By the light of the flaming ship we had set sail. It was a moving
sight to see this precious link with home a mass of shooting flame
below a pall of lurid fire-flecked smoke. A sea of molten gold was
her death-bed, and, as we sailed slowly onward before the gentle
night wind, the fiery reflection stretched out after us till it faded
to fitful gleams on the crests of the waves, as though they bore us
farewell kisses from our lost ship.
'A true swan is she to the end,' said Harry softly, as though moved
by the scene. 'Beautiful she was in life, yet nothing in it was so
beautiful as her departing from it.'
We watched her burn down lower and lower, till she was nothing but a
glowing ember on the dark plain of the sea, and then in a moment she
was gone for ever. It was like losing an old friend, and there was
not one for the next few days who did not feel oppressed with evil
foreboding at the loss of that staunch craft that had brought such
luck to our captain.
We could not even lighten our hearts with the music, for Frank was
very earnest to depart as secretly as we could, that the Spaniards
might suppose us entirely gone from that coast by reason of the loss
of our ship.
Thus, attempting nothing that might betray us, we found on the fifth
day a most fair haven in the Sound of Darien, where we could anchor
the _Pasha_ out of all ken of the Spaniards, and refresh ourselves
till such time as the storm we had raised all along the coast should
be blown over.
It was a place as fair as Port Pheasant, where a man might have been
content to dwell all his days. A pretty town we built there, as
Diego showed us how, of boughs and brakes and flowers, in a space
which we cleared in the dense forest. Here our smith set up his
forge, our fletcher his shop for the ordering of our bows and arrows,
our butcher his block, and our shoemakers their lasts. Butts were
erected for bow practice, a lawn made for our bowls, and ground
prepared for quoits, leaping, wrestling, and all other sports that
our captain could devise for making us forget our losses and breed a
hopeful spirit for future attempts.
Half of us worked while the others played, day and day about; but for
me it was all play. For my work, having skill for it, was to hunt
the livelong day up in the forest-clad hills for the hogs, conies,
deer, and birds that lived half tame in their solitudes; or, rocked
on those azure seas, to lure the strange fish that swarmed about the
gilded rocks, with great pelicans and scarlet cranes for comrades at
the sport.
At such times, as I lay in some fairy glade above our little town, or
half asleep in our little gondola, I could hearken to the merry
tinkle of the anvil and the jolly laugh of the bellows mingling with
the cries and songs of the mariners at their work and play; and,
listening to the homely sounds, mellowed and transformed by the
tropic glory of earth and sky and sea, I could fancy that the old
life was gone with all its care and hideousness, being changed by the
rich spirit of the West to one long May-day.
In fifteen days our ship and pinnaces with this light labour were
refitted, and our captain with two of the pinnaces set sail for Rio
Grande in search of provisions and intelligences. I remained behind
with John Drake to search the coast in the other pinnace, in order
that if possible we might, by Diego's help, meet with the Cimaroons.
For six days we rowed up and down the Main aloof the shore, but found
no trace of those whom we sought. In these days I saw much of John
Drake, being all day and night in the pinnace with him, and I came to
love his simple, steadfast nature more than I ever had before, and
wondered to see how great was his control over the men by the very
earnestness of his worship of Frank, whose orders to him were as the
command of a god, to be carried out at all costs. It seemed as
though, when once he had a direction from his brother, all other
thoughts were dismissed from his mind. Any possibility of a
different course being good could never find a place in him.
So day after day we rowed hopelessly along that lovely shore, in
spite of the fearful heat. To every suggestion I could make he had
but one answer.
'Frank told us to row aloof the shore and find the Cimaroons,' he
would say, 'and he knows best. Cheerily, men, now! As like as not
we shall find them beyond the point ahead.'
To me the thing seemed hopeless. To find a few negroes in that vast
wilderness of forest by rowing along the shore appeared little better
than a wild-goose chase. Still I believed in Frank almost as much as
his brother did, and still more was encouraged by Diego, who
continued to urge us on as he sat in the forepart, chin in hand,
gazing fixedly into the forest.
