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03 - Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The blighting of Sharki. Sharky, the abominable Sharky was out
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: again after two years the Cormandel coast, his black bark
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: of death. The happy Delivery was prowling off the Spanish main,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: while trader and fisher flew for dear life at the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: menace of that patched foretopsail, rising slowly over the violent
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: rim of the tropical sea. As the birds cower when
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  Speaker 1: the shadow of the hawk flies athwart the field, or
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  Speaker 1: as the jungle full crouch and shiver when the coughing
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: cry of the tiger is heard at nighttime. So through
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  Speaker 1: all the busy world of ships, from the whalers of
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  Speaker 1: Nantucket to the tobacco ships of Charleston, and from the
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  Speaker 1: Spanish supplies ships of Cadiz to the sugar merchant to
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  Speaker 1: the main, they spread the rumor of the black curse
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of the ocean. Some hugged the shore, ready to make
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: for the nearest port, while others struck far out beyond
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the known lines of commerce. But none was so stout
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  Speaker 1: hearted that they did not breathe more freely when their
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: passengers and cargoes were safe under the guns of some
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: mothering fort. Through all the islands. There ran tales of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: charred derelicts at sea, of sudden glare seen afar in
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the nighttime, and of withered bodies stretched upon the sand
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of waterless Bahama keys. All the old signs were there
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to show that Sharky was back at his bloody game
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  Speaker 1: once more. These fair waters and yellow rimmed palm nodding
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: islands are the traditional home of the sea rover. First
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: it was a gentleman adventurer, the man of family and honor,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: who fought as a patriot, though he was ready to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: take his payment in Spanish plunder. Then within a century
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: his debonair figure had passed to make room for the buccaneers,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: robbers pure and simple, yet with some organized code of
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  Speaker 1: their own, commanded by noble chieftains, and taking in hand
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: great concerted enterprises. They too passed with their fleets in
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: their sacking of cities, to make room for the worst
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  Speaker 1: of all, the lonely outcast pirate, the bloody ishmael of
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the seas, at war with the whole human race. This
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: was the vile brood which the early eighteenth century had
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: spawn forth. And of them all there was none that
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: would compare an audacity wickedness and evil repute with the
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: unutterable Sharky. It was early in May in the year
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  Speaker 1: seventeen twenty. The happy Delivery lay with her four yard
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of back, some five leagues west of the windward passage,
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  Speaker 1: waiting to see what rich, helpless craft the trade wind
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: might blow down to her. Three days she had lain
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: there a sinister black speck in the center of the
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: great sapphire circle of the ocean. Far to the southeast,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the low blue hills of Hispaniola showed up on the
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: skyline hour by hour as he waded without avail. Sharky's
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: savage temper has risen force arrogant spirit chafed against any contradiction,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: even from fate itself. To his quartermaster, Ned Gallaway, he
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: had said last night that his odious neighing laughed that
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the crew of the nest captured vessel should answer to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: him for having kept him waiting so long. The cabin
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: of the pirate Bark was a good sized room, hung
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: with much tarnished finery and presenting a strange medley of
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  Speaker 1: luxury and disorder. The paneling of carved and polished sandal
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: wood was bloshed with foul smudges and chipped with bullet
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  Speaker 1: marks fired in some drunken revelry. Rich velvets and laces
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  Speaker 1: were heaped upon the brocaded settees, while metalworking pictures of
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  Speaker 1: great price filled every niche and corner. For anything which
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  Speaker 1: bought the pirate's fancy in the sack of a hundred
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: vessels was thrown haphazardly into his chamber. A rich, soft
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: carpet covered the floor, but it was modeled with wine
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  Speaker 1: stains and charred with burned tobacco. Above a great brass
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: hanging lamp threw a brilliant yellow light upon this singular apartment,
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  Speaker 1: and upon the two men, who sat in their shirt sleeves,
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  Speaker 1: with the wine between them and the cards in their hands,
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  Speaker 1: deep in the game of piquette. Both were smoking long pipes,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and the thin blue reek filled the cabin and floated
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: through the skylight above them, which half open disclosed a
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  Speaker 1: slip of deep, violent sky spangled with the great silver stars.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Ned Galloway, the Quartermaster, was a huge New England wastrel,
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  Speaker 1: the one rotten branch upon a goodly Puritan family tree.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: His robust limbs and giant frame were the heritage of
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  Speaker 1: a long line of god fearing ancestors, while his black,
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  Speaker 1: savage heart was all his own, bearded to the temples,
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  Speaker 1: with fierce blue eyes, a tangled lion's made of coarse
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  Speaker 1: dark hair, and huge gold rings in his ears. He
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  Speaker 1: was the idle of the women in every waterside held
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  Speaker 1: from the Tortugas to Maracaibo. On the main, a red cap,
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  Speaker 1: a blue silken shirt, brown velvet breeches with gaudy knee ribbons,
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  Speaker 1: and high sea boots made up the costume of the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: rover Hercules. A very different figure was Captain John Sharky.
