J. Allan Dunn

“ In her six weeks of flitting from port to port she had heard more than once of Quatros Hombres Cay and the way of Long Tom Pugh and others of his calling.
Earlier pirates had been different, men big in a crude way, moved by fits of cruelty or generosity as the mood swayed them. Sometimes they would kill, kill for the sheer joy of blood-letting, drunk with the fight, the reek of powder and the drive of blade or point through elastic flesh and stubborn bone. ”

“ The pirates hauled madly on the sheets as the Scourge spun on her keel and clawed a frantic way seaward into the face of the gale with the king's ship, plunging like a bull, coming fast up. As the schooner crossed her bows the frigate yawed and fire spurted from her dripping sides. Round shot screeched through the rigging above the voice of the storm, round shot gouged the Scourge's planks and tore away her rail, round shot slugged into her side-planks as she rose to the roll of the sea. ”

“ They were all brainless—save Simon Hart. Left to themselves they knew naught but to drink, sing or listen to bragging, evil yarns. They never thought. A story-spinner could hold them, any one with initiative could get an audience, the last thought placed in their heads was the prime one, and Simon Hart, the crafty devil, had worked upon them as a modeler would handle clay until they were all of his pattern. With Hart out of the way, he, Pugh, could bring them 'round again.
And he walked the cabin pondering the best way of disposing of Simon Hart. He might challenge him or start a quarrel? ”

“ Long Tom Pugh and his bullies were in Porto Bello. There were no hovering king's ships to annoy and the town was theirs, as long as their gold lasted. Pugh did not dance. He sat apart with the quartermaster of the Scourge and his mate, and chief gunner, his evil face seamed in a smile that split his henna-stained whiskers.
"I'm done," said the quartermaster, glowering at the dice he had just cast. "I'm clean as a whistle, curse the bones. There's the devil's own luck in them!"
"There should be," answered Pugh as he scooped in the stake. ”

“ And with her smile the dread that had stiffened the face of the quartermaster passed and he grinned at her with yellow teeth. The witch had turned siren and his vicious blood responded.
"I'll spin the yarn," he said. "I am not so timid as others." And he glanced sneeringly at Pugh who had sat down and was shading his eyes with his hand.
"No?" she asked. "Then why do ye make the holy symbol?" For the pirate's bundled fingers still touched his tunic above his heart. "He who woos Death does not always win. Yet Death is kind." ”

“ Folsom, the leech, with his severed throat, and Simon Hart! Good—if that was Simon's ghost Simon was dead and he, Pugh, was still alive, very weak, but alive! And therefore still the better man.
The shapes were those of men and women. Vaguely he remembered some of them. He had marooned them. There was one phantom of a girl with great black eyes. She had died by her own hand—after. . . . And there were the four men he had left on the cay. ”

“ We'll set up another rendezvous and ye shall have a house there of your own, a house for your loot and your women. What say ye?
"It must be a cunning drug or that devil Hart will note it in his liquor. And one that acts swiftly. With him down I will drive the rest of them until they beg for me to forgive them. Have ye such a drug, Folsom? Look ye," he clapped the leech upon the back. "I have gold and jewels here aboard the Scourge. I'll share the gold with ye and give ye the pick of the jewels. Gems to win a woman's favor with, Folsom, gold to buy it." ”

“ A fight over a girl broke out in a corner and the mustee ran squealing from the grappling men.
"Bring 'em out in the open," bawled Pugh.
With all the blood-lust in them flaming from the liquor they had swigged, a dozen men hustled out the combatants to the open space between the tables.
"Take away their knives," ordered Pugh. "I'll lose no good men for the sake of a worthless wench. A doubloon to the winner!"
Left to themselves the two pirates, roaring like bulls, rushed at each other swinging arms like flails, locked, swayed and fell together to the floor. ”

“ There were moments when Simon Hart wondered if the dancing witch had played him false, but he could see no reason for such vindictiveness toward himself and her hate of Pugh he set down to a woman's whimsy, a flare-up that would die as swiftly as it had flamed. ”

