Show the two cabbins by VV CLARK RUSSELL copyright by P F coll er copy abt 1897 by dodd mead co CHAPTER V cont aued lee bow came down the answer ragged with the wind as t ie man panting made for the crosstrees when the brig soared to the height ot the white headed sea the sail was visible in the glass pope looked and saw three spires rocking solemnly A full rigged ship was sailing southwest hull down and captain pop called to the wheel let her go off a couple of points weather braces mr crystal well take a look at that gentlemen sail was trimmed the brig rushed with each roaring white into the green and freckled hollows she left a path as brilliant as sunshine astern and crystal watching the men drag upon the braces marveled to himself that pope should dream of do ing business in the english channel but the truth is pope had come to sea ill equipped in his cazarette laz arette by which I 1 mean he was very meanly supplied stores fresh water he had taken in in abundance but not very much to eat for the cabin or the forecastle he bad therefore resolved that he would fill his larder as he went along by helping himself from the holds of vessels be passed or overhauled this was quite consist ent with the traditions of the pirates and in sober truth pope could not have determined otherwise for after be had paid staunton tour hundred pounds cash and the bills and ad danced money to his sailors purchased powder rum and so on the proceeds from the sale of the plate had dwin died alarmingly and he was short of money when he began to think of pro visions the vessel they bad altered their course tor held on very stately and tall an english east ind aman and one of the finest specimens of her noble kind it had been imagined by the crew when the brigs course was a he drank their health for ane ship behind the sea that some thing in the buccaneering way was in tended the most eager of all who glanced aft the most expectant in expression was the boatswain hap pening to come near captain pope when sail was again being trimmed after the brig had been brought to her course he said had you meant to speak her sira she s a fine allow here he swore that there s specie enough in her to sink us by a strake pope answered the boatswain grin dal thus there may be gold in her to sink us by a strake as you say but our men are undisciplined they are but thirty and you may beear ashes a full ship and I 1 have et to find out that all hands of us will be willing to plunder her grindal turned his evil eyes over the decks and answered I 1 think you 11 find em all willin where s the riska wove a letter of marque ain t we sir now you shall hear the truth pres antly exclaimed pope sternly with that strong air of command and power which rarely tailed him when he dealt with seamen and he gave grindal an order which dispatched him forward pope took some time to rehearse and make up his mind and frequently stole a glance at the men by this hour it was drawing on to four clock the weather had improved it still blew a fine sailing breeze but the dingy thickness had been blown out of the sky mr crystal he bis friend in times of duty in the hearing ot the men there could not be bains tell the boatswain to pipa the whole ships company aft in a few minutes all hands had as upon the main deck a for crowd as they swayed in their varied wild romantic attire with the heave of the plank ive called ou aft my lads said pope with a look lound to explain the nature of this cruise I 1 am a gen tieman of fortune my friend captain crystal ft ho Is your chief mate rows in the same boat so does every moth ers son of you at this a colored man s wondering taca broke into a grin were not bound to the bay of Cam peachy to trade thence with the west indies but to plunder ships and enrich ourselves so that we may dis perse and settle down and live like gentlemen on our means in a word he shouted flourishing his cigar agre a pirate he ceased at this running his eyes over the people among whom there WM a considerable stir indicative ot a variety ot sensations and passions A seaman shouted so much the tetter another ha yer guns and another what was the good ot that roasting lie about Cam peachy I 1 d ha been right to hear the truth at which ell turned phrase there arose a murmur that lighted up cap tain pope s face I 1 understood you was a letter of marque cap n said the boatswain gandal who stood a little forward of the others not that it matters though V e re a pirate all of you know what that means I 1 am a man of few words this Is what I 1 stand here to say said pope planting himself firm ly on outstretched legs the terms are half the plunder for the crew and the brig hersel when ive gone ashore and got enough if we take ten thou sand pounds out of a ship alve thou sand is divided among ou Is that good bit chos going to stop at ten thousand pounds provided you re will ng and prove yourselves men he paused at this and a loud hum of assent went up calta n crystal gazing anxiously saw very easily that the lands were willing no mur fiur or curse of resentment was audi ble as though the fellows had been duped but in sober truth the major ity had shipped with a clear concep t on that something more was meant by this cruise than Cam peachy and the west indies CHAPTER VI the coll s on the gypsy was now a pirate lecog nihed as such by her crew with a black flag in her color locker ready for hoisting when occasion required and when captain pope ordered his men to reassemble on the main it was more with a view to holding a council than to maing speeches first he told thera he had put to sea so ill stocked with provisions that in a week they must be in want their im mediate business therefore was to plunder a sl ip for food and drink he stated that he had a sufficiency of powder and shot more was always to be obtained by plundering small ves sels next day he said the arms chests would be brought on deck and the crew drilled by mr crystal and matthew gandal in the exercise of the cutlass and the cannon there s few of us as wants drill ing broke in a harsh vo ce you lay us alongside well know what to do captain pope received this inter very he then in formed the men that he had obtained private but certain instructions from a friend of his who had been his ship mate in a privateer in 1814 of the dis patch of a rich spanish ship from cadiz for the canillas Man illas he named the date of her ailing and said that it was his intent on to cruise in the path of bt r course until he fell in with her at this piece of news the sea men gave another loud cheer thus be detained his men while he corn munica ted his intentions and listened to their opinions which most fre took the form of buzzas till it grew as dark as night whereupon they lighted lanterns that the crew might be divided into watches and while this was doing pope sung out to his servant to fill a bucket of rum and bring it on deck and give it to the men that they might make them selves punch in abundance it was now the second dog watch very dark but clear and finely span aled the light of the lanterns sat like a square of luminous fog in the yawn of the main hatch toward which captain pope advanced he looked down then seeing crystal pass out of the companion way he put his log over and descended a flight of steps from which he sprang out to the deck or platform where his sailors were the boatswain was at the head of the table and he was in the middle of a stars of some friends of his sail ors who had been robbed of one hun dred and forty pounds by two women and a young man desperately armed dressed up as a woman when his eye lighted on the captain who stood un der the main hatch surveying the scene the men seeing their captain raised a great half drunken noise of hurrahs and maddison of the squint cried out will you drink with us your honora lye come below to do ft bays pope advancing to the table and taking a with a little rum in it he addressed the men they were as silent as figure beada while his words were being delivered nothing troubled the stillness but popes voice the creaking of the brigs cirni bers and once or twice the squeak of a rat in the hold below his speech was very encourage ng be said he wanted them to mal e a home of the brig and to live happily together they should not want for leisure he expected they would be always prompt in obeying orders their lives would depend upon obed ence and dispatch he bould try and provide thera with plenty to eat and drink and as they sailed under the alaci flag the usual sea disc pline would be greatly re labed what they all wanted was plenty of money and that they would get it they fought stoutly and feared nothing all sorts of roaring dies followed the captain s address the men were flattered by 1 is presence he drank their health then to the success of the cruese which he prom sed them should be too binef to enable the british cruisers to give them any trouble now sing songs and be happy my hearties says he and he went on deck the men shouting their sati stac tion after him and beating the table with their pann at ten clock captain pope went below the cab n was warm though the little akyi was open in a cor ner was a little table upon which were a small compass a quadrant and one or two other instrument a of a primitive sort close beside it leaned a bag of charts one of which he extracted and carrying it to the table in the cabin fell to musing over it with a pencil in his hand all of a sudden while he overhung the chart thoughtfully considering the winds in that part of the sea accord ing to h s memory of them he was startled by a loud and fearful cry on deck quid ly folio ved by a general uproar of voices amid which he could hear gandal roaring like a bull where the devil are yer coming toa starboard yer helium pope sprang from the table rushed to b s cab n seized his sword and thrusting a astol into his pocket bounded on deck scarce was his head clear of the companion way when he was nearly thrown by a violent con cassion the 1 atle brig heeled trem bling to her keelson with some no se of splintering aloft and the seething patter of fragments of timber blocks and tle like launched from a height into the quiet water the night was extremely dark the mist had thick ened into something e a fog since two bells shouts were to be heard over the side A i elling and groaning of voices in an unknown close aboard with her starboard bow caressing the side of the gypsy while her bowsprit carrying its black wing of jib shot over the brig s rail like a branchless fallen tree was a vessel somewhat larger than the pirate apparently a schooner but it was 0 o dark that no one coald have told you the true rig of her A man holding up a lantern was shouting in some unintelligible lan guage some men were hauling at the lopes yelping in choruses others ran about the decks as though panic en in all there might have been ome twelve or thirteen men visible in that ship to be continued |