CHAPTER XXIV
BELIZE
There were not many captains of merchantmen in the early part of theeighteenth century who cared to sail into the Gulf of Honduras, thatbody of water being such a favourite resort of pirates.
But no such fears troubled the mind of the skipper of the brig Belinda,which was now making the best of her way towards the port of Belize. Shewas a sturdy vessel and carried no prejudices. Sometimes she was ladenwith goods bought from the pirates and destined to be sold to honestpeople; and, again, she carried commodities purchased from those whowere their legal owners and intended for the use of the bold rascals whosailed under the Jolly Roger. Then, as now, it was impossible forthieves to steal all the commodities they desired; some things must bebought. Thus, serving the pirates as well as honest traders, the sloopBelinda feared not to sail the Gulf of Honduras or to cast anchor by thetown of Belize.
As the good ship approached her port Kate Bonnet kept steadfastly ondeck during most of the daylight, her eyes searching the surface of thewater for something which looked like her father's ship, the Revenge.True, Mr. Newcombe had written her that Major Bonnet had given up piracyand was now engaged in commercial business in the town, but still, ifshe should see the Revenge, the sight would be of absorbing interest toher. She was a girl of quick observation and good memory, but the towncame in view and she had seen no vessel which reminded her of theRevenge.
As soon as the anchor was dropped, Kate wished to go on shore, but heruncle would not hear of that. He must know something definite before hetrusted Kate or himself in such a lawless town as Belize. The captain,who was going ashore, could make inquiries, and Kate must wait.
In a little room at the back of a large, low storehouse, not far fromthe pier, sat Stede Bonnet and his faithful friend and servitor, BenGreenway. The storehouse was crowded with goods of almost everyimaginable description, and even the room back of it contained anoverflow of bales, boxes, and barrels. At a small table near a windowsat the Scotchman and Bonnet, the latter reading from some roughlywritten lists descriptions and quantities of goods, the value of eachitem being estimated by the canny Scotchman, who set down the figuresupon another list. Presently Bonnet put down his papers and heaved aheavy sigh, which sigh seemed to harmonize very well with his generalappearance. He carried no longer upon him the countenance of the boldofficer who, in uniform and flowing feather, trod the quarter-deck ofthe Revenge, but bore the expression of a man who knew adversity, yetwas not able to humble himself under it. He was bent and borne down,although not yet broken. Had he been broken he could better haveaccommodated himself to his present case. His clothes were those of thecommon class of civilian, and there was that about him which indicatedthat he cared no more for neatness or good looks.
"Ben Greenway," he said, "this is too much! Now have I reached the depthin my sorrow at which all my strength leaves me. I cannot read theselists."
The Scotchman looked up. "Is there no' light enow!" he asked.
"Light!" said Bonnet; "there is no light anywhere; all is murkiness andgloom. The goods which you have been lately estimating are all my own,taken from my own ship by that arch traitor and chief devil, Blackbeard.I have read the names of them to you and I have remembered many of themand I have not weakened, but now comes a task which is too great for me.These things which follow were all intended for my daughter Kate. Silksand satins and cloth of gold, ribbons and fine linen, laces andornaments, all these I selected for my dear daughter, and by day and bynight I have thought of her apparelled in fine raiment, more richlydressed than any lady in Barbadoes. My daughter, my beautiful, my proudKate! And now what has it all come to? All these are gone, basely stolenfrom me by that Blackbeard."
Ben Greenway looked up. "Wha stole from ye," he said, "what ye hadalready stolen from its rightful owners. An' think ye," he continued,"that your honest daughter Kate would deign to array hersel' in stolengoods, no matter how rich they might happen to be! An' think ye shecould hold up her head if the good people o' Bridgetown could point ather an' say, 'Look at the thief's daughter; how fine she is!' An' thinkye that Mr. Martin Newcombe would tak' into his house an' hame a wifewha hadna come honestly by her clothes! I tell ye, Master Bonnet, thatye should exalt your soul in thankfulness that ye are no longer adishonest mon, an' that whatever raiment your daughter may now wear, no'a sleeve or button o' it was purloined an' stolen by her father."
"Ben Greenway," exclaimed Bonnet, striking his hand upon the table, "youwill drive me so mad that I cannot read writing! These things are badenough, and you need not make them worse."
"Bless Heaven," said the Scotchman, "your conscience is wakin', an' thetime may come, if it is kept workin', when ye will forget your plunderan' your blude, your wicked vanity, your cruelty an' your dishonesty,an' mak' yoursel' worthy o' a good daughter an' a quiet hame. An' morethan that, I will tak' leave to add, o' the faithful services o' asteadfast friend."