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  Speaker 1: His thin, drawn, clean shaven face was corpse like in
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  Speaker 1: its pallor, and all the sudden of the Indies could
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: but turn into a more deathly parchment. Ten. He was
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  Speaker 1: part bald, with a few lank locks of tow like
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  Speaker 1: hair and a steep, narrow forehead. His thin nose jutted
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  Speaker 1: sharply forth, and near seven on the side of it
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  Speaker 1: were those filmy blue eyes, red rimed like those of
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  Speaker 1: a white bull terrier, from which strong men winced away
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: in fear and loathing. His bony hands with long, thin
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  Speaker 1: fingers which quivered ceaselessly like the attendant of an insect
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: were toying constantly with the cards and the heap of
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  Speaker 1: gold moy doors which lay before him. His dress was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: of some sober drab material, but indeed the men who
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: looked upon that fearsome face had little thought for the
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: costume of its owner. The game was brought to a
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: sudden interruption, for the cabin door was swung rudely open,
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  Speaker 1: and two rough fellows, Israel Martin, the Bosin and Red Folly,
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  Speaker 1: the gunner, rushed into the cabin. In an instant. Sharky
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  Speaker 1: was on his feet with a pistol in either hand
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  Speaker 1: and murder in his eyes. Sink you for villains, he cried.
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  Speaker 1: I see well that if I do not shoot one
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  Speaker 1: of you from time to time, you will forget the man.
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  Speaker 1: I am. What mean you by entering my cabin as
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: though we're a whipping alehouse? Nay, Captain Sharky, said Martin,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: with a sullen frown upon his red brick face. It
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: is even such talk as this which has set us
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: by the ears. We've had enough of it, and more
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: than enough, said Red fully the gunner. There'd be no
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: mates of board a piacraft, and so the Bosin. The
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: gunner and the quartermaster are the officers? Did I gainsay? It,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: said Sharkey, with an oath. You have miscalled us and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: mishandled us before the men, and we scarce to know
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  Speaker 1: at this moment why we should risk our lives in
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: fighting for the cabin against the forecastle. Sharky thought it
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: something serious was in the wind. He laid down his
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: pistols and leaned back in his chair with the flash
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  Speaker 1: of his yellow fangs. Nay, this is sad talk, said he.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: The two stout fellows who have emptied many a bottle
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  Speaker 1: of many a throat with me, should now fall out
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  Speaker 1: over nothing. I know you to be roaring boys who
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: go with me against the devil himself. If I bid you,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: let the steward bring cups and drown all unkindness between us.
