouse himself, and taking the candle, left the room, shutting the door +noiselessly behind him. + + +VIII + +This time of Levi West's unwelcome visitation was indeed a time of +bitter trouble and tribulation to poor Hiram White. Money was of very +different value in those days than it is now, and five hundred pounds +was in its way a good round lump--in Sussex County it was almost a +fortune. It was a desperate struggle for Hiram to raise the amount of +his father's bequest to his stepbrother. Squire Hall, as may have been +gathered, had a very warm and friendly feeling for Hiram, believing in +him when all others disbelieved; nevertheless, in the matter of money +the old man was as hard and as cold as adamant. He would, he said, do +all he could to help Hiram, but that five hundred pounds must and should +be raised--Hiram must release his security bond. He would loan him, he +said, three hundred pounds, taking a mortgage upon the mill. He would +have lent him four hundred but that there was already a first mortgage +of one hundred pounds upon it, and he would not dare to put more than +three hundred more atop of that. + +Hiram had a considerable quantity of wheat which he had bought upon +speculation and which was then lying idle in a Philadelphia storehouse. +This he had sold at public sale and at a very great sacrifice; he +realized barely one hundred pounds upon it. The financial horizon looked +very black to him; nevertheless, Levi's five hundred pounds was raised, +and paid into Squire Hall's hands, and Squire Hall released Hiram's +bond. + +The business was finally closed on one cold, gray afternoon in the early +part of December. As Hiram tore his bond across and then tore it across +again and again, Squire Hall pushed back the papers upon his desk and +cocked his feet upon its slanting top. "Hiram," said he, abruptly, +"Hiram, do you know that Levi West is forever hanging around Billy +Martin's house, after that pretty daughter of his?" + +So long a space of silence followed the speech that the Squire began to +think that Hiram might not have heard him. But Hiram had heard. "No," +said he, "I didn't know it." + +"Well, he is," said Squire Hall. "It's the talk of the whole +neighborhood. The talk's pretty bad, too. D'ye know that they say that +she was away from home three days last week, nobody knew where? The +fellow's turned her head with his sailor's yarns and his traveler's +lies." + +Hiram said not a word, but he sat looking at the other in stolid +silence. "That stepbrother of yours," continued the old Squire +presently, "is a rascal--he is a rascal, Hiram, and I mis-doubt he's +something worse. I hear he's been seen in some queer places and with +queer company of late." + +He stopped again, and still Hiram said nothing. "And look'ee, Hiram," +the old man resumed, suddenly, "I do hear that you be courtin' the girl, +too; is that so?" + +"Yes," said Hiram, "I'm courtin' her, too." + +"Tut! tut!" said the Squire, "that's a pity, Hiram. I'm afraid your +cakes are dough." + +After he had left the Squire's office, Hiram stood for a while in the +street, bareheaded, his hat in his hand, staring unwinkingly down at +the ground at his feet, with stupidly drooping lips and lackluster eyes. +Presently he raised his hand and began slowly smoothing down the sandy +shock of hair upon his forehead. At last he aroused himself with a +shake, looked dully up and down the street, and then, putting on his +hat, turned and walked slowly and heavily away. + +The early dusk of the cloudy winter evening was settling fast, for +the sky was leaden and threatening. At the outskirts of the town Hiram +stopped again and again stood for a while in brooding thought. Then, +finally, he turned slowly, not the way that led homeward, but taking the +road that led between the bare and withered fields and crooked fences +toward Billy Martin's. + +It would be hard to say just what it was that led Hiram to seek Billy +Martin's house at that time of day--whether it was fate or ill fortune. +He could not have chosen a more opportune time to confirm his own +undoing. What he saw was the very worst that his heart feared. + +Along the road, at a little distance from the house, was a mock-orange +hedge, now bare, naked, leafless. As Hiram drew near he heard footsteps +approaching and low voices. He drew back into the fence corner and there +stood, half sheltered by the stark network of twigs. Two figures passed +slowly along the gray of the roadway in the gloaming. One was his +stepbrother, the other was Sally Martin. Levi's arm was around her, he +was whispering into her ear, and her head rested upon his shoulder. + +Hiram stood as still, as breathless, as cold as ice. They stopped upon +the side of the road just beyond where he stood. Hiram's eyes never +left them. There for some time they talked together in low voices, +their words now and then reaching the ears of that silent, breathless +listener. + +Suddenly there came the clattering of an opening door, and then Betty +Martin's voice broke the silence, harshly, shrilly: "Sal!--Sal!--Sally +Martin! You, Sally Martin! Come in yere. Where be ye?" + +The girl flung her arms around Levi's neck and their lips met in one +quick kiss. The next moment she was gone, flying swiftly, silently, down +the road past where Hiram stood, stooping as she ran. Levi stood looking +after her until she was gone; then he turned and walked away whistling. + +His whistling died shrilly into silence in the wintry distance, and +then at last Hiram came stumbling out from the hedge. His face had never +looked before as it looked then. + + +IX + +Hiram was standing in front of the fire with his hands clasped behind +his back. He had not touched the supper on the table. Levi was eating +with an appetite. Suddenly he looked over his plate at his stepbrother. + +"How about that five hundred pounds, Hiram?" said he. "I gave ye a month +to raise it and the month ain't quite up yet, but I'm goin' to leave +this here place day after to-morrow--by next day at the furd'st--and I +want the money that's mine." + +"I paid it to Squire Hall to-day and he has it fer ye," said Hiram, +dully. + +Levi laid down his knife and fork with a clatter. "Squire Hall!" said +he, "what's Squire Hall got to do with it? Squire Hall didn't have the +use of that money. It was you had it and you have got to pay it back to +me, and if you don't do it, by G----, I'll have the law on you, sure as +you're born." + +"Squire Hall's trustee--I ain't your trustee," said Hiram, in the same +dull voice. + +"I don't know nothing about trustees," said Levi, "or anything about +lawyer business, either. What I want to know is, are you going to pay me +my money or no?" + +"No," said Hiram, "I ain't--Squire Hall'll pay ye; you go to him." + +Levi West's face grew purple red. He pushed back, his chair grating +harshly. "You--bloody land pirate!" he said, grinding his teeth +together. "I see through your tricks. You're up to cheating me out of +my money. You know very well that Squire Hall is down on me, hard and +bitter--writin' his----reports to Philadelphia and doing all he can to +stir up everybody agin me and to bring the bluejackets down on me. I +see through your tricks as clear as glass, but ye shatn't trick me. I'll +have my money if there's law in the land--ye bloody, unnatural thief ye, +who'd go agin our dead father's will!" + +Then--if the roof had fallen in upon him, Levi West could not have been +more amazed--Hiram suddenly strode forward, and, leaning half across the +table with his fists clenched, fairly glared into Levi's eyes. His face, +dull, stupid, wooden, was now fairly convulsed with passion. The great +veins stood out upon his temples like knotted whipcords, and when +he spoke his voice was more a breathless snarl than the voice of a +Christian man. + +"Ye'll have the law, will ye?" said he. "Ye'll--have the law, will ye? +You're afeared to go to law--Levi West--you try th' law--and see how ye +like it. Who 're you to call me thief--ye bloody, murderin' villain ye! +You're the thief--Levi West--you come here and stole my daddy from me ye +did. You make me ruin--myself to pay what oughter to been mine then--ye +ye steal the gal I was courtin', to boot." He stopped and his lips +rithed for words to say. "I know ye," said he, grinding his teeth. "I +know ye! And only for what my daddy made me promise I'd a-had you up to +the magistrate's before this." + +Then, pointing with quivering finger: "There's the door--you see it! Go +out that there door and don't never come into it again--if ye do--or +if ye ever come where I can lay eyes on ye again--by th' Holy Holy I'll +hale ye up to the Squire's office and tell all I know and all I've seen. +Oh, I'll give ye your belly-fill of law if--ye want th' law! Git out of +the house, I say!" + +As Hiram spoke Levi seemed to shrink together. His face changed from its +copper color to a dull, waxy yellow. When the other ended he answered +never a word. But he pushed back his chair, rose, put on his hat and, +with a furtive, sidelong look, left the house, without stopping to +finish the supper which he had begun. He never entered Hiram White's +door again. + + +X + +Hiram had driven out the evil spirit from his home, but the mischief +that it had brewed was done and could not be undone. The next day it +was known that Sally Martin had run away from home, and that she had run +away with Levi West. Old Billy Martin had been in town in the morning +with his rifle, hunting for Levi and threatening if he caught him to +have his life for leading his daughter astray. + +And, as the evil spirit had left Hiram's house, so had another and a +greater evil spirit quitted its harborage. It was heard from Indian +River in a few days more