NUPTIALS OF THE GIRL WITH DARK EYES.
"With a pint and a quarter of holy water
He made the sacred sign,
And he dashed the whole on the only daughter
Of old Plantagenet's line!"
"But the count he felt the nervous work
No more than any polygamous Turk,
Or bold piratical skipper,
Who, during his buccaneering search,
Would as soon engage a 'hand' at church
As a hand on board his clipper."
The captain got up from his chair, stepped to the settee, and, pulling
the signal-cord on the wall, held a short dialogue with the man at the
station; then, saying in a low, sharp whisper through the tube, "A
bright look-out, Pedro!" he resumed his place at the table. The doctor
had, in the mean while, got up and gone to the veranda, where, swinging
in a Yucatan grass hammock, shielded from the night wind, lay his little
patient sleeping soundly. Carefully closing the curtains again around
him, he returned to his place. The padre was now all awake again, with
his thick lips open, waiting for the captain to go on with his story. As
for Don Ignacio, he never stirred body or limb, but his eye traveled
about perpetually, and he observed the movements of his companions all
at the same time. Still the hoarse roar of the pirates in their carouse
arose from the covered sheds in the calm night, and the two solitary
lights from each mast-head of the felucca and schooner twinkled above
the basin of the inlet.
"And now, _amigos_," began again Captain Brand, after he had assured
himself that all was going on as he could wish without, "I shall inform
you of the sequel of my adventure with the Senorita Lucia. The evening
after the night on which I had declared my passion, we were seated at
dinner in the after cabin. Such a choice little dinner, too, as only our
late friend, Lascar Joe, could prepare! Poor fellow, he'll never make
another of those famous curries, though, no doubt, he'll find fire and
pepper enough where he is, if the devil chooses to employ him. What a
neat hand he was, too, with that spiral-bladed Malay creese of his! Ah!
well--we were sitting over the dessert, and I was relating to my pretty
passenger some account of my early days, and of my lady mother and my
old squire of a father, omitting, perhaps, some few uninteresting
details--"
Here the old commander of the felucca cackled, and his black, beady eye
glittered as the thought flashed through his head as to what details his
villainous compeer had omitted. How he forged his old father's name,
which brought down his gray hairs in sorrow and disgrace to the grave;
and how his poor mother, too, died of grief, together with other bitter
memories, all of which Captain Brand, the pirate, omitted to mention.
"Yes, I related likewise some of my early privateering adventures, when
all the broad Atlantic was alive with the fleets of France, England, and
Spain; how I was captured by a Spanish brigantine"--omitting again to
state that he got up a mutiny with the crew of that brigantine,
poniarded the captain and mate in their sleep, and, assuming command of
the vessel, changed her colors for a black flag, and began his career as
a pirate in the Caribbean Sea--"and how I escaped. To all this she
listened with great interest, her large eyes dilating, and her bosom
swelling with sympathy as I proceeded, when suddenly the cabin door
opened, and my ugly friend Pedillo put his head in, and gave me a
warning nod.
"'What is it?' I said, rather sharply, to Pedillo; 'and how dare you
intrude inside my cabin?' I fear, too, that I came very near doing a
mischief to my boatswain; for I am rather impulsive at times, and by the
merest accident I happened to have a small pistol in my pocket."
Don Ignacio twitched his sleeve, and looked as if he believed such
accidents as pistols being found in the narrator's pockets happened
quite often.
"'_Senor_,' said Pedillo, 'there are two sail standing out from the lee
of Culebra Island, and one of them appears to be a large--'
"I stopped any farther particulars from the lips of my subordinate by a
motion of my finger, and then, kissing the hands of the girl, who was
somewhat surprised at what had transpired, I left the cabin and jumped
on deck.
"The schooner was now running down through the Virgin's Passage between
St. Thomas and Porto Rico, with a fine breeze on the quarter, and the
sun was just sinking behind the last-named island. I snatched a
spy-glass from the rail, and looked ahead. There, sure enough, was a
sixteen-gun brig on the starboard tack heading across our track, and a
large frigate under single-reefed top-sails stretching away over to the
opposite shores of Culebra, while they were telegraphing bunting one
with another as fast as the bright-colored flags could talk. And, as
luck would have it, as I swept the glass round, what should I see but a
long rakish corvette in company with a huge whale of a line-of-battle
ship, with her double tier of ports glimmering away in the slanting rays
of the sun, both on the wind, and coming out from under the lee of
Culebra Point, just a mile or two astern of us. By the blood of
Barabbas, _caballeros_, we were in a trap for wolves, and the hounds
were in full cry! I immediately, however, luffed the schooner up, and
steered boldly for the frigate; and, as a puff of smoke spouted out from
the lee bow of the admiral to windward, and before the boom of the gun's
report reached us, I hoisted American colors. Seeing this, the brig hove
in stays, and, perhaps being ordered to board me, came staggering along
on the other tack across our forefoot, while the frigate went round too,
and held her wind toward her consorts to windward. Now this was just the
disposition which I wanted of the vessels, and it could not have been
done better for my plans had I been the admiral of the squadron. In less
than a quarter of an hour, the brig--and no great things she was, with a
contemptible battery, as I could see, of short carronades--hove aback a
little on the bow of the schooner, and gave us a warning of a
twenty-four pound shot across our forefoot, to heave to also, at the
same time hoisting the English ensign.
"So ho!" ejaculated Captain Brand, as he twisted the point of his nose,
accompanied by a malevolent scowl, "_senores_, I at once hauled flat aft
the fore-sail, dropped the main peak, and put the helm up, as if to
round to under the brig's stern; whereupon my man-of-war friend dropped
a cutter into the water, and she had just shoved off in readiness to
board me, when, before you could light a paper cigar, I ran up the main
peak, got a pull of the sheets, and the 'Centipede' was off again like a
shark with his fin above water, heading for the narrow passage between
Culebra and Crab Islands. It was at least five minutes before that
stupid brig could believe his eyes, and ten more before he got hold of
the boat again, when she filled away and began to pop gun after gun at
me as fast as he could bring his battery to bear! There was only one
shot that skipped on board us, and that only smashed both legs of a
negro, and then hopped off through the fore-sail to windward.
"Had I not had a good dinner that day and pleasant society on
board"--how peculiarly the speaker smiled--"I should perhaps have taught
that brig such a lesson that he would not have cared to report it to his
admiral. But as I knew I had the heels of him, and as the rest of the
squadron were now crowding all sail and keeping off in chase of me, I
ordered Pedillo, just by way of touching my hat and saying '_Adios_,' to
clear away the long gun and return the brig's salute. The shot struck
him just forward the night-heads by the bowsprit, and by the way the
splinters flew and his jib and head-sails came down, I knew I had
crippled him for an hour at least. At the same time, to prevent any
mistakes as to our quality, and to satisfy the admiral's curiosity, we
hauled down the Yankee colors and set our swallow-tailed flag!"
"Rather dark bunting! no?" edged in Don Ignacio.
"Ay, _amigo_! as black as that eye of thine, though not half so
murderous," retorted the pirate as he continued his narrative.
"_Bueno_, there came the whole of the squadron down after us, spitting
out from their bridle ports mouthfuls of cold iron, which all went to
the bottom of the Virgin's Passage, for not one came within a mile of
the schooner; and then I led them such a dance through that intricate
cluster of reefs and islets, that soon after dark they gave up the game,
and I said '_Buenos noches_' to them all!"
Here Captain Brand paused, made a careful selection of a beautifully
turned trabuco cigar from the box, shouted to Babette to produce some
old Santa Cruz rum, sugar, lemons, and hot water--screeching hot, he
said--at which the padre crossed himself; and then throwing his fine
legs, incased in the lustrous silk stockings, on a chair beside him, and
while his eyes gazed fondly on the brilliants sparkling in the buckles
of his shoes, he resumed his tale.