“ The sun dropped rapidly and the sinking schooner swashed about in water that was incarnadined with the sunset. Nine of Pugh's bullies were in the longboat, now returning with the three prisoners, forty-odd watched at the rail or made ready for the tack to come, for the fickle day's-end wind was setting them down to the shoals that outribbed from the cay. ”

“ Ho, yo ho, for the swing of the surge,
⁠Show me a schooner as swift as the Scourge.
Gallant and free are the men of the sea
⁠Who sail under Long Tom, the Wonder
THEY beat out the time of the tune with their rummers and mugs on the scarred tables while their crimson faces loomed through the blue haze of the tobacco-smoky, low-ceilinged room like sun-dogs through a mist. The song ended and Pugh tossed a couple of gold pieces to the singer who spun them with a flick of thumb and finger and roared for more liquor. ”

“ All the world loves a ready listener, and the quartermaster talked until his own experience, his own limited invention, and what he remembered of the yarns of others were combined in his Ulyssean tale. Ever and anon the wind would rise to a gale with spit and slap of rain that passed unnoticed by the teller. At last he paused and emptied the mug she had kept replenished.
"I knew you for an adventurous man and a brave one, Simon Hart," she said, for he had told her his name. ”

“ Pugh ordered as a stronger gust set the Scourge to shivering where she swung in the eye of the wind, uneasy and restive, her keen bows pawing the waves. "Give them the usual provender and set them on the cay."
For the first time something like anxiety showed in the faces of the trio.
"Ye would not maroon us on yon cay?" said the eldest Graeme. "'Tis waterless. Man, 'twill be worse than murder. It means——"
"A fig for what it means," said Pugh. "Ye will shortly find that out. And I am a merciful man, Graeme. I am sending meat and drink." ”

“ Turtler Tom had seen this pattern before though it was rare those days, the recent invention of a buccaneer scourge of the Caribbean. His moody eyes gleamed as he hefted the cunningly balanced weapon by its carved grip.
"Marooned, poor devils! Marooned by 'Long Tom' Pugh!" he exclaimed. "One of his bullies dropped it from his belt, likely, and it got shuffled under the sand. Come, Tampi, we'll bury what's left of 'em." ”

“ Above them an ebon cloud was rived with lightning, and from the gash a blinding torrent fell, hiding sea and sky, battering the deck and hissing in the scuppers, striving to flatten the rearing waves that ran and leaped uncontrolled as the hurricane reached its height. ”

“ Pugh scowled. Of all the crew Bates and Ranting Dick might have been depended upon to stand with him against the rest.
"Stop your croaking," he said angrily, then changed his note. "Nay Folsom, I meant it not. Ye need somewhat to bring back your own blood. Art white as a corpse. Mix yourself a rummer of grog. Mix one for me."
The leech looked craftily at Pugh as he mixed gin, water and the juice of limes with sugar into a cold toddy. ”

“ Already tiny figures were swarming at the davits of the frigate. Pugh snapped the telescope shut.
"Lay aft here, all hands," he roared. "Men, we're in a tight box. See to it they don't nail the lid down on us. The devil's own luck is in the weather, and, hear me all, I'll serve a mass to Satan an he'll but send us enough wind to slide by that frigate! We've got to beat off their boarding-party. So up double-nettings and fight like the devil's own. Gunner, I'll lay Long Tom myself. ”

“ They had refused to clean ship after they had run out of the gale, and Pugh, swallowing his black wrath, had let the matter go under Simon Hart's smiling excuse that the hands were dogtired.
It presaged trouble; Pugh realized that very plainly. He was not the man to brook tamely the taking away of his authority and a place forward among the hands with his share the same as the least among them. He could hardly believe that he had dropped the whip and lost the power over his bullies. ”

“ The face of a demon, livid, emitting a pale lambency that set off a great, grinning mouth set with pointed tusks between which lolled the tip of a lusting tongue, staring eyeballs floating in white circles, wide nostrils eagerly agape and crisp hair that seemed alive with mysterious lights. ”

“ Simon Hart, cheating the gallows, had broken through his spirit-crushed men and fired the remnants of the magazine.
Margaret Graeme, pale-faced, gazed horror-struck at the spot where the Scourge had vanished. Now the last hope of finding Will was surely gone. Slowly, with hanging head, she went below to the cabin Thorne had assigned her, where the negress sat with the babe. ”