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  Speaker 1: It is no time for drinking, Captain Jerky, said Martin.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: The men are holding counsel round the mainmasts and may
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: be aft in any moment. They mean mischief, Captain Jerky,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: we have come to warn you. Sharky sprang for the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: brass handled sword which hung from the wall. Sink them
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: for rascals, he cried, When I have gutted one or
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: two of them they will hear reason, but the others
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: barred as frantic way to the door. There are forty
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  Speaker 1: of them under the lead of sweet Locks, the Master
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: said Martin, and on the open deck they would surely
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: cut you to pieces. Here within the cabin, it may
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: be that we can hold them off with the points
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  Speaker 1: of our pistols. He had hardly spoken when there came
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the tread of many heavy feet upon a deck. Then
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: there was a pause, with no sound but the gentle
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: lapping of the water against the size of the pired vessel.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Finally a crashing blow as when the pistol butt fell
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  Speaker 1: upon the door, and an instant afterwards, sweet Locks himself,
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  Speaker 1: a tall, dark man with a deep red birth mark
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  Speaker 1: placing upon his cheek, strode into the cabin. The swaggering
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  Speaker 1: air sank someone as he looked into those pale and
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  Speaker 1: filmy eyes. Captain Sharky said he I come as spokesman
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: of the crew, so I have heard sweet Locks, said
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  Speaker 1: the captain softly. I may live to rip you the
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  Speaker 1: length of your vest for this night's work. That is
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: as it may be, Captain Sharky. The Master answered, but
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: if you will look up, you will see that I
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: have those at my back who will not see me
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: mishandled cursed if we do, growled the deep voice from above,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and glancing upwards, the officers and the captain were aware
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: of a line of fierce bearded, sub blackened faces looking
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: down at them through the open skylight. Well, what would
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  Speaker 1: you have asked, sharky? Put it in wards, man, and
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: let us have an end of it. The men think,
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  Speaker 1: said sweet locks, that you are the devil himself, and
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  Speaker 1: that there will be no look for them whilst they
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  Speaker 1: sail the sea in such company. Time was when we
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: did our two or three craft a day, and every
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: man had women and dollars to his liking. But now
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: for a long week we have not raised a sail,
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  Speaker 1: and save for three beggarly sloops, have never taken a
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  Speaker 1: vessel since we passed the Bahama bank. Also, they know
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: that you killed Jack Bartholomew the carpenter, by beating his
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: head in with a bucket, so that each of us
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  Speaker 1: goes in fear of his life. Also the rum is
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: given out and we are hard put to it for liquor. Also,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: you sit in your cabin while stays in the articles
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  Speaker 1: that you should drake and roar with the crew. For
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: all these reasons, it has been this day in general
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: meeting decreed. Sharky had stealthily cocked his pistol into the table.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: So it may have been as well for the mutinous
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: master that he never reached the end of his discourse,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: For even as he came to it, there was a
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: swift pattern of feet upon a deck, and a ship,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: lad wild with the tidings, rushed into the room. A craft,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: he yelled, a great craft, and close aboard us in
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: a flash. To quarrel was forgotten. The pirates were rushing
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  Speaker 1: to quarters, sure enough, searching slowly down before the gentle
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: trade wind. A great, full rigged ship with all sails set,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: was close behind them. It was clear that she had
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: come from Afar and knew nothing of the ways of
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: the Caribbean Sea. For she made no effort to avoid
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the low, dark craft which lay so close upon her bow,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: but blundering on as if her mere size would avail her.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: So daring was she that for an instant the rovers,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: as they flew to loose the tackles of their guns
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: and hoisted their battle lanterns, believed that a man a
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: war had caught them napping, but at the sight of
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  Speaker 1: her bulging, portless and merchant rig, a shadow of exultation
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: broke from among them, and an instant they had swung
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: round their foe yard and darted alongside. They had grappled
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: with her, and flung a spray of shrieking and cursing
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: ruffians upon her deck. Half a dozen seamen of the
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: night Watch were cut down when they stood. The mate
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: was felled by Sharky and tossed overboard by ned Galloway,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and before the sleepers had time to sit up in
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: their bursts, the vessel was in the hands of the pirates.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: The prize proved to be the full rigged ship Portobello
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Captain Hardy Master, bound from London to Kingston and Jamaica
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: with a cargo of cotton goods and hoop iron. Having
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: secured their prisoners all hudded together in a dazed, distracted group,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: the pirates spread over the vessel in search of plunder,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: handing all that they found to the giant quartermaster, who
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: in turn passed it over to the side of the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Happy Delivery and laid it under guard at the foot