"When I went below again, after every thing had become quiet on deck, I
found my stag-eyed sweetheart waiting to receive me! How superbly she
looked as she made a movement from the cushions where she had been
reclining, and exclaimed,
"'Oh, _senor_, what has happened, and what was the cause of all that
noise of guns, and those cries of agony I heard above?'
"'_Querida Lucia_, dearest,' I replied, 'we have been where there
are--a--pirates, but fortunately have escaped, and the cries you heard
were from one of my poor crew who got slightly wounded by a shot!'
"'Ah, _malditos piratos_! cursed pirates!' exclaimed the charming
beauty, as she put both her hands in mine, 'and how thankful am I that
you are not hurt! But, _querido mio_! dear one!' she went on, 'when
shall we get to Porto Rico and _our_ dear father? We must be near, for I
heard one of your sailors shout to you the name of the island!'
"In reply, I told her that we had been near Porto Rico, but
that--a--circumstances were such, on account of the dangerous pirates
who infested those seas, that I felt obliged, for her safety--you
understand--to run along by way of Hispaniola--she not having a very
clear idea of the position and geography of those parts--and that our
cruise might probably be prolonged for a few days more."
"And into h----, perhaps," said the doctor, with a hollow voice and a
calm cold eye.
"Oh no, my friends, certainly nothing so bad as that. Possibly to
heaven! but, _quien sabe_? no one can tell!
"However," pursued the captain, "I soon succeeded in allaying her
apprehensions, and then I threw myself at her feet, and implored her to
risk her father's displeasure and to marry me at once; that she knew her
father was cold, stern, and obdurate, and should he frown upon my suit I
should die of despair!"
"_Cierto!_" murmured Ignacio, with the grin of a skeleton.
"I used these passionate appeals and many more, until at last the fond
girl yielded her consent to my entreaties.
"'But the priest, _querido mio_!' she exclaimed, as she rose and
disengaged herself from my arms. I told her that I chanced to have one
on board as a passenger, who would perform the ceremony.
"And so I had," added Captain Brand, "or at least a very near approach
to one, for my ugly boatswain, Pedillo, had been bred up--as an
acolyte--you comprehend--in the house of a rich old prelate of San Paulo
Cathedral in Trinidad, to whom Pedillo, one fine morning, gave about
eight inches of his cuchillo!"
"_Jesus Maria!_" exclaimed Padre Ricardo, starting back with horror, and
telling his beads.
"Ay, _mi padre_! Pedillo assassinated the holy father, and plundered his
cash-box besides; and so you see Pedillo was just the man I wanted."
Don Ignacio nodded his wicked old head through a cloud of cigar smoke as
a sign of approval.
"Accordingly, _senores_, the next day I made the trusty Pedillo cut off
all the bushy beard about his ugly face, and had the crown of his head
shaved besides--quite like that round, oily spot there on the top of
good Ricardo's poll--and then he rigged himself out in a clerical gown,
to which the trunks of my bride's old mother contributed, and, take my
word for it, he was as proper and rascally a looking priest as could be
found on the island of Cuba. He performed the ceremony, too, by way of
practice, on Lascar Joe and the second cook beforehand, with as much
decorum and solemnity, and gave as pious a benediction, as his old
Trinidad uncle, the prelate, ever did. Well, that evening we were
married."
"How many times has the _capitano_ been married?" grunted out Don
Ignacio.
"Why, let me reflect," as he threw his cold, icy look at the frame of
miniatures on the opposite wall. "You mean, _compadre_, how often the
ceremony has been performed. Ah! I think on eleven occasions. No, it was
only ten. Madame Mathilde had two husbands living when I made love to
her, and declined to take a third. But then, you know, I have an
affectionate disposition, and I can not set my heart against the
fascinations of the sex."
He gave vent to these moral sentiments as if he really meant them to be
believed and generally adopted by his audience.