It was on the seventh day, as we were almost worn out with the
growing heat of the sun, and all the shore was hushed before the
coming fire of the noonday, that Diego suddenly leaped up and,
casting both his hands above his head, gave forth a yell so loud and
strident as almost to stop your heart.
Again with his hand to his mouth he shot his fiendish call towards
the shore, as though to summon a legion of devils to his side.
'What is it, Diego?' cried Jack.
'See, captain, see! There lie my people asleep. I can see. Up
there on the hill. I can see a new hut.'
To our eyes all was the same wild waste, of foliage, but he saw more,
as we soon knew, for faintly out of the forest came an answering
shout.
'I knew Frank was right,' said Jack triumphantly. 'He knew where to
find them.' And away we went to the shore. Sure enough Frank was
right; for as our keel grated on the golden sand two pelicans rose
lazily from where they had been standing, a bowshot to our right, and
winged their solemn flight along the shore.
Something we knew must have flushed them, but we could see nothing in
the dense brakes. Diego hailed again, and then we saw a black face
peep stealthily at us. Poor folk! they dared not come out, for all
we had one of their kin with us. They had been too often betrayed to
their tormentors by such means before.
'_Que gente? que gente?_' cried the black head over his bent bow, as
we could plainly see.
'_Gente de Draque!_' cries Diego, leaping out of the boat and running
towards them. '_Draque! Draque!_'
So it was they always called our general, since his name came hard to
their half-Spanish tongues. And what a name it was to them we soon
saw. For, after a strange, discordant babbling between Diego and the
Cimaroon, a loud cry went up in the bushes and out rushed some score
of dancing yelling fiends. Never saw I greater delight or heartier
welcome than in these poor folk. For a good space we could do
nothing with them, for their dancing and leaping round us and
embracing of our feet, especially Captain John's, to his great
discomfort, being a plain, simple man, not used to homage.
There was no peace for us till Diego begged that we should suffer
them to bear us to their huts, which request our captain granted,
leaving two men with the pinnace. Their joy was then complete, and
each black fellow stood in front of one of our men, bending his back
for him to mount, which at last we all did, seeing how earnest they
were; and so, with no more ado with the biggest of us than if he had
been a baby, they trotted off, laughing and singing up the steep path
that led to their huts.
We were soon set down in a little hamlet like our own town, but much
prettier and more artfully constructed, because of their greater
skill. Here each vied with another to set before us delicate fruits
and fowls and a certain fermented liquor which they had, very
pleasant to the taste and medicinable to the spirits. So like kings
we lay in those leafy bowers feasting merrily, each with a grinning
henchman or two to do his lightest bidding. Indeed I think, had we
permitted, they would have crowned us with flowers, and seen us eat
our banquet like that dainty gallant Horatius Flaccus with his boon
companions.
By the end of our dinner we were all like brothers with these merry
folk, after the manner of English mariners, though I think half of
our company could not understand two words of Spanish. Their chief
was soon in close talk with John and me and Diego, and we broached
our business to him. It is an easy embassy when both parties desire
one thing. Our wish, no less than theirs, was for them to meet the
general and arrange our comedy for the entertainment of the
Spaniards. In a very short space it was agreed that we should leave
two of our men with the chief and take two of his to the general, in
token of pure good-will and amity between us, and that they should
come down to a river which ran into the sea half-way between the
haven where our ships lay and certain headlands towards Nombre de
Dios, which we always called 'The Cahezas.' This river we called the
'Rio Diego,' after our faithful Cimaroon ally.
There was some difficulty in choosing our hostages, since every
mariner there wished to stay, preferring the cheery homage and good
fare of the Cimaroons to hard work and 'Poor John' in the pinnace.
