ughed the deep, under the black flag of
piracy, with the motto of "Rob, Kill, and Burn." After adjusting the
rope, a signal was given. The body dropped heavily, and the harsh abrupt
shock must have instantly deprived him of sensation, as there was no
voluntary action of the hands afterwards. Thus terminated his career of
crime in a foreign land without one friend to recognize or cheer him, or
a single being to regret his death.

The Spanish Consul having requested that the bodies might not be given
to the faculty, they were interred at night under the direction of the
Marshal, in the Catholic burial-ground at Charlestown. There being no
murder committed with the piracy, the laws of the United States do not
authorize the court to order the bodies for dissection.

[Illustration: _Ruiz leaving the Panda._]

THE LIFE OF BENITO DE SOTO THE PIRATE OF THE MORNING STAR.

The following narrative of the career of a desperate pirate who was
executed in Gibraltar in the month of January, 1830, is one of two
letters from the pen of the author of "the Military Sketch-Book." The
writer says Benito de Soto "had been a prisoner in the garrison for
nineteen months, during which time the British Government spared neither
the pains not expense to establish a full train of evidence against him.
The affair had caused the greatest excitement here, as well as at Cadiz,
owing to the development of the atrocities which marked the character of
this man, and the diabolical gang of which he was the leader. Nothing
else is talked of; and a thousand horrors are added to his guilt, which,
although he was guilty enough, he has no right to bear. The following is
all the authentic information I could collect concerning him. I have
drawn it from his trial, from the confession of his accomplices, from
the keeper of his prison, and not a little from his own lips. It will be
found more interesting than all the tales and sketches furnished in the
'Annuals,' magazines, and other vehicles of invention, from the simple
fact--that it is truth and not fiction."

Benito de Soto was a native of a small village near Courna; he was bred
a mariner, and was in the guiltless exercise of his calling at Buenos
Ayres, in the year 1827. A vessel was there being fitted out for a
voyage to the coast of Africa, for the smuggling of slaves; and as she
required a strong crew, a great number of sailors were engaged, amongst
whom was Soto. The Portuguese of South Americ