Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 255 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

Se + = ES | i TR atte cy | —— ‘¢Senor Padre, we will go to breakfast now, and remember you have every right on board my vessel, except the right of going on shore, and this I withhold from you everywhere we may touch, excepting at my retreat, and there you can land and have full sway among the sinners, while hearing their confessions will keep you busy day and night.” Padre Bianco seemed to have determined to make the best of his situation, and followed Bernardo into the cabin, where a most tempt- ing breakfast was set out for them, for the old pirate was an epicure, and took every oppor- tunity of keeping tbe larder of his vessel well filled. As the days passed on, Bernardo found bis priestly companion a most clever person, and one whose society he really began to enjoy immensely, while bis influence with the men was very great, his slightesh word being law with them. After a successful cruise of robbery and murder upon the high seas, the pirate schooner set sail for her rendezvous, for sending home prizes, and losses in battle had reduced the crew to one-third, The retreat of Bernardo was upon a desolate part of the Mexican coast, upon an island sur- rounded by lagoons, and where no honest craft would care to penetrate. Here, in adobe huts dwelt the pirates when ashore, and in a small harbor were anchored the vessels captured, and which were there overhauled and changed, so that they could be ‘taken into different seaports and sold. The brig was undergoing this disguising process when the schooner arrived, and Padre Bianco hastened to see the officer who had brought her in, and ask him about his brother priests, ‘‘T landed at night, Senor Padre, and es- corted them to the Monastery St. Elmo,” said the officer. ‘‘T am glad, my son, to know that you did your duty by them, and you will receive your reward accordingly,” responded Padre Bianco. As the schooner needed overhauling, which would require a couple of weeks, Bernardo, as was his wont, started overland for Vera Cruz, where he had agents who sold his pirated wares. On leaving he said: ‘‘ Padre Bianco, Lieutenant Cisvero is in <ommand, of course, but I wish you to have an eye over all, for in my absence there is al- ways trouble among my officers and men. “The fact is, 1 bold them so tight that they hate me and I believe would like to see me out of the way, so that I dread to leave my re- treat, not knowing what to expect upon my return. ‘But you have immense influence among them, and though I hold you asa prisoner, I yet leave you in charge to a certain degree, knowing that you can control them where my under officers cannot,” **T will do all in my power to preserve, or- der, Senor Bernardo,” answered the padre, and the chief departed on his trip to Vera Cruz, For two weeks he was absent, and upon his return he was met at the landing by Padre Bianco, who, in response to the greeting of the ehief, said sternly: ‘Senor Bernardo, you are my prisoner!” At the same moment Padre Bianco had drawn a sword from beneath his gown and presented it at the heart of the amazed pirate captain. ‘* Madre de Dios ! sbrieked Bernardo, ‘Tt means, El Capitan Bernardo, that I com- mand here and you are my prisoner,” was the stern reply of the padre. “Ho, men! rally around me avd hurl that dog of a priest into the sea,” yelled the mad- dened pirate chief, still held at the point of the priest’s sword. But not a man of the hundred about him moved, and the next command of the padre showed that he was master of the situation. “ Seize that man!” At the order of the padre a dozen: men sprung forward with drawn weapons, and four of them seized Bernardo and in spite of his fierce resistance, he was quickly disarmed and put in irons, ‘Treacherous dog of a padre, you shall rue this, *- Ay, all of your creed shall. know what it is tu strike at Bernardo the Buccaneer!” vame What does this mean?” + © 5 $4 Yo ) The Pirate Priest. through the shut teeth of the infuriated pirate chief. ‘Silence, base man that you are, for you have disgraced the form you bear and been but a human monster, ‘‘ Now your career has ended, for within ten minutes’ time, as you bave sent many beings out of this world, so rid I the world of you.” ‘*‘ Mercy! mercy! for the love of the Virgin give me time to pray!” cried the cowardly wretch, realizing that bis hour of death was at hand. ‘Yes, you shall have time to pray.” ‘‘ And, padre as you are, hear my confession and absolve me of my sins!” ‘No, for your confession would blister the ears that heard it, and for such as you there is no absolution, ‘‘Tf you can pray to the God you have de- fied, do so now, for your life must end in a few minutes more,” The padre spoke in a deep, stern voice that impressed all who heard it, and fell like a knell upon the ears of the guilty wretch brought face to face with the eternity into which he had launched so many souls, In a cringing voice he prayed, beseeching mercy he felt should be denied him, and seeing that he was only trying to gain time, Padre Bianco said in a voice that reached every ear: “Men, duas I have commanded you!” Shrieking, cursing, struggling, praying, Ber- nardo the Buccaneer was borne to the shore, carried on board his own schooner, and strung up to the fore yard,* the padre and his former crew looking on in silence until death came to carry off his cowardly soul. CHAPTER LIL. THE PIRATE PRIEST. MontTHS have passed away since the death of Bernardo by command of the Padre Bianco, and in that time strange stories have been told over land and sea, Stories of how a swift-sailing schooner is cruising the seas, flagless, yet supposed to be a buccaneer, though waging a merciless war upon all—buccaneers and other vessels alike, it is said. Tracing the stories, few could get at the real truth, though all united in saying that this