“Close and bolt the door,” said the Englishman so soon as we were alone. “That Quartermaster, saintly soul, may be hereabout. So. And now, my lad, get you into your hammock again, and to sleep.”

But sleep was gone from me, and, when I had told him so, he proffered to relate his experiences to me, to pass the vigil. “And certainly,” added he, “they are sufficiently strange.”

You may be sure I was nothing loth; and, when I had put on some clothes, and brought a chair to his bedside and seated myself, he thus began:

“’Twas some two years ago, lad, that I had occasion to ship as passenger on a ship bound for Fort St. George.[A] We left the Downs with fair wind and weather, which continued with us till we were come into the Indian Ocean. But then arose a huge hurricane of wind, which blew us from our course. It held six days, and left us somewhere near the Island of Sumatra. Yet the ship remained whole; and we steered north to recover our course, with but a fret of wind. We scarce had got into a sailing posture, but we saw a ship, which came towards us. And, wanting something—I forget what it was—we made a wiff to her. But we got more than we wanted! For, clapping on a wind, and coming on, they began to fire at us as hot as they could, and brought our mainmast by the board.

“Well, they boarded us—as villainous a crew as ever sailed the sea; and, though we made a good fight, ’twas all one: our ship was taken. We expected to be all murdered, or at least set ashore to starve on some desolate island.” (Here I saw the door handle turn slowly and softly round, but forbore to tell the Englishman, lest he should break off in his relation.) “Yet we were reserved alive, to what strange, surprising experiences I’ll tell you.

“They set many of us down upon the ballast, of whom I was one. Penned together like cattle in that darksome and stinking place, we scarce could stir hand or foot, scarce draw breath. We knew not the day from the night. Our victuals, thrown to us as to dogs, scarce were fit for dogs. The place was full of vermin; and there were great rats. Their eyes gleamed in the darkness like points of fire; and, ever and again, as at a signal, the creatures came swarming down upon us.

“How long this lasted I know not. Certainly many days. All fell sick, some raved with the calenture, three died. But on a blessed morn, at daybreak, they dragged us up out of the pit to the deck. Imagine what it meant to us! You cannot—as you cannot possibly imagine that dreadful prison. And no man apprizes at their worth light and air and health and freedom, look you, until he lose them.

“Indeed the suddenness of the change was more than we could bear—so that three of our company fell down in a swoon. ’Twas strange to see, I doubt not—ay, and pitiful! But no breath of pity moved the villainous hearts. They threw all the swooning men into the sea.

“I looked around. The pirate was come to port. On one side of her lay our ship, on the other, land.

“This land was really an island, though we lay too close to perceive it. We beheld very high cliffs towering to a prodigious height above us, streaked with shining green, creeping plants, and wreathed with vines. As I looked on them, a sort of horror seized on me, a phantom foreboding....”

He paused, and lay back in his bed with closed eyes; but soon continued, saying:

“Now the pinnace of the pirate lay alongside, and the residue of our party was bidden to get into her. Nay, we were driven into the boat! For they did press upon us, punching and thrusting us in the back. As villainous a crew as ever man set eyes on! Hideous visages, blackened with sin, scarred, mutilated with old wounds. And they were dressed and tricked out, these pirates, as from the wardrobe of the world; as though it had been opened unto them, and they had taken, every man, whatsoever he listed. For one had a pair of taffety breeches, a lady’s cape, and the turban of an Arab; another the staid habit of a dignitary of Holy Church cloaked about with the robes of a Chinaman; a leering negro strutted in the finery of a courtier of the king.

“Well, a number of ’em came down into the boat with us, and a big man took command. He is your Quartermaster!”

“Ouvery!” exclaimed I. “Was he the captain of the pirate?”

“No,” said he, “he was the quartermaster, having the second place on the ship. Well, Ouvery—or ‘Blazing Sue,’ as they called him—having seated himself in the stern, ordered us to take the oars and pull to the shore. On one of us pleading weakness, he burst forth into foul oaths, adding:

“‘You shall row, though you split!’

“Then, rising in a frenzy, he snatched up a musket by the barrel, felled the poor man, and, seizing hold on the collar of his coat, slung him over into the sea; and a huge shark immediately swam up and griped him.

“For a space Ouvery sat growling and snapping with his teeth like a dog, whilst the other pirates jested among themselves; then he gave the order, ‘Pull away.’

“We laboured at the rowing as best we might, the rogues lolling at their ease. Only, when the pinnace was got three parts in, they double-banked the oars to speed her through the shore-breakers.

“Having landed, our party was ordered in single file, and so marched up the beach. Some six or seven pirates went on either side, bearing pistols; while Ouvery took the lead.

“We crossed the beach of white sand. It cast a blinding glare (the sun now being high); so that we were glad to come presently into a belt of cocoa trees, the porch of a dense wood. We passed within this wood, following a secret path.

“We had penetrated, it might be, a quarter of a mile, when there was made to us an intimation. In our path, and shining beneath a rift in the overgrowth, we spied something round and white, like a great chalk stone. We came up to it. ’Twas a human skull. It grimaced in the sun with its glistering laughter.

“But Ouvery, turning about, laughed aloud, ‘Ho! ho! my boys!’ cried he, ‘See how he grins! So shall ye grin anon!’

“He stepped to the death’s head; and, bowing with vilest mockery, ‘What cheer, comrade?’ said he, ‘and have they forgotten ye? Come, hist along to Heaven!’

“And, drawing back his great foot, he sent the death crashing into the overgrowth.

“We went a little farther, and came, as it should seem, to an impenetrable dense thicket that was faced with flowering creepers. Ouvery hereupon called a halt; and, stepping to the thicket, he thrust his hand within, and felt about amongst the stems and leaves. Next moment, that which we had taken to be a thicket shook and was broken, and a slab of iron swung forward on hinges, leaving in the midst an orifice as black as night.

“Amazed at the sight, and fearing we knew not what, we continued to gaze.

“My lad, as we thus stood, there befell a thing that lifted the hair on my scalp!”