At last it was settled by lot, and we bore away again amidst the like
rejoicings that had welcomed us, and with a fair wind came the same
night to our ship.
It seemed to all men a plain work of God for the encouraging of our
allies that the very next day our general, with two frigates besides
the pinnaces, came sailing into 'Port Plenty.' So he now named our
haven, having seen by this first voyage how well we could supply
ourselves from the victuallers that sailed to Nombre de Dios and
Carthagena, and from the Indians about the Rio Grande, as well as
from the Spanish storehouses thereon.
'If a man may judge by this fair beginning,' said he when we came to
speak of it, 'no name was ever better bestowed, for besides a great
store of provision which we obtained from the river, I have taken
five or six frigates and a bark, laden with live hogs, hens, maize,
and other provision which we require. But I gave away all the
prizes, except the two best, to the Spaniards for their pain in
supplying us so bountifully; and there are those we kept.'
He pointed to where the two captured frigates lay, and went on to
tell me how he had obtained what was dearer to him than victuals, and
that was divers opinions of himself that prevailed amongst the
Spaniards. It was always his way while he kindly entertained his
prisoners to get them to speak about himself, and if their answers
were to his mind I think they often got off the more lightly. His
enemies, for even that noble spirit has enemies in these backbiting
times, set this down to a sordid love of flattery, but I know it was
from no such cause. For love of merriment he did it, no less than to
encourage his men, who joyed to hear the dread their captain begot
amongst the Spaniards. No man ever knew better than he how to win
the confidence and respect of his men, and this was one way he used
to that end. And no man was ever more laughter-loving than he, and
no jest did he love so much as to hear how he frightened the
Spaniards. For those reasons and no other he was wont to question
his prisoners, and I hold it foul slander to say that heroic
navigator was pleased with sordid flattery.
I remember well his first words were of this when, the same day that
he returned to Port Plenty, I boarded his frigate with Jack.
'Why, Jasper,' says he, taking my hand in his cheery way, 'you have
missed a merry time in chasing Cimaroons, though God be praised that
has so blessed your search. What think you they say of me, man? It
is a jest worth more laughter than all the company could furnish in a
month. Why, man, they say it is a devil. None but a devil or a
saint, they swear, with but a handful of men could have quietly
entered and held the Treasure-House of the mightiest emperor under
the sun as we did. And since, being a "Lutheran dog," I am no saint,
I must perforce be a devil, and you, my lad, an imp of Satan.'
'By which sharp reasoning,' says Mr. Oxenham, 'they save their
gentility when they run away.'
'And like Christian gentlemen,' cried Harry, 'when the fiend appears
cry, "Get thee behind me, Satan," and incontinently turn their backs.'
'Yet,' said I, 'it seems to me that they would serve their gentility
better by a more courteous appellation of their enemy.'
'And so your true Castilian does,' says Frank. 'For all the wrong
they have done me, yet I hold your true Castilian a gentleman and a
man of honour, and no coward. Such a one I took off Tolu, and as we
supped together on the good things which for our trouble in chasing
him he had felt bound to bestow on us, he told a different tale, and
set no horns on my head.'
'No,' broke in Harry; 'it was all your most chastened, precise,
five-foot-in-the-blade, good manners. "By your most high-bred
courtesy," says he, "I now know for truth what gentlemen say of the
valiant Captain Drake, whose felicity and valour are so pre-eminent
that Sir Mars, the god of war, and Sir Neptune, the god of the sea,
seem to wait on all his attempts, which same notwithstanding are
eclipsed, overshadowed, and put out of countenance by the nobility
and generosity of his carriage towards the vanquished, whereby defeat
is made sweeter than victory." And with such like good report he
continued to discharge his great pieces in the captain's honour all
supper-time till we were wellnigh deafened with the thunders of his
courtesy.'
'It was a very high mass of worship,' said Mr. Oxenham, 'till, by
this light, we began to doubt if we were not saints after all.'
