Fire Cloud Part 8

"Well," said the Parson, "if I thought there was any treasure there worth lookin' after, all the ghosts you could scare up wouldn't hinder me from trying to get at it."

"But, no matter about that; you say you see a live ghost once. Let's hear about that."

"I suppose," said Old Ropes, "that there aint no satisfaction in a feller's tellin' of things that aint no credit to him; but, howsomever, I might as well tell this, as, after all, it's only in the line of our business.

"You must know, then, that some five years ago, I s.h.i.+pped on board a brig engaged in the same business that our craft is.

"I needn't tell you of all the battles we were in, and all the prizes we made; but the richest prize that ever come in our way, was a Spanish vessel coming from Mexico, With a large amount of gold and silver on board.

"We attacked the s.h.i.+p, expecting to make an easy prize of her, but we were disappointed.

"The Spaniards showed fight, and gave us a tarnal sight of trouble.

Several of our best men were killed.

"This made our captain terrible wrothy. He swore that every soul that remained alive on the captured vessel should be put to death.

"Now, it so happened that the wife and child (an infant,) of the captain of the Spanish vessel, were on board. When the others had all been disposed of, the men plead for the lives of these two. But our captain would not listen to it; but he would let us cast lots to see which of us would perform the unpleasant office.

"As bad luck would have it, the lot fell upon me. There was no s.h.i.+rking it.

"It must be done; so, the plank was got ready. She took the baby in her arms, stepped upon the plank, as I ordered her, and the next moment, she, with the child in her arms, sank to rise no more; but the look she gave me, as she went down, I shall never forget.

"It haunts me yet, and many and many is the time that Spanish woman, with the child in her arms, has appeared to me, fixing upon me the same look that she gave me, as she sank in the sea.

"Luck left us from that time; we never took a prize afterwards.

"Our Vessel was captured by a Spanish cruiser soon afterwards. I, with one other, succeeded in making our escape.

"The captain, and all the rest, who were not killed in the battle, were strung out on the yard-arm."

"Does the ghost never speak to you?" asked the Parson.

"Never," replied Old Ropes.

"I suppose that's because she's a Spaniard, and thinks you don't understand her language," remarked the Parson, sneeringly. "I wonder why this ghost of the cave don't show himself, and not try to frighten us with his horrible boo-wooing."

"Well, you may make as much fun as you please," replied Old Ropes; "but, mark my words for it, if the captain don't pay attention to the warning he has had, that ghost will show himself in a way that won't be agreeable to any of us."

"If he takes my advice, he'll leave the cave, and take up his quarters somewhere else."

"What! you don't mean to say you're afraid!" quietly remarked the Parson.

"Put an enemy before me in the shape of flesh and blood, and I'll show you whether I'm afeard, or not," said Old Ropes; "but this fighting with dead men's another affair. The odds is all agin you. Lead and steel wont reach 'em, and the very sight on 'em takes the pluck out of a man, whether he will or no.

"An enemy of real flesh and blood, when he does kill you, stabs you or shoots you down at once, and there's an end of it; but, these ghosts have a way of killing you by inches, without giving a fellow a chance to pay them back anything in return."

"It's pretty clear, anway, that they're a 'tarnal set of cowards,"

remarked the Parson.

"The biggest coward's the bravest men, when there's no danger,"

retorted Old Ropes.

To this, the Parson made no reply, thinking, probably, that he had carried the joke far enough, and not wis.h.i.+ng to provoke a quarrel with his companion.

"As to the affair of the cave," said Jones Bradley; "I think very much as Old Ropes does about it. I'm opposed to troubling the dead, and I believe there's them buried there that don't want to be disturbed by us, and if we don't mind the warning they give us, still the worse for us."

"The captain don't seem to be very much alarmed about it," said the Parson; "for he stays in the cave. And, then, there's the Indian woman and the darkey; the ghost don't seem to trouble them much."

"I'll say this for Captain Flint," remarked Old Ropes, "if ever I knowed a man that feared neither man nor devil, that man is Captain Flint; but his time'll come yet."

"You don't mean to say you see breakers ahead, do you?" asked the Parson.

"Not in the way of our business, I don't mean," said Ropes; "but, I've had a pretty long experience in this profession, and have seen the finis.h.i.+ng up of a good many of my s.h.i.+pmates; and I never know'd one that had long experience, that would not tell you that he had been put more in fear by the dead than ever he had by the living."

"We all seem to be put in low spirits by this afternoon," said the Parson; "s'pose we go below, and take a little something to cheer us up."

To this the others a.s.sented, and all three went below.

CHAPTER VIII.

All Captain Flint's efforts to unravel the mysteries of the cave were unsuccessful; and he was reluctantly obliged to give up the attempt, at least for the present; but, in order to quiet the minds of the crew, he told them that he had discovered the cause, and that it was just what he had supposed it to be.

As everything remained quiet in the cave for a long time after this, and the minds of the men were occupied with more important matters, the excitement caused by it wore off; and, in a while, the affair seemed to be almost forgotten.

And here we may as well go back a little in our narrative, and restore the chain where it was broken off a few chapters back.

When Captain Flint had purchased the schooner which he commanded, it was with the professed object of using her as a vessel to trade with the Indians up the rivers, and along the sh.o.r.e, and with the various seaports upon the coast.

To this trade it is true, he did to some extent apply himself, but only so far as it might serve as a cloak to his secret and more dishonorable and dishonest practices.

Had Flint been disposed to confine himself to the calling he pretended to follow, he might have made a handsome fortune in a short time, but that would not have suited the corrupt and desperate character of the man.

He was like one of those wild animals which having once tasted blood, have ever afterward an insatiable craving for it.

It soon became known to a few of the merchants in the city, among the rest Carl Rosenthrall, that Captain Flint had added to his regular business, that of smuggling.

This knowledge, however, being confined to those who shared the profits with him, was not likely to be used to his disadvantage.

After a while the whole country was put into a state of alarm by the report that a desperate pirate had appeared on the coast.

Several vessels which had been expected to arrive with rich cargoes had not made their appearance, although the time for their arrival had long pa.s.sed. There was every reason to fear that they had been captured by this desperate stranger who had sunk them, killing all on board.

The captain of some vessels which had arrived in safety reported having been followed by a suspicious looking craft.

They said she was a schooner about the size of one commanded by Captain Flint, but rather longer, having higher masts and carrying more sail.