IN WHICH WE TAKE MUCH TREASURE
"You must be awful rich, Black Bart," said L'Olonnois to me as we sat
on the grass, at breakfast, the following morning.
"No, Jimmy," I replied, putting down my coffee cup, "on the contrary,
I am very poor."
"But you have all sorts of things, back there where you live; and last
night you said you would pay that man a hundred dollars, just to open
a lot of clam shells. Now, a hundred dollars is a awful sight of
money."
"That depends, Jimmy," I said.
"'N' we'd ought to _take_ them pearls," broke in Lafitte. "Didn't we
lick him?"
"We did, yes; twice." And in my assent I felt, again, a fierce
satisfaction in the first conquest of our invader, that of body to
body, eye to eye; rather than in the one where I brought intellect to
aid in war. "But there are two ways of being a pirate. Let us see if
we can not win treasure by taking a chance in logic, and so be modern
pirates."
They did not understand me, and went mute, but at last Jimmy resumed
his catechism. "Who owns the place where you live, Black Bart?"
"I do."
"But how much?"
"Some five or six miles."
"Gee! That must be over a hundred acres. I didn't know anybody owned
that much land. Where'd you get it?"
"In part from my father."
"What business was he in?"
"He was a pirate, Jimmy, or at least, they said he was. But my mother
was not.--I will tell you," I added suddenly: "my father owned a great
deal of timber land long ago, and iron, and oil, and copper, when
nobody cared much for them. They say, now, he stole some of them, I
don't know. In those days people weren't so particular. The more he
got, the more he wanted. He never was a boy like you and me. He
educated me as a lawyer, so that I could take care of his business and
his property, and he trained me in the pirate business the best he
could, and I made money too, all I wanted. You see, my father could
never get enough, but I did; perhaps, because my mother wasn't a
pirate, you see. So, when I got enough, my father and mother both died,
and when I began to see that, maybe, my father had taken a little more
than our share, I began trying to do something for people ... but I
can't talk about that, of course."
"Well, why not?" demanded Lafitte. "Go on."
"A fellow doesn't like to."
"But what did you do?"
"Very little. I found I could not do very much. I gave some buildings
to schools, that sort of thing. No one thanked me much. A good many
called me a Socialist."
"What's that--a Socialist?"
"I can't tell you. Nobody knows. But really, I suppose, a Socialist is
a man born before the world got used to steam and electricity. Those
things made a lot of changes, you see, and in the confusion some
people didn't get quite as square a deal as they deserved; or at
least, they didn't think they had. It takes time, really, as I
suppose, to settle down after any great change. It's like moving a
house."
"I see," said Jimmy sagely. "But, Black Bart, you always seemed to me
like as if, now, well, like you was studyin' or something, somehow.
Ain't you never had no good times before?"
"No. This is about the first really good time I ever had in all my
life. You see, you can't really understand things that you look at
from a long way off--you've got to get right in with folks to know
what folks are. Don't you think so?"
"I know it!" answered Jimmy, with conviction. And I recalled, though
he did not, the fact that he bathed daily, Lafitte weekly, yet no
gulf was fixed between their portions of the general humanity.
"It must be nice to be rich," ventured Lafitte presently. "I'm going
to be, some day."
"Is that why you go a-pirating?" I smiled.
"Maybe. But mostly, because I like it."
"It's a sort of game," said L'Olonnois.
"All life is a sort of game, my hearties," said I. "What you two just
have said covers most of the noble trade of piracy and nearly all of
the pretty game of life. You are wise as I am, wise as any man,
indeed."
"What I like about you, Black Bart," resumed L'Olonnois, naively, "is,
you seem always fair."
I flushed at this, suddenly, and pushed back my plate. "Jimmy," said I
at last, "I would rather have heard that, from you, than to hear I had
made a million dollars from pearls or anything else. For that has
always been my great hope and wish--that some day I could teach myself
always to be fair--not to deceive anybody, most of all not myself; in
short, to be fair. Brother, I thank you, if you really believe I have
succeeded to some extent."