"I cannot forget them, Ben," said Bonnet, speaking without anger. "Themore you talk about my sins the more I long to do them all over again;the more you say about my vanity and pride, the more I yearn to wear myuniform and wave my naked sword. Ay, to bring it down with blood uponits blade. I am very wicked, Greenway; you never would admit it and youdo not admit it now, but I am wicked, and I could prove it to you iffortune would give me opportunity." And Captain Bonnet sat up verystraight in his chair and his eyes flashed as they very often hadflashed as he trod the deck of the Revenge.
At this moment there was a knock at the door and the captain of theBelinda came in.
"Good-day, sir!" said that burly seaman. "And this is Captain Bonnet, Iam sure, for I have seen him before, though garbed in another fashion,and I come to bring you news. I have just arrived at this port in mysloop, and I bring with me from Kingston your daughter, Mistress KateBonnet, her uncle, Mr. Delaplaine, and a good dame named Charter."
Stede Bonnet turned pale as he had never turned pale before.
"My daughter!" he gasped. "My daughter Kate?"
"Yes," said the captain; "she is on my ship, yearning and moaning to seeyou."
"From Kingston?" murmured Bonnet.
"Yes," said the other, "and on fire to see you since she heard you werehere."
"Master Bonnet," exclaimed Ben Greenway, rising, "we must hasten to thatvessel; perhaps this good captain will now tak' us there in his boat."
Bonnet fixed his eyes upon the floor. "Ben Greenway," he said, "Icannot. How I have longed to see my daughter, and how, time and againand time and again, I have pictured our meeting! I have seen her throwherself into the arms of that noble officer, her father; I have heardher, bathed in filial tears, forgive me everything because of the proudjoy with which she looked on me and knew I was her father. Greenway, Icannot go; I have dropped too low, and I am ashamed to meet her."
"Ashamed that ye are honest?" cried the Scotchman. "Ashamed that sin naelonger besets ye, an' that ye are lifted above the thief an' thecutpurse! Master Bonnet, Master Bonnet, in good truth I am ashamed o'ye."
"Very well," said the captain of the Belinda, "I have no time to waste;if you will not go to her, she e'en must come to you. I will send myboat for her and the others, and you shall wait for them here."
"I will not wait!" exclaimed Bonnet. "I don't dare to look into hereyes. Behold these clothes, consider my mean employment. Shall I abashmyself before my daughter?"
"Master Bonnet," exclaimed Greenway, hastily stepping to the doorwaythrough which the captain had departed, "ye shallna tie yoursel' to theskirts o' the de'il; ye shallna run awa' an' hide yoursel' from yourdaughter wha seeks, in tears an' groans, for her unworthy father. Sitdown, Master Bonnet, an' wait here until your good daughter comes."
The Belinda's captain had intended to send his boat back to his vessel,but now he determined to take her himself. This was such a strangesituation that it might need explanation.
Kate screamed when he made known his errand. "What!" she cried, "myfather in the town, and did he not come back with you
? Is he sick? Is hewounded? Is he in chains?"
"And my Dickory," cried Dame Charter, "was he not there? Has he not yetreturned to the town? It must now be a long time since he went away."
"I know not anything more than I have told you," said the captain. "Andif Mr. Delaplaine and the two ladies will get into my boat, I willquickly take you to the town and show you where you may find CaptainBonnet and learn all you wish to know."
"And Dickory," cried Dame Charter, "my son Dickory! Did they give you nonews of him?"
"Come along, come along," said the captain, "my men are waiting in theboat. I asked no questions, but in ten minutes you can ask a hundred ifyou like."
When the little party reached the town it attracted a great deal ofattention from the rough roisterers who were strolling about or gamblingin shady places. When the captain of the Belinda mentioned, here andthere, that these newcomers were the family of Blackbeard's factor, whonow had charge of that pirate's interests in the town, no one dared totreat the elderly gentleman, the pretty young lady, or the rotund damewith the slightest disrespect. The name of the great pirate was a safeprotection even when he who bore it was leagues and leagues away.
At the door of the storehouse Ben Greenway stood waiting. He would havehurried down to the pier had it not been that he was afraid to leaveBonnet; afraid that this shamefaced ex-pirate would have hurried away tohide himself from his daughter and his friends. Kate, running forward,grasped the Scotchman by both hands.
"And where is he?" she cried.