'God forbid,' says Frank; 'as you love salvation be an English devil
rather than a Spanish saint.'
'Well, here are our brother devils,' cried Harry, as the two
Cimaroons we had brought were led forward by John Drake. 'Order
yourselves, signors, to receive the embassy of the Prince of
Darkness.'
So the negroes came forward and testified of the joy their whole
nation had at our captain's coming, because of the renown he had won
amongst them by his proceedings at Nombre de Dios and in his two
former voyages, and finally most respectfully told him how their
chief waited for him at the Rio Diego, to see if haply it was his
pleasure to use them against their common enemies.
A council of war was held to consider how far we could trust these
people, and what course we should take forthwith: whereat, after his
usual manner, Frank listened very attentively to all our advices, and
then took his own; which was forthwith to move our whole force up to
the Rio Diego, where John Drake and I had discovered an excellent
haven amongst the islands that were clustered there.
I went on before with Frank in his pinnace to show him where we
should meet with the Cimaroon chief, which we did very joyfully at
the place appointed. The negroes' joy at meeting our captain was so
great that it was long before we could get to any quiet speech with
them, but at last we went aside with the chief into the leafy bower
which served him for a house, and Frank told him how he wished his
people to help us get gold and silver from the Spaniards.
'Gold and silver!' said the negro, a giant in growth and strength who
spoke good Spanish. 'Do you mean gold and silver?'
'Yes, surely,' said Frank; 'what else could we want?'
'Why, even that which we want,' said the negro.
'And what is that?' Frank asked.
'Revenge,' answered the negro, 'revenge for all the wrongs those
hell-hounds have wreaked on us.'
'Why, so do I,' said Frank cheerfully, 'and therefore will I take
from them what I want most and what they love best, even gold and
silver.'
'Ah, but they love something better than that,' said the chief
eagerly, as though clutching at a hope. 'They love life better. And
we want something more than gold, we want blood--Spanish blood! To
dip our arms in to the elbow, and our legs to the knees,' he went on,
with the glare of a wild beast in his eyes. 'Help us to get that,
captain, and you shall have all the gold and silver you can want.
But for us it is not enough. What your wrongs have been I know not,
but ours are such that gold and silver will not avenge them. Had you
felt the lash curl round your ribs, had you seen your comrades
tortured to new effort when they dropped to die of sickness and
fatigue, had you seen a little part of what happens every day to my
people, you would forget gold and silver, and all but blood, and
never joy but when you saw it bubbling out from the rent your knife
had made.'
We were both shocked at the savageness of our new ally, and Frank
told him in his plain blunt way that if they attempted anything
together the prisoners must be his, as well as the gold, though in
the fight they might kill as many as they would. The poor savage was
sadly disappointed, and would, I think, have hardly agreed to it if
Frank had not fed him with a picture of the havoc our arrows and
small shot would make amongst their enemies, and how sorely they
grieved over the loss of gold.
'I know, I know,' said the Cimaroon sadly; 'and often we take gold
from them, not from love of it, but in despite of them. So be it as
you say, captain, for you we will follow to death against the
Spaniards, whatever be your will. Yet had I known it was gold you
wanted, there is plenty we have taken and sunk in the rivers which
you might have had, but now they are so swollen with the rains that
there is no coming at it. Nor can we take any till the dry season
begins, for in the rainy months they do not carry any treasure by
land, because the ways are so evil.'
This was most unhappy news. It was nearly five months still before
the dry season began. To attempt with our pinnaces to capture the
gold frigates coming down the Chagres river was madness, seeing that
since our coming we heard they were always guarded by two galleys.
To wait five months was to run great risk not only of being attacked
in strength by the Spaniards, but also by sickness, which is very
rife in those regions during this time.
Another council was held as soon as our strength joined us, and once
more Frank heard willingly our opinions and followed his own, which
was to make a lodgment in a hidden part of the coast, whence, that we
might employ our leisure as well as gather provisions, we could from
time to time sally out to annoy the Spaniards and satisfy ourselves.
