CHAPTER XX.
BUSINESS.
"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 guinea grew, Making the common phrase seem true About a rich complexion."
The business which Captain Brand alluded to when he was about to partake of breakfast with his friend the padre was, in the first instance, to arrange some matters in the way of payment of debts to his compadre, Don Ignaçio Sanchez, commander of the Colonial Guarda Costa felucca "Panchita."
Accordingly, when he rose from table, and after a whispered dialogue and reports as to the state of affairs in and around the den and island from the men at the signal-stations, he summoned Pedillo. When that worthy appeared below the veranda--for be it remembered that Captain Brand never permitted the inferior officials of his band to pollute his apartments, unless, perhaps, as in the case of his deceased subordinate, Master Gibbs, it was on urgent business--Captain Brand ordered his gig manned.
Pedillo threw up his hand in token of assent, and walked down to the brink of the basin to execute the command. Then, after a few minutes, Captain Brand lit a cigar, dismissed the padre, put on his fine white Panama straw hat, unlocked a strong cabinet with a secret drawer, glanced over a paper before him, and, making a rapid calculation, he caught up a heavy bag of doubloons, and left the house in charge of Babette. The captain always told his guests that his fellows had such love and respect for him that he rarely locked up his property, and never placed a guard at his door. The truth was, that his fellows--scoundrels, miscreants, and villains as they were--stood in such fear and dread of their leader, that they were glad to keep out of his way. Moreover, he never boasted or made any display before them, living on shipboard, as on shore, by himself, but always ready and terrible when the moment came for action; treating his crew, too, with the most rigid impartiality, adhering strictly to his promises and compacts with them, and never overlooