The Pirate Page 37
CHAPTER XI.
"By this hand, thou think'st me as far in the devil's book as thou and Falstaff, for obduracy and persistency. Let the end try the man.... Albeit I could tell to thee, (as to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend,) I could be sad, and sad indeed too."
_Henry IV., Part 2d._
We must now change the scene from Zetland to Orkney, and request ourreaders to accompany us to the ruins of an elegant, though ancientstructure, called the Earl's Palace. These remains, though muchdilapidated, still exist in the neighbourhood of the massive andvenerable pile, which Norwegian devotion dedicated to Saint Magnus theMartyr, and, being contiguous to the Bishop's Palace, which is alsoruinous, the place is impressive, as exhibiting vestiges of themutations both in Church and State which have affected Orkney, as wellas countries more exposed to such convulsions. Several parts of theseruinous buildings might be selected (under suitable modifications) asthe model of a Gothic mansion, provided architects would be contentedrather to imitate what is really beautiful in that species of building,than to make a medley of the caprices of the order, confounding themilitary, ecclesiastical, and domestic styles of all ages at random,with additional fantasies and combinations of their own device, "allformed out of the builder's brain."
The Earl's Palace forms three sides of an oblong square, and has, evenin its ruins, the air of an elegant yet massive structure, uniting, aswas usual in the residence of feudal princes, the character of a palaceand of a castle. A great banqueting-hall, communicating with severallarge rounds, or projecting turret-rooms, and having at either end animmense chimney, testifies the ancient Northern hospitality of the Earlsof Orkney, and communicates, almost in the modern fashion, with agallery, or withdrawing-room, of corresponding dimensions, and having,like the hall, its projecting turrets. The lordly hall itself is lightedby a fine Gothic window of shafted stone at one end, and is entered by aspacious and elegant staircase, consisting of three flights of stonesteps. The exterior ornaments and proportions of the ancient buildingare also very handsome; but, being totally unprotected, this remnant ofthe pomp and grandeur of Earls, who assumed the license as well as thedignity of petty sovereigns, is now fast crumbling to decay, and hassuffered considerably since the date of our story.
With folded arms and downcast looks the pirate Cleveland was pacingslowly the ruined hall which we have just described; a place ofretirement which he had probably chosen because it was distant frompublic resort. His dress was considerably altered from that which heusually wore in Zetland, and seemed a sort of uniform, richly laced, andexhibiting no small quantity of embroidery: a hat with a plume, and asmall sword very handsomely mounted, then the constant companion ofevery one who assumed the rank of a gentleman, showed his pretensions tothat character. But if his exterior was so far improved, it seemed to beotherwise with his health and spirits. He was pale, and had lost boththe fire of his eye and the vivacity of his step, and his wholeappearance indicated melancholy of mind, or suffering of body, or acombination of both evils.
As Cleveland thus paced these ancient ruins, a young man, of a light andslender form, whose showy dress seemed to have been studied with care,yet exhibited more extravagance than judgment or taste, whose manner wasa janty affectation of the free and easy rake of the period, and theexpression of whose countenance was lively, with a cast of effrontery,tripped up the staircase, entered the hall, and presented himself toCleveland, who merely nodded to him, and pulling his hat deeper over hisbrows, resumed his solitary and discontented promenade.
The stranger adjusted his own hat, nodded in return, took snuff, withthe air of a _petit maitre_, from a richly chased gold box, offered itto Cleveland as he passed, and being repulsed rather coldly, replacedthe box in his pocket, folded his arms in his turn, and stood lookingwith fixed attention on his motions whose solitude he had interrupted.At length Cleveland stopped short, as if impatient of being longer thesubject of his observation, and said abruptly, "Why can I not be leftalone for half an hour, and what the devil is it that you want?"
"I am glad you spoke first," answered the stranger, carelessly; "I wasdetermined to know whether you were Clement Cleveland, or Cleveland'sghost, and they say ghosts never take the first word, so I now set itdown for yourself in life and limb; and here is a fine old hurly-houseyou have found out for an owl to hide himself in at mid-day, or a ghostto revisit the pale glimpses of the moon, as the divine Shakspearesays."
