"THE sun shining on so much bare steel hurts my eyes," I said. "Putup, gentlemen, put up! Cannot one rover attend the funeral of anotherwithout all this crowding and display of cutlery? If you will take thetrouble to look around you, you will see that I have brought to theobsequies only myself."
One by one cutlass and sword were lowered, and those who had drawn them,falling somewhat back, spat and swore and laughed. The man in black andsilver only smiled gently and sadly. "Did you drop from the blue?" heasked. "Or did you come up from the sea?"
"I came out of it," I said. "My ship went down in the storm yesterday.Your little cockboat yonder was more fortunate." I waved my hand towardthat ship of three hundred tons, then twirled my mustaches and stood atgaze.
"Was your ship so large, then?" demanded Paradise, while a murmur ofadmiration, larded with oaths, ran around the circle.
"She was a very great galleon," I replied, with a sigh for the good shipthat was gone.
A moment's silence, during which they all looked at me. "A galleon,"then said Paradise softly.
"They that sailed her yesterday are to-day at the bottom of the sea," Icontinued. "Alackaday! so are one hundred thousand pezos of gold, threethousand bars of silver, ten frails of pearls, jewels uncounted, clothof gold and cloth of silver. She was a very rich prize."
The circle sucked in their breath. "All at the bottom of the sea?"queried Red Gil, with gloating eyes fixed upon the smiling water. "Notone pezo left, not one little, little pearl?"
I shook my head and heaved a prodigious sigh. "The treasure is gone,"I said, "and the men with whom I took it are gone. I am a captain withneither ship nor crew. I take you, my friends, for a ship and crewwithout a captain. The inference is obvious."
The ring gaped with wonder, then strange oaths arose. Red Gil broke intoa bellow of angry laughter, while the Spaniard glared like a catamountabout to spring. "So you would be our captain?" said Paradise, pickingup another shell, and poising it upon a hand as fine and small as awoman's.
"Faith, you might go farther and fare worse," I answered, and began tohum a tune. When I had finished it, "I am Kirby," I said, and waited tosee if that shot should go wide or through the hull.
For two minutes the dash of the surf and the cries of the wheeling seafowl made the only sound in that part of the world; then from thosehalf-clad rapscallions arose a shout of "Kirby!"--a shout in which thethree leaders did not join. That one who looked a gentleman rose fromthe sand and made me a low bow. "Well met, noble captain," he cried inthose his honey tones. "You will doubtless remember me who was with youthat time at Maracaibo when you sunk the galleasses. Five years havepassed since then, and yet I see you ten years younger and three inchestaller."
"I touched once at the Lucayas, and found the spring de Leon sought,"I said. "Sure the waters have a marvelous effect, and if they give noteternal youth at least renew that which we have lost."
"Truly a potent aqua vitae," he remarked, still with thoughtfulmelancholy. "I see that it hath changed your eyes from black to gray."
"It hath that peculiar virtue," I said, "that it can make black seemwhite."
The man with the woman's mantle drawn about him now thrust himself fromthe rear to the front rank. "That's not Kirby!" he bawled. "He's no moreKirby than I am Kirby! Did n't I sail with Kirby from the Summer Islesto Cartagena and back again? He's a cheat, and I am agoing to cut hisheart out!" He was making at me with a long knife, when I whipped out myrapier.
"Am I not Kirby, you dog?" I cried, and ran him through the shoulder.
He dropped, and his fellows surged forward with a yell. "Yet a littlepatience, my masters!" said Paradise in a raised voice and with genuineamusement in his eyes. "It is true that that Kirby with whom I and ourfriend there on the ground sailed was somewhat short and as swart as araven, besides having a cut across his face that had taken away a partof his lip and the top of his ear, and that this gentleman who announceshimself as Kirby hath none of Kirby's marks. But we are fair andgenerous and open to conviction"--
"He'll have to convince my cutlass!" roared Red Gil.
I turned upon him. "If I do convince it, what then?" I demanded. "If Iconvince your sword, you of Spain, and yours, Sir Black and Silver?"
The Spaniard stared. "I was the best sword in Lima," he said stiffly. "Iand my Toledo will not change our minds."
"Let him try to convince Paradise; he's got no reputation as aswordsman!" cried out the gravedigger with the broken head.
A roar of laughter followed this suggestion, and I gathered from itand from the oaths and allusions to this or that time and place thatParadise was not without reputation.
I turned to him. "If I fight you three, one by one, and win, am IKirby?"
He regarded the shell with which he was toying with a thoughtful smile,held it up that the light might strike through its rose and pearl, thencrushed it to dust between his fingers.
"Ay," he said with an oath. "If you win against the cutlass of Red Gil,the best blade of Lima, and the sword of Paradise, you may call yourselfthe devil an you please, and we will all subscribe to it."