Our captain further resolved to establish magazines besides those we
already had about Port Plenty, so that if one were discovered we
might have others to supply us.
To this end the _Pasha_ was brought in through the islands with great
labour and much dangerous pilotage within a few bowshots of the Main,
and there moored hard by a reasonable island, in such a place as even
if she were discovered, which was wellnigh impossible, so shrouded
was she by trees, no enemy could come at her by night or even by day
without great risk of falling amongst shoals.
Our island contained some three acres of good flat ground, which our
captain next began to fortify, setting out, after the best manner
used in the wars, a triangular fort made of timber and earth dug from
the trench about it. Harry having, as I have said, no little skill
in these matters was set over this work, Culverin being quartermaster
under him. The Sergeant therefore was now in great spirits, for I
think the ships, and still more the pinnaces, were as little to his
mind as ever. His stiff back and large form could never accommodate
itself to the straight quarters and uneasy motion to which he was
condemned at sea. Now, it was a real pleasure to see his gaunt
figure striding once more a-land, directing the Cimaroons, of whom
another band had joined us, as nicely as though he were entrenching
the Emperor's own camp.
'Sea wars I will never decry again,' said he, when I went to give him
joy, 'especially since Captain Drake is of that profession; yet for
dignity, honour, and contemplation how can they compare to land wars?
Truly, the world lost much, sir, when Captain Drake became a sailor.'
'Yet he is an indifferent good sea-captain, Sergeant,' said I.
'Yes, sir; too good, greatly too good,' said Culverin. 'Few men,
look you, have been born with such soldiership. See, now, the care
he bestows in fortifying his camp, after the true manner of Julius
Cæsar, and yet he has never read a word of the _Commentaries_. It is
there he shows it. For, saving your wisdom, your true soldiership is
not valour, as many think. Valiant blades we have in plenty in every
land. Your great soldier must know what to fear and when to fear,
and so guard himself. To fear valiantly is your philosopher's stone
of victory. Take that of me, sir.'
I think we were all of Sergeant Culverin's opinion, except perhaps
Mr. Oxenham. He was ever a reckless man who could not fear anything,
and so, as all men know, was afterwards brought to his evil end on a
Spanish gallows. But the rest of us were glad to see what care our
general took that we should pass our five months in safety, and above
all the Cimaroons, who saw in our preparations a sure token that we
were resolved to stand by them.
Nor did they leave us without testimony of their satisfaction. It
was like fairyland to see how a little town built of Palmito boughs
rose up as if by magic upon our island, with fair houses for all our
company; and afterwards they so laboured at our fort that in two
weeks the ordnance and artillery were all in position within it, and
Frank was free to depart in search of victuals and intelligence.
On the 7th of October he bid us farewell amidst a merry burst from
our music, and bore away for Carthagena, leaving his brother John as
governor of the fort over those who were left behind. Both Harry and
I remained to assist him in governing the Cimaroons and completing
our works. Had we but known the sorrow that was to come on us ere
those two pinnaces returned, I think our parting would have been less
blithe. But as it was we feared nothing; for our exploit at Nombre
de Dios and all that had followed, no less than the constant report
we had from the Cimaroons and our prisoners of the terror we had
created, had bred in us a sort of reckless courage, as well as a
laughing contempt for our enemies, which made us think that no
attempt was too hard for us.
I cannot wonder at it or blame any for their overweening confidence,
seeing what our handful of unknown mariners had done against the
mighty power of the King of Spain. Surely never had folly, for I
hold contempt of a brave enemy no less, a better excuse. Would it
had had a lighter punishment!
It was on this wise that it came about. At the Cativaas Islands,
some five leagues away from our fort, was a frigate laden with
planks. She was a prize Frank's pinnaces had taken in the Rio Grande
and left there till she should be wanted. But in a storm she was
driven hard ashore and now lay disabled. Out of tenderness for his
ordnance and crew Frank ordered that our first care should be to
fetch away her timbers and planks, to make platforms for the former
and good huts for the latter.