that Blueskin had quitted the inlet and had +sailed away to the southeast; and it was reported, by those who seemed +to know, that he had finally quitted those parts. + +It was well for himself that Blueskin left when he did, for not three +days after he sailed away the Scorpion sloop-of-war dropped anchor +in Lewes harbor. The New York agent of the unfortunate packet and a +government commissioner had also come aboard the Scorpion. + +Without loss of time, the officer in command instituted a keen and +searching examination that brought to light some singularly curious +facts. It was found that a very friendly understanding must have existed +for some time between the pirates and the people of Indian River, for, +in the houses throughout that section, many things--some of considerable +value--that had been taken by the pirates from the packet, were +discovered and seized by the commissioner. Valuables of a suspicious +nature had found their way even into the houses of Lewes itself. + +The whole neighborhood seemed to have become more or less tainted by the +presence of the pirates. + +Even poor Hiram White did not escape the suspicions of having had +dealings with them. Of course the examiners were not slow in discovering +that Levi West had been deeply concerned with Blueskin's doings. + +Old Dinah and black Bob were examined, and not only did the story of +Levi's two visitors come to light, but also the fact that Hiram was +present and with them while they were in the house disposing of the +captured goods to their agent. + +Of all that he had endured, nothing seemed to cut poor Hiram so deeply +and keenly as these unjust suspicions. They seemed to bring the last +bitter pang, hardest of all to bear. + +Levi had taken from him his father's love; he had driven him, if not to +ruin, at least perilously close to it. He had run away with the girl he +loved, and now, through him, even Hiram's good name was gone. + +Neither did the suspicions against him remain passive; they became +active. + +Goldsmiths' bills, to the amount of several thousand pounds, had been +taken in the packet and Hiram was examined with an almost inquisitorial +closeness and strictness as to whether he had or had not knowledge of +their whereabouts. + +Under his accumulated misfortunes, he grew not only more dull, more +taciturn, than ever, but gloomy, moody, brooding as well. For hours he +would sit staring straight before him into the fire, without moving so +much as a hair. + +One night--it was a bitterly cold night in February, with three inches +of dry and gritty snow upon the ground--while Hiram sat thus brooding, +there came, of a sudden, a soft tap upon the door. + +Low and hesitating as it was, Hiram started violently at the sound. He +sat for a while, looking from right to left. Then suddenly pushing back +his chair, he arose, strode to the door, and flung it wide open. + +It was Sally Martin. + +Hiram stood for a while staring blankly at her. It was she who first +spoke. "Won't you let me come in, Hi?" said she. "I'm nigh starved with +the cold and I'm fit to die, I'm so hungry. For God's sake, let me come +in." + +"Yes," said Hiram, "I'll let you come in, but why don't you go home?" + +The poor girl was shivering and chattering with the cold; now she began +crying, wiping her eyes with the corner of a blanket in which her head +and shoulders were wrapped. "I have been home, Hiram," she said, "but +dad, he shut the door in my face. He cursed me just awful, Hi--I wish I +was dead!" + +"You better come in," said Hiram. "It's no good standing out there in +the cold." He stood aside and the girl entered, swiftly, gratefully. + +At Hiram's bidding black Dinah presently set some food before Sally and +she fell to eating ravenously, almost ferociously. Meantime, while she +ate, Hiram stood with his back to the fire, looking at her face that +face once so round and rosy, now thin, pinched, haggard. + +"Are you sick, Sally?" said he presently. + +"No," said she, "but I've had pretty hard times since I left home, Hi." +The tears sprang to her eyes at the recollection of her troubles, but +she only wiped them hastily away with the back of her hand, without +stopping in her eating. + +A long pause of dead silence followed. Dinah sat crouched together on a +cricket at the other side of the hearth, listening with interest. Hiram +did not seem to see her. "Did you go off with Levi?" said he at last, +speaking abruptly. The girl looked up furtively under her brows. "You +needn't be afeared to tell," he added. + +"Yes," said she at last, "I did go off with him, Hi." + +"Where've you been?" + +At the question, she suddenly laid down her knife and fork. + +"Don't you ask me that, Hi," said she, agitatedly, "I can't tell you +that. You don't know Levi, Hiram; I darsn't tell you anything he don't +want me to. If I told you where I been he'd hunt me out, no matter where +I was, and kill me. If you only knew what I know about him, Hiram, you +wouldn't ask anything about him." + +Hiram stood looking broodingly at her for a long time; then at last he +again spoke. "I thought a sight of you onc't, Sally," said he. + +Sally did not answer immediately, but, after a while, she suddenly +looked up. "Hiram," said she, "if I tell ye something will you promise +on your oath not to breathe a word to any living soul?" Hiram nodded. +"Then I'll tell you, but if Levi finds I've told he'll murder me as +sure as you're standin' there. Come nigher--I've got to whisper it." He +leaned forward close to her where she sat. She looked swiftly from right +to left; then raising her lips she breathed into his ear: "I'm an honest +woman, Hi. I was married to Levi West before I run away." + + +XI + +The winter had passed, spring had passed, and summer had come. Whatever +Hiram had felt, he had made no sign of suffering. Nevertheless, +his lumpy face had begun to look flabby, his cheeks hollow, and his +loose-jointed body shrunk more awkwardly together into its clothes. He +was often awake at night, sometimes walking up and down his room until +far into the small hours. + +It was through such a wakeful spell as this that he entered into the +greatest, the most terrible, happening of his life. + +It was a sulphurously hot night in July. The air was like the breath of +a furnace, and it was a hard matter to sleep with even the easiest +mind and under the most favorable circumstances. The full moon shone in +through the open window, laying a white square of light upon the floor, +and Hiram, as he paced up and down, up and down, walked directly through +it, his gaunt figure starting out at every turn into sudden brightness +as he entered the straight line of misty light. + +The clock in the kitchen whirred and rang out the hour of twelve, and +Hiram stopped in his walk to count the strokes. + +The last vibration died away into silence, and still he stood +motionless, now listening with a new and sudden intentness, for, even as +the clock rang the last stroke, he heard soft, heavy footsteps, moving +slowly and cautiously along the pathway before the house and directly +below the open window. A few seconds more and he heard the creaking of +rusty hinges. The mysterious visitor had entered the mill. Hiram crept +softly to the window and looked out. The moon shone full on the dusty, +shingled face of the old mill, not thirty steps away, and he saw that +the door was standing wide open. A second or two of stillness followed, +and then, as he still stood looking intently, he saw the figure of a man +suddenly appear, sharp and vivid, from the gaping blackness of the open +doorway. Hiram could see his face as clear as day. It was Levi West, and +he carried an empty meal bag over his arm. + +Levi West stood looking from right to left for a second or two, and then +he took off his hat and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. Then +he softly closed the door behind him and left the mill as he had come, +and with the same cautious step. Hiram looked down upon him as he passed +close to the house and almost directly beneath. He could have touched +him with his hand. + +Fifty or sixty yards from the house Levi stopped and a second figure +arose from the black shadow in the angle of the worm fence and joined +him. They stood for a while talking together, Levi pointing now and then +toward the mill. Then the two turned, and, climbing over the fence, +cut across an open field and through the tall, shaggy grass toward the +southeast. + +Hiram straightened himself and drew a deep breath, and the moon, shining +full upon his face, snowed it twisted, convulsed, as it had been when +he had fronted his stepbrother seven months before in the kitchen. Great +beads of sweat stood on his brow and he wiped them away with his sleeve. +Then, coatless, hatless as he was, he swung himself out of the window, +dropped upon the grass, and, without an instant of hesitation, strode +off down the road in the direction that Levi West had taken. + +As he climbed the fence where the two men had climbed it he could see +them in the pallid light, far away across the level, scrubby meadow +land, walking toward a narrow strip of pine woods. + +A little later they entered the sharp-cut shadows beneath the trees and +were swallowed in the darkness. + +With fixed eyes and close-shut lips, as doggedly, as inexorably as +though he were a Nemesis hunting his enemy down, Hiram followed their +footsteps across the stretch of moonlit open. Then, by and by, he also +was in the shadow of the pines. Here, not a sound broke the midnight +hush. His feet made no noise upon the resinous softness of the ground +below. In that dead, pulseless silence he could distinctly hear the +distant voices of Levi and his companion, sounding loud and