"Why ain't you always jolly, like you was havin' a good time, then?"
demanded my blue-eyed inquisitor. "Honor bright!"
"Must it be honor bright?"
"Yes."
"Then I will tell you. It is because of the first chapter of Genesis,
Jimmy."
"What's that?"
"Fie! Fie! Jimmy, haven't you read that?" He shook his head.
"I've read a little about the fights," he said, "when Saul 'n' David
'n' a lot of 'em slew them tens of thousands. But Genesis was dry."
"Do you remember any place where it says 'Male and female created He
them'?"
"Oh, yes; but what of it? That's dry."
"Is it, though?" I exclaimed. "And you with an Auntie Helena, and a
brother Black Bart. Jimmy L'Olonnois, little do you know what you
say!"
"Well, now," interrupted the ruthless soul of Jean Lafitte, "how about
them pearls?"
"That's so," assented Jimmy. "Pearls is booty."
"Very well, then, shipmates," I assented, "as soon as we have washed
the dishes, we will see what can be done with the enemy yonder."
We found our two clammers, the young man and his crone of a mother, up
betimes and hard at work, as evil-looking a pair as ever I saw. The
man's face was still puffed and discolored, where my fists had
punished him, and his disposition had not improved overnight. His
hag-like dam also regarded us with suspicion and disfavor, I could
note, and I saw her glance from me to her son, making mental
comparisons; and guessed she had heard explanations regarding black
eyes which did not wholly satisfy her.
They had already roasted open and examined quite a heap of shells by
the time we arrived, and I inquired, pleasantly, if they had found
anything. The man answered surlily that they had not; but something
made me feel suspicious, since they had made so early a start. I saw
him now and then wipe his hands on his overalls, and several times
noted that as he did so, his middle finger projected down below the
others, as though he were touching for something inside his pocket,
which lay in front, the overalls being made for a carpenter, with a
narrow pocket devised for carrying a folded foot-rule. But I could see
nothing suggested in the pocket.
"That's too bad," I said pleasantly. "It looks as though I were going
to lose my hundred, doesn't it? Still, the day is long."
I busied myself in watching the deft work of the two as they opened
the shells started by the heat, sweeping out the fetid contents, and
feeling in one swift motion of a thumb for any hidden secretion of the
nacre. Nothing was found while I was watching, and as I did not much
like the odor, I drew to one side. I found L'Olonnois and Lafitte
standing apart, in full character, arms folded and scowling heavily.
"If yonder villain plays us false," said Lafitte between his clenched
teeth, "he shall feel the vengeance of Jean Lafitte! And I wouldn't
put it a blame bit a-past him, neither," he added, slightly out of
drawing for the time.
"You are well named, Lafitte," I smiled. "You are a good business man.
But the day is long."
It was, indeed, long, and I put in part of it wandering about with
Partial, hunting for squirrels, which he took much delight in chasing
up trees. Again, I lay for a time reading one of my favorite authors,
the wise stoic, Epictetus, tarrying over one of my favorite passages:
"Remember that you are an actor of just such a part as is assigned you
by the Poet of the play; of a short part, if the part be short, of a
long part if the part be long. Should He wish you to act the part of a
beggar, ('or of a pirate,' I interpolated, aloud to myself, and
smiling) take care to act it naturally and nobly; and the same if it
be the part of a lame man, or a ruler, or a private man. For this is
in your power--to act well the part assigned to you; but to choose
that part is the function of another."
I lay thoughtful, querying. Was I a rich man, or a poor man? Was I a
ruler, or a private man, or a lame man?... I asked myself many
questions, concluding that all my life I had, like most of us all,
been more or less a lame man and a private man after all, and much
like my fellow.... It was a great day for me; since each day I seek to
learn something. And here now was I, blessed by the printed wisdom of
age and philosophy, and yet more blessed by the spoken philosophy of
unthinking Youth.... I lay flat, my arms out on the grass, and looked
up at the leaves. I felt myself a part of the eternal changeless
scheme, and was well content. It has always been impossible for me to
care for the little things of life--such as the amassing of
money--when I am alone in the woods. I pondered now on the wisdom of
my teachers, Epictetus, Jimmy, John and the author of the Book of
Genesis.