For the rains still continued. The island was a slough of mire
wherever we worked, and the bowers which the Cimaroons made us hardly
availed to keep out the deluge of rain that fell every day.
Therefore as soon as Frank was gone we set about our work, John Drake
going himself to order the matter in the pinnace called _Lion_. I
went with him and about half a crew besides.
It was the second afternoon after Frank's departure that we were
returning to our fort with a load of planks, when we descried a
deep-laden frigate making for Nombre de Dios.
'Will you not attempt her, Captain John?' said one of the men, a
quartermaster called Allen.
'Not I,' says Jack; 'though nothing would be more to my mind had we
finished the work which our general set us to do.'
'What matter of that?' cried Allen; 'it is but half an hour's work to
make her ours. A pretty prize she will be for us, and I don't see
why the rest should have all the sport and we all the labour.'
'Well, it is just because the general so ordered it,' says Jack.
'That is enough for me and enough for you.'
'Nay, then,' said Allen, 'I know the general never meant us to be
forbidden fair booty. What say you, lads?' and the men all said he
was right, and that they were for attempting the frigate.
'Then must you be mad,' cried Jack. 'You know not how the frigate is
provided, while you are sure we are cumbered with planks and have no
weapons.'
'We have a rapier,' objected Allen, 'and a visgee, and a caliver, and
that is enough for Englishmen against any yellow-livered Dons.'
'But the rapier is broken, the visgee old and worn, and the caliver
all a-rust,' said Jack. 'I tell you you are mad, and I will have no
part with your madness. The general's orders are straight, and I
would not depart from them were we twice as many, and twice as well
armed.'
But the men still murmured and continued to urge him to it, till I
wondered to see how he could resist them, and loved him more than
ever for his loyalty to his brother's commands.
'Never mind, lads,' said Allen mockingly at last. 'We will go to the
fort and wait till the general comes back. He knows how to show Dons
what dirt they are under English feet, and he will make us amends
when he hears how our voyage was spoilt, because our captain was
afraid of a craft only three times his size.'
Poor Jack! That was more than he could endure. It touched him in
his one weak point, which Allen knew well enough. He was a lion in
courage, but yet not brave enough to bear calmly any suspicion of
cowardice.
'What!' he roared. 'You dog! Dare you use me so? Then, by yea and
nay, you shall have your will, and see who is afraid and who is not.'
'Oh, never mark him, Jack!' I said, wishing to dissuade him from this
wild attempt. 'Look not round at every cur that barks! Who doubts
your courage is an ass!'
'No, Jasper, hold your peace,' cried poor Jack, more furious than
ever. 'Never shall they say to my brother that their voyage is lost
by my cowardice. They shall run their heads into danger, but never
shall they say mine was not there first. Give me the rapier. Allen,
take you the visgee and stand by my side in the forepart if you are a
man. Robert shall take the caliver, and Mr. Festing steer. And now,
lads, overboard with the planks or we shall never catch her.'
In a very short time the pinnace was clear, Jack was standing in the
forepart with the broken rapier, and his pillow wrapped round his
left hand for a warding gauntlet, for there was no buckler in the
boat, and Allen stood by his side. We overhauled our chase very
quickly, and were soon but a few boat-lengths from her. I could see
she had taken measures to prevent our boarding, and was doubtless
well prepared.
'See, Jack,' I cried, 'she has close-fights all round her bulwarks;
we shall never board.'
'We shall board her or never another,' said he, with set teeth. 'It
is too late to turn now. What I take in hand I carry through.
Steady as she goes, and stand by to board!'
In another moment we fell aboard of her. I saw Jack and Allen leap
up on her close-fights. Then suddenly she was alive with belching
flame. There was a roar, a cloud of smoke, a flash of pikes, and in
the midst two bodies fell heavily back into the pinnace.