strange schooner, flying no flag, was com- manded by a priest !” Now and then a pirate could be found who would tell how his vessel had been run down, boarded and taken, while the crew were placed in irons and landed upon the nearest shores. Such bad been his fate, and he had escaped death with his companions, and had wandered about the land, fearing again to trust himself at sea. This man told how the vessel that had taken bis pirate craft was commanded by a priest in full holy garb, and yet fought like a tiger and led his boarders with an impetuosity that was astounding. With such a foundation for a story, it is no wonder that the wildest rumors were afloat, and that the Pirate Priest was a name that was on everybody’s lips, and he formed the theme of many a yarn and the subject of con- versation in many a home. And such was the theme of conversation among a group of officers that stood upon the quarter-deck of a small schooner that lay at anchor in an inlet upon what is now the Texan, but then the Mexican, coast. “T confess, captain,” said one, “‘ that now we have cut out our vessel, what I most fear is that Pirate Priest, who they say makes war upon buccaneers, hoping to find treasure with them which he would not get elsewhere.” ‘‘Yes: as there is honor among thieves, he should spare his own ilk,’’ laughed another, while a third remarked: ‘Well, I have gotten to that state now, Thornton, where I have nothing to fear, ‘‘ With me it came to death by suicide or risking death as a pirate to get ricbes, and lam determined to win wealth by piracy, that I may one day go back and reap a rich harvest of revenge upon the man who brought only dishonor upon me,” and the speaker uttered his words in bitterness of spirit. ** Well, I suppose it was my fault, Captain Chester, that the world went wrong with me; but certain it is that it began to use me so ill of late, that I was glad to accept your offer of a leftenancy and go with you upon this craft,” * Schooners with yards on the foremast were com- mon in early days.—TuHer AUTHOR. 25 remarked the one who had been addressed as Thornton, ‘¢ And you, Sykes, I knew was in trouble,” said Captain Chester, addressing the third ono in the group. *“T should think so, when I owed every other man I met, and was dodging constables day and night. ** T tell you I would rather be a pirate and run the risk of being banged, than a debtor and be dunned.” The three speakers were all young men, and their appearance indicated that they had been born gentlemen, whatever they had degener- ated into, They were dressed in a uniform that looked strangely like that worn by our navy officers, and their vessel, a saucy-looking schooner of a hundred tons, had the appearance of having been in the revenue service, although at her peak when she is presented to the reader, flut- tered a flag with a strange device, It was a black field, which was most sug- gestive of piracy, and in the center was a white hand, holding a number of cards, the ‘‘ aces” and ‘ jacks” being most prominent. Around the wrist of the card-holding band was a manacle to which was attached a chain, all being suggestive of the one who owned the flag having been chained to the vice of gam- bling, which he could not throw off and which bad ended in making him a pirate. The truth must be told tbat such was the case with the young captain of the schooner, for, when brought to ruin by bis sins, he bad conceived the idea of cutting out a revenue cutter that was being fitted out for sea and had but a few men as a guard on beard of her. With kindred spirits he bad laid his plot, a crew of reckless men had been shipped, and the pretty little versel had been cut out from her anchorage and carried to sea by the dar- ing amateur pirates, who had raised their flag, an emblem of the ryination of all of them above their decks, And, as they stood chatting together upon the quarter-deck while thcir vessel Jay at an- chor in a small cove, hidden from view, the lookout, stationed in the top of a high tree on the shore, reported a sail in sight. At once they .were deeply interested, for they had sought that secluded cove to lie in wait for a swift-sailing vessel said to visit that part of the coast twicea year to smuggle the finest Spanish wines and costliest silks into Mexico for the rich Dons and their wives. It would be a rich baul for them, and most anxious were they to capture the prize, which it was said would run into the inlet and drop anchor not far off-shore, where she could re- main securely hidden until the allies on land came to receive her valuable cargo. “« T hope it is the Spanish smuggler,” said the young captain. ‘T hope it isnot the Pirate Priest,” rejoined Thornton. ‘* Heaven forbid!” ejaculated Sykes. “We will hardly know to-nigbt, for dark- ness will soon be upon us,” remarked the cap- tain, and as night came on the three adjourned to the cabin to enjoy themselves over a bottle of wine, It was after midnight when an under officer, who had been sent out to reconnoiter, returned and reported that ths strange sail had run into the inlet and dropped anchor. ‘‘ What is she, Ross?” ‘¢ A large schooner, captain,” ** A schooner?’ Yes, sir,” ‘Ts that the sail the lookout reported?” * Yes, sir.” ‘‘There was no word sent us of whether the Spaniard was to be a schooner, brig or barque,” ‘“ As she bas run in by night and dropped anchor in the very inlet where we expected the Spanish smuggler, it must be that craft,” - remarked the pirate lieutenant, Thornton. ‘Did she appear to be armed, Ross?”asked the captain. “No, sir, as wellas I could judge she had ne open ports.” | ‘Were you very near her?” ‘Tn less than a cable’s length, sir.” *‘ Were there many on board of her?” “There seemed to be but very few, sir, hardly more than half a dozen as well asl could find out.” “Very well, I shall soon know, for [ shall go myself in a boat to find out all about her.” EONMIE MOO KS (E@)