resonant in +the hollow of the woods. Beyond the woods was a cornfield, and presently +he heard the rattling of the harsh leaves as the two plunged into the +tasseled jungle. Here, as in the woods, he followed them, step by step, +guided by the noise of their progress through the canes. + +Beyond the cornfield ran a road that, skirting to the south of Lewes, +led across a wooden bridge to the wide salt marshes that stretched +between the town and the distant sand hills. Coming out upon this road +Hiram found that he had gained upon those he followed, and that they +now were not fifty paces away, and he could see that Levi's companion +carried over his shoulder what looked like a bundle of tools. + +He waited for a little while to let them gain their distance and for the +second time wiped his forehead with his shirt sleeve; then, without ever +once letting his eyes leave them, he climbed the fence to the roadway. + +For a couple of miles or more he followed the two along the white, level +highway, past silent, sleeping houses, past barns, sheds, and haystacks, +looming big in the moonlight, past fields, and woods, and clearings, +past the dark and silent skirts of the town, and so, at last, out upon +the wide, misty salt marshes, which seemed to stretch away interminably +through the pallid light, yet were bounded in the far distance by the +long, white line of sand hills. + +Across the level salt marshes he followed them, through the rank sedge +and past the glassy pools in which his own inverted image stalked +beneath as he stalked above; on and on, until at last they had reached +a belt of scrub pines, gnarled and gray, that fringed the foot of the +white sand hills. + +Here Hiram kept within the black network of shadow. The two whom he +followed walked more in the open, with their shadows, as black as ink, +walking along in the sand beside them, and now, in the dead, breathless +stillness, might be heard, dull and heavy, the distant thumping, +pounding roar of the Atlantic surf, beating on the beach at the other +side of the sand hills, half a mile away. + +At last the two rounded the southern end of the white bluff, and when +Hiram, following, rounded it also, they were no longer to be seen. + +Before him the sand hill rose, smooth and steep, cutting in a sharp +ridge against the sky. Up this steep hill trailed the footsteps of those +he followed, disappearing over the crest. Beyond the ridge lay a round, +bowl-like hollow, perhaps fifty feet across and eighteen or twenty feet +deep, scooped out by the eddying of the winds into an almost perfect +circle. Hiram, slowly, cautiously, stealthily, following their trailing +line of footmarks, mounted to the top of the hillock and peered down +into the bowl beneath. The two men were sitting upon the sand, not far +from the tall, skeleton-like shaft of a dead pine tree that rose, stark +and gray, from the sand in which it may once have been buried, centuries +ago. + + +XII + +Levi had taken off his coat and waistcoat and was fanning himself with +his hat. He was sitting upon the bag he had brought from the mill and +which he had spread out upon the sand. His companion sat facing him. The +moon shone full upon him and Hiram knew him instantly--he was the same +burly, foreign-looking ruffian who had come with the little man to the +mill that night to see Levi. He also had his hat off and was wiping his +forehead and face with a red handkerchief. Beside him lay the bundle of +tools he had brought--a couple of shovels, a piece of rope, and a long, +sharp iron rod. + +The two men were talking together, but Hiram could not understand what +they said, for they spoke in the same foreign language that they had +before used. But he could see his stepbrother point with his finger, now +to the dead tree and now to the steep, white face of the opposite side +of the bowl-like hollow. + +At last, having apparently rested themselves, the conference, if +conference it was, came to an end, and Levi led the way, the other +following, to the dead pine tree. Here he stopped and began searching, +as though for some mark; then, having found that which he looked for, +he drew a tapeline and a large brass pocket compass from his pocket. He +gave one end of the tape line to his companion, holding the other +with his thumb pressed upon a particular part of the tree. Taking his +bearings by the compass, he gave now and then some orders to the other, +who moved a little to the left or the right as he bade. At last he gave +a word of command, and, thereupon, his companion drew a wooden peg from +his pocket and thrust it into the sand. From this peg as a base they +again measured, taking bearings by the compass, and again drove a peg. +For a third time they repeated their measurements and then, at last, +seemed to have reached the point which they aimed for. + +Here Levi marked a cross with his heel upon the sand. + +His companion brought him the pointed iron rod which lay beside the +shovels, and then stood watching as Levi thrust it deep into the sand, +again and again, as though sounding for some object below. It was some +while before he found that for which he was seeking, but at last the +rod struck with a jar upon some hard object below. After making sure +of success by one or two additional taps with the rod, Levi left it +remaining where it stood, brushing the sand from his hands. "Now fetch +the shovels, Pedro," said he, speaking for the first time in English. + +The two men were busy for a long while, shoveling away the sand. The +object for which they were seeking lay buried some six feet deep, and +the work was heavy and laborious, the shifting sand sliding back, again +and again, into the hole. But at last the blade of one of the shovels +struck upon some hard substance and Levi stooped and brushed away the +sand with the palm of his hand. + +Levi's companion climbed out of the hole which they had dug and tossed +the rope which he had brought with the shovels down to the other. Levi +made it fast to some object below and then himself mounted to the level +of the sand above. Pulling together, the two drew up from the hole a +heavy iron-bound box, nearly three feet long and a foot wide and deep. + +Levi's companion stooped and began untying the rope which had been +lashed to a ring in the lid. + +What next happened happened suddenly, swiftly, terribly. Levi drew back +a single step, and shot one quick, keen look to right and to left. He +passed his hand rapidly behind his back, and the next moment Hiram saw +the moonlight gleam upon the long, sharp, keen blade of a knife. Levi +raised his arm. Then, just as the other arose from bending over the +chest, he struck, and struck again, two swift, powerful blows. Hiram +saw the blade drive, clean and sharp, into the back, and heard the +hilt strike with a dull thud against the ribs--once, twice. The burly, +black-bearded wretch gave a shrill, terrible cry and fell staggering +back. Then, in an instant, with another cry, he was up and clutched Levi +with a clutch of despair by the throat and by the arm. Then followed a +struggle, short, terrible, silent. Not a sound was heard but the deep, +panting breath and the scuffling of feet in the sand, upon which there +now poured and dabbled a dark-purple stream. But it was a one-sided +struggle and lasted only for a second or two. Levi wrenched his arm +loose from the wounded man's grasp, tearing his shirt sleeve from the +wrist to the shoulder as he did so. Again and again the cruel knife was +lifted, and again and again it fell, now no longer bright, but stained +with red. + +Then, suddenly, all was over. Levi's companion dropped to the sand +without a sound, like a bundle of rags. For a moment he lay limp and +inert; then one shuddering spasm passed over him and he lay silent and +still, with his face half buried in the sand. + +Levi, with the knife still gripped tight in his hand, stood leaning over +his victim, looking down upon his body. His shirt and hand, and even +his naked arm, were stained and blotched with blood. The moon lit up his +face and it was the face of a devil from hell. + +At last he gave himself a shake, stooped and wiped his knife and hand +and arm upon the loose petticoat breeches of the dead man. He thrust his +knife back into its sheath, drew a key from his pocket and unlocked the +chest. In the moonlight Hiram could see that it was filled mostly with +paper and leather bags, full, apparently of money. + +All through this awful struggle and its awful ending Hiram lay, dumb +and motionless, upon the crest of the sand hill, looking with a horrid +fascination upon the death struggle in the pit below. Now Hiram arose. +The sand slid whispering down from the crest as he did so, but Levi +was too intent in turning over the contents of the chest to notice the +slight sound. + +Hiram's face was ghastly pale and drawn. For one moment he opened his +lips as though to speak, but no word came. So, white, silent, he +stood for a few seconds, rather like a statue than a living man, then, +suddenly, his eyes fell upon the bag, which Levi had brought with him, +no doubt, to carry back the treasure for which he and his companion were +in search, and which still lay spread out on the sand where it had been +flung. Then, as though a thought had suddenly flashed upon him, his +whole expression changed, his lips closed tightly together as though +fearing an involuntary sound might escape, and the haggard look +dissolved from his face. + +Cautiously, slowly, he stepped over the edge of the sand hill and down +the slanting face. His coming was as silent as death, for his feet made +no noise as he sank ankle-deep in the yielding surface. So, stealthily, +step by step, he descended, reached the bag, lifted it silently. Levi, +still bending over the chest and searching through the papers within, +was not four feet away. Hiram raised the bag in his hands. He must have +made some slight rustle as he did so, for suddenly Levi half turned his +head. But he was one instant too late. In a flash the bag was over his +head--shoulders--arms--body. + +Then came another struggle, as fierce, as silent, as desperate as that +other--and as short. Wiry, tough, and strong as he was, with a lean, +sinewy, nervous vigor, fighting desperately for his life as he was, Levi +had no chance against the ponderous strength of his stepbrother. In any +case, the struggle could not have lasted long; as it was, Levi stumbled +backward over the body of his dead mate and fell, with Hiram upon him. +Maybe he was stunned by the fall; maybe he felt the hopelessness of +resistance, for he lay quite still while Hiram, kneeling upon him, drew +the rope from the ring of the chest and, without uttering a word, bound +it tightly around both the bag and the captive within, knotting it again +and again and drawing it tight. Only once was a word spoken. "If you'll +lemme go," said a muffled voice from the bag, "I'll give you five +thousand pounds--it's in that there box." Hiram answered never a word, +but continued knotting the rope and drawing it tight. + + +XIII + +The Scorpion sloop-of-war lay in Lewes harbor all that winter and +spring, probably upon the slim chance of a return of the pirates. It was +about eight o'clock in the morning and Lieutenant Maynard was sitting +in Squire Hall's office, fanning himself with his hat and talking in a +desultory fashion. Suddenly the dim and distant noise of a great crowd +was heard from without, coming nearer and nearer. The Squire and his +visitor hurried to the door. The crowd was coming down the street +shouting, jostling, struggling, some on the footway, some in the +roadway. Heads were at the doors and windows, looking down upon them. +Nearer they came, and nearer; then at last they could see that the +press surrounded and accompanied one man. It was Hiram White, hatless, +coatless, the sweat running down his face in streams, but stolid and +silent as ever. Over his shoulder he carried a bag, tied round and round +with a rope. It was not until the crowd and the man it surrounded had +come quite near that the Squire and the lieutenant saw that a pair +of legs in gray-yarn stockings hung from the bag. It was a man he was +carrying. + +Hiram had lugged his burden five miles that morning without help and +with scarcely a rest on the way. + +He came directly toward the Squire's office and, still sun rounded and +hustled by the crowd, up the steep steps to the office within. He flung +his burden heavily upon the floor without a word and wiped his streaming +forehead. + +The Squire stood with his knuckles on his desk, staring first at Hiram +and then at the strange burden he had brought. A sudden hush fell upon +all, though the voices of those without sounded as loud and turbulent as +ever. "What is it, Hiram?" said Squire Hall at last. + +Then for the first time Hiram spoke, panting thickly. "It's a bloody +murderer," said he, pointing a quivering finger at the motionless +figure. + +"Here, some of you!" called out the Squire. "Come! Untie this man! Who +is he?" A dozen willing fingers quickly unknotted the rope and the bag +was slipped from the head and body. + +Hair and face and eyebrows and clothes were powdered with meal, but, +in spite of all and through all the innocent whiteness, dark spots and +blotches and smears of blood showed upon head and arm and shirt. Levi +raised himself upon his elbow and looked scowlingly around at the +amazed, wonderstruck faces surrounding him. + +"Why, it's Levi West!" croaked the Squire, at last finding his voice. + +Then, suddenly, Lieutenant Maynard pushed forward, before the others +crowded around the figure on the floor, and, clutching Levi by the hair, +dragged his head backward so as to better see his face. "Levi West!" +said he in a loud voice. "Is this the Levi West you've been telling +me of? Look at that scar and the mark on his cheek! THIS IS BLUESKIN +HIMSELF." + + +XIV + +In the chest which Blueskin had dug up out of the sand were found not +only the goldsmiths' bills taken from the packet, but also many +other valuables belonging to the officers and the passengers of the +unfortunate ship. + +The New York agents offered Hiram a handsome reward for his efforts +in recovering the lost bills, but Hiram declined it, positively and +finally. "All I want," said he, in his usual dull, stolid fashion, "is +to have folks know I'm honest." Nevertheless, though he did not accept +what the agents of the packet offered, fate took the matter into its +own hands and rewarded him not unsubstantially. Blueskin was taken to +England in the Scorpion. But he never came to trial. While in Newgate +he hanged himself to the cell window with his own stockings. The news +of his end was brought to Lewes in the early autumn and Squire Hall +took immediate measures to have the five hundred pounds of his father's +legacy duly transferred to Hiram. + +In November Hiram married the pirate's widow. + + + + +Chapter VII. CAPTAIN SCARFIELD + + +PREFACE + +The author of this narrative cannot recall that, in any history of the +famous pirates, he has ever read a detailed and sufficient account +of the life and death of Capt. John Scarfield. Doubtless some data +concerning his death and the destruction of his schooner might be +gathered from the report of Lieutenant Mainwaring, now filed in the +archives of the Navy Department, out beyond such bald and bloodless +narrative the author knows of nothing, unless it be the little chap-book +history published by Isaiah Thomas in Newburyport about the year +1821-22, entitled, "A True History of the Life and Death of Captain Jack +Scarfield." This lack of particularity in the history of one so notable +in his profession it is the design of the present narrative in a measure +to supply, and, if the author has seen fit to cast it in the form of a +fictional story, it is only that it may make more easy reading for those +who see fit to follow the tale from this to its conclusion. + + +I + +ELEAZER COOPER, or Captain Cooper, as was his better-known title in +Philadelphia, was a prominent member of the Society of Friends. He was +an overseer of the meeting and an occasional speaker upon particular +occasions. When at home from one of his many voyages he never failed to +occupy his seat in the meeting both on First Day and Fifth Day, and he +was regarded by his fellow townsmen as a model of business integrity and +of domestic responsibility. + +More incidental to this history, however, it is to be narrated that +Captain Cooper was one of those trading skippers who carried their own +merchandise in their own vessels which they sailed themselves, and on +whose decks they did their own bartering. His vessel was a swift, large +schooner, the Eliza Cooper, of Philadelphia, named for his wife. His +cruising grounds were the West India Islands, and his merchandise +was flour and corn meal ground at the Brandywine Mills at Wilmington, +Delaware. + +During the War of 1812 he had earned, as was very well known, an +extraordinary fortune in this trading; for flour and corn meal sold at +fabulous prices in the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Danish islands, cut +off, as they were, from the rest of the world by the British blockade. + +The running of this blockade was one of the most hazardous maritime +ventures possible, but Captain Cooper had met with such unvaried +success, and had sold his merchandise at such incredible profit that, +at the end of the war, he found himself to have become one of the +wealthiest merchants of his native city. + +It was known at one time that his balance in the Mechanics' Bank was +greater than that of any other individual depositor upon the books, and +it was told of him that he had once deposited in the bank a chest of +foreign silver coin, the exchanged value of which, when translated +into American currency, was upward of forty-two thousand dollars--a +prodigious sum of money in those days. + +In person, Captain Cooper was tall and angular of frame. His face was +thin and severe, wearing continually an unsmiling, mask-like expression +of continent and unruffled sobriety. His manner was dry and taciturn, +and his conduct and life were measured to the most absolute accord with +the teachings of his religious belief. + +He lived in an old-fashioned house on Front Street below Spruce--as +pleasant, cheerful a house as ever a trading captain could return to. +At the back of the house a lawn sloped steeply down toward the river. To +the south stood the wharf and storehouses; to the north an orchard and +kitchen garden bloomed with abundant verdure. Two large chestnut trees +sheltered the porch and the little space of lawn, and when you sat under +them in the shade you looked down the slope between two rows of box +bushes directly across the shining river to the Jersey shore. + +At the time of our story--that is, about the year 1820--this property +had increased very greatly in value, but it was the old home of the +Coopers, as Eleazer Cooper was entirely rich enough to indulge his fancy +in such matters. Accordingly, as he chose to live in the same +house where his father and his grandfather had dwelt before him, he +peremptorily, if quietly, refused all offers looking toward the purchase +of the lot of ground--though it was now worth five or six times its +former value. + +As was said, it was a cheerful, pleasant home, impressing you when you +entered it with the feeling of spotless and all-pervading cleanliness--a +cleanliness that greeted you