“ Pugh essayed to pick up an oar and batted feebly at the snouts that showed. The boat swerved. They were trying to capsize it. The boat moved on, grounded and now the blood-beat in his brain grew louder. It was surf breaking on low land. Pugh craned his head painfully. He was being carried fast by flood and current to a sandy beach dotted with gray shrubs.
Land! And somewhere in some rock crevice there must be water. The boat bumped, dragged, lifted and bumped on again. A swell tilted the stern and swept the boat on to strand it on the shore. ”

“ They are not human! By God, she missed my jugular by an inch! She would have let the life out of me!"
And still the room hung on the scene, marveling to see Pugh so strangely tamed yet conscious of the weird power of the woman. Pugh's hand fetched up against a rummer and tightened about it. He lifted it and drained the raw caña it contained. As he set it down the dancer's gaze suddenly fastened on the ring he had won from the quartermaster. ”

“ She comes from Nassau, some say. She has an infant. She lost her man at sea and it crazed her. But this is hearsay. She has danced here and elsewhere and sings among the sailors, seeking news of her man. Yet she seems not to know her own name. And she was ever harmless until now."
"I have a leech of my own," said Pugh. "If the fool is sober? So, Folsom, here ye are. Take a look at this slit the she-devil put in me. Where is the quartermaster?"
"Gone after the witch," said the discredited medico, who had joined the outlaws of the Scourge.
"May she slash his weasand agape," said Pugh. ”

“ Hardly discernible, a black dot showed against the salmon of the sunset sky. The Thetis shifted course and soon the dot became a boat making steady headway to the northwest under a lug sail. Closer and closer the sloop came toward the tiny craft until all aboard could see three men in the stern and then a waving cloth.
"Mrs. Graeme, a miracle has happened," said Captain Thorne. "Your husband and his brothers are alongside."
Margaret rose with shining eyes.
"An answer to prayer is not a miracle, Captain Thorne," she said. And, with her babe in her arms, she went on deck. ”

“ The rains are not so far off. A month at most. We can eke out. We will. Fret not, Will, the child will be born ere she begins to worry over ye. But we must go carefully. Just keep the life in us till the rains come or we sight some ship. Mayhap we'll get enough from the wreck to build some sort of craft."
"The current swings about the cay," said Alec Graeme. "There was no driftwood on the beach. And we were chased by the Scourge far off the travel lanes. Ye heard what Pugh said about company? How he left four here? This is Quatros Hombres Cay where Turtler Tom buried them that Pugh marooned." ”

“ And when we have given him the black spot, when he is deposed and I rule and reap a harvest of the Caribbean, wilt come with me to Skull Cay and queen it? I will build you a house and bring you mustee slaves, white slaves and black, and I will be the chiefest of them. I will make Pugh your servant. I will humble him as I will elevate thee. Wilt come?"
"Come back to me soon and tell me ye have done these things. We will reap the harvest later. Prove to me you are a better man than Pugh. ”

“ Pray God there be stars to set our course."
CHAPTER VII THE END OF THE CHASE IN THE gray of the dawn Captain Thorne of his Majesty's sloop-of-war Thetis chuckled as he picked up the pirate schooner that he had fought at long range as they drifted through the starlit, almost breezeless night. Now the wind strengthened with the dawn, the canvas filled and they bore down upon the Scourge.
It was the end of the long chase. The schooner sailed but sluggishly compared with the sloop, and while her stern-chaser fired intermittently, the aim was bad and the shot fell short. ”

“ They will slip ye the spot in the morning. I tell ye some wanted to see ye walk the plank but I would none of it."
"Aye, ye persuaded Simon Hart to mercy, I doubt not," said Pugh grimly. "Get up, man, and finish your grog. Mix more. Now listen. Where are your drugs? In Hart's cabin?"
"Yes."
"Have ye enough to mix a sleeping draft for the quartermaster, have ye enough to mix one so deep for Hart that he will wake up in hell? Listen, Folsom, do this for me and we will win through yet. We'll slip through this cordon, we'll repair ship and sneak back to Porto Bello or some other port and refit. ”