I lifted my hand. "I am to have fair play?"
As one man that crew of desperate villains swore that the odds should beonly three to one. By this the whole matter had presented itself to themas an entertainment more diverting than bullfight or bearbaiting. Theythat follow the sea, whether honest men or black-hearted knaves, have intheir composition a certain childlikeness that makes them easily turned,easily led, and easily pleased. The wind of their passion shifts quicklyfrom point to point, one moment blowing a hurricane, the next sinkingto a happy-go-lucky summer breeze. I have seen a little thing convert acrew on the point of mutiny into a set of rollicking, good-natured soulswho--until the wind veered again--would not hurt a fly. So with these.They spread themselves into a circle, squatting or kneeling or standingupon the white sand in the bright sunshine, their sinewy hands thatshould have been ingrained red clasped over their knees, or, armsakimbo, resting upon their hips, on their scoundrel faces a broad smile,and in their eyes that had looked on nameless horrors a pleasurableexpectation as of spectators in a playhouse awaiting the entrance of theplayers.
"There is really no good reason why we should gratify your whim," saidParadise, still amused. "But it will serve to pass the time. We willfight you, one by one."
"And if I win?"
He laughed. "Then, on the honor of a gentleman, you are Kirby and ourcaptain. If you lose, we will leave you where you stand for the gulls tobury."
"A bargain," I said, and drew my sword.
"I first!" roared Red Gil. "God's wounds! there will need no second!"
As he spoke he swung his cutlass and made an arc of blue flame. Theweapon became in his hands a flail, terrible to look upon, makinglightnings and whistling in the air, but in reality not so deadly as itseemed. The fury of his onslaught would have beaten down the guard ofany mere swordsman, but that I was not. A man, knowing his weakness andinsufficiency in many and many a thing, may yet know his strength in oneor two and his modesty take no hurt. I was ever master of my sword, andit did the thing I would have it do. Moreover, as I fought I saw her asI had last seen her, standing against the bank of sand, her dark hair,half braided, drawn over her bosom and hanging to her knees. Hereyes haunted me, and my lips yet felt the touch of her hand. I foughtwell,--how well the lapsing of oaths and laughter into breathlesssilence bore witness.
The ruffian against whom I was pitted began to draw his breath in gasps.He was a scoundrel not fit to die, less fit to live, unworthy ofa gentleman's steel. I presently ran him through with as littlecompunction and as great a desire to be quit of a dirty job as if he hadbeen a mad dog. He fell, and a little later, while I was engaged withthe Spaniard, his soul went to that hell which had long gaped for it.To those his companions his death was as slight a thing as would theirshave been to him. In the eyes of the two remaining would-be leadershe was a stumbling-block removed, and to the squatting, open-mouthedcommonality his takin
g off weighed not a feather against the solidentertainment I was affording them. I was now a better man than RedGil,--that was all.
The Spaniard was a more formidable antagonist. The best blade of Limawas by no means to be despised; but Lima is a small place, and itsblades can be numbered. The sword that for three years had been countedthe best in all the Low Countries was its better. But I fought fastingand for the second time that morning, so maybe the odds were not sogreat. I wounded him slightly, and presently succeeded in disarming him."Am I Kirby?" I demanded, with my point at his breast.
"Kirby, of course, senor," he answered with a sour smile, his eyes uponthe gleaming blade.
I lowered my point and we bowed to each other, after which he sat downupon the sand and applied himself to stanching the bleeding from hiswound. The pirate ring gave him no attention, but stared at me instead.I was now a better man than the Spaniard.
The man in black and silver rose and removed his doublet, folding itvery carefully, inside out, that the sand might not injure the velvet,then drew his rapier, looked at it lovingly, made it bend until pointand hilt well-nigh met, and faced me with a bow.
"You have fought twice, and must be weary," he said. "Will you not takebreath before we engage, or will your long rest afterward suffice you?"
"I will rest aboard my ship," I made reply. "And as I am in a hurry tobe gone we won't delay."
Our blades had no sooner crossed than I knew that in this last encounterI should need every whit of my skill, all my wit, audacity, andstrength. I had met my equal, and he came to it fresh and I jaded. Iclenched my teeth and prayed with all my heart; I set her face beforeme, and thought if I should fail her to what ghastly fate she mightcome, and I fought as I had never fought before. The sound of the surfbecame a roar in my ears, the sunshine an intolerable blaze of light;the blue above and around seemed suddenly beneath my feet as well. Wewere fighting high in the air, and had fought thus for ages. I knew thathe made no thrust I did not parry, no feint I could not interpret. Iknew that my eye was more quick to see, my brain to conceive, and myhand to execute than ever before; but it was as though I held thatknowledge of some other, and I myself was far away, at Weyanoke, in theminister's garden, in the haunted wood, anywhere save on that barrenislet. I heard him swear under his breath, and in the face I had setbefore me the eyes brightened. As if she had loved me I fought forher with all my powers of body and mind. He swore again, and my heartlaughed within me. The sea now roared less loudly, and I felt the goodearth beneath my feet. Slowly but surely I wore him out. His breathcame short, the sweat stood upon his forehead, and still I deferred myattack. He made the thrust of a boy of fifteen, and I smiled as I put itby.