"Well, that same evening I was married to the beautiful Senorita Lucia
Lavarona, though I am sorry to say that Pedillo did not perform his part
of the business as well as I had expected of him, from his practice in
the morning. He stammered a good deal, and when he raised the crucifix
to the lips of the young girl, her innocent looks and maidenly majesty
of deportment so struck my coadjutor with confusion that he let the
crucifix fall to the deck at her dainty feet. This little incident
caused me some displeasure; but, reflecting that the poet tells us
'A tiger, 'tis said, will turn and flee
From a maid in the pride of her purity,'
I said nothing to the abashed Pedillo as I gave him back the emblem; but
I favored him with a look, with my right hand in my pocket--this
fashion."
Here the cold-blooded scoundrel dipped his thumb and fore finger into
the flap of his waistcoat, while the commander of the "Guarda Costa"
waved his brown digit before him, as if he knew what was there all the
time.
"Ah! that restored my new-made priest to his senses, and he then got
through the ceremony entirely to my satisfaction.
"However," said Captain Brand, turning with lazy indifference toward
Padre Ricardo, "ever after this I resolved not to take the risk of such
another chance of failure, and this is the reason why I first sought
your services."
"_Gracias a Dios!_ Thanks be to heaven, my son, that you found me!" said
the sacrilegious wretch, as he bowed to his superior and sipped a glass
of rum punch. "_Vamonos!_ let us hear more."
"At the conclusion of our nuptials, while I held my sweet Lucia to my
heart, and kissed her pale brow, and while tears of crystal drops, half
in rapture and half in sorrow, dimmed her large, sparkling black eyes,
she withdrew this royal sapphire from her slender finger, and gently
placing the gem on mine--where you see it, _amigos_--she said,
"'My dear and only love, this is the talisman of my race. It has been
for ages in my family, and it has been the guardian of our hope and
honor. Receive it, friend of my heart, and be the protector of the young
girl who yielded up to you her very soul!'"
The doctor started as if he had been stung by a scorpion; but Captain
Brand, heedless or inattentive to the movement, went on:
"Yes, _caballeros_, those were her very words; murmured, too, in her low
contralto tones with a pure, lisping Castilian accent, as she laid her
stately head on my shoulder.
"Ay, those were rapturous moments; and it was in some degree--yes, I may
say in truth--entirely her own fault that they did not last.
"Well, for some days--eight or ten, perhaps--with light baffling winds,
we crept stealthily along the south side of St. Domingo; but the weather
was delightful, and the time passed on the wings of a zephyr. In the
warm, soft evenings, with the moon or stars shedding their pearly gleams
over the sea, she sat beside me on the deck of the schooner, watching
with girlish interest the white sails above her head, or singing to me
the sweet little sequidillas of her native land. And again, starting up
from my arms, she would peep over the counter, trace the foam as it
flashed and bubbled in our wake, or point to the track of a dolphin as
he leaped above the luminous waves and went like a bullet to windward.
"I flatter myself, _caballeros_, that there have been periods in my
career on the high seas, or on land, and may be again, for aught I
know," continued the elegant pirate, as he crossed his legs and threw
back the lappels of his velvet coat, so as to expose the magnificence of
his waistcoat, and the frills on his broad, muscular chest, "when men of
high birth and breeding, and lovely women too of noble lineage, have not
thought it beneath them to dine with or to receive the homage
of--a--Captain Brand.
"And, _por Dios_!"--the narrator did not consider it unbecoming his
cloth and profession to swear in a foreign language--"_por Dios!_
_senores_, I have known the time, too, when I have played whist with a
French prince of the blood and two knights of the Golden Fleece."
"And you fleeced them? No?" muttered Don Ignacio, with an envious
glimmer from his greedy eye, as if no one had a right to rob the
community but himself.