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: of her mainmast. The cargo was useless. But there was
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: a thousand guineas in the ship's strong box, and there
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: were some eight or ten passengers, three of them wealthy
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Jamaican merchants, all bringing home well filled boxes from their
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: London visit. When all the plunder was gathered and the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: passengers and crew were dragged to the waist and under
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the cold sp mile of Sharky, each in turn was
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: thrown over the side, sweet locks, standing by the rail
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: and ham stringing them with his cutlass as they passed over,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: lest some strong swimmers should rise in judgment against them.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: A portly gray haired woman, the wife of one of
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the planters, was among the captives, but she also was
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: thrust screaming and clutching over the side. Mercy, you hussy
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: nade Sharky, you are surely a good twenty years too
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: old for that. The captain of the Portabello, a hail
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: blue eyed gray beard, was the last upon the deck.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: He stood a fixed, set, resolute figure, and the glare
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: at the lanterns, while Sharky bowed and smirked them before him.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: One skipper should show courtesy to another, said he, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: sink me. If Captain Sharkey would be behind in good manners.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I have held you to the last, as you see
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: where a brave man should be. So now, my bully,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: you have seen the end of them, and may step
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: over with an easy mind. So why shall Captain Sharkey,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: said the old seaman, For I've done my duties as
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: far as my power lay. But before I go over,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I would say a word in your ear. If it
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: be to soften me, you may save your breath. You
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: have kept us waiting here for three days, and curse
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: me if one of you shall live. Nay, it is
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: to tell you what you should know. You have not
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: yet found. One is a true treasure aboard the ship.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Not found it sick me, But I will slice your liver,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Captain Hardy, if you did not make good to your words.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Where is this treasure you speak of? It is not
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: a treasure of gold, but it is a fair maid,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: which may be no less welcome. Where is she then,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: and why was she not with the others? I will
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: tell you why she was not with the others. She
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: is the only daughter of the Count and Countess Ramirez,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: who are amongst those whom you have murdered. Her name
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: is Inez Ramirez, and she is of the best blood
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: of Spain, her father being the governor of Chakra, to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: which he was now bound. It chanced that she was
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: found to have formed an attachment, as maid's will, to
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: one far behind her in rank above the ship. So
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: her parents, being people of great power whose word is
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: not to be gainsaid, constrained me to confine her clothes
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: in a special cabin aft of my own. Here she
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: was held straightly, all food being carried to her, and
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: she was allowed to see no one. This, I tell you,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: is a last gift, though why I should make it
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to you I do not know, For indeed you are
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: a most bloody rascal, and it comforts me in dying
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: to think that you will surely be gallows meat in
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: this world and hell's meat in the next. At the words,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: he ran to the rail and vaulted into the darkness,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: praying as he sank into the depths of the sea
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: that the betrayal of this maid would not be counted
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: too heavily against his soul. The body of Captain Hardy
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: had not yet settled upon the sand forty fathoms deep
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: before the pirates had rushed along the cabin gangway there.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Sure enough, at the further end was a barred door,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: overlooked in their previous search. There was no key, but
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: they beat it with their gunstocks will shriek after shriek
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: came from within. In the light of their outstretched lanterns.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: They saw a young women, and in the very prime
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: and fullness of her youth, crouching in a corner, her
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: unkempt hair hanging to the ground, her dark eyes glaring
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: with fear, her lovely form straining away in horror from this.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Inrush of savage, bloodstained men, rough hands seized her, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: she was jerked to her feet and dragged with scream
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: on scream, to where John Sharky awaited her. He held
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the light long and fondly upon her face. Then, laughing loudly,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: he bent forward and left his red handprint upon her cheek.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: 'tis the rover's brand, lasts that he marks his use.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Take her to the cabin and use her well. Now, hardies,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: get her under water and out to our luck once more.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Within an hour, the good ship Portobello had settled down
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: to her doom, till she lay beside her murdered passengers
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: upon the Caribbean sand. While the pirate bark her deck
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: glittered with plunder, was heading northward in search of another victim.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: There was a crouse that night in the cabin of
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: the Happy Delivery, at which three men drank deep. They
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: were Captain, the quartermaster and Baldy Stable, the surgeon, a
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: man who had held the first practice in Charleston, until
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: misusing a patient, he fled from justice and took his
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: skill over to the pirates. A bloated, fat man, he