in the shining brass door-knocker; that +entertained you in the sitting room with its stiff, leather-covered +furniture, the brass-headed tacks whereof sparkled like so many +stars--a cleanliness that bade you farewell in the spotless stretch of +sand-sprinkled hallway, the wooden floor of which was worn into knobs +around the nail heads by the countless scourings and scrubbings to which +it had been subjected and which left behind them an all-pervading faint, +fragrant odor of soap and warm water. + +Eleazer Cooper and his wife were childless, but one inmate made the +great, silent, shady house bright with life. Lucinda Fairbanks, a niece +of Captain Cooper's by his only sister, was a handsome, sprightly girl +of eighteen or twenty, and a great favorite in the Quaker society of the +city. + +It remains only to introduce the final and, perhaps, the most important +actor of the narrative Lieut. James Mainwaring. During the past twelve +months or so he had been a frequent visitor at the Cooper house. At +this time he was a broad-shouldered, red-cheeked, stalwart fellow +of twenty-six or twenty-eight. He was a great social favorite, and +possessed the added romantic interest of having been aboard the +Constitution when she fought the Guerriere, and of having, with his own +hands, touched the match that fired the first gun of that great battle. + +Mainwaring's mother and Eliza Cooper had always been intimate friends, +and the coming and going of the young man during his leave of absence +were looked upon in the house as quite a matter of course. Half a dozen +times a week he would drop in to execute some little commission for the +ladies, or, if Captain Cooper was at home, to smoke a pipe of tobacco +with him, to sip a dram of his famous old Jamaica rum, or to play a +rubber of checkers of an evening. It is not likely that either of the +older people was the least aware of the real cause of his visits; still +less did they suspect that any passages of sentiment had passed between +the young people. + +The truth was that Mainwaring and the young lady were very deeply in +love. It was a love that they were obliged to keep a profound secret, +for not only had Eleazer Cooper held the strictest sort of testimony +against the late war--a testimony so rigorous as to render it altogether +unlikely that one of so military a profession as Mainwaring practiced +could hope for his consent to a suit for marriage, but Lucinda could not +have married one not a member of the Society of Friends without losing +her own birthright membership therein. She herself might not attach much +weight to such a loss of membership in the Society, but her fear of, and +her respect for, her uncle led her to walk very closely in her path +of duty in this respect. Accordingly she and Mainwaring met as they +could--clandestinely--and the stolen moments were very sweet. With equal +secrecy Lucinda had, at the request of her lover, sat for a miniature +portrait to Mrs. Gregory, which miniature, set in a gold medallion, +Mainwaring, with a mild, sentimental pleasure, wore hung around his neck +and beneath his shirt frill next his heart. + +In the month of April of the year 1820 Mainwaring received orders +to report at Washington. During the preceding autumn the West India +pirates, and notably Capt. Jack Scarfield, had been more than usually +active, and the loss of the packet Marblehead (which, sailing from +Charleston, South Carolina, was never heard of more) was attributed +to them. Two other coasting vessels off the coast of Georgia had been +looted and burned by Scarfield, and the government had at last aroused +itself to the necessity of active measures for repressing these pests of +the West India waters. + +Mainwaring received orders to take command of the Yankee, a swift, +light-draught, heavily armed brig of war, and to cruise about the Bahama +Islands and to capture and destroy all the pirates' vessels he could +there discover. + +On his way from Washington to New York, where the Yankee was then +waiting orders, Mainwaring stopped in Philadelphia to bid good-by to his +many friends in that city. He called at the old Cooper house. It was +on a Sunday afternoon. The spring was early and the weather extremely +pleasant that day, being filled with a warmth almost as of summer. The +apple trees were already in full bloom and filled all the air with their +fragrance. Everywhere there seemed to be the pervading hum of bees, and +the drowsy, tepid sunshine was very delightful. + +At that time Eleazer was just home from an unusually successful voyage +to Antigua. Mainwaring found the family sitting under one of the still +leafless chestnut trees, Captain Cooper smoking his long clay pipe and +lazily perusing a copy of the National Gazette. Eleazer listened with +a great deal of interest to what Mainwaring had to say of his proposed +cruise. He himself knew a great deal about the pirates, and, singularly +unbending from his normal, stiff taciturnity, he began telling of what +he knew, particularly of Captain Scarfield--in whom he appeared to take +an extraordinary interest. + +Vastly to Mainwaring's surprise, the old Quaker assumed the position +of a defendant of the pirates, protesting that the wickedness of the +accused was enormously exaggerated. He declared that he knew some of the +freebooters very well and that at the most they were poor, misdirected +wretches who had, by easy gradation, slid into their present evil ways, +from having been tempted by the government authorities to enter into +privateering in the days of the late war. He conceded that Captain +Scarfield had done many cruel and wicked deeds, but he averred that he +had also performed many kind and benevolent actions. The world made no +note of these latter, but took care only to condemn the evil that had +been done. He acknowledged that it was true that the pirate had allowed +his crew to cast lots for the wife and the daughter of the skipper of +the Northern Rose, but there were none of his accusers who told how, +at the risk of his own life and the lives of all his crew, he had given +succor to the schooner Halifax, found adrift with all hands down with +yellow fever. There was no defender of his actions to tell how he and +his crew of pirates had sailed the pest-stricken vessel almost into the +rescuing waters of Kingston harbor. Eleazer confessed that he could not +deny that when Scarfield had tied the skipper of the Baltimore Belle +naked to the foremast of his own brig he had permitted his crew of +cutthroats (who were drunk at the time) to throw bottles at the helpless +captive, who died that night of the wounds he had received. For this +he was doubtless very justly condemned, but who was there to praise him +when he had, at the risk of his life and in the face of the authorities, +carried a cargo of provisions which he himself had purchased at Tampa +Bay to the Island of Bella Vista after the great hurricane of 1818? In +this notable adventure he had barely escaped, after a two days' chase, +the British frigate Ceres, whose captain, had a capture been effected, +would instantly have hung the unfortunate man to the yardarm in spite of +the beneficent mission he was in the act of conducting. + +In all this Eleazer had the air of conducting the case for the +defendant. As he talked he became more and more animated and voluble. +The light went out in his tobacco pipe, and a hectic spot appeared +in either thin and sallow cheek. Mainwaring sat wondering to hear the +severely peaceful Quaker preacher defending so notoriously bloody and +cruel a cutthroat pirate as Capt. Jack Scarfield. The warm and innocent +surroundings, the old brick house looking down upon them, the odor +of apple blossoms and the hum of bees seemed to make it all the more +incongruous. And still the elderly Quaker skipper talked on and on with +hardly an interruption, till the warm sun slanted to the west and the +day began to decline. + +That evening Mainwaring stayed to tea and when he parted from Lucinda +Fairbanks it was after nightfall, with a clear, round moon shining in +the milky sky and a radiance pallid and unreal enveloping the old house, +the blooming apple trees, the sloping lawn and the shining river beyond. +He implored his sweetheart to let him tell her uncle and aunt of their +acknowledged love and to ask the old man's consent to it, but she would +not permit him to do so. They were so happy as they were. Who knew but +what her uncle might forbid their fondness? Would he not wait a little +longer? Maybe it would all come right after a while. She was so fond, so +tender, so tearful at the nearness of their parting that he had not +the heart to insist. At the same time it was with a feeling almost of +despair that he realized that he must now be gone--maybe for the space +of two years--without in all that time possessing the right to call her +his before the world. + +When he bade farewell to the older people it was with a choking feeling +of bitter disappointment. He yet felt the pressure of her cheek against +his shoulder, the touch of soft and velvet lips to his own. But what +were such clandestine endearments compared to what might, perchance, be +his--the right of calling her his own when he was far away and upon the +distant sea? And, besides, he felt like a coward who had shirked his +duty. + +But he was very much in love. The next morning appeared in a drizzle of +rain that followed the beautiful warmth of the day before. He had the +coach all to himself, and in the damp and leathery solitude he drew out +the little oval picture from beneath his shirt frill and looked long and +fixedly with a fond and foolish joy at the innocent face, the blue eyes, +the red, smiling lips depicted upon the satinlike, ivory