'Shove off for your lives,' I cried, 'before they grapple.' For I
could see the frigate was swarming with pikes and small shot.
Those in the forepart seized their oars, some thrusting away from our
enemies' side, while others swiped at the faces of those who were
trying to grapple or stay our purpose with their long pikes and
halberds. Amongst these I saw Jack rise painfully and work with a
will. Once I saw a pike levelled straight at Allen as he too was
shoving off, in spite of an awful wound in his head. I made sure he
was gone, but Jack dashed his oar into the pikeman's face and fell
backwards fainting with the effort.
By good luck at that moment we fell free, and a few lusty strokes
fetched us clear. With all our force we rowed out of danger of her
small shot; but they neither saluted us again nor made anything of
their triumph, believing, as I think, it was best not to tempt us to
return.
'Tell Frank how it was, lad,' said Jack, as I laid him down in the
stern all covered with blood, and he opened his eyes.
'Nay, lad,' said I, 'you shall tell him yourself.'
'No, never, Jasper,' murmured he; 'my time is come. God has judged
me for disobeying Frank's words; he always knew best. But Allen
maddened me. Poor fellow! he is sore hurt. See to him, Jasper.
'Tis a brave heart.'
'First I must see to you,' I said, 'and mend your hurt a bit.'
''Tis no good,' he said, more faintly still. 'Mine is past mending.
I feel it. What will Frank say of me? Would my death had come any
way but this! Yet they will not call me coward again, will they,
Jasper?'
His voice grew weaker and weaker, and a deadly pallor overspread his
face.
'Tell father how it was I disobeyed Frank,' he went on, with long
spaces between the words. 'He will forgive me. He knows it always
maddened me to be called coward. But what will Frank say? what will
Frank say?'
Again he urged me to go to the others and see if I could not remedy
the evil his disobedience had brought on the company. I found Allen
at death's door, cursing himself with his last breath for what he had
brought on his valiant captain. Two or three others were hurt, but
not grievously; and as soon as I had tended them a little I went
again to Jack's side. I could see death written on his face, and
gave him some wine to revive him.
'Tell Frank how I grieved for my folly,' he said, speaking with great
difficulty. 'And tell Joe never to swerve a hairsbreadth from the
course Frank marks. And ask him to forgive me. And, Jasper, say a
prayer for me; not for superstition, lad, but just for comfort's
sake.'
I had not prayed since that terrible night at the inn, which now
seemed so long ago and so far away. Yet I could not refuse. So I
knelt down, and all the mariners did likewise, uncovering
respectfully. I prayed, as well as I could recall it, the prayer I
heard on the old preacher's lips at my father's funeral, and repeated
the beautiful words of his text, which I remembered so well.
'Now sing a psalm,' said the dying man; 'just for comfort's sake--for
comfort's sake.'
So on that still and lonely tropic sea we raised with our rough
voices a homely English hymn, to the deep diapason of the booming
surf sounding outside the islands. As we ended he smiled, and I saw
his lips moved. I leaned down to hear what he said.
'Frank will forgive me,' the low murmur said, 'when you tell him how
it was. He was always good to us, Frank was, and always knew best.
He will understand. Frank always underst----'
So his murmur ceased; and that brave youth, my friend, passed
peacefully away as the sun went down. And within an hour Allen's
soul followed his captain's.
Next day we buried them both on the island, thinking much of the high
hopes we had of our governor's greatness had he lived, and deeply
lamenting the cheerful, steadfast spirit that was gone from amongst
us. As for the simple Cimaroons, they were beside themselves with
grief, and would have performed strange idolatrous ceremonies about
his grave had we suffered it, but the sailors would not let them go
near, save once a day to cover it with fresh flowers. This was their
only comfort, save a sure hope that, now his brother was killed,
Frank would be no longer content with gold, but would want to 'wash
his elbows' in Spanish blood.