"And not only that," continued the captain, rapidly, "but the daughter
of an English peer of the realm once proposed to run away with me. Ho!
ho! yes, she actually proposed to elope with me; but as she was verging
on fifty years, and only weighed fifty pounds, with never a pound in her
pocket, I sighed my regrets. Ay, great compliment it was, but I declined
the honor. You yourself, _compadre_, must remember how I was received by
the people on the Buena Vista villa at Principe; how the obispo blessed
me, the old general embraced me, and the beautiful marquesa, with the
hour-glass waist, smiled on me."
"_Cierto!_" That astute old Spaniard never forgot any thing, particularly
a debt due to him; and he remembered, moreover, to have heard that when
the noble _Mi Lord Inglez_ left the villa one dark night, a good deal of
plate, jewels, doubloons, and other valuable property disappeared with
him. Ay, the sly old fellow had a faint recollection as well of seeing
a heavily-armed schooner running the gauntlet through the forts before
daylight, and that she left a certain bag of gold ounces for him--Don
Ignacio Sanchez--somewhere in a secret hole beneath a well-known rock
inside the harbor. Oh, a wonderful memory for matters of this nature
had our rapacious one-eyed acquaintance!
"Yes," went on his partner in many a scene of pillage and crime, "I have
every reason to know that I won the hearts, and purses too, sometimes,
of some of the fine people I met in refined society. But yet there have
been occasions when the game has gone against me--"
Don Ignacio's tenacious memory came again into play, and he looked back
to the time when he himself had cleaned his profuse friend out of all
his gains at the card-table, even to the buttons off his coat; but he
gave no sign of remembrance of those days, and only blew a dense cloud
of smoke from his thin yellow nostrils as the captain spoke.
"--Though those occasions have not been of frequent recurrence."
The good Padre Ricardo at this juncture hoped that, by Saint Barnabas,
luck might, in all time to come, befriend his son and patron; croaking,
too, with a goblet of punch to his unctuous lips, "_Vamonos!_ Tell us
more of the adorable Dona Lucia!"
Captain Brand rapped his snuff-box, opened the diamond-crusted lid, took
a dainty pinch, laid his cambric handkerchief over his kerseymere
breeches, and resumed his narrative.
"So passed the days, _caballeros_; and when, one morning, the high
mountains back of Port Guantamano were reported to me, I felt a
presentiment that my dream of bliss was drawing to a close. Indeed, I
might probably have remained at sea a week or two longer, but the men
were getting a little impatient, and I thought it better to sacrifice my
own pleasure to theirs. That day we caught a cracking breeze out of the
Windward Passage, and toward midnight we came up with this little sandy
island here.
"The preparations for going into port excited the curiosity of my bride;
for, poor thing! she believed we were bound into Porto Rico, and I had
some trouble in inducing her to go below before we crossed the reef.
_Bueno!_ the coast was clear, the signals were all right, and an hour
later the schooner had her anchor down and sails furled pretty much in
the spot where she now lies moored.
"While, however, we were sweeping up the inlet, I sent a boat ahead,
with directions for my tidy old housekeeper, Babette, to have every
thing prepared to receive her new mistress. Just then one of those
terrible thunder-storms came up; heavy masses of clouds obscured the
sky, followed by such double-barrel shocks and intensely vivid lightning
as is only beheld in the tropics preceding the equinox. The rain, too,
came along in horizontal sheets, driven by a squall which burst in fury
over the island, and it seemed to me that all the devils from hell were
howling and shrieking in the air.
"Shielded from the storm by a large boat-cloak, I carried my beautiful
bride, with her face nestling on my breast, to the cove, and then I bore
her into this fine saloon.
"I shall never forget the sweet words she whispered, and the loving
caresses she gave me on that little journey, even while the tempest
almost dashed me to the ground, and the sharp flashes of lightning
nearly blinded me. They were the last she ever lavished upon me."
No sigh escaped the lips of this cold-blooded monster as he uttered
these words; no sign of feeling for the ruin of a gentle girl whom he
had betrayed to his piratical den of infamy and crime--whose dream of
life was destroyed like a crushed rose-leaf, and all her hope gone from
that moment.