"Why don't you end it?" he breathed. "Finish and be d-d to you!"
For answer I sent his sword flying over the nearest hillock of sand."Am I Kirby?" I said. He fell back against the heaped-up sand and leanedthere, panting, with his hand to his side. "Kirby or devil," he replied."Have it your own way."
I turned to the now highly excited rabble. "Shove the boats off, half adozen of you!" I ordered. "Some of you others take up that carrion thereand throw it into the sea. The gold upon it is for your pains. You therewith the wounded shoulder you have no great hurt. I'll salve it with tenpieces of eight from the captain's own share, the next prize we take."
A shout of acclamation arose that scared the sea fowl. They who so shorta time before had been ready to tear me limb from limb now with thegreatest apparent delight hailed me as captain. How soon they mightrevert to their former mood was a question that I found not worth whileto propound to myself.
By this the man in black and silver had recovered his breath and hisequanimity. "Have you no commission with which to honor me, noblecaptain?" he asked in gently reproachful tones. "Have you forgot howoften you were wont to employ me in those sweet days when your eyes wereblack?"
"By no means, Master Paradise," I said courteously. "I desire yourcompany and that of the gentleman from Lima. You will go with me tobring up the rest of my party. The three gentlemen of the broken head,the bushy ruff, which I protest is vastly becoming, and the woundedshoulder will escort us."
"The rest of your party?" said Paradise softly.
"Ay," I answered nonchalantly. "They are down the beach and around thepoint warming themselves by a fire which this piled-up sand hides fromyou. Despite the sunshine it is a biting air. Let us be going! Thisisland wearies me, and I am anxious to be on board ship and away."
"So small an escort scarce befits so great a captain," he said. "We willall attend you." One and all started forward.
I called to mind and gave utterance to all the oaths I had heard in thewars. "I entertain you for my subordinate whom I command, and not whocommands me!" I cried, when my memory failed me. "As for you, you dogs,who would question your captain and his doings, stay where you are, ifyou would not be lessoned in earnest!"
Sheer audacity is at times the surest steed a man can bestride. Now atleast it did me good service. With oaths and grunts of admirationthe pirates stayed where they were, and went about their business oflaunching the boats and stripping the body of Red Gil, while the man inblack and silver, the Spaniard, the two gravediggers, the knave with thewounded shoulder, and myself walked briskly up the beach.
With these five at my heels I strode up to the dying fire and to thosewho had sprung to their feet at our approach. "Sparrow," I said easily,"luck being with us as usual, I have fallen in with a party of rovers.I have told them who I am,--that Kirby, to wit, whom an injurious worldcalls the blackest pirate unhanged,--and have recounted to them how thegreat galleon which I took some months ago went down yesterday with allon board, you and I with these others being the sole survivors. By dintof a little persuasion they have elected me their captain, and we willgo on board directly and set sail for the Indies, a hunting ground whichwe never should have left. You need not look so blank; you shall be mymate and right hand still." I turned to the five who formed my escort."This, gentlemen, is my mate, Jeremy Sparrow by name, who hath a tastefor divinity that in no wise interferes with his taste for a galleonor a guarda costa. This man, Diccon Demon by name, was of my crew. Thegentleman without a sword is my prisoner, taken by me from the last shipI sunk. How he, an Englishman, came to be upon a Spanish bark I have notfound leisure to inquire. The lady is my prisoner, also."
"Sure by rights she should be gaoler and hold all men's hearts in ward,"said Paradise, with a low bow to my unfortunate captive.
While he spoke a most remarkable transformation was going on. Theminister's grave, rugged, and deeply lined face smoothed itself and shedten years at least; in the eyes that I had seen wet with noble tears alaughing devil now lurked, while his strong mouth became a loose-lipped,devil-may-care one. His head with its aureole of bushy, grizzled hairset itself jauntily upon one side, and from it and from his face and hiswhole great frame breathed a wicked jollity quite indescribable.
"Odsbodikins, captain!" he cried. "Kirby's luck!--'t will pass into asaw! Adzooks! and so you're captain once more, and I'm mate once more,and we've a ship once more, and we're off once more
sail the Spanish Main
give the Spaniard pain,
ho, bully boy, heave ho!
By 'r lakin! I'm too dry to sing. It will take all the wine of Xeres inthe next galleon to unparch my tongue!"