Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne

“ You are too free with your threats and schemes, my man, for a healthy slave."
"I am as I am made," said Rupert. "No man can change his nature too suddenly. But being on this galley, I've her welfare at heart like yourself; as I tell you, even a slave can take pride in his work. And let me say to you, Señor boatswain, you've your rowers wastefully arranged. Your best men are next the rowlocks, or at a cleat in the middle of the loom, ay, or anywhere but where they should be, and that's at the oars' inner ends, next the gangway, where they could put government over the stroke. ”

“ Ten men paddled and the other six baled, and surely no adventurers have ever tempted the seas in so unworthy a vessel. The water gushed in by a thousand cracks, and nothing but the industry of the balers could keep her afloat. A single cannon-shot would have sent her to the sharks in half a trice, and Master Laughan noted these things with a dry mouth and a heart that bade fair to leap direct from its resting-place. But Prince Rupert's eye lit as he steered, and the buccaneers bawled a psalm as a fitting start to their enterprise. ”

“ It was only the unarmed men who bore the burdens—one a great parcel of crackling hides, another a skinful of tallow, another a package of bucaned cow-meat, another a hog bucaned whole, and so on; and these were the engagés, the slaves for three years of the acknowledged buccaneers who were with the train, and the slaves of others who remained behind in Hispaniola to continue the hunting.
They marched across the glade, like men who had lost all interest in life, each watching the heels of the one preceding; and Rupert devoured them with his eyes. ”

“ Like tigers the Spaniards defended their decks, and like tigers the buccaneers attacked. They had stamped their rotten vessel beneath the water when they boarded, and there was no retreat. If they could not beat the crew below, they must be beaten back themselves into the sea. They were fierce men all, fighting desperately, but even in that terrible mêlée Prince Rupert shone out like a very paladin. The Spaniards were eight to one, and when they saw the smallness of the numbers against them they resisted stubbornly. ”

“ The carrack fluttered with banners and ancients, and the castle, and the squalid town by the water's edge, and the shipping at anchor quickly hoisted flags in welcome. There is no mistaking the manner of buccaneers returning well laden, and the harpies of Tortuga who live on such are not niggard in showing their joy that more ruffians have come in to be fleeced. Boats put out from the beach manned by vintners and tawdry hussies, each desirous of being first to catch a man, and on the castle of the Governor three trumpets and a drum made desirable music. ”

“ But locks cause small delay to lusty men. A shower of axe-blows beat away the staples, the hatch was wrenched back, and the lazaret yawned blackly beneath. A couple of fellows slipped below and passed up the pearls, which were in handy leather bags; and these the buccaneers fastened conveniently about their waists, with jibes at the Spaniards for making their plunder so easy for the carrying.
Now it was in Prince Rupert's mind that he would fire the carrack, jump from the stern gallery into the water, swim to another brigantine and take her, and so to sea before pursuit could be made. ”

“ They could see the vessel plainly now, a tidy-sized pink (or brig, to give her the newer name) with her bolt-sprit a mere flag of fire, her foremast already over the side, and the forepart of her hull little better than a bonfire of flames. The men upon her stood out black against the blaze which they fought so vehemently to subdue. They were massed for the most part in a mob on her aftercastle and as they drew nearer, Prince Rupert could see others standing on stages slung over the side, passing up water to quench the flames in every conceivable shape of pitcher, from ale-jacks to mess-kids. ”

“ For the moment Rupert thought the man had been mocking him; but then he saw that the gangway was narrow, that the boatswain traversed it every hour on his official watch, and that the sleeping sailor at the further side would cause him to walk near the other edge, and so within hand-grips of the slaves who wanted the keys. So the Prince sat on his bench well satisfied, and the men near him, who had heard what had been said, waited in silence to get their share of any benefits which might befall. There is no reason to ask the slaves on a galley if they will join an insurrection. ”

