strained upon the free
sea. It was soon found that there was enough on board to join the
enterprise and share the spoils, and the plan was carried out when we
were half voyage over. That was fifty years ago. I shall never forget
the terrible struggle of that night, nor the bloody work that was done.
Heaven forgive me. When I had got command I ran the Storm into the
Caribbean Sea, landed all who were suspected, as well as such as more
openly opposed the enterprise, on an island, and then put away for the
Pacific via Cape Horn. When we got into the Pacific, we hoisted--." The
old man paused suddenly and hung down, his head. "Heaven forgive me for
my crimes," he resumed, evidently in doubt about acknowledging the full
force of his crimes.

"I may as well tell you it all--shake the load free from my conscience,
and ask you to join me in invoking Heaven's forgiveness. We hoisted the
flag that sees an enemy in every other flag, and for three years the
Storm scourged these seas from Cape Horn to Sands' Head. When ships,
sent in pursuit of us, were searching along the west coast, we were
making war on commerce on the coast of China. We had a name for every
sea we entered, so as to make our pursuers think there was more than one
vessel, and so divide their attention.

"Yes, for three years we scourged these seas, and made war on land as
well as sea--capturing, plundering, murdering--yes, committing crimes
that shame manhood, and make me fear the vengeance of a just God. And
all for gold, gold, gold. And what good can gold do a man with a
conscience haunted by crimes committed in getting it? Gold can do me no
good; but man is a mean animal at best; and you can so teach him in
crime that he will commit the most revolting out of sheer wantonness.

"We soon had more gold and jewels than we knew what to do with. Some of
our men left us and went home with enough to make them rich for the rest
of their lives. And we have buried enough on these islands to buy a
city. Gold lost its charms with us, and crime became an excitement and
an entertainment.

"We discovered this island while cruising from one ocean to the other,
and found on it some sailors, whose vessel had been wrecked near where
you landed. They had been seven years here, and it is to them we are
indebted for these animals and fowls. They lived contented, for they had
given up all hope of getting away, and are all dead now. We made this
place a retreat, had a settlement he