redited with doing more both directly and indirectly for the abolition
of crime and disorder on the high seas than any other force. But the
conquest was not complete till the advent of steam which chased the
sea-rover into the farthest corners of his domain. It is said that he
survives even today in certain spots in the Chinese waters,--but he is
certainly an innocuous relic. A pirate of any sort would be as great a
curiosity today if he could be caught and exhibited as a fabulous
monster.

The fact remains and will always persist that in the lore of the sea he
is far and away the most picturesque figure,--and the more genuine and
gross his career, the higher degree of interest does he inspire.

There may be a certain human perversity in this, for the pirate was
unquestionably a bad man--at his best, or worst--considering his
surroundings and conditions,--undoubtedly the worst man that ever lived.
There is little to soften the dark yet glowing picture of his exploits.
But again, it must be remembered, that not only does the note of
distance subdue, and even lend a certain enchantment to the scene, but
the effect of contrast between our peaceful times and his own
contributes much to deepen our interest in him. Perhaps it is this
latter, added to that deathless spark in the human breast that glows at
the tale of adventure, which makes him the kind of hero of romance that
he is today.

He is undeniably a redoubtable historical figure. It is a curious fact
that the commerce of the seas was cradled in the lap of buccaneering.
The constant danger of the deeps in this form only made hardier mariners
out of the merchant-adventurers, actually stimulating and strengthening
maritime enterprise.

Buccaneering--which is only a politer term for piracy--thus became the
high romance of the seas during the great centuries of maritime
adventure. It went hand in hand with discovery,--they were in fact
almost inseparable. Most of the mighty mariners from the days of Leif
the Discoverer, through those of the redoubtable Sir Francis Drake down
to our own Paul Jones, answer to the roll-call.

It was a bold hardy world--this of ours--up to the advent of our
giant-servant, Steam,--every foot of which was won by fierce conquest of
one sort or another. Out of this past the pirate emerges as a romantic,
even at times heroic, figure. This final niche, despite his crimes,
cannot altogether be denied him. A hero he is and will remain so long as