The Pirate
our own rascals, and all others."
"Why, then," replied Bunce, "you and I will go up to the Hill of
Whitford, which overlooks the town, and walk together as gravely and
honestly as a pair of well-employed attorneys."
As they proceeded to leave the ruinous castle, Bunce, turning back to
look at it, thus addressed his companion:
"Hark ye, Captain, dost thou know who last inhabited this old cockloft?"
"An Earl of the Orkneys, they say," replied Cleveland.
"And are you avised what death he died of?" said Bunce; "for I have
heard that it was of a tight neck-collar--a hempen fever, or the like."
"The people here do say," replied Cleveland, "that his Lordship, some
hundred years ago, had the mishap to become acquainted with the nature
of a loop and a leap in the air."
"Why, la ye there now!" said Bunce; "there was some credit in being
hanged in those days, and in such worshipful company. And what might his
lordship have done to deserve such promotion?"
"Plundered the liege subjects, they say," replied Cleveland; "slain and
wounded them, fired upon his Majesty's flag, and so forth."
"Near akin to a gentleman rover, then," said Bunce, making a theatrical
bow towards the old building; "and, therefore, my most potent, grave,
and reverend Signior Earl, I crave leave to call you my loving cousin,
and bid you most heartily adieu. I leave you in the good company of rats
and mice, and so forth, and I carry with me an honest gentleman, who,
having of late had no more heart than a mouse, is now desirous to run
away from his profession and friends like a rat, and would therefore be
a most fitting denizen of your Earlship's palace."
"I would advise you not to speak so loud, my good friend Frederick
Altamont, or John Bunce," said Cleveland; "when you were on the stage,
you might safely rant as loud as you listed; but, in your present
profession, of which you are so fond, every man speaks under correction
of the yard-arm, and a running noose."
The comrades left the little town of Kirkwall in silence, and ascended
the Hill of Whitford, which raises its brow of dark heath, uninterrupted
by enclosures or cultivation of any kind, to the northward of the
ancient Burgh of Saint Magnus. The plain at the foot of the hill was
already occupied by numbers of persons who were engaged in making
preparations for the Fair of Saint Olla, to be held upon the ensuing
day, and which forms a general rendezvous to all the neighbouring
islands of Orkney, and is even frequented by many persons from the more
distant archipelago of Zetland. It is, in the words of the Proclamation,
"a free Mercat and Fair, holden at the good Burgh of Kirkwall on the
third of August, being Saint Olla's day," and continuing for an
indefinite space thereafter, extending from three days to a week, and
upwards. The fair is of great antiquity, and derives its name from
Olaus, Olave, Ollaw, the celebrated Monarch of Norway, who, rather by
the edge of his sword than any milder argument, introduced Christianity
into those isles, and was respected as the patron of Kirkwall some time
before he shared that honour with Saint Magnus the Martyr.
It was no part of Cleveland's purpose to mingle in the busy scene which
was here going on; and, turning their route to the left, they soon
ascended into undisturbed solitude, save where the grouse, more
plentiful in Orkney, perhaps, than in any other part of the British
dominions, rose in covey, and went off before them.[29] Having continued
to ascend till they had wellnigh reached the summit of the conical
hill, both turned round, as with one consent, to look at and admire the
prospect beneath.
The lively bustle which extended between the foot of the hill and the
town, gave life and variety to that part of the scene; then was seen the
town itself, out of which arose, like a great mass, superior in
proportion as it seemed to the whole burgh, the ancient Cathedral of
Saint Magnus, of the heaviest order of Gothic architecture, but grand,
solemn, and stately, the work of a distant age, and of a powerful hand.
The quay, with the shipping, lent additional vivacity to the scene; and
not only the whole beautiful bay, which lies betwixt the promontories of
Inganess and Quanterness, at the bottom of which Kirkwall is situated,
but all the sea, so far as visible, and in particular the whole strait
betwixt the island of Shapinsha and that called Pomona, or the Mainland,
was covered and enlivened by a variety of boats and small vessels,
freighted from distant islands to convey passengers or merchandise to
the Fair of Saint Olla.
Having attained the point by which this fair and busy prospect was most
completely commanded, each of the strangers, in seaman fashion, had
recourse to his spy-glass, to assist the naked eye in considering the
bay of Kirkwall, and the numerous vessels by which it was traversed. But
the attention of the two companions seemed to be arrested by different
objects. That of Bunce, or Altamont, as he chose to call himself, was
riveted to the armed sloop, where, conspicuous by her square rigging and
length of beam, with the English jack and pennon, which they had the
precaution to keep flying, she lay among the merchant vessels, as
distinguished from them by the trim neatness of her appearance, as a
trained soldier amongst a crowd of clowns.
"Yonder she lies," said Bunce; "I wish to God she was in the bay of
Honduras--you Captain, on the quarter-deck, I your lieutenant, and
Fletcher quarter-master, and fifty stout fellows under us--I should not
wish to see these blasted heaths and rocks again for a while!--And
Captain you shall soon be. The old brute Goffe gets drunk as a lord
every day, swaggers, and shoots, and cuts, among the crew; and, besides,
he has quarrelled with the people here so damnably, that they will
scarce let water or provisions go on board of us, and we expect an open
breach every day."