"Well, well," answered Cleveland, abruptly, "your jest is made, and nowlet us have your earnest."
"In earnest, then, Captain Cleveland," replied his companion, "I thinkyou know me for your friend."
"I am content to suppose so," said Cleveland.
"It is more than supposition," replied the young man; "I have provedit--proved it both here and elsewhere."
"Well, well," answered Cleveland, "I admit you have been always afriendly fellow--and what then?"
"Well, well--and what then?" replied the other; "this is but a brief wayof thanking folk. Look you, Captain, here is Benson, Barlowe, DickFletcher, and a few others of us who wished you well, have kept your oldcomrade Captain Goffe in these seas upon the look-out for you, when heand Hawkins, and the greater part of the ship's company, would fain havebeen down on the Spanish Main, and at the old trade."
"And I wish to God that you had all gone about your business," saidCleveland, "and left me to my fate."
"Which would have been to be informed against and hanged, Captain, thefirst time that any of these Dutch or English rascals, whom you havelightened of their cargoes, came to set their eyes upon you; and noplace more likely to meet with seafaring men, than in these Islands. Andhere, to screen you from such a risk, we have been wasting our precioustime, till folk are grown very peery; and when we have no more goods ormoney to spend amongst them, the fellows will be for grabbing the ship."
"Well, then, why do you not sail off without me?" said Cleveland--"therehas been fair partition, and all have had their share--let all do asthey like. I have lost my ship, and having been once a Captain, I willnot go to sea under command of Goffe or any other man. Besides, you knowwell enough that both Hawkins and he bear me ill-will for keeping themfrom sinking the Spanish brig, with the poor devils of negroes onboard."
"Why, what the foul fiend is the matter with thee?" said his companion"are you Clement Cleveland, our own old true-hearted Clem of the Cleugh,and do you talk of being afraid of Hawkins and Goffe, and a score ofsuch fellows, when you have myself, and Barlowe, and Dick Fletcher atyour back? When was it we deserted you, either in council or in fight,that you should be afraid of our flinching now? And as for serving underGoffe, I hope it is no new thing for gentlemen of fortune who are goingon the account, to change a Captain now and then? Let us alone forthat,--Captain you shall be; for death rock me asleep if I serve underthat fellow Goffe, who is as very a bloodhound as ever suckedbitch!--No, no, I thank you--my Captain must have a little of thegentleman about him, howsoever. Besides, you know, it was you who firstdipped my hands in the dirty water, and turned me from a stroller byland, to a rover by sea."
"Alas, poor Bunce!" said Cleveland, "you owe me little thanks for thatservice."
"That is as you take it," replied Bunce; "for my part, I see no harm inlevying contributions on the public either one way or t'other. But Iwish you would forget that name of Bunce, and call me Altamont, as Ihave often desired you to do. I hope a gentleman of the roving trade hasas good a right to have an alias as a stroller, and I never stepped onthe boards but what I was Altamont at the least."
"Well, then, Jack Altamont," replied Cleveland, "since Altamont is theword"----
"Yes, but, Captain, _Jack_ is not the word, though Altamont be so. JackAltamont?--why, 'tis a velvet coat with paper lace--Let it be Frederick,Captain; Frederick Altamont is all of a piece."
"Frederick be it, then, with all my heart," said Cleveland; "and praytell me, which of your names will sound best at the head
of the LastSpeech, Confession, and Dying Words of John Bunce, _alias_ FrederickAltamont, who was this morning hanged at Execution-dock, for the crimeof Piracy upon the High Seas?"
"Faith, I cannot answer that question, without another can of grog,Captain; so if you will go down with me to Bet Haldane's on the quay, Iwill bestow some thought on the matter, with the help of a right pipe ofTrinidado. We will have the gallon bowl filled with the best stuff youever tasted, and I know some smart wenches who will help us to drain it.But you shake your head--you're not i' the vein?--Well, then, I willstay with you; for by this hand, Clem, you shift me not off. Only I willferret you out of this burrow of old stones, and carry you into sunshineand fair air.--Where shall we go?"
"Where you will," said Cleveland, "so that you keep out of the way ofour own rascals, and all others."
"Why, then," replied Bunce, "you and I will go up to the Hill ofWhitford, which overlooks the town, and walk together as gravely andhonestly as a pair of well-employed attorneys."
As they proceeded to leave the ruinous castle, Bunce, turning back tolook at it, thus addressed his companion:
"Hark ye, Captain, dost thou know who last inhabited this old cockloft?"
"An Earl of the Orkneys, they say," replied Cleveland.
"And are you avised what death he died of?" said Bunce; "for I haveheard that it was of a tight neck-collar--a hempen fever, or the like."
"The people here do say," replied Cleveland, "that his Lordship, somehundred years ago, had the mishap to become acquainted with the natureof a loop and a leap in the air."
"Why, la ye there now!" said Bunce; "there was some credit in beinghanged in those days, and in such worshipful company. And what might hislordship have done to deserve such promotion?"
"Plundered the liege subjects, they say," replied Cleveland; "slain andwounded them, fired upon his Majesty's flag, and so forth."
"Near akin to a gentleman rover, then," said Bunce, making a theatricalbow towards the old building; "and, therefore, my most potent, grave,and reverend Signior Earl, I crave leave to call you my loving cousin,and bid you most heartily adieu. I leave you in the good company of ratsand mice, and so forth, and I carry with me an honest gentleman, who,having of late had no more heart than a mouse, is now desirous to runaway from his profession and friends like a rat, and would therefore bea most fitting denizen of your Earlship's palace."
"I would advise you not to speak so loud, my good friend FrederickAltamont, or John Bunce," said Cleveland; "when you were on the stage,you might safely rant as loud as you listed; but, in your presentprofession, of which you are so fond, every man speaks under correctionof the yard-arm, and a running noose."
The comrades left the little town of Kirkwall in silence, and ascendedthe Hill of Whitford, which raises its brow of dark heath, uninterruptedby enclosures or cultivation of any kind, to the northward of theancient Burgh of Saint Magnus. The plain at the foot of the hill wasalready occupied by numbers of persons who were engaged in makingpreparations for the Fair of Saint Olla, to be held upon the ensuingday, and which forms a general rendezvous to all the neighbouringislands of Orkney, and is even frequented by many persons from the moredistant archipelago of Zetland. It is, in the words of the Proclamation,"a free Mercat and Fair, holden at the good Burgh of Kirkwall on thethird of August, being Saint Olla's day," and continuing for anindefinite space thereafter, extending from three days to a week, andupwards. The fair is of great antiquity, and derives its name fromOlaus, Olave, Ollaw, the celebrated Monarch of Norway, who, rather bythe edge of his sword than any milder argument, introduced Christianityinto those isles, and was respected as the patron of Kirkwall some timebefore he shared that honour with Saint Magnus the Martyr.
It was no part of Cleveland's purpose to mingle in the busy scene whichwas here going on and, turning their route to the left, they soonascended into undisturbed solitude, save where the grouse, moreplentiful in Orkney, perhaps, than in any other part of the Britishdominions, rose in covey, and went off before them.[29] Having continuedto ascend till they had wellnigh reached the summit of the conicalhill, both turned round, as with one consent, to look at and admire theprospect beneath.
The lively bustle which extended between the foot of the hill and thetown, gave life and variety to that part of the scene; then was seen thetown itself, out of which arose, like a great mass, superior inproportion as it seemed to the whole burgh, the ancient Cathedral ofSaint Magnus, of the heaviest order of Gothic architecture, but grand,solemn, and stately, the work of a distant age, and of a powerful hand.The quay, with the shipping, lent additional vivacity to the scene; andnot only the whole beautiful bay, which lies betwixt the promontories ofInganess and Quanterness, at the bottom of which Kirkwall is situated,but all the sea, so far as visible, and in particular the whole straitbetwixt the island of Shapinsha and that called Pomona, or the Mainland,was covered and enlivened by a variety of boats and small vessels,freighted from distant islands to convey passengers or merchandise tothe Fair of Saint Olla.
Having attained the point by which this fair and busy prospect was mostcompletely commanded, each of the strangers, in seaman fashion, hadrecourse to his spy-glass, to assist the naked eye in considering thebay of Kirkwall, and the numerous vessels by which it was traversed. Butthe attention of the two companions seemed to be arrested by differentobjects. That of Bunce, or Altamont, as he chose to call himself, wasriveted to the armed sloop, where, conspicuous by her square rigging andlength of beam, with the English jack and pennon, which they had theprecaution to keep flying, she lay among the merchant vessels, asdistinguished from them by the trim neatness of her appearance, as atrained soldier amongst a crowd of clowns.
"Yonder she lies," said Bunce; "I wish to God she was in the bay ofHonduras--you Captain, on the quarter-deck, I your lieutenant, andFletcher quarter-master, and fifty stout fellows under us--I should notwish to see these blasted heaths and rocks again for a while!--AndCaptain you shall soon be. The old brute Goffe gets drunk as a lordevery day, swaggers, and shoots, and cuts, among the crew; and, besides,he has quarrelled with the people here so damnably, that they willscarce let water or provisions go on board of us, and we expect an openbreach every day."
As Bunce received no answer, he turned short round on his companion,and, perceiving his attention otherwise engaged, exclaimed,--"What thedevil is the matter with you? or what can you see in all that trumperysmall-craft, which is only loaded with stock-fish, and ling, and smokedgeese, and tubs of butter that is worse than tallow?--the cargoes of thewhole lumped together would not be worth the flash of a pistol.--No, no,give me such a chase as we might see from the mast-head off the islandof Trinidado. Your Don, rolling as deep in the water as a grampus,deep-loaden with rum, sugar, and bales of tobacco, and all the restingots, moidores, and gold dust; then set all sail, clear the deck,stand to quarters, up with the Jolly Roger[30]--we near her--we makeher out to be well manned and armed"----
"Twenty guns on her lower deck," said Cleveland.
"Forty, if you will," retorted Bunce, "and we have but tenmounted--never mind. The Don blazes away--never mind yet, my bravelads--run her alongside, and on board with you--to work, with yourgrenadoes, your cutlasses, pole-axes, and pistols--The Don criesMisericordia, and we share the cargo without _co licencio, Seignior_!"
"By my faith," said Cleveland, "thou takest so kindly to the trade, thatall the world may see that no honest man was spoiled when you were madea pirate. But you shall not prevail on me to go farther in the devil'sroad with you; for you know yourself that what is got over his back isspent--you wot how. In a week, or a month at most, the rum and the sugarare out, the bales of tobacco have become smoke, the moidores, ingots,and gold dust, have got out of our hands, into those of the quiet,honest, conscientious folks, who dwell at Port Royal and elsewhere--winkhard on our trade as long as we have money, but not a jot beyond. Thenwe have cold looks, and it may be a hint is given to the Judge Marshal;for, when our pockets are worth nothing, our honest friends, rather
thanwant, will make money upon our heads. Then comes a high gallows and ashort halter, and so dies the Gentleman Rover. I tell thee, I will leavethis trade; and, when I turn my glass from one of these barks and boatsto another, there is not the worst of them which I would not row forlife, rather than continue to be what I have been. These poor men makethe sea a means of honest livelihood and friendly communication betweenshore and shore, for the mutual benefit of the inhabitants; but we havemade it a road to the ruin of others, and to our own destruction hereand in eternity.--I am determined to turn honest man, and use this lifeno longer!"