"He is in there," said Ben, pointing through the storeroom to the opendoor at the back. In an instant she was gone.
"And Dickory?" cried Dame Charter. "Oh, Ben Greenway, tell me of myboy."
They went inside and Greenway told everything he knew, which was verymuch, although it was not enough to comfort the poor mother's heart, whocould not readily believe that because Dickory had sailed away with agreat and powerful pirate, that eminent man would be sure to bring himback in safety; but as Greenway really believed this, his words madesome impression on the good dame's heart. She could see some reason tobelieve that Blackbeard, having now so much property in the town, mightmake a short cruise this time, and that any day the Revenge, with herdear son on board, might come sailing into port.
With his face buried in his folded arms, which rested on the table,Stede Bonnet received his daughter. At first she did not recognise him,never having seen him in such mean apparel; but when he raised his head,she knew her father. Closing the door behind her, she folded him in herarms. After a little, leaving the window, they sat together upon a baleof goods, which happened to be a rug from the Orient, of wondrousrichness, which Bonnet had reserved for the floor of his daughter'sroom.
"Never, my dear," he said, "did I dream you would see me in suchplight. I blush that you should look at me."
"Blush!" she exclaimed, her own cheeks reddening, "and you an honest manand no longer a freebooter and rover of the sea? My heart swells withpride to think that your life is so changed."
Bonnet sadly shook his head.
"Ah!" he said, "you don't know, you cannot understand what I feel.Kate," he exclaimed with sudden energy, "I was a man among men; a chiefover many. I was powerful, I was obeyed on every side. I looked the boldcaptain that I was; my brave uniform and my sword betokened the rank Iheld. And, Kate, you can never know the pride and exultation with whichI stood upon my quarter-deck and scanned the sea, master of all thatmight come within my vision. How my heart would swell and my blood runwild when I beheld in the distance a proud ship, her sails all spread,her colours flying, heavily laden, hastening onward to her port. How Iwould stretch out my arm to that proud ship and say: 'Let down thosesails, drop all those flaunting flags, for you are mine; I am greaterthan your captain or your king! If I give the command, down you go tothe bottom with all your people, all your goods, all your banners andemblazonments, down to the bottom, never to be seen again!'"
Kate and her father in the warehouse.]
Kate shuddered and began to cry. "Oh, father!" she exclaimed, "don'tsay that. Surely you never did such things as that?"
"No," said he, speaking more quietly, "not just like that, but I couldhave done it all had it pleased me, and it was this sense of power thatmade my heart beat so proudly. I took no life, Kate, if it could behelped, and when I had stripped a ship of her goods, I put her peopleupon shore before I burned her."
Kate bowed her head in her hands. "And of all this you are proud, myfather, you are proud of it!"
"Indeed am I, daughter," said he; "and had you seen me in my glory youwould have been proud of me. Perhaps yet--"
In an instant she had clapped her hand over his mouth. "You shall notsay it!" she exclaimed. "I have seized upon you and I shall hold you. Nomore freebooter's life for you; no more blood, no more fire. I shalltake you away with me. Not to Bridgetown, for there is no happiness foreither of us there, but to Spanish Town. There, with my uncle, we shallall be happy together. You will forget the sea and its ships; you willagain wander over your fields, and I shall be with you. You shall watchthe waving crops; you shall ride with me, as you used to ride, to viewyour vast herds of cattle--those splendid creatures, their great headsuplifted, their nostrils to the breeze."
"Truly, my Kate," said Bonnet, "that was a great sight; there were nocattle finer on the island than were mine."
"And so shall they be again, my father," said Kate, her arms around hisneck.
It was then that Ben Greenway knocked upon the door.
Stede Bonnet's mind had been so much excited by what he had been talkingabout that he saluted his brother-in-law and Dame Charter without oncethinking of his clothes. They looked upon him as if he were some unknownforeigner, a person entirely removed from their customary sphere.
"Was this the once respectable Stede Bonnet?" asked Dame Charter toherself. "Did such a man marry my sister!" thought Mr. Delaplaine. Theymight have been surprised had they met him as a pirate, but hisappearance as a pirate's clerk amazed them.
Towards the end of the day Mr. Delaplaine and his party returned to theBelinda, for there was no fit place for them to lodge in the town.Although urged by all, Stede Bonnet would not accompany them. Whenpersuasion had been exhausted, Ben Greenway promised Kate that he wouldbe responsible for her father's appearance the next day, feeling safe inso doing; for, even should Bonnet's shame return, there was no likelyway in which he could avoid his friends.