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diff --git a/old/hpprt10.txt b/old/hpprt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0541e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/hpprt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8226 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates** +#2 in our series by Howard Pyle + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates Scanned by Charles Keller with +OmniPage Professional OCR software + + + + + +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 semilawful buccaneering of the sixteenth +century, just as buccaneering was upon its part, in a certain +sense, an evolution from the unorganized, unauthorized warfare of +the Tudor period. + +For there was a deal of piratical smack in the anti-Spanish +ventures of Elizabethan days. Many of the adventurers--of the +Sir Francis Drake school, for instance--actually overstepped +again and again the bounds of international law, entering into +the realms of de facto piracy. Nevertheless, while their doings +were not recognized officially by the government, the +perpetrators were neither punished nor reprimanded for their +excursions against Spanish commerce at home or in the West +Indies; rather were they commended, and it was considered not +altogether a discreditable thing for men to get rich upon the +spoils taken from Spanish galleons in times of nominal peace. +Many of the most reputable citizens and merchants of London, when +they felt that the queen failed in her duty of pushing the fight +against the great Catholic Power, fitted out fleets upon their +own account and sent them to levy good Protestant war of a +private nature upon the Pope's anointed. + +Some of the treasures captured in such ventures were immense, +stupendous, unbelievable. For an example, one can hardly credit +the truth of the "purchase" gained by Drake in the famous capture +of the plate ship in the South Sea. + +One of the old buccaneer writers of a century later says: "The +Spaniards affirm to this day that he took at that time +twelvescore tons of plate and sixteen bowls of coined money a man +(his number being then forty-five men in all), insomuch that they +were forced to heave much of it overboard, because his ship could +not carry it all." + +Maybe this was a very greatly exaggerated statement put by the +author and his Spanish authorities, nevertheless there was enough +truth in it to prove very conclusively to the bold minds of the +age that tremendous profits--"purchases" they called them--were +to be made from piracy. The Western World is filled with the +names of daring mariners of those old days, who came flitting +across the great trackless ocean in their little tublike boats of +a few hundred tons burden, partly to explore unknown seas, +partly--largely, perhaps--in pursuit of Spanish treasure: +Frobisher, Davis, Drake, and a score of others. + +In this left-handed war against Catholic Spain many of the +adventurers were, no doubt, stirred and incited by a grim, +Calvinistic, puritanical zeal for Protestantism. But equally +beyond doubt the gold and silver and plate of the "Scarlet Woman" +had much to do with the persistent energy with which these hardy +mariners braved the mysterious, unknown terrors of the great +unknown ocean that stretched away to the sunset, there in 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 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. + + + +III + +WITH THE BUCCANEERS + +Being an Account of Certain Adventures that Befell Henry Mostyn +Under Capt. H. Morgan in the Year 1665-66 + +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. + + + +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." + + + +V + +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. + + + +V + +JACK BALLISTER'S FORTUNES + +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. + + + +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 +snore 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. + + + +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. + + + +VII + +CAPTAIN SCARFIELD + +I + +ELEAZER COOPER, or Captain Cooper, as was his better-known title +in Philadelphia, was a prominent member of the Society of +Friends. He was an overseer of the meeting and an occasional +speaker upon particular occasions. When at home from one of his +many voyages he never failed to occupy his seat in the meeting +both on First Day and Fifth Day, and he was regarded by his +fellow townsmen as a model of business integrity and of domestic +responsibility. + +More incidental to this history, however, it is to be narrated +that Captain Cooper was one of those trading skippers who carried +their own merchandise in their own vessels which they sailed +themselves, and on whose decks they did their own bartering. His +vessel was a swift, large schooner, the Eliza Cooper, of +Philadelphia, named for his wife. His cruising grounds were the +West India Islands, and his merchandise was flour and corn meal +ground at the Brandywine Mills at Wilmington, Delaware. + +During the War of 1812 he had earned, as was very well known, an +extraordinary fortune in this trading; for flour and corn meal +sold at fabulous prices in the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Danish +islands, cut off, as they were, from the rest of the world by the +British blockade. + +The running of this blockade was one of the most hazardous +maritime ventures possible, but Captain Cooper had met with such +unvaried success, and had sold his merchandise at such incredible +profit that, at the end of the war, he found himself to have +become one of the wealthiest merchants of his native city. + +It was known at one time that his balance in the Mechanics' Bank +was greater than that of any other individual depositor upon the +books, and it was told of him that he had once deposited in the +bank a chest of foreign silver coin, the exchanged value of +which, when translated into American currency, was upward of +forty-two thousand dollars--a prodigious sum of money in those +days. + +In person, Captain Cooper was tall and angular of frame. His face +was thin and severe, wearing continually an unsmiling, mask-like +expression of continent and unruffled sobriety. His manner was +dry and taciturn, and his conduct and life were measured to the +most absolute accord with the teachings of his religious belief. + +He lived in an old-fashioned house on Front Street below +Spruce--as pleasant, cheerful a house as ever a trading captain +could return to. At the back of the house a lawn sloped steeply +down toward the river. To the south stood the wharf and +storehouses; to the north an orchard and kitchen garden bloomed +with abundant verdure. Two large chestnut trees sheltered the +porch and the little space of lawn, and when you sat under them +in the shade you looked down the slope between two rows of box +bushes directly across the shining river to the Jersey shore. + +At the time of our story--that is, about the year 1820--this +property had increased very greatly in value, but it was the old +home of the Coopers, as Eleazer Cooper was entirely rich enough +to indulge his fancy in such matters. Accordingly, as he chose to +live in the same house where his father and his grandfather had +dwelt before him, he peremptorily, if quietly, refused all offers +looking toward the purchase of the lot of ground--though it was +now worth five or six times its former value. + +As was said, it was a cheerful, pleasant home, impressing you +when you entered it with the feeling of spotless and +all-pervading cleanliness--a cleanliness that greeted you in the +shining brass door-knocker; that entertained you in the sitting +room with its stiff, leather-covered furniture, the brass-headed +tacks whereof sparkled like so many stars--a cleanliness that +bade you farewell in the spotless stretch of sand- sprinkled +hallway, the wooden floor of which was worn into knobs around the +nail heads by the countless scourings and scrubbings to which it +had been subjected and which left behind them an all-pervading +faint, fragrant odor of soap and warm water. + +Eleazer Cooper and his wife were childless, but one inmate made +the great, silent, shady house bright with life. Lucinda +Fairbanks, a niece of Captain Cooper's by his only sister, was a +handsome, sprightly girl of eighteen or twenty, and a great +favorite in the Quaker society of the city. + +It remains only to introduce the final and, perhaps, the most +important actor of the narrative Lieut. James Mainwaring. During +the past twelve months or so he had been a frequent visitor at +the Cooper house. At this time he was a broad-shouldered, +red-cheeked, stalwart fellow of twenty- six or twenty-eight. He +was a great social favorite, and possessed the added romantic +interest of having been aboard the Constitution when she fought +the Guerriere, and of having, with his own hands, touched the +match that fired the first gun of that great battle. + +Mainwaring's mother and Eliza Cooper had always been intimate +friends, and the coming and going of the young man during his +leave of absence were looked upon in the house as quite a matter +of course. Half a dozen times a week he would drop in to execute +some little commission for the ladies, or, if Captain Cooper was +at home, to smoke a pipe of tobacco with him, to sip a dram of +his famous old Jamaica rum, or to play a rubber of checkers of an +evening. It is not likely that either of the older people was the +least aware of the real cause of his visits; still less did they +suspect that any passages of sentiment had passed between the +young people. + +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 be 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 Etext of Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates + |