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Read Ebook: The Corsair King by J Kai M R Safford Mary J Translator
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Ebook has 689 lines and 26333 words, and 14 pages
in such straits that I was forced to throw them overboard, there would be no other ballast in the ship."
"Devil take it!" roared Asphlant, throwing his cap on the deck, "have so many brave fellows eaten lead and drunk salt water for the sake of an empty box, full of rats? you are a cheat, captain. What had you to defend in this ship?"
"My honor," replied Rolls proudly.
"Which, when we have taken it from you, will be of no use to us," said the giant Skyrme, laughing. "What do you say to that, Moody?"
The man addressed was a sullen, taciturn fellow, who was sitting on the bulwark, holding a short pipe between his teeth. The silver whistle hanging from his button-hole indicated that he was the pirate's boatswain.
"What's the use of so much talk?" he rejoined. "Bore a hole in the bottom of the ark and let the whole crew go under water with her."
"For heaven's sake, gentlemen!" shrieked a voice among the captured sailors, and a man, with his hands tied behind his back, threw himself at Barthelemy's feet and tried to kiss his boots, while his eyes rested despairingly on the face of the pirate chief.
Some of the pirates stared, others laughed.
"Gentleman, renowned heroes, worshipped sovereigns of our age, hear me, I entreat you, by all you hold sacred. I am Dr. Scudamore, a persecuted man; persecuted as you are; I have nothing to do with these people; I am the mortal enemy of Captain Rolls. I implore you to distinguish between me and these people, not to condemn me with them. Oh, I beg you to be merciful and permit me, kissing the dust off your feet, to consider myself the humblest of your servants."
Skyrme averted his face with an expression of loathing, while Moody kicked at the writhing figure, whom every one was eyeing with the deepest scorn.
"Captain Rolls," said Barthelemy, "it appears that you have condemned this fellow?"
"Only accused, not condemned. The judgment lies with the English courts."
"Oh, we won't go so far," said Skyrme with a look of amusement; "make the charge; we'll represent the court of justice. Barthelemy will be judge, we the sheriffs and constables. Bring forward the complaint, the court is open."
Rolls coldly averted his eyes without answering a syllable.
Scudamore, who was scanning every face with the crafty glance of a man who fears for his life, hastily interposed.
"I forbid you to do so!" cried Rolls vehemently.
"There, you see for yourselves, gentlemen. He wants to command here still, here, where you are the rightful possessors. He will not even permit me to repeat the charge against me! Very natural! He knows that he, and not I, will be condemned. So listen, gentlemen, listen, for what I have to tell is an important matter; my crime is that we were bringing huge bars of silver--"
"Ho! ho! that begins well," shouted Asphlant, craning his neck to hear better.
"On the way a storm rose, the ship sprung a leak, and the captain ordered all useless ballast to be thrown overboard. There was nothing left except the sick and the silver, and the question was which should be cast into the sea?"
"Well, and you, as the doctor, of course kept the sick," said Skyrme.
"No indeed, I kept the silver, and now Captain Rolls wants to punish me for it."
Barthelemy turned from the man in horror, while Rolls glared at him with blazing eyes.
"Oho, captain," cried Asphlant, "so there is silver on your ship! Where did you hide it, eh?"
"That I will not tell you."
"You won't? Oh, the thumb screw will find out. Here, ropes, ropes!"
"What do you mean?" cried Barthelemy, boldly surveying his companions. "Are we members of the Inquisition, that we seek to learn truth by torture? No, my friends; let no one have the right to say that the pirates use the tools of the auto-da-f?! Should not we, who call ourselves the heroes of the free sea, honor freedom? If Captain Rolls will not reveal the hiding-place in his vessel we will take her into port, pull every plank apart, and find the silver without committing a deed which would dishonor us."
The pirates cheered their captain's speech, and began to fasten the brigantine to their ship.
