BUSINESS.
"He had rolled in money like pigs in mud,
Till it seemed to have entered into his blood
By some occult projection;
And his cheeks, instead of a healthy hue,
As yellow as any guinea grew,
Making the common phrase seem true
About a rich complexion."
The business which Captain Brand alluded to when he was about to partake
of breakfast with his friend the padre was, in the first instance, to
arrange some matters in the way of payment of debts to his compadre, Don
Ignacio Sanchez, commander of the Colonial Guarda Costa felucca
"Panchita."
Accordingly, when he rose from table, and after a whispered dialogue and
reports as to the state of affairs in and around the den and island from
the men at the signal-stations, he summoned Pedillo. When that worthy
appeared below the veranda--for be it remembered that Captain Brand
never permitted the inferior officials of his band to pollute his
apartments, unless, perhaps, as in the case of his deceased subordinate,
Master Gibbs, it was on urgent business--Captain Brand ordered his gig
manned.
Pedillo threw up his hand in token of assent, and walked down to the
brink of the basin to execute the command. Then, after a few minutes,
Captain Brand lit a cigar, dismissed the padre, put on his fine white
Panama straw hat, unlocked a strong cabinet with a secret drawer,
glanced over a paper before him, and, making a rapid calculation, he
caught up a heavy bag of doubloons, and left the house in charge of
Babette. The captain always told his guests that his fellows had
such love and respect for him that he rarely locked up his property,
and never placed a guard at his door. The truth was, that his
fellows--scoundrels, miscreants, and villains as they were--stood in
such fear and dread of their leader, that they were glad to keep out of
his way. Moreover, he never boasted or made any display before them,
living on shipboard, as on shore, by himself, but always ready and
terrible when the moment came for action; treating his crew, too, with
the most rigid impartiality, adhering strictly to his promises and
compacts with them, and never overlooking an offense.
So Captain Brand left his dwelling in charge of his dumb housekeeper
Babette, and tripping down the rope ladder from the piazza in a clean
suit of brown linen and straw slippers, his beardless face shaded by his
broad-brimmed hat from the sun, and the bag of gold on his arm, he
jauntily walked toward the cove.
"Ah! good morning, my doctor! Glad to meet you! How are the sick? Doing
well, I hope!"
"Quite well, sir; but I was about to call upon you in relation to the
conversation we had last evening, and--"
"Pardon me, _Monsieur le Docteur_, but I have been very busy this morning,
and am now going to see Don Ignacio on matters of importance"--here the
elegant pirate took the cigar from his thin lips and held it daintily
between his thumb and fore finger in the air--"and really, monsieur, I am
very sorry to miss your visit. But," he added, with one of his usual
smiles, "I shall be at leisure this afternoon, and in the cool of the
evening we can take a stroll. What say you?"
The doctor nodded.
"Apropos, _docteur_, suppose we have a little game of _monte_ afterward
at your quarters. I never permit gaming in mine, you know. The padre
will not object; and I am confident our _compadre_, the Tuerto, will be
delighted."
"As you please, captain," replied the medico, with a cold, indifferent
air and averted face. "I will join you in the promenade, and I shall be
ready to receive you in the evening."
"_Hasta huego, amigo!_" said Captain Brand, as he again stuck his cigar
between his teeth, waved his hand in adieu, and walked to his boat.
"You don't love me, doctor," thought the pirate. "I don't fear you,
captain," thought the doctor.
It was a touch of high art the way this notorious pirate pitched the bag
of gold toward his coxswain, crying, "Catch that, Pedillo!" and then the
almost girlish manner in which he pattered about the beach and held up
his trowsers, so that he might not even get his slippers damp. Had that
salt water been red blood, he would not have cared if his feet had been
soaked in it. And then, too, the little exclamation of joy when he
finally stepped into the stern-sheets, and sat down beneath the awning,
while he stretched his smooth brown linen legs out on the cushions. Oh,
it was certainly a touch of high piratical art!
"The old 'Centipede' is looking a little rusty after her late cruise,
Pedillo!" throwing his head back to evade a curl of smoke, and casting
his cold eyes like a rattle of icy hail at the coxswain. "But I am glad
Pedro took your place"--puff, puff--"that knife-stab prevented you, of
course"--puff--"and we shall have her all tight and trig again in a day
or two."
"_Si, senor!_" said Pedillo, respectfully; "and how goes Senor Gibbs,
_capitano_?"
The _capitano_ rolled his icy eyes again at the coxswain, and replied,
carelessly, "Why, Pedillo, our friend Gibbs came to see me when the
'Centipede' anchored, but almost before"--puff--"he had given me an
account of his unfortunate cruise he fell down in a fit. The fact is,
however"--puff, puff--"that, what with hard drinking and inflammation
which set in on the stump of his lost leg, he has been in a very bad
way"--puff--"quite in a dangerous condition indeed, requiring all my old
Babette's care and attention"--puff--"but this morning the good padre
went to see him, and he told me a while ago that he left him without
fever, and altogether tranquil."