I arose at last with less of melancholy and more of resolve than I had
known for years. The world swam true on its axis all around me; and I,
who all my life had been in some way out of balance in the world, now
walked with a strange feeling of poise and certainty.... No, I said to
myself, I would argue no more with Helena. And meantime since the Poet
of the play had assigned me the double role of pirate and boy, I was
resolved to act both "naturally and nobly."
I could not have called either of my associates less than natural and
noble in his part, viewed as I found them when at length I sought them
to partake of a cold luncheon. They stood apart, gloom and stern
dignity themselves, offering no speech to the laboring clammers, who,
by this time, were but masses of evil odors and ill-temper in equal
parts.
"I think he's holdin' out on us!" hissed Jean Lafitte, as I
approached. "Time and again I seen the varlet make false moves. Let
him have a care! The eye of Jean Lafitte is upon him!"
For my own part, I cared little for anything beyond the sport in my
pearl venture, but no man likes to be "done," so I joined the guard
over the pearl fishing. I could see little indication of success on
the part of the two clammers, who went on in their work steadily,
exchanging no more than a monosyllable now and then, but who were
animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement which governs the
miner washing gravel in his pan. They scarce could rest, but went on
from shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though it meant a
fortune. This of itself seemed to me both natural and yet not wholly
natural; for it was now late in the day's work. Why should they go on
quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping in the sun should have
made monotonous routine?
They showed me a few pieces they had saved, splinters and slugs of
nacre, misshapen and of no luster, and sneered at the net results,
worth, at most, not so much as the day's wages I was paying either. I
cared nothing for the results, and smiled and nodded as I took them.
Thus the day wore on till mid-afternoon, when, such had been the zeal
of the clammers, the heap of bivalves was exhausted. They stood erect,
straightening their stiffened backs, and grinned as they looked at me.
"Well," said the old hag, "I reckon ye're satisfied now that we know
this business better'n you do. He told ye there wasn't no pearl in
this river."
"No;" added her hopeful son, "an' come to think of it, how'd I ever
know you had a hundred dollars? I ain't seen it yet. But we've done,
so let's see it now."
I quietly opened my pocketbook and took several bills of that
yellow-backed denomination, and selected one for him. He took it at
first suspiciously, then greedily, and I saw his eyes go to my wallet.
"I forgot," said I, and took out two bills of five dollars each, which
I handed to him.
"By golly!" said he, "so'd I forgot!"
"Why did you forget about your wages?" I asked, and looked at him
keenly. He turned his eyes aside.
"This fresh-water pearl fishing," said I, "has many points of
likeness to the ocean pearl fishing in Ceylon."
"You been there?" he queried. "And why is it like them?"
"In several ways. It is, in the first place, all a gamble. The pearl
merchants buy the oysters as I bought my mussels, by the lump and as a
chance, based on the law of average product. They rot the oysters as
you do the mussels. The smell is the same: and many other things are
the same. For instance, it is almost impossible to keep the diver from
stealing pearls, just as it is hard to keep the Kafirs from stealing
the diamonds they find in the mines."
I still was looking at him closely, and now I said to him mildly, and
in a low tone of voice, "It would be of no use--I should only beat you
again; and I would rather spare your mother. You see," I added in a
louder tone of voice, "the natives put pearls in their hair, between
their toes, in their mouths--although they do not chew tobacco as you
do. One who merely put one in the pocket of his overalls--if he wore
overalls--would be called very clumsy, indeed, especially if he had
been seen to do it."