“ A quick eye and a lusty arm we value in Tortuga and Hispaniola more than all the titles a king could bestow. Gentility will not fill the belly here, neither will it ward off the Spaniards, neither will it despoil them of their ill-got treasure to provide the wherewithal for an honest carouse. What we value most is a little coterie of Brethren of the Coast sailing in with a deep fat ship, with their numbers few and their appetites whetted. ”

“ For a while I missed it; for a while there was a blank in my life. And then I found another master: a master whom I could always admire and strive for; a master whose every action interested me, whose every woe was mine; and him I have served this many years with infinite zest and appetite. Never had man a master he wished to serve so well."
"May I hear his name?" the Prince asked.
The Governor turned to a silver mirror which hung against the wall, and lifted his goblet.
"I drink to him," he said, "with all heartiness. His name is Camille Baptiste D'Ogeron, patron of the buccaneers." ”

“ But Prince Rupert listened with appetite. He smiled pleasantly when he heard of the richness of the pearls in store, and his eye kindled as the Spaniard described with how great accuracy they were guarded; and when at the end of his narration the Spaniard said he hoped he had shown how impossible it was for even the bravest of men to overcome the defenders and ravish the store, the Prince laughed merrily, and said he had done just the reverse. "I am a man," quoth he, "that likes a kernel all the better, and hammers for it all the cleverer, when the nut is hard a-cracking." ”

“ Prince Rupert was left behind helpless; and for a moment busied himself; and then followed, swearing, at their heels.
"Now," cried he, "I'm for no surrender, brethren; and if you do not choose to roast like bacon, you'll cut your way out like men. There's no retreat the way we came. I've fired the ship above our heads."
What he said next was lost, for the Spaniards had begun the bombardment of their own after-castle (deeming the buccaneers to be still within its shelter) and all words were choked with the crashing of timbers overhead, and the din of the bellowing guns. ”

“ Are we to get ashore and hunt bullocks? Or is there some convenient town to sack, or some castle to ransom? Or can you guarantee that we shall find a Spaniard on the sea, and get our next dinner from him before we are absolutely starving?"
Captain Wick leaned up against the bulwarks and laughed. "This is like the old hard, wicked times once more, when buccaneers sailed cheerfully against an armada in a canoe—and sometimes took it. It gives me a thrill to be desperate again. ”

“ No class of men could be in company with Prince Rupert for long without gaining a high respect for his genius.—"My lord quartermaster," said Wick, "you're talking a bit too fine for these common fellows."
"Well," said Rupert, "it's a hard thing to do, gentlemen, but I must avow myself to you as a coward. Transit of goods in these seas seems so perilous and so expensive that really I have been frightened out of risking it. There's some small fortune which it may come to your memory I earned a few days back—and for half of which I am responsible to Master Simpson, my matelot in Hispaniola. ”

“ Why, Prince, you've got all the materials for a kingdom ready and waiting: the men are in your own ships; the women you can gather from any city of the Main you like to fetch them from, and there you are with the essentials complete. You choose your site, you build your town and fort, you catch your Indians, or you import Guinea blacks for slaves, and for occupation and revenue you raid the Spanish, when indeed you are not enjoying domestic joys at home. And, let me tell you, that domestic joys out here are not things to be valued lightly. They grow upon a man. ”

“ They appeared to hear the name with consternation.
"But, Señor," said their spokesman, "that is the metropolis of the buccaneers."
"To me," said Rupert, "Tortuga is my rendezvous with my own fleet."
"We bow to your esteemed convenience, Señor. But what chance shall we have there? We shall be lambs in a wolf-fold. They will rob us certainly; if we escape out of the place with our lives, we shall be fortunate. Surely, Señor, as we have borne much of the burden of the fighting, we are entitled to some say in future schemes." ”

“ Prince Rupert and the buccaneers were in high feather. Their scheme had succeeded with exactness. The pink had drawn away the war-carrack, and there remained only a bare fifteen hundred Spaniards to oppose to their lusty score and a half. To hear them, one might have supposed they were going to a wedding, where all was frolic and gaiety; and yet in all the annals of men it would be hard to find any scheme more desperate than that which lay before them. ”

“ The way lay through a narrow gorge of the mountains, and it was cut by no less than twenty-three forts, each with drawbridge, bastions, cannon and soldiers. It was an entrance incredibly strong, and the city beyond was well worth the expenditure in defence. Its sacred edifices were gorgeous; its profane buildings were palaces; and it lay there under the sun, the choicest jewel in all the Spanish New World. A more appetising spot to plunder never met a would-be raider's eye. ”

“ Than bailing water out of a leaky vessel's bilges there is no labour more detestably menial; but a Prince of birth can be drowned by a ship swamping beneath him as glibly as a common sailor-man; and so as the remaining blacks showed clear signs of exhaustion, Rupert and his humble secretary had to take their turn at this occupation, and ply their utensils too with lusty vigour. It was extraordinary how fluent were the leaks. "They say that witches do sea-travelling in baskets," said Prince Rupert once. ”

“ A king must have a court; a court needs money; I sail the seas to win that money: the thing is simple."
Monsieur D'Ogeron hit the table. "The thing is unheard of," he cried. "Loyalty is a home-growth which does not bear transporting across the seas. In France, in the old days, I was the king's man—I forget what king's. I left France full of that loyalty, and for a while it lasted. But when my ship ran into the trade winds, it began to ooze from me, and when I got set down here, in these islands of the Caribbean, there was but a dim memory of that loyalty left. ”

“ I'd liefer be conscience-free as a slave, than Governor of all the Spanish Colonies on the Main and have to kow-tow to their crafty priests. Moreover, Stephen lad, when I throw back on to the oar-loom, I'm minded that they've left us the use of our limbs, and that's more than might have been. They're clever devils with their torturings, and I'd rather work through life sound as a galley-slave, than sit crippled even in a palace. ”

“ The brigantine still hung where she had first lodged, with her foremast rigging fouled on the carrack's spritsail yard; and the Prince and his men, having the pearls at their belts, and knowing of nothing else that was not too hot or too heavy to carry off, struck up a jaunty song and made retreat by the way they had come. None molested them; not a gun was fired with purpose to do them harm: the Spaniards were all too busy in trying to quell the flames and save their ship. ”

“ I am your most obedient servant to command, but you mustn't ask me to make water run up hill, or to cause handy liquor to cease from running down a thirsty buccaneer's gullet. They are common fellows, common as dirt every one of them, and they haven't the gentility and niceness that is natural to you and me. And moreover, as a buccaneer's life is often a short one, he strives to make it as merry as may be. Besides as you are one of the brotherhood yourself, you ought to fall in with the custom. I'm sure Simpson, your matelot, would not be pleased to see you deny yourself. ”

“ Indeed, presently it occurred to one bright spirit that the success of the foray ought by rights to be celebrated by music, and so the pompous dons that were the hostages were compelled at the knife-point to whistle a cheery measure as they marched, and a very droll sight their faces presented to the onlooker.
Now it is hard for the historian of one who, like Rupert, is born by nature to be a leader to be compelled to own that another could supplant him in a leadership, and still bring his campaign to a prosperous issue. ”

“ The orgie of the buccaneers, when one came to measure it up afterwards in the cool blood of the historian, was in reality short, for these disgusting creatures consider lavishness the highest gentility, and waste double what they use. But once the liquor casks were drained, they were ready enough to start out for the next venture.
The sun poured down upon their working with intolerable heat; the beach reeked with the lees of their spilt rum; and the fellows themselves, though they stuck manfully enough to their labours, carried swinging heads and crabbed tempers. ”

“ Surely men were never born with less eye to the future than these Brethren of the Coast, or Buccaneers, as they are more modernly named. Apart from slaying the wild cattle of Hispaniola and bucaning the resultant meat, their two sole industries were fighting and spoiling the Spaniard in the Carib Sea and on the Main, and then frittering away their hard-gotten gains at Tortuga over the wine shops and the hussies of the town, or against the cogged dice of Monsieur D'Ogeron, the Governor, up at his castle. ”