Pedillo's wiry mustaches twirled of themselves.
Meanwhile the boat skimmed lightly over the basin, and as the captain
ceased speaking she ran alongside of the felucca. Don Ignacio, with his
bright single eye in full burning power, and a cigarette between his
wrinkled lips, was on the deck of the vessel to receive his visitor; and
as he saw the coxswain follow his superior with a weighty bag under his
arm, his glimmering orb became brighter, if possible--as if it was
piercing through the thick canvas of the bag, and counting, ounce by
ounce, the contents--and putting out his fore finger, it was grasped
cordially by the white hand of Captain Brand.
"_Como se va?_ How goes it with my _compadre_? Stomach and head all
clear after our long dinner of yesterday?"
The _compadre_ said that his head was particularly clear that morning,
and as for his stomach he had not yet inquired; but if the _capitano_
had any doubts as to the former proposition, he had better step below
and decide for himself.
In accordance with this ambiguous invitation, the visitor and commander
disappeared down the small cuddy in the afterpart of the felucca, where
was a low, stifling hole of a cabin, dank with stale tobacco-smoke, and
smelling awfully of rats and roaches. There was a little round table in
the middle, and on one side was a single berth, with some dirty bedding,
which had not been cleaned, apparently, since the vessel was built.
Light was shed from a skylight above.
Captain Brand gave a sniff of disgust as he entered this floating
sanctum of Don Ignacio, but, without remark, seated himself on a canvas
stool, and waved a perfumed cambric kerchief before his nose.
Commander Sanchez, catching the inspiration, merely observed that it was
a little close certainly, and not so spacious as the superb cabin of the
schooner, and that sometimes, when lying in a calm off the lee side of
Cuba, it was hot enough to melt the tail off a brass monkey; but yet it
was his duty, and he did not particularly mind it.
Hereupon Captain Brand requested Don Ignacio to produce his papers, and
they were presently laid upon the table. For a few minutes the pirate
was absorbed in running his cold eyes over the accounts--making
pencil-notes on the margins, and comparing them with a memorandum he
took from his pocket; but at last he threw himself back and exclaimed,
"_Compadre_, the account of old Moreno, at the Havana, is correct to a
real--three hundred and twelve doubloons and eight hard dollars. Yours,
however, has some few inaccuracies--double commissions charged here and
there; all losses and sales charged to me, and all profits credited to
you."
Don Ignacio spread out the palms of both his hands toward his
companion, as if to exorcise such unjust charges from the brain of his
confederate.
"_O si, si, compadre!_ it is as I state, and you know it is true; but,
nevertheless, a few dozens of ounces more or less makes no difference;
and, to make short work, I am ready to pay. But," said Captain Brand,
laying a hand on the heavy bag of money beside him, "though I am quite
ready to cancel my debts in hard cash here on the spot, yet, as I am
bound on a long cruise--Heaven only knows where--I would prefer to keep
the gold and pay you in something else."
Don Ignacio threw his head back and fixed his eye like a parrot on the
captain, waiting to hear farther.
"What have I on hand besides gold? Well, there are a few bales of
Mexican cochineal, and English broadcloths, and some cases of French
silks, which you can have at a fair market value; then there is all that
collection of silver table-service, which you can take by weight; and,
besides, lots of rare furniture, which you may set your own price
upon--altogether much more than enough to pay Moreno and you both. What
say you, _compadre_? is it a bargain? or shall I carry the stuff with
me, and run the chance of disposing of it on the Spanish Main?"
It was a long time before the crafty old Spaniard could make up his mind
whether to receive his pay in a simple portable currency, or take more
bulky matter, with the hope of making double the money by the operation.
Finally, however, his greed overcame his prudence, and he accepted the
last proposition, with the understanding that the articles should be
transferred to the felucca the next night.
"Ah!" said Captain Brand, with another sniff of disgust, as he spat on
the dirty floor of the cabin, "I am glad the affair is settled, for I
wouldn't remain another hour in this filthy hole for all the money you
have cheated me out of, you old rascal."
He said the last portion of this sentence to himself as he emerged from
the cuddy.
"But listen, _amigo_!" he continued, as they both reached the deck. "You
will give me duplicate receipts on the part of Senor Moreno, so that I
can forward one to him from the next port I visit. And, by the way,
suppose you come on shore this afternoon for a stroll, and in the
evening we will have a little game of _monte_--eh?"
"_Cierto!_ (certainly!)" returned the commander of the felucca; when
Captain Brand, with his bag of gold intact under his arm, got into his
boat and was pulled to the shore.