Captain Brand of the "Centipede" A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies: His Love and Exploits, Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner by Which He Departed This Life

"God! 'tis a fearsome thing to see That pale wan man's mute agony-- Those pinioned arms, those hands that ne'er Shall be lifted again--not even in prayer! That heaving chest! En...

"No sooner had I assured the old lady that I would transfer them to my vessel than her daughter made a step forward, and, letting her shawl fall upon the deck, she seized my han...

"But the count he felt the nervous work No more than any polygamous Turk, Or bold piratical skipper, Who, during his buccaneering search, Would as soon engage a 'hand' at church...

"So I hauled him off to the gallows' foot, And blinded him in his bags; 'Twas a weary job to heave him up, For a doomed man always lags; But by ten of the clock he was off his l...

"The captain is walking his quarter-deck With a troubled brow and a bended neck; One eye is down the hatchway cast, The other turns up to the truck on the mast."

"The busy deck is hushed, no sounds are waking But the watch pacing silently and slow; The waves against the sides incessant breaking, And rope and canvas swaying to and fro. Th...

The lizards wheetled on the rocks, the alligators lashed the lagoon amid the steaming mist of the mangrove roots; the sharks and birds returned to the reefs, the cocoa-nuts wave...

"Well, Piron, as I have told you, after the peace was made in 1815, I had command of a brig, and took a cruise on the coast of Brazil. After that I was appointed to a thirty-six...

"What tale do the roaring ocean And the night wind, bleak and wild, As they beat at the crazy casement, Tell to that little child? And why do the roaring ocean And the night win...

"But the best of the joke was, the moment he spoke Those words which the party seemed almost to choke, As by mentioning Noah some spell had been broke, And, hearing the din from...

Captain Brand meanwhile came on, picking his way through the dense cactus, which lacerated his legs, and sadly tore the remains of his loose canvas. The rain came down in torren...

"Gun bellows forth to gun, and pain Rings out her wild, delirious scream; Redoubling thunders shake the main, Loud crashing falls the shot-rent beam. The timbers with the broads...

Captain Brand put on a fine Panama hat, and stepped out on the veranda, where, with a cigar in his mouth, he leaned over the balustrade, and kept sharp watch on every thing that...

"It ceased: yet still the sails made on A pleasant noise till noon-- A noise like that of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June. Till noon we quietly sailed on, Yet never a...

Upon a broad, flat, rocky ledge, near a small, landlocked narrow inlet of one of the clustering Twelve League Keys on the south side of Cuba, stood a red-tiled stone building, w...

While Captain Brand and Don Ignaçio Sanchez walked pleasantly along the pebbly shore of the clear blue inlet to the Tiger's Trap, let us, too, saunter amid the habitations which...

"But ever, from that hour, 'tis said, He stammered and he stuttered, As if an axe went through his head With every word he uttered. He stuttered o'er blessing, he stuttered o'er...

"And how then was the devil dressed? Oh! he was dressed in his Sunday's best; His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, And there was a hole where the tail came through."

"No life is in the air, but in the waters Are creatures huge, and terrible, and strong; The swordfish and the shark pursue their slaughters; War universal reigns these depths al...

"Thus it ever is, _caballeros_, and ever will be," went on Captain Brand, in rather a reflecting strain. "There is a point to begin and stop, and an end to joy as well as grief....

"In slumbers of midnight the sailor-boy lay, His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind; But watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away, And visions of happiness danced o'e...

"Very well. A boatswain's mate and two side-boys. Mr. Rat, have the barge manned, and send her on shore for the commodore. Mr. Martin, tell the boatswain to call all hands to fu...

"Good heaven, befriend that little boat, And guide her on her way! A boat, they say, has canvas wings, But can not fly away; Though, like a merry singing-bird, She sits upon the...

"Oh ho! oh ho! Above! below! Lightly and brightly they glide and go; The hungry and keen on the top are leaping, The lazy and fat in the depths are sleeping!"

"What though when storms our bark assail, The needle trembling veers, When night adds horror to the gale, And not a star appears? True to the pole as I to thee, It faithful stil...

"They bore her far to a mountain green, To see what mortal never had seen; And they seated her high on a purple sward, And bade her heed what she saw and heard; And note the cha...

It was in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and twenty-two, and in the broad and commodious harbor of Kingston, a great mercantile haven, crowded with shipping from all part...