surface. + + +II + +For the better part of five months Mainwaring cruised about in the +waters surrounding the Bahama Islands. In that time he ran to earth and +dispersed a dozen nests of pirates. He destroyed no less than fifteen +piratical crafts of all sizes, from a large half-decked whaleboat to a +three-hundred-ton barkentine. The name of the Yankee became a terror +to every sea wolf in the western tropics, and the waters of the Bahama +Islands became swept almost clean of the bloody wretches who had so +lately infested it. + +But the one freebooter of all others whom he sought--Capt. Jack +Scarfield--seemed to evade him like a shadow, to slip through his +fingers like magic. Twice he came almost within touch of the famous +marauder, both times in the ominous wrecks that the pirate captain had +left behind him. The first of these was the water-logged remains of a +burned and still smoking wreck that he found adrift in the great Bahama +channel. It was the Water Witch, of Salem, but he did not learn her +tragic story until, two weeks later, he discovered a part of her crew +at Port Maria, on the north coast of Jamaica. It was, indeed, a dreadful +story to which he listened. The castaways said that they of all the +vessel's crew had been spared so that they might tell the commander of +the Yankee, should they meet him, that he might keep what he found, with +Captain Scarfield's compliments, who served it up to him hot cooked. + +Three weeks later he rescued what remained of the crew of the shattered, +bloody hulk of the Baltimore Belle, eight of whose crew, headed by the +captain, had been tied hand and foot and heaved overboard. Again, there +was a message from Captain Scarfield to the commander of the Yankee that +he might season what he found to suit his own taste. + +Mainwaring was of a sanguine disposition, with fiery temper. He swore, +with the utmost vehemence, that either he or John Scarfield would have +to leave the earth. + +He had little suspicion of how soon was to befall the ominous +realization of his angry prophecy. + +At that time one of the chief rendezvous of the pirates was the little +island of San Jose, one of the southernmost of the Bahama group. Here, +in the days before the coming of the Yankee, they were wont to put in +to careen and clean their vessels and to take in a fresh supply of +provisions, gunpowder, and rum, preparatory to renewing their attacks +upon the peaceful commerce circulating up and down outside the islands, +or through the wide stretches of the Bahama channel. + +Mainwaring had made several descents upon this nest of freebooters. +He had already made two notable captures, and it was here he hoped +eventually to capture Captain Scarfield himself. + +A brief description of this one-time notorious rendezvous of freebooters +might not be out of place. It consisted of a little settlement of those +wattled and mud-smeared houses such as you find through the West Indies. +There were only three houses of a more pretentious sort, built of wood. +One of these was a storehouse, another was a rum shop, and a third a +house in which dwelt a mulatto woman, who was reputed to be a sort +of left-handed wife of Captain Scarfield's. The population was almost +entirely black and brown. One or two Jews and a half dozen Yankee +traders, of hardly dubious honesty, comprised the entire white +population. The rest consisted of a mongrel accumulation of negroes +and mulattoes and half-caste Spaniards, and of a multitude of black or +yellow women and children. The settlement stood in a bight of the beach +forming a small harbor and affording a fair anchorage for small vessels, +excepting it were against the beating of a southeasterly gale. The +houses, or cabins, were surrounded by clusters of coco palms and growths +of bananas, and a long curve of white beach, sheltered from the large +Atlantic breakers that burst and exploded upon an outer bar, was drawn +like a necklace around the semi-circle of emerald-green water. + +Such was the famous pirates' settlement of San Jose--a paradise of +nature and a hell of human depravity and wickedness--and it was to this +spot that Mainwaring paid another visit a few days after rescuing the +crew of the Baltimore Belle from her shattered and sinking wreck. + +As the little bay with its fringe of palms and its cluster of wattle +huts opened up to view, Mainwaring discovered a vessel lying at anchor +in the little harbor. It was a large and well-rigged schooner of two +hundred and fifty or three hundred tons burden. As the Yankee rounded to +under the stern of the stranger and dropped anchor in such a position +as to bring her broadside battery to bear should the occasion +require, Mainwaring set his glass to his eye to read the name he could +distinguish beneath the overhang of her stern. It is impossible to +describe his infinite surprise when, the white lettering starting out in +the circle of the glass, he read, The Eliza Cooper, of Philadelphia. + +He could not believe the evidence of his senses. Certainly this sink of +iniquity was the last place in the world he would have expected to have +fallen in with Eleazer Cooper. + +He ordered out the gig and had himself immediately rowed over to the +schooner. Whatever lingering doubts he might have entertained as to the +identity of the vessel were quickly dispelled when he beheld Captain +Cooper himself standing at the gangway to meet him. The impassive face +of the friend showed neither surprise nor confusion at what must have +been to him a most unexpected encounter. + +But when he stepped upon the deck of the Eliza Cooper and looked about +him, Mainwaring could hardly believe the evidence of his senses at +the transformation that he beheld. Upon the main deck were eight +twelve-pound carronade neatly covered with tarpaulin; in the bow a Long +Tom, also snugly stowed away and covered, directed a veiled and muzzled +snout out over the bowsprit. + +It was entirely impossible for Mainwaring to conceal his astonishment at +so unexpected a sight, and whether or not his own thoughts lent color +to his imagination, it seemed to him that Eleazer Cooper concealed under +the immobility of his countenance no small degree of confusion. + +After Captain Cooper had led the way into the cabin and he and the +younger man were seated over a pipe of tobacco and the invariable bottle +of fine old Jamaica rum, Mainwaring made no attempt to refrain +from questioning him as to the reason for this singular and ominous +transformation. + +"I am a man of peace, James Mainwaring," Eleazer replied, "but there are +men of blood in these waters, and an appearance of great strength is of +use to protect the innocent from the wicked. If I remained in appearance +the peaceful trader I really am, how long does thee suppose I could +remain unassailed in this place?" + +It occurred to Mainwaring that the powerful armament he had beheld was +rather extreme to be used merely as a preventive. He smoked for a while +in silence and then he suddenly asked the other point-blank whether, if +it came to blows with such a one as Captain Scarfield, would he make a +fight of it? + +The Quaker trading captain regarded him for a while in silence. His +look, it seemed to Mainwaring, appeared to be dubitative as to how far +he dared to be frank. "Friend James," he said at last, "I may as well +acknowledge that my officers and crew are somewhat worldly. Of a truth +they do not hold the same testimony as I. I am inclined to think that +if it came to the point of a broil with those men of iniquity, my +individual voice cast for peace would not be sufficient to keep my crew +from meeting violence with violence. As for myself, thee knows who I am +and what is my testimony in these matters." + +Mainwaring made no comment as to the extremely questionable manner in +which the Quaker proposed to beat the devil about the stump. Presently +he asked his second question: + +"And might I inquire," he said, "what you are doing here and why you +find it necessary to come at all into such a wicked, dangerous place as +this?" + +"Indeed, I knew thee would ask that question of me," said the Friend, +"and I will be entirely frank with thee. These men of blood are, after +all, but human beings, and as human beings they need food. I have at +present upon this vessel upward of two hundred and fifty barrels of +flour which will bring a higher price here than anywhere else in the +West Indies. To be entirely frank with thee, I will tell thee that I +was engaged in making a bargain for the sale of the greater part of my +merchandise when the news of thy approach drove away my best customer." + +Mainwaring sat for a while in smoking silence. What the other had told +him explained many things he had not before understood. It explained why +Captain Cooper got almost as much for his flour and corn meal now that +peace had been declared as he had obtained when the war and the blockade +were in full swing. It explained why he had been so strong a defender +of Captain Scarfield and the pirates that afternoon in the garden. +Meantime, what was to be done? Eleazer confessed openly that he dealt +with the pirates. What now was his--Mainwaring's--duty in the case? Was +the cargo of the Eliza Cooper contraband and subject to confiscation? +And then another question framed itself in his mind: Who was this +customer whom his approach had driven away? + +As though he had formulated the inquiry into speech the other began +directly to speak of it. "I know," he said, "that in a moment thee will +ask me who was this customer of whom I have just now spoken. I have no +desire to conceal his name from thee. It was the man who is known as +Captain Jack or Captain John Scarfield." + +Mainwaring fairly started