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: was with a creased neck and a giant's shining scalp,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: which gave him his name. Shirky had put from the
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: moment all thoughts of mutiny out of his head, knowing
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that no animals fierce when it is over fed, and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: that whilst the plunder of the great ship was new
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to them, he need fear no trouble from the crew.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: He gave himself up therefore to the wine and the riot,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: shouting and roaring with his boon companions, and all three
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: were flushed and mad ripe for any devilment. When the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: thought of the woman crossed the pirate's evil mind, he
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: yelled to the negro servant that he should bring her
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: on the instant. And Ezramirez had now realized it all,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the death of her father and mother, and her own
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: position in the hands of these murderers. Yet calmness had
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: come with the knowledge, and there was no sign of
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: terror in her proud, dark face as she was led
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to the captain, but rather a strange, firm set of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the mouth and an exultant gleam of the eyes, like
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: one who sees great hopes in the future. She smiled
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: at the pirate captain as he rose and seized her
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: by the waist. For God, this is a lass of spirit,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: cried Sharky, passing his arm around her. She was born
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: to be a rover's bride. Come, my bird, and drink
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: to our better friendship. Article six hiccup, the doctor all
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: bonarabas in common. Aye, we hold you to that captain
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Sharkey's galloway. It is so written. Article six. I will
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: cut the man into ounces who comes betwixt us, said Sharky,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: as he turned his fish like eyes from one to
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: the other. Nay Las, the man is not born that
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: will take you from John Sharky. Sit here upon my
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: knee and place your arm around me. Sink me. If
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: she has not learned to love me at sight, tell
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: me my pretty Why were you so mishandled and laid
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: in the bilbows aboard yonder craft. The woman shook her
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: head and smiled, No inglace, no inglase. She lisps. She
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: had drunk off the bumper of wine which Sharky held
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to her, and her dark gaze gleamed more brightly than before.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Sitting on Sharki's knee, her arm encircled his neck, and
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: her hand toyed with his hair, his ear, his cheek.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Even the strange quartermaster and a hardened surgeon felt in
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: horror as they watched her, But Sharky laughed in his joy.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Curse me if she is not a lass of metal,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: he cried, as he pressed her to him and kissed
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: her unresisting lips. But a strange intent look of interriest
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: that had come into the surgeon's eyes as he washed her,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and his face set rigidly, as if a fearsome thought
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: had entered his mind. There stole a gray pallor over
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: his bull face, modeling all the red of the tropics
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and the flush of the wine. Look at her hand,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Captain Sharki, he cried for the lord's look at her hand,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Sharki stared down at the hand which had funneled him.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: It was of a strange dead pallor, with a yellow,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: shiny web betwixt the fingers. All over it was a white,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: fluffy dust, like the flower of a new baked loaf.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: It lay thick on Sharki's neck and cheek. With a cry,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: he flung the woman from his lap, but in the instant,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: with a wild cat bound and a scream of triumphant malice,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: he had sprung at the surgeon, who vanished yelling under
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the table. One of her clawing hands grasped Galloway by
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: the beard, but he tore himself away, and, snatching a pike,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: held her off from him as she gibbered and mowed
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: with the blazing eyes of a maniac. The black Steward
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: had run in the sudden turmoil, and among them they
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: forced a mad creature back into the cabin and turned
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the key upon her. Then the three sank, panting into
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: their chairs, and looked with eyes of horror upon each other.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: The same word was in the mind of each, but
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Galloway was the first to speak it. A leper, he cried,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: she has us all cursor, not me, said the surgeon.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: She never laid a finger on me for that matter,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: cried Galloway. It was put my beard that she touched.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I will have every hair of it off before morning.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Dolts that we are, the surgeon shouted, beating his head
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: with his hand. Tainted. Or no, we shall never know
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: a moment's peace till the year is up and a
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: time of danger passed. For God, that merchant Skipper has
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: left his mark upon us, and pretty fools we were
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to think that such a maid would be quarantine for
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the cause he gave. It is easy to see now
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: that her corruption broke forth in the journey, and that
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: safe throwing her over, they had no choice but to
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: board her up until they should come to some port.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: With the Lazarete. Sharky had sat leaning back in his
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: chair with a ghastly face while he listened to the
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: surgeon's words. He mopped himself with his red handkerchief and
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: wiped away the fatal dust with which he was smeared.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: What of me, he wrote, What say you, baldy stable?
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Is there a chance for me curse you for a villain?