Scudamore, who had refrained from disclosing the hiding-place merely that the pirates might wreak their vengeance on Captain Rolls, now, perceiving that the latter had escaped, said:
"Don't trouble yourselves, gentlemen. Why should you drag this miserable craft after you? Release me and promise to spare my life, and I'll take you to the spot where the silver is hidden."
"Loose the doctor's hands from the irons," said Barthelemy signing to his men. "I'll promise that we will not harm a hair of your head. Show us the hiding-place."
Scudamore, finding his hands at liberty, tried to shake hands with each one of the pirates in turn, but they angrily pushed him back.
"Hurry up!" cried Asphlant, dealing him a blow, while another pirate, grasping him with both hands, dragged him along, Scudamore protesting that he should feel under obligations to the whole company as long as he lived.
The pirates soon returned, exultingly bearing the chests of silver on their shoulders. Barthelemy ordered them to be placed on board their own vessel, while Scudamore showed the utmost zeal in helping the men, calling each, meanwhile, his dear, kind friend, a compliment which they repaid with all sorts of abusive epithets and the command not to touch their property.
The last to come on deck was Asphlant, who said with great satisfaction: "We shall leave nothing here, captain! The ship is entirely empty. Shall we bore a hole in her bottom? Or will it be better to hang these fellows in a row on the mainyard, and let the vessel drift where she likes?"
The loud laughter of the pirates showed their cordial approval of this proposal. The sailors gave no sign of emotion, while Scudamore tried to lock arms with one after another of the pirates, constantly asserting that he had nothing to do with the other party.
"Silence!" ordered Barthelemy sternly. "You will neither scuttle the ship nor hang the crew. That might do for miserable Spanish privateers, pitiful Tunisian cut-throats, but not for us, Englishmen and Frenchmen. Are we to make ourselves ashamed of the name of pirate, admit that it has nothing in common with the word honor? Were not the first inhabitants of Rome also corsairs? Our mission is to place the name of fillibuster in a new light. Captain Rolls, you and your whole ship's company are free to go wherever you desire."
A fierce uproar arose among the robbers. Many approved the captain's speech, some strove to oppose it.
Barthelemy stamped his foot violently. "Is there any one who desires to contradict me?"
"Yes!" shrieked Moody, stepping in front of him and thrusting the pipe he held between his teeth so close to the captain's face that it almost touched his eyes. "I say you are a fool, captain. You are acting against all the customs of pirates and, if you don't take back your order, I'll scuttle the ship myself."
"Do you think so?" said Barthelemy. "Skyrme! Seize this fellow and bind him to the mainmast."
The pirates shrank back, startled. Moody was the oldest of the band, whom no captain had ever ventured to punish. Barthelemy again motioned to Skyrme, and the latter, rushing upon the chief mate, bound him, in spite of his struggles, to the mainmast, so that he clasped it with both arms, his back turned to the crew; but, while pouring forth a continuous torrent of oaths, he still kept his pipe in his mouth.
"Is there any one else who wishes to oppose me?" asked the young chief.
A suppressed murmur ran through the ranks of the pirates, but no one raised his voice distinctly.
Barthelemy now turned to Captain Rolls and, taking from his pocket a piece of paper and a pencil he said:
"Captain Rolls! I hope you will reach London with your ship in safety. It is true that you will return her to her owners empty, but that is no fault of yours, in proof of which I will give you the following certificate for your justification at home.
We, free knights of fortune, bear witness in the presence of all whom it concerns, that Rolls, captain of the brigantine Neptune, was attacked by us on the Pacific Ocean, and, having just lost his guns and part of his rigging in a gale, defended himself against us in the bravest manner for an hour and a half, and did not yield until, after losing nine of our best men and our captain, we completely overwhelmed him and thereby alone obtained the silver entrusted to his care.
CAPTAIN ROBERT BARTHELEMY.
"Add," said Rolls, "that you succeeded in securing the silver only through Scudamore's treachery."
"True," replied Barthelemy, adding the sentence.
"Gentlemen!" interposed Scudamore trembling, "what are you going to do with me?"
"Nothing," said Barthelemy. "We promised that we would not harm a hair of your head."
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