from his seat. "The devil you say!" he cried. +"And how long has it been," he asked, "since he left you?" + +The Quaker skipper carefully refilled his pipe, which he had by now +smoked out. "I would judge," he said, "that it is a matter of four or +five hours since news was brought overland by means of swift runners +of thy approach. Immediately the man of wickedness disappeared." Here +Eleazer set the bowl of his pipe to the candle flame and began puffing +out voluminous clouds of smoke. "I would have thee understand, James +Mainwaring," he resumed, "that I am no friend of this wicked and sinful +man. His safety is nothing to me. It is only a question of buying upon +his part and of selling upon mine. If it is any satisfaction to thee I +will heartily promise to bring thee news if I hear anything of the man +of Belial. I may furthermore say that I think it is likely thee will +have news more or less directly of him within the space of a day. If +this should happen, however, thee will have to do thy own fighting +without help from me, for I am no man of combat nor of blood and will +take no hand in it either way." + +It struck Mainwaring that the words contained some meaning that did not +appear upon the surface. This significance struck him as so ambiguous +that when he went aboard the Yankee he confided as much of his +suspicions as he saw fit to his second in command, Lieutenant Underwood. +As night descended he had a double watch set and had everything prepared +to repel any attack or surprise that might be attempted. + + +III + +Nighttime in the tropics descends with a surprising rapidity. At one +moment the earth is shining with the brightness of the twilight; the +next, as it were, all things are suddenly swallowed into a gulf of +darkness. The particular night of which this story treats was not +entirely clear; the time of year was about the approach of the rainy +season, and the tepid, tropical clouds added obscurity to the darkness +of the sky, so that the night fell with even more startling quickness +than usual. The blackness was very dense. Now and then a group of +drifting stars swam out of a rift in the vapors, but the night was +curiously silent and of a velvety darkness. + +As the obscurity had deepened, Mainwaring had ordered lanthorns to be +lighted and slung to the shrouds and to the stays, and the faint yellow +of their illumination lighted the level white of the snug little war +vessel, gleaming here and there in a starlike spark upon the brass +trimmings and causing the rows of cannons to assume curiously gigantic +proportions. + +For some reason Mainwaring was possessed by a strange, uneasy feeling. +He walked restlessly up and down the deck for a time, and then, still +full of anxieties for he knew not what, went into his cabin to finish +writing up his log for the day. He unstrapped his cutlass and laid it +upon the table, lighted his pipe at the lanthorn and was about preparing +to lay aside his coat when word was brought to him that the captain of +the trading schooner was come alongside and had some private information +to communicate to him. + +Mainwaring surmised in an instant that the trader's visit related +somehow to news of Captain Scarfield, and as immediately, in the relief +of something positive to face, all of his feeling of restlessness +vanished like a shadow of mist. He gave orders that Captain Cooper +should be immediately shown into the cabin, and in a few moments +the tall, angular form of the Quaker skipper appeared in the narrow, +lanthorn-lighted space. + +Mainwaring at once saw that his visitor was strangely agitated and +disturbed. He had taken off his hat, and shining beads of perspiration +had gathered and stood clustered upon his forehead. He did not reply to +Mainwaring's greeting; he did not, indeed, seem to hear it; but he came +directly forward to the table and stood leaning with one hand upon the +open log book in which the lieutenant had just been writing. Mainwaring +had reseated himself at the head of the table, and the tall figure of +the skipper stood looking down at him as from a considerable height. + +"James Mainwaring," he said, "I promised thee to report if I had news of +the pirate. Is thee ready now to hear my news?" + +There was something so strange in his agitation that it began to infect +Mainwaring with a feeling somewhat akin to that which appeared to +disturb his visitor. "I know not what you mean, sir!" he cried, "by +asking if I care to hear your news. At this moment I would rather have +news of that scoundrel than to have anything I know of in the world." + +"Thou would? Thou would?" cried the other, with mounting agitation. "Is +thee in such haste to meet him as all that? Very well; very well, then. +Suppose I could bring thee face to face with him--what then? Hey? Hey? +Face to face with him, James Mainwaring!" + +The thought instantly flashed into Mainwaring's mind that the pirate +had returned to the island; that perhaps at that moment he was somewhere +near at hand. + +"I do not understand you, sir," he cried. "Do you mean to tell me that +you know where the villain is? If so, lose no time in informing me, for +every instant of delay may mean his chance of again escaping." + +"No danger of that!" the other declared, vehemently. "No danger of that! +I'll tell thee where he is and I'll bring thee to him quick enough!" +And as he spoke he thumped his fist against the open log book. In the +vehemence of his growing excitement his eyes appeared to shine green +in the lanthorn light, and the sweat that had stood in beads upon his +forehead was now running in streams down his face. One drop hung like +a jewel to the tip of his beaklike nose. He came a step nearer to +Mainwaring and bent forward toward him, and there was something so +strange and ominous in his bearing that the lieutenant instinctively +drew back a little where he sat. + +"Captain Scarfield sent something to you," said Eleazer, almost in a +raucous voice, "something that you will be surprised to see." And the +lapse in his speech from the Quaker "thee" to the plural "you" struck +Mainwaring as singularly strange. + +As he was speaking Eleazer was fumbling in a pocket of his long-tailed +drab coat, and presently he brought something forth that gleamed in the +lanthorn light. + +The next moment Mainwaring saw leveled directly in his face the round +and hollow nozzle of a pistol. + +There was an instant of dead silence and then, "I am the man you seek!" +said Eleazer Cooper, in a tense and breathless voice. + +The whole thing had happened so instantaneously and unexpectedly that +for the moment Mainwaring sat like one petrified. Had a thunderbolt +fallen from the silent sky and burst at his feet he could not have been +more stunned. He was like one held in the meshes of a horrid nightmare, +and he gazed as through a mist of impossibility into the lineaments +of the well-known, sober face now transformed as from within into the +aspect of a devil. That face, now ashy white, was distorted into a +diabolical grin. The teeth glistened in the lamplight. The brows, +twisted into a tense and convulsed frown, were drawn down into black +shadows, through which the eyes burned a baleful green like the eyes +of a wild animal driven to bay. Again he spoke in the same breathless +voice. "I am John Scarfield! Look at me, then, if you want to see +a pirate!" Again there was a little time of silence, through which +Mainwaring heard his watch ticking loudly from where it hung against the +bulkhead. Then once more the other began speaking. "You would chase me +out of the West Indies, would you? G------ --you! What are you come +to now? You are caught in your own trap, and you'll squeal loud enough +before you get out of it. Speak a word or make a movement and I'll blow +your brains out against the partition behind you! Listen to what I say +or you are a dead man. Sing out an order instantly for my mate and my +bos'n to come here to the cabin, and be quick about it, for my finger's +on the trigger, and it's only a pull to shut your mouth forever." + +It was astonishing to Mainwaring, in afterward thinking about it all, +how quickly his mind began to recover its steadiness after that first +astonishing shock. Even as the other was speaking he discovered that his +brain was becoming clarified to a wonderful lucidity; his thoughts were +becoming rearranged, and with a marvelous activity and an alertness +he had never before experienced. He knew that if he moved to escape or +uttered any outcry he would be instantly a dead man, for the circle of +the pistol barrel was directed full against his forehead and with the +steadiness of a rock. If he could but for an instant divert that fixed +and deadly attention he might still have a chance for life. With the +thought an inspiration burst into his mind and he instantly put it into +execution; thought, inspiration, and action, as in a flash, were one. He +must make the other turn aside his deadly gaze, and instantly he roared +out in a voice that stunned his own ears: "Strike, bos'n! Strike, +quick!" + +Taken by surprise, and thinking, doubtless, that another enemy stood +behind him, the pirate swung around like a flash with his pistol leveled +against the blank boarding. Equally upon the instant he saw the trick +that had been played upon him and in a second flash had turned again. +The turn and return had occupied but a moment of time, but that moment, +thanks to the readiness of his own invention, had undoubtedly saved +Mainwaring's life. As the other turned away his gaze for that brief +instant Mainwaring leaped forward and upon him. There was a flashing +flame of fire as the pistol was discharged and a deafening detonation +that seemed to split his brain. For