"And where will your honesty take up its abode, if it please you?" saidBunce.--"You have broken the laws of every nation, and the hand of thelaw will detect and crush you wherever you may take refuge.--Cleveland,I speak to you more seriously than I am wont to do. I have had myreflections, too; and they have been bad enough, though they lasted buta few minutes, to spoil me weeks of joviality. But here is thematter,--what can we do but go on as we have done, unless we have adirect purpose of adorning the yard-arm?"
"We may claim the benefit of the proclamation to those of our sort whocome in and surrender," said Cleveland.
"Umph!" answered his companion, dryly; "the date of that day of gracehas been for some time over, and they may take the penalty or grant thepardon at their pleasure. Were I you, I would not put my neck in such aventure."
"Why, others have been admitted but lately to favour, and why should notI?" said Cleveland.
"Ay," replied his associate, "Harry Glasby and some others have beenspared; but Glasby did what was called good service, in betraying hiscomrades, and retaking the Jolly Fortune; and that I think you wouldscorn, even to be revenged of the brute Goffe yonder."
"I would die a thousand times sooner," said Cleveland.
"I will be sworn for it," said Bunce; "and the others were forecastlefellows--petty larceny rogues, scarce worth the hemp it would have costto hang them. But your name has stood too high amongst the gentlemen offortune for you to get off so easily. You are the prime buck of theherd, and will be marked accordingly."
"And why so, I pray you?" said Cleveland; "you know well enough my aim,Jack."
"Frederick, if you please," said Bunce.
"The devil take your folly!--Prithee keep thy wit, and let us be gravefor a moment."
"For a moment--be it so," said Bunce; "but I feel the spirit of Altamontcoming fast upon me,--I have been a grave man for ten minutes already."
"Be so then for a little longer," said Cleveland; "I know, Jack, thatyou really love me; and, since we have come thus far in this talk, Iwill trust you entirely. Now tell me, why should I be refused thebenefit of this gracious proclamation? I have borne a rough outside, asthou knowest; but, in time of need, I can show the numbers of liveswhich I have been the means of saving, the property which I haverestored to those who owned it, when, without my intercession, it wouldhave been wantonly destroyed. In short, Bunce, I can show"----
"That you were as gentle a thief as Robin Hood himself," said Bunce;"and, for that reason, I, Fletcher, and the better sort among us, loveyou, as one who saves the character of us Gentlemen Rovers from utterreprobation.--Well, suppose your pardon made out, what are you to donext?--what class in society will receive you?--with whom will youassociate? Old Drake, in Queen Bess's time, could plunder Peru andMexico without a line of commission to show for it, and, blessed be hermemory! he was knighted for it on his return. And there was Hal Morgan,the Welshman, nearer our time, in the days of merry King Charles,brought all his gettings home, had his estate and his country-house, andwho but he? But that is all ended now--once a pirate, and an outcast forever. The poor devil may go and live, shunned and despised by every one,in some obscure seaport, with such part of his guilty earnings ascourtiers and clerks leave him--for pardons do not pass the seals fornothing;--and, when he takes his walk along the pier, if a strangerasks, who is the down-looking, swarthy, melancholy man, for whom allmake way, as if he brought the plague in his person, the answer shallbe, that is such a one, the pardoned pirate!--No honest man will speakto him, no woman of repute will give him her hand."
"Your picture is too highly coloured, Jack," said Cleveland, suddenlyinterrupting his friend; "there are women--there is one at least, thatwould be true to her lover, even if he were what you have described."
Bunce was silent for a space, and looked fixedly at his friend. "By mysoul!" he said, at length, "I begin to think myself a conjurer. Unlikelyas it all was, I could not help suspecting from the beginning that therewas a girl in the case. Why, this is worse than Prince Volscius in love,ha! ha! ha!"
"Laugh as you will," said Cleveland, "it is true;--there is a maiden whois contented to love me, pirate as I am; and I will fairly own to you,Jack, that, though I have often at times detested our roving life, andmyself for following it, yet I doubt if I could have found resolution tomake the break which I have now resolved on, but for her sake."