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Speak out, or I will drub you with an inch
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: of your life. And that inch also is there a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: chance for me, I say, But the surgeon shook his head.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Captain Sharky said he it would be an ill deed
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: to speak you false. The taint is on you. No
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: man in whom the leper of scales have rested is
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: ever clean again. Sharky's head fell forward in the chest,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and he sat motionless, strippened by his great and sudden horror,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: looking with his smoldering eyes into the fearsome future. Softly,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the mate and the surgeon rose from their places, and,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: stealing out from the poison there of the cabin, came
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: forth into the freshness of the early dawn, with a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: soft scent laden breeze in their face, and the first
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: red feathers of cloud catching the earliest gleam of the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: rising sun as it shot its golden rays over the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: palm clad ridges of the distant Hispaniola. That morning, a
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: second council the rovers was held at the base of
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the mainmast, and a deputation chosen to see the Captain.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: They were approaching the after cabins when SHARKI came forth,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the old devil in his eyes, and his bandolier with
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a pair of pistols over his shoulders sink you all
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: from villains. He cried, would you dare crossed my house?
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Stand out, sweet Locks, and I will leay you open
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: here Galloway Martin Foley stand by me, and lashed the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: dogs to their kennel. But his officers had deserted him,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: and there was none to come to his aid. There
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: was a rush of pirates. One was shot through the body,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: but an instant afterwards Sharky had been seized and was
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: trace to his own mainmasts. His filmy eyes looked round
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: from face to face, and there was none who felt
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the happier for having met him. Captain Sharky said, sweet Locks,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you have mishandled many of us, and you have now
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: pistol john Masters, besides killing Bartholomew the carpenter by braiding
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: him with a bucket. All this might have been forgiven you,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and that you have been our leader for years, and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: that we have signed articles to serve under you while
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: the voyage lasts. But now we have heard of this
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: bonaroba on board, and we know that you are poisoned
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: to the marrow, and that while you rot there there
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: will be no safety for any of us, but that
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: we shall all be turned into filth and corruption. Therefore,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: John Sharky, we rovers of the Happy Delivery, and a
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: council assembled have decreed that there would be yet time
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: before the plague spreads. You shall be set adrift in
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: a boat to find such fate as fortune may be
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: pleased to send you. John Sharky said nothing, but slowly,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: circling his head, he cursed them all with his bilful gaze.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: The ship's dinging had been lowered, and he, with his
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: hands still tied, was dropped into it on the bite
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: of a rope. Cast her off, cried sweet Locks, and
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: they hold hard a moment. Master Sweetlox, shouted one of
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the crew, What of the wench she'd abide a board
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and poisonous? All? Send her off with her mate, cried another,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: and the rovers roared their approval. Driven forth at the
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: end of spikes, the girls pushed toward the boat with
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: all the spirit of Spain in her rotting body. She
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: flashed triumphant glances up at her captors, Peros Peros and
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Glais Lepero, Lepero. She cried in exultation as they thrust
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: her over into the boat. Good luck, captain, god speed
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: you on your honeymoon. Cried a chorus of mocking voices
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: as the painter was unloosed and the happy delivery running full,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: before the trade wind left the little boat astern a
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: tiny dot upon the vast expanse of the lonely city.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Extract from the log of Her Majesty's fifty gun ship
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Hecatae and her crews off the American Maine, January twenty sixth,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: seventeen twenty one. This day the junk, having become unfit
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: for food, and five of the crew down with scurvy,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I ordered that we send two boats ashore the northwestern
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: point of the Hispaniola to seek for fresh fruit, and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: perchance shoots some of the wild oxen with which the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: island abounds. Seven p m. The boats have returned with
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: good store of green stuff in two bullocks. Mister Woodruff,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the Master, reports that near the landing place, at the
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: edge of the forest, was found a skeleton of a
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: woman clad in European dress, of such sort as to
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: show that she might have been a personal quality. Her
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: head had been crushed by a great stone which lay
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: beside her. Hard By was a grass hut, and signs
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: that a man had dwelt therein for some time, as
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: was shown by charred wood bones and other traces. There
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: is rumor upon the coast that SHARKI, the Bloody Pirate,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: was marooned in these parts last year. But whether he
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: had made his way into the interior, or whether he
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: had been picked up by some craft, there's no means
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: of knowing. If he'd be once again afloat, then I
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: pray that God send him under our guns. End of
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Chapter three