a moment, with reeling senses, he +supposed himself to have been shot, the next he knew he had escaped. +With the energy of despair he swung his enemy around and drove him with +prodigious violence against the corner of the table. The pirate emitted +a grunting cry and then they fell together, Mainwaring upon the top, and +the pistol clattered with them to the floor in their fall. Even as +he fell, Mainwaring roared in a voice of thunder, "All hands repel +boarders!" And then again, "All hands repel boarders!" + +Whether hurt by the table edge or not, the fallen pirate struggled as +though possessed of forty devils, and in a moment or two Mainwaring saw +the shine of a long, keen knife that he had drawn from somewhere about +his person. The lieutenant caught him by the wrist, but the other's +muscles were as though made of steel. They both fought in despairing +silence, the one to carry out his frustrated purposes to kill, the other +to save his life. Again and again Mainwaring felt that the knife had +been thrust against him, piercing once his arm, once his shoulder, and +again his neck. He felt the warm blood streaming down his arm and body +and looked about him in despair. The pistol lay near upon the deck of +the cabin. Still holding the other by the wrist as he could, Mainwaring +snatched up the empty weapon and struck once and again at the bald, +narrow forehead beneath him. A third blow he delivered with all the +force he could command, and then with a violent and convulsive throe the +straining muscles beneath him relaxed and grew limp and the fight was +won. + +Through all the struggle he had been aware of the shouts of voices, of +trampling of feet and discharge of firearms, and the thought came to +him, even through his own danger, that the Yankee was being assaulted +by the pirates. As he felt the struggling form beneath him loosen and +dissolve into quietude, he leaped up, and snatching his cutlass, which +still lay upon the table, rushed out upon the deck, leaving the stricken +form lying twitching upon the floor behind him. + +It was a fortunate thing that he had set double watches and prepared +himself for some attack from the pirates, otherwise the Yankee would +certainly have been lost. As it was, the surprise was so overwhelming +that the pirates, who had been concealed in the large whaleboat that had +come alongside, were not only able to gain a foothold upon the deck, +but for a time it seemed as though they would drive the crew of the brig +below the hatches. + +But as Mainwaring, streaming with blood, rushed out upon the deck, the +pirates became immediately aware that their own captain must have +been overpowered, and in an instant their desperate energy began to +evaporate. One or two jumped overboard; one, who seemed to be the mate, +fell dead from a pistol shot, and then, in the turn of a hand, there was +a rush of a retreat and a vision of leaping forms in the dusky light of +the lanthorns and a sound of splashing in the water below. + +The crew of the Yankee continued firing at the phosphorescent wakes of +the swimming bodies, but whether with effect it was impossible at the +time to tell. + + +IV + +The pirate captain did not die immediately. He lingered for three or +four days, now and then unconscious, now and then semi-conscious, but +always deliriously wandering. All the while he thus lay dying, the +mulatto woman, with whom he lived in this part of his extraordinary dual +existence, nursed and cared for him with such rude attentions as the +surroundings afforded. In the wanderings of his mind the same duality +of life followed him. Now and then he would appear the calm, sober, +self-contained, well-ordered member of a peaceful society that his +friends in his faraway home knew him to be; at other times the nether +part of his nature would leap up into life like a wild beast, furious +and gnashing. At the one time he talked evenly and clearly of peaceful +things; at the other time he blasphemed and hooted with fury. + +Several times Mainwaring, though racked by his own wounds, sat beside +the dying man through the silent watches of the tropical nights. +Oftentimes upon these occasions as he looked at the thin, lean face +babbling and talking so aimlessly, he wondered what it all meant. Could +it have been madness--madness in which the separate entities of good and +bad each had, in its turn, a perfect and distinct existence? He chose to +think that this was the case. Who, within his inner consciousness, does +not feel that same ferine, savage man struggling against the stern, +adamantine bonds of morality and decorum? Were those bonds burst +asunder, as it was with this man, might not the wild beast rush forth, +as it had rushed forth in him, to rend and to tear? Such were the +questions that Mainwaring asked himself. And how had it all come about? +By what easy gradations had the respectable Quaker skipper descended +from the decorum of his home life, step by step, into such a gulf of +iniquity? Many such thoughts passed through Mainwaring's mind, and he +pondered them through the still reaches of the tropical nights while he +sat watching the pirate captain struggle out of the world he had so long +burdened. At last the poor wretch died, and the earth was well quit of +one of its torments. + +A systematic search was made through the island for the scattered crew, +but none was captured. Either there were some secret hiding places upon +the island (which was not very likely) or else they had escaped in boats +hidden somewhere among the tropical foliage. At any rate they were gone. + +Nor, search as he would, could Mainwaring find a trace of any of the +pirate treasure. After the pirate's death and under close questioning, +the weeping mulatto woman so far broke down as to confess in broken +English that Captain Scarfield had taken a quantity of silver money +aboard his vessel, but either she was mistaken or else the pirates had +taken it thence again and had hidden it somewhere else. + +Nor would the treasure ever have been found but for a most fortuitous +accident. Mainwaring had given orders that the Eliza Cooper was to be +burned, and a party was detailed to carry the order into execution. At +this the cook of the Yankee came petitioning for some of the Wilmington +and Brandywine flour to make some plum duff upon the morrow, and +Mainwaring granted his request in so far that he ordered one of the +men to knock open one of the barrels of flour and to supply the cook's +demands. + +The crew detailed to execute this modest order in connection with the +destruction of the pirate vessel had not been gone a quarter of an hour +when word came back that the hidden treasure had been found. + +Mainwaring hurried aboard the Eliza Cooper, and there in the midst of +the open flour barrel he beheld a great quantity of silver coin buried +in and partly covered by the white meal. A systematic search was now +made. One by one the flour barrels were heaved up from below and burst +open on the deck and their contents searched, and if nothing but the +meal was found it was swept overboard. The breeze was whitened with +clouds of flour, and the white meal covered the surface of the ocean for +yards around. + +In all, upward of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was found +concealed beneath the innocent flour and meal. It was no wonder the +pirate captain was so successful, when he could upon an instant's notice +transform himself from a wolf of the ocean to a peaceful Quaker trader +selling flour to the hungry towns and settlements among the scattered +islands of the West Indies, and so carrying his bloody treasure safely +into his quiet Northern home. + +In concluding this part of the narrative it may be added that a wide +strip of canvas painted black was discovered in the hold of the Eliza +Cooper. Upon it, in great white letters, was painted the name, "The +Bloodhound." Undoubtedly this was used upon occasions to cover the real +and peaceful title of the trading schooner, just as its captain had, in +reverse, covered his sanguine and cruel life by a thin sheet of morality +and respectability. + +This is the true story of the death of Capt. Jack Scarfield. + +The Newburyport chap-book, of which I have already spoken, speaks only +of how the pirate disguised himself upon the ocean as a Quaker trader. + +Nor is it likely that anyone ever identified Eleazer Cooper with the +pirate, for only Mainwaring of all the crew of the Yankee was exactly +aware of the true identity of Captain Scarfield. All that was ever known +to the world was that Eleazer Cooper had been killed in a fight with the +pirates. + +In a little less than a year Mainwaring was married to Lucinda +Fairbanks. As to Eleazer Cooper's fortune, which eventually came into +the possession of Mainwaring through his wife, it was many times a +subject of speculation to the lieutenant how it had been earned. There +were times when he felt well assured that a part of it at least was the +fruit of piracy, but it was entirely impossible to guess how much more +was the result of legitimate trading. + +For a little time it seemed to Mainwaring that he should give it all up, +but this was at once so impracticable and so quixotic that he presently +abandoned it, and in time his qualms and misdoubts faded away and he +settled himself down to enjoy that which had come to him through his +marriage. + +In time the Mainwarings removed to New York, and ultimately the fortune +that the pirate Scarfield had left behind him was used in part to +found the great shipping house of Mainwaring & Bigot, whose famous +transatlantic packet ships were in their time the admiration of the +whole world. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 973 *** |