The Argosy — page 249: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ovg:...uled by a Pirate. 233 “ * How mony days?’ “ « Nine.’ “<¢ That’s another lee, Maister K ; nag vessel cud do’t in less than saxteen. (Aloud.) Whaur are ye bound for?’ “ ¢ Pernambuco,’ ‘Then came a pause. We were at the end of our questions, and now the pirates must have their turn. In that terrible interval, with the worst ofall deaths staring us in the face, there came the strangest, weirdest mingling of broad fun with the black horror that encompassed us. Our good, simple-hearted crew had obeyed the captain’s orders to ‘ng up dummies,’ by sticking up a lot of spars, close together as the rails of a palisade, with old hats and jackets flapping upon them like scarecrows; while on the roundhouse itself appeared an’ enormous Kilmarnock bonnet, as if some giant had suddenly risen up through the very roof. This last absurdity made the cup of the skipper’s patience overflow altogether. ‘ Ye drucken rascals!’ he growled under his breath, ‘do ye think ony mon wud put his heid through a roon hoose ? or that the blackguards can be fnghtit like craws in a field ? It’s eneugh to make them board us at once, for daurin’ to mak’ fules o’ them !’ ‘¢ Ship ahoy ! what’s your name?’ ‘“‘ The sharp stern call fell across his mutterings like the cut of a sword. ‘The captain started and answered. *** The Carron, from Glasgow.’ “ * What's your cargo ?’ “*< Coals. (There's nae guid tellin’ them, Maister K——, that we hae- Manchester guids aboard; they wad cut oor throtts for the half of them.)’ ‘* ¢ Where are you bound for ?’ ‘““* Rio de Janeiro.’ | ‘There was another pause ; and then came a searching question. ‘ Do you reckon by a chronometer, or by time ?’ ‘“« Then ensued a deep silence ; and in that dead hush of expectation I could almost hear the beating of my own heart. The captain’s face looked pinched and drawn like a three days’ corpse ; and the surgeon, who was standing near me, bit his lip till the blood ran down. It was not the thought of being killed that troubled us; but to die butchered like sheep, without a chance of resistance, was more than we could bear. We could see that there was a hot discussion going on among the pirates, and that many of them were for boarding us at once. Hands were pointed at us again and again, and voices rose up high and fierce, in a jargon of all languages at once; till at last (we seemed to have lived a life time in those few minutes) we heard the order'given to ‘put about,’ and the pirate began to draw off. Then we knew that SJ o(CO)