Howard Pyle's Book of pirates : fiction, fact & fancy concerning the buccaneers & marooners of the Spanish Main
him quickly into the garden. "Buckra, Buckra!" she cried. "What you
doing? You wake de whole town!" Then, observing his dripping garments:
"You been in de water. You catch de fever and shake till you die."
"Thy mistress!" cried Jonathan, almost sobbing in the excess of his
emotion; "take me to her upon the instant, or I cannot answer for my
not going entirely mad!"
When our hero was again introduced to the lady he found her clad in a
loose and elegant negligee, infinitely becoming to her graceful
figure, and still covered with the veil of silver gauze that had
before enveloped her.
"Friend," he cried, vehemently, approaching her and holding out toward
her the little ivory ball, "take again this which thou gavest me! It
has brought death to three men, and I know not what terrible fate may
befall me if I keep it longer in my possession."
"What is it you say?" cried she, in a piercing voice. "Did you say it
hath caused the death of three men? Quick! Tell me what has happened,
for I feel somehow a presage that you bring me news of safety and
release from all my dangers."
"I know not what thou meanest!" cried Jonathan, still panting with
agitation. "But this I do know: that when I went away from thee I
departed an innocent man, and now I come back to thee burdened with
the weight of three lives, which, though innocent, I have been
instrumental in taking."
"Explain!" exclaimed the lady, tapping the floor with her foot.
"Explain! explain! explain!"
"That I will," cried Jonathan, "and as soon as I am able! When I left
thee and went out into the street I was accosted by a little gentleman
clad in black."
"Indeed!" cried the lady. "And had he but one eye, and did he carry a
gold-headed cane?"
"Exactly," said Jonathan; "and he claimed acquaintance with friend
Jeremiah Doolittle."
"He never knew him!" cried the lady, vehemently; "and I must tell you
that he was a villain named Hunt, who at one time was the intimate
consort of the pirate Keitt. He it was who plunged a deadly knife into
his captain's bosom, and so murdered him in this very house. He
himself, or his agents, must have been watching my gate when you went
forth."
"I know not how that may be," said Jonathan, "but he took me to his
apartment, and there, obtaining a knowledge of the trust thou didst
burden me with, he demanded it of me, and upon my refusing to deliver
it to him he presently fell to attacking me with a dagger. In my
efforts to protect my life I inadvertently caused him to plunge the
knife into his own bosom and to kill himself."
"And what then?" cried the lady, who appeared well-nigh distracted
with her emotions.
"Then," said Jonathan, "there came a strange man--a foreigner--who
upon his part assaulted me with a pistol, with every intention of
murdering me and thus obtaining possession of that same little
trifle."
"And did he," exclaimed the lady, "have long, black mustachios, and
did he have silver earrings in his ears?"
"Yes," said Jonathan, "he did."
"That," cried the lady, "could have been none other than Captain
Keitt's Portuguese sailing master, who must have been spying upon
Hunt! Tell me what happened next!"
"He would have taken my life," said Jonathan, "but in the struggle
that followed he shot himself accidentally with his own pistol, and
died at my very feet. I do not know what would have happened to me if
a sea captain had not come and proffered his assistance."
"A sea captain!" she exclaimed; "and had he a flat face and a broken
nose?"
"Indeed he had," replied Jonathan.
"That," said the lady, "must have been Captain Keitt's pirate
partner--Captain Willitts, of _The Bloody Hand_. He was doubtless
spying upon the Portuguese."
"He induced me," said Jonathan, "to carry the two bodies down to the
wharf. Having inveigled me there--where, I suppose, he thought no one
could interfere--he assaulted me, and endeavored to take the ivory
ball away from me. In my efforts to escape we both fell into the
water, and he, striking his head upon the edge of the wharf, was first
stunned and then drowned."
"Thank God!" cried the lady, with a transport of fervor, and clasping
her jeweled hands together. "At last I am free of those who have
heretofore persecuted me and threatened my very life itself! You have
asked to behold my face; I will now show it to you! Heretofore I have
been obliged to keep it concealed lest, recognizing me, my enemies
should have slain me." As she spoke she drew aside her veil, and
disclosed to the vision of our hero a countenance of the most
extraordinary and striking beauty. Her luminous eyes were like those
of a Jawa, and set beneath exquisitely arched and penciled brows. Her
forehead was like lustrous ivory and her lips like rose leaves. Her
hair, which was as soft as the finest silk, was fastened up in masses
of ravishing abundance. "I am," said she, "the daughter of that
unfortunate Captain Keitt, who, though weak and a pirate, was not so
wicked, I would have you know, as he has been painted. He would,
doubtless, have been an honest man had he not been led astray by the
villain Hunt, who so nearly compassed your destruction. He returned to
this island before his death, and made me the sole heir of all that
great fortune which he had gathered--perhaps not by the most honest
means--in the waters of the Indian Ocean. But the greatest
treasure of all that fortune bequeathed to me was a single jewel which
you yourself have just now defended with a courage and a fidelity that
I cannot sufficiently extol. It is that priceless gem known as the
Ruby of Kishmoor. I will show it to you."
Hereupon she took the little ivory ball in her hand, and, with a turn
of her beautiful wrists, unscrewed a lid so nicely and cunningly
adjusted that no eye could have detected where it was joined to the
parent globe. Within was a fleece of raw silk containing an object
which she presently displayed before the astonished gaze of our hero.
It was a red stone of about the bigness of a plover's egg, and which
glowed and flamed with such an exquisite and ruddy brilliancy as to
dazzle even Jonathan's inexperienced eyes. Indeed, he did not need to
be informed of the priceless value of the treasure, which he beheld in
the rosy palm extended toward him. How long he gazed at this
extraordinary jewel he knew not, but he was aroused from his
contemplation by the sound of the lady's voice addressing him. "The
three villains," said she, "who have this day met their deserts in a
violent and bloody death, had by an accident obtained knowledge that
this jewel was in my possession. Since then my life has hung upon a
thread, and every step that I have taken has been watched by these
enemies, the most cruel and relentless that it was ever the lot of any
unfortunate to possess. From the mortal dangers of their machinations
you have saved me, exhibiting a courage and a determination that
cannot be sufficiently applauded. In this you have earned my deepest
admiration and regard. I would rather," she cried, "intrust my life
and my happiness to you than into the keeping of any man whom I have
ever known! I cannot hope to reward you in such a way as to recompense
you for the perils into which my necessities have thrust you; but
yet"--and here she hesitated, as though seeking for words in which to
express herself--"but yet if you are willing to accept of this jewel,
and all of the fortune that belongs to me, together with the person
of poor Evaline Keitt herself, not only the stone and the wealth, but
the woman also, are yours to dispose of as you see fit!"
Our hero was so struck aback at this unexpected turn that he knew not
upon the instant what reply to make. "Friend," said he, at last, "I
thank thee extremely for thy offer, and, though I would not be
ungracious, it is yet borne in upon me to testify to thee that as to
the stone itself and the fortune--of which thou speakest, and of which
I very well know the history--I have no inclination to receive either
the one or the other, both the fruits of theft, rapine, and murder.
The jewel I have myself beheld three times stained, as it were, with
the blood of my fellow man, so that it now has so little value in my
sight that I would not give a peppercorn to possess it. Indeed, there
is no inducement in the world that could persuade me to accept it, or
even to take it again into my hand. As to the rest of thy generous
offer, I have only to say that I am, four months hence, to be married
to a very comely young woman of Kensington, in Pennsylvania, by name
Martha Dobbs, and therefore I am not at all at liberty to consider my
inclinations in any other direction."
Having so delivered himself, Jonathan bowed with such ease as his
stiff and awkward joints might command, and thereupon withdrew from
the presence of the charmer, who, with cheeks suffused with blushes
and with eyes averted, made no endeavor to detain him.
So ended the only adventure of moment that ever happened him in all
his life. For thereafter he contented himself with such excitement as
his mercantile profession and his extremely peaceful existence might
afford.
_Epilogue_
In conclusion it may be said that when the worthy Jonathan Rugg was
married to Martha Dobbs, upon the following June, some mysterious
friend presented to the bride a rope of pearls of such considerable
value that when they were realized into money our hero was enabled to
enter into partnership with his former patron the worthy Jeremiah
Doolittle, and that, having made such a beginning, he by and by arose
to become, in his day, one of the leading merchants of his native town
of Philadelphia.
The End
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BOOKS BY
HOWARD PYLE
HOWARD PYLE'S BOOK OF PIRATES
MEN OF IRON
A MODERN ALADDIN
PEPPER AND SALT
THE RUBY OF KISHMOOR
STOLEN TREASURE
THE WONDER CLOCK
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
ESTABLISHED 1817
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