As Bunce received no answer, he turned short round on his companion,
and, perceiving his attention otherwise engaged, exclaimed,--"What the
devil is the matter with you? or what can you see in all that trumpery
small-craft, which is only loaded with stock-fish, and ling, and smoked
geese, and tubs of butter that is worse than tallow?--the cargoes of the
whole lumped together would not be worth the flash of a pistol.--No, no,
give me such a chase as we might see from the mast-head off the island
of Trinidado. Your Don, rolling as deep in the water as a grampus,
deep-loaden with rum, sugar, and bales of tobacco, and all the rest
ingots, moidores, and gold dust; then set all sail, clear the deck,
stand to quarters, up with the Jolly Roger[30]--we near her--we make
her out to be well manned and armed"----
"Twenty guns on her lower deck," said Cleveland.
"Forty, if you will," retorted Bunce, "and we have but ten
mounted--never mind. The Don blazes away--never mind yet, my brave
lads--run her alongside, and on board with you--to work, with your
grenadoes, your cutlasses, pole-axes, and pistols--The Don cries
Misericordia, and we share the cargo without _co licencio, Seignior_!"
"By my faith," said Cleveland, "thou takest so kindly to the trade, that
all the world may see that no honest man was spoiled when you were made
a pirate. But you shall not prevail on me to go farther in the devil's
road with you; for you know yourself that what is got over his back is
spent--you wot how. In a week, or a month at most, the rum and the sugar
are out, the bales of tobacco have become smoke, the moidores, ingots,
and gold dust, have got out of our hands, into those of the quiet,
honest, conscientious folks, who dwell at Port Royal and elsewhere--wink
hard on our trade as long as we have money, but not a jot beyond. Then
we have cold looks, and it may be a hint is given to the Judge Marshal;
for, when our pockets are worth nothing, our honest friends, rather than
want, will make money upon our heads. Then comes a high gallows and a
short halter, and so dies the Gentleman Rover. I tell thee, I will leave
this trade; and, when I turn my glass from one of these barks and boats
to another, there is not the worst of them which I would not row for
life, rather than continue to be what I have been. These poor men make
the sea a means of honest livelihood and friendly communication between
shore and shore, for the mutual benefit of the inhabitants; but we have
made it a road to the ruin of others, and to our own destruction here
and in eternity.--I am determined to turn honest man, and use this life
no longer!"
"And where will your honesty take up its abode, if it please you?" said
Bunce.--"You have broken the laws of every nation, and the hand of the
law will detect and crush you wherever you may take refuge.--Cleveland,
I speak to you more seriously than I am wont to do. I have had my
reflections, too; and they have been bad enough, though they lasted but
a few minutes, to spoil me weeks of joviality. But here is the
matter,--what can we do but go on as we have done, unless we have a
direct purpose of adorning the yard-arm?"
"We may claim the benefit of the proclamation to those of our sort who
come in and surrender," said Cleveland.
"Umph!" answered his companion, dryly; "the date of that day of grace
has been for some time over, and they may take the penalty or grant the
pardon at their pleasure. Were I you, I would not put my neck in such a
venture."
"Why, others have been admitted but lately to favour, and why should not
I?" said Cleveland.
"Ay," replied his associate, "Harry Glasby and some others have been
spared; but Glasby did what was called good service, in betraying his
comrades, and retaking the Jolly Fortune; and that I think you would
scorn, even to be revenged of the brute Goffe yonder."
"I would die a thousand times sooner," said Cleveland.
"I will be sworn for it," said Bunce; "and the others were forecastle
fellows--petty larceny rogues, scarce worth the hemp it would have cost
to hang them. But your name has stood too high amongst the gentlemen of
fortune for you to get off so easily. You are the prime buck of the
herd, and will be marked accordingly."
"And why so, I pray you?" said Cleveland; "you know well enough my aim,
Jack."
"Frederick, if you please," said Bunce.
"The devil take your folly!--Prithee keep thy wit, and let us be grave
for a moment."
"For a moment--be it so," said Bunce; "but I feel the spirit of Altamont
coming fast upon me,--I have been a grave man for ten minutes already."
"Be so then for a little longer," said Cleveland; "I know, Jack, that
you really love me; and, since we have come thus far in this talk, I
will trust you entirely. Now tell me, why should I be refused the
benefit of this gracious proclamation? I have borne a rough outside, as
thou knowest; but, in time of need, I can show the numbers of lives
which I have been the means of saving, the property which I have
restored to those who owned it, when, without my intercession, it would
have been wantonly destroyed. In short, Bunce, I can show"----
"That you were as gentle a thief as Robin Hood himself," said Bunce;
"and, for that reason, I, Fletcher, and the better sort among us, love
you, as one who saves the character of us Gentlemen Rovers from utter
reprobation.--Well, suppose your pardon made out, what are you to do
next?--what class in society will receive you?--with whom will you
associate? Old Drake, in Queen Bess's time, could plunder Peru and
Mexico without a line of commission to show for it, and, blessed be her
memory! he was knighted for it on his return. And there was Hal Morgan,
the Welshman, nearer our time, in the days of merry King Charles,
brought all his gettings home, had his estate and his country-house, and