"Why, then, God-a-mercy!" replied Bunce, "there is no speaking sense toa madman; and love in one of our trade, Captain, is little better thanlunacy. The girl must be a rare creature, for a wise man to risk hangingfor her. But, harkye, may she not be a little touched, as well asyourself?--and is it not sympathy that has done it? She cannot be one ofour ordinary cockatrices, but a girl of conduct and character."
"Both are as undoubted as that she is the most beautiful and bewitchingcreature whom the eye ever opened upon," answered Cleveland.
"And she loves thee, knowing thee, most noble Captain, to be a commanderamong those gentlemen of fortune, whom the vulgar call pirates?"
"Even so--I am assured of it," said Cleveland.
"Why, then," answered Bunce, "she is either mad in good earnest, as Isaid before, or she does not know what a pirate is."
"You are right in the last point," replied Cleveland. "She has been bredin such remote simplicity, and utter ignorance of what is evil, that shecompares our occupation with that of the old Norsemen, who swept sea andhaven with their victorious galleys, established colonies, conqueredcountries, and took the name of Sea-Kings."
"And a better one it is than that of pirate, and comes much to the samepurpose, I dare say," said Bunce. "But this must be a mettledwench!--why did you not bring her aboard? methinks it was pity to baulkher fancy."
"And do you think," said Cleveland, "that I could so utterly play thepart of a fallen spirit as to avail myself of her enthusiastic error,and bring an angel of beauty and innocence acquainted with such a hellas exists on board of yonder infernal ship of ours?--I tell you, myfriend, that, were all my former sins doubled in weight and in dye, sucha villainy would have outglared and outweighed them all."
"Why, then, Captain Cleveland," said his confident, "methinks it was buta fool's part to come hither at all. The news must one day have goneabroad, that the celebrated pirate Captain Cleveland, with his goodsloop the Revenge, had been lost on the Mainland of Zetland, and allhands perished; so you would have remained hid both from friend andenemy, and might have married your pretty Zetlander, and converted yoursash and scarf into fishing-nets, and your cutlass into a harpoon, andswept the seas for fish instead of florins."
"And so I had determined," said the Captain; "but a Jagger, as they callthem here, like a meddling, peddling thief as he is, brought downintelligence to Zetland of your lying here, and I was fain to set off,to see if you were the consort of whom I had told them, long before Ithought of leaving the roving trade."
"Ay," said Bunce, "and so far you judged well. For, as you had heard ofour being at Kirkwall, so we should have soon learned that you were atZetland; and some of us for friendship, some for hatred, and some forfear of your playing Harry Glasby upon us, would have come down for thepurpose of getting you into our company again."
"I suspected as much," said the Captain, "and therefore was fain todecline the courteous offer of a friend, who proposed to bring me hereabout this time. Besides, Jack, I recollected, that, as you say, mypardon will not pass the seals without
money, my own was waxing low--nowonder, thou knowest I was never a churl of it--And so"----
"And so you came for your share of the cobs?" replied his friend--"Itwas wisely done; and we shared honourably--so far Goffe has acted up toarticles, it must be allowed. But keep your purpose of leaving him closein your breast, for I dread his playing you some dog's trick or other;for he certainly thought himself sure of your share, and will hardlyforgive your coming alive to disappoint him."
"I fear him not," said Cleveland, "and he knows that well. I would Iwere as well clear of the consequences of having been his comrade, as Ihold myself to be of all those which may attend his ill-will. Anotherunhappy job I may be troubled with--I hurt a young fellow, who has beenmy plague for some time, in an unhappy brawl that chanced the morning Ileft Zetland."
"Is he dead?" asked Bunce: "It is a more serious question here, than itwould be on the Grand Caimains or the Bahama Isles, where a brace or twoof fellows may be shot in a morning, and no more heard of, or askedabout them, than if they were so many wood-pigeons. But here it may beotherwise; so I hope you have not made your friend immortal."
"I hope not," said the Captain, "though my anger has been fatal to thosewho have given me less provocation. To say the truth, I was sorry forthe lad notwithstanding, and especially as I was forced to leave him inmad keeping."