Involuntarily, he clapped a hand on his pocket. What would have been
his next act I do not know, for at that moment I heard a voice call
out sharply, "Halt! villain. Throw up your hands, or by heavens you
die!" Turning swiftly, I saw Lafitte, his pistol barrel rested in very
serviceable fashion in the crotch of a staff, the same as when he
first accosted me on my stream, glancing along the barrel with an
ominous gray eye again gone three-cornered.
Before I could even cry out to him his warning was effective. I saw my
clam fisher go white and put his hands over his head, the while his
dam ran screaming toward the tent--Jimmy L'Olonnois at her heels,
sword in hand, and warning her not to get a gun, else her life's blood
would dye the strand.
Here, now, was a pretty pickle for a sworn servant of the law to aid
in making! A wrong move might mean murder done by these imaginative
youths, and I no less than accessory, to boot; for, surely, I had
given them aid and violent counsel in this drama which we all were
playing so naturally, if not so nobly. I hastened over to Lafitte and
called loudly to L'Olonnois, and commanded Partial to drop the renewed
encounter with the clammers' dog, which now, also, swiftly threatened
us. So, in a moment or two, I restored peace.
I held out my hand to the clammer. "I didn't know you seen me," said
he simply; and placed in my hand three pearls, either of them worth
more than all I had paid him, and one of them the largest and best I
had ever seen--it is the pearl famous as the "_Belle Helene_," the
finest ever taken in fresh waters in America, so it is said by
Tiffany's.
I looked at him quietly, and handed him back all but the one pearl. "I
am sorry you were not a better sport," said I, "very sorry. Didn't I
play fair with you?"
"No," said he. "Some folks have all the luck. You come along here,
rich, with all sorts of things, you and them d----d kids, and you'd
rob a man like me out of what little he can make."
I was opening my wallet again. "I am sorry to hear you say that," said
I, handing him two bills of a hundred dollars each. "Sorry, because it
has cost you twenty-eight hundred dollars."
"My God, man, what do you mean?" he gasped, even his fingers slow to
take both money and contempt.
"That the pearl is worth to me that much, since I have purpose for it.
I have more money than I want, and fewer pearls like this than I want.
It would have given me the keenest sort of pleasure to give you and
your mother a few thousand dollars, two or three, to set you up with a
little launch and an outfit enough to give you a good start--and,
perhaps, a good partner. As it is, you are lucky my pirate brother has
not blown a hole through you, and that my other brother has not shed
the blood of your parent, if she have any. You had a good chance, and
like many another man who isn't good enough to deserve success, you
lost it. Do you know why you failed?"
"It's the luck," said he. "I never had none."
"No," said I, "it is not that. So far as luck goes, you are lucky you
are alive. Little do you know our desperate band. Little do you know
you have escaped the wrath of Lafitte, of L'Olonnois, of Black Bart.
Luck! No, that is not why you failed."
"What then?" he demanded, still covetous, albeit rueful, too, at what
he vaguely knew was lost opportunity.
"It was because you did not play the part of a clammer naturally and
nobly," I replied. "My friend, I counsel you to read Epictetus--and
while you are at that," I added, "I suggest you read also that other
classic, the one known as _The Pirate's Own Book_."
So saying, since he stood stupefied, and really not seeing my hand,
which I reached out to him in farewell, I called to Partial, and
followed by the two stern and relentless figures, made our way back to
the spot where the good ship _Sea Rover_ lay straining at her hawser.
"What ho! messmates!" I cried. "Fortune has been kind to our bold
band this day. We have taken large booty. Let us up anchor and set
sail. Before yon sun has sunk into the deep we shall be far away, and
our swift craft is able to shake off all pursuit."
"Whither away, Black Bart,--Captain, I mean!" said Jean Lafitte (and I
blushed at this title and this hard-won rank, as one of the proudest
of my swiftly-following accomplishments in happiness).
"Spang! to the Spanish Main," was my reply.
A moment later, the waves were rippling merrily along the sides of the
_Sea Rover_ as she headed out boldly into the high seas.