"He had rolled in money like pigs in mud, Till it seemed to have entered into his blood By some occult projection; And his cheeks, instead of a healthy hue, As yellow as any gui...

Said the commodore, with a knowing shake of his head, "Ah! gentlemen, if the fellow, whoever he was, who was creeping away so nimbly in that lazy-looking brigantine, with Englis...

"Through the night, through the night, In the saddest unrest, Wrapped in white, all in white, With her babe on her breast, Walks the mother so pale, Staring out on the gale, Thr...

"Among ourselves, in peace, 'tis true, We quarrel, make a rout; And having nothing else to do, We fairly scold it out; But once the enemy in view, Shake hands, we soon are frien...

"Ho, ho!" said Captain Brand, as he stretched out his straight legs in their canvas casings on the sand of the little cove, "safe and sound, and not a soul to share this nice su...

"Skeleton hounds that will never be fatter, All the domestic tribes of hell, Shrieking for flesh to tear and tatter, Bones to shatter, And limbs to scatter, And who it is that m...

"The very stars are strangers, as I catch them Athwart the shadowy sails that swell above; I can not hope that other eyes will watch them At the same moment with a mutual love....

"There passed a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye. A weary time! a weary time! How glazed each weary eye! When, looking westward, I beheld A something in...

"And many a dim o'erarching grove, And many a flat and sunny cove; And terraced lawns, whose bright cascades The honeysuckle sweetly shades; And rocks whose very crags seem bowe...

"Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace-- Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place; I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight, Then shortened eac...

"Gold! gold! gold! gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold, Molten, graven, hammered, and rolled; Heavy to get, and light to hold; Hoarded, bartered, bought, and sold; Stolen, bo...

By day and night, under sun or moon, and in breeze or calm--by the resounding shore--on the rippling water--in saloon and grove, picnicking and boating--under vine or awning--al...

Captain Brand laid down the paper without a sign of outward emotion, and nodded his head several times at the one-eyed man facing him. He then extracted his perfumed handkerchie...

"Now around they go, and around and around, With hop, skip, and jump, and frolicsome bound, Such sailing and gliding, Such sinking and sliding, Such lofty curvetting And grand p...

"With sloping masts and dipping prow, As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe, And forward bends his head, The ship drove past, loud roared the blas...

"I closed my lids and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky, Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my...

"Light is amid the gloomy canvas spreading, The moon is whitening the dusky sails, From the thick bank of clouds she masters, shedding The softest influence that o'er night prev...

"There was turning of keys, and creaking of locks, As he stalked away with his iron box. Oh, ho! oh, ho! The cock doth crow, It is time for the fisher to rise and go. Fair luck...

"What is glory--what is fame? That a shadow--this a name, Restless mortal to deceive. Are they renown'd--can they be great, Who hurl their fellow-creature's fate, That mothers,...

"A weary weed, tossed to and fro, Drearily drenched in the ocean brine, Soaring high and sinking low, Lashed along without will of mine; Sport of the spoom of the surging sea; F...

Sunday morning in Kingston harbor. The deep-toned bells from cathedral and church were wafted off from the town; the troops at Park Camp marching with easy tread to their chapel...

"Ask smiling honor to proclaim What is glory, what is fame? Hark! the glad mandate strikes the list'ning ear! 'The truest glory to the bosom dear, Is when the soul starts soft c...

"'Twas off the Wash--the sun went down--the sea looked black and grim, For stormy clouds with murky fleece were mustering at the brim; Titanic shades! enormous gloom! as if the...

"Masters, I can not spin a yarn Twice laid with words of silken stuff. A fact's a fact; and ye may larn The rights o' this, though wild and rough My words may loom. 'Tis your co...

"Moan! moan, ye dying gales! The saddest of your tales Is not so sad as life! Nor have you e'er began A theme so wild as man, Or with such sorrow rife.

XXIX. Laying Up the Strands 179 XXX. Old Friends 186 XXXI. The Commander of the "Rosalie" 193 XXXII. A Splice Parted 198 XXXIII. The Blue Pennant in the Cabin 201 XXXIV. The Dev...

I. Spreading the Strands 5 II. Calm 7 III. High Noon 15 IV. Sunset 21 V. Darkness 24 VI. Danger 33 VII. The Meeting and Mourning 42 VIII. Captain Brand at Home 44 IX. Captain an...