"In mad keeping?" said Bunce; "why, what means that?"
"You shall hear," replied his friend. "In the first place, you are toknow, this young man came suddenly on me while I was trying to gainMinna's ear for a private interview before I set sail, that I mightexplain my purpose to her. Now, to be broken in on by the accursedrudeness of this young fellow at such a moment"----
"The interruption deserved death," said Bunce, "by all the laws of loveand honour!"
"A truce with your ends of plays, Jack, and listen one moment.--Thebrisk youth thought proper to retort, when I commanded him to be gone. Iam not, thou knowest, very patient, and enforced my commands with ablow, which he returned as roundly. We struggled, till I became desirousthat we should part at any rate, which I could only effect by a strokeof my poniard, which, according to old use, I have, thou knowest, alwaysabout me. I had scarce done this when I repented; but there was no timeto think of any thing save escape and concealment, for, if the houserose on me, I was lost; as the fiery old man, who is head of the family,would have done justice on me had I been his brother. I took the bodyhastily on my shoulders to carry it down to the sea-shore, with thepurpose of throwing it into a _riva_, as they call them, or chasm ofgreat depth, where it would have been long enough in being discovered.This done, I intended to jump into the boat which I had lying ready, andset sail for Kirkwall. But, as I was walking hastily towards the beachwith my burden, the poor young fellow groaned, and so apprized me thatthe wound had not been instantly fatal. I was by this time wellconcealed amongst the rocks, and, far from desiring to complete mycrime, I laid the young man on the ground, and was doing what I could tostanch the blood, when suddenly an old woman stood before me. She was aperson whom I had frequently seen while in Zetland, and to whom theyascribe the character of a sorceress, or, as the negroes say, an Obiwoman. She demanded the wounded man of me, and I was too much pressedfor time to hesitate in complying with her request. More she was aboutto say to me, when we heard the voice of a silly old man, belonging tothe family, singing at some distance. She then pressed her finger on herlip as a sign of secrecy, whistled very low, and a shapeless, deformedbrute of a dwarf coming to her assistance, they carried the wounded maninto one of the caverns with which the place abounds, and I got to myboat and to sea with all expedition. If that old hag be, as they say,connected with the King of the Air, she favoured me that morning with aturn of her calling; for not even the West Indian tornadoes, which wehave weathered together, made a wilder racket than the squall that droveme so far out of our course, that, without a pocket-compass, which Ichanced to have about me, I should never have recovered the Fair Isle,for which we run, and where I found a brig which brought me to thisplace. But, whether the old woman meant me weal or woe, here we came atlength in safety from the sea, and here I remain in doubts anddifficulties of more kinds than one."
"O, the devil take the Sumburgh-head," said Bunce, "or whatever theycall the rock that you knocked our clever little Revenge against!"
"Do not say _I_ knocked her on the rock," said Cleveland; "have I nottold you fifty times, if the cowards had not taken to their boat, thoughI showed them the danger, and told them they would all be swamped, whichhappened the instant they cast off the painter, she would have beenafloat at this moment? Had they stood by me and the ship, their liveswould have been saved; had I gone with them, mine would have been lost;who can say which is for the best?"
"Well," replied his friend, "I know your case now, and can the betterhelp and advise. I will be true to you, Clement, as the blade to thehilt; but I cannot think that you should leave us. As the old Scottishsong says, 'Wae's my heart that we should sunder!'--But come, you willaboard with us to-day, at any rate?"
"I have no other place of refuge," said Cleveland, with a sigh.
He then once more ran his eyes over the bay, directing his spy-glassupon several of the vessels which traversed its surface, in hopes,doubtless, of discerning the vessel of Magnus Troil, and then followedhis companion down the hill in silence.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] It is very curious that the grouse, plenty in Orkney as the textdeclares, should be totally unknown in the neighbouring archipelago ofZetland, which is only about sixty miles distance, with the Fair Isle asa step between.
[30] The pirates gave this name to the black flag, which, with manyhorrible devices to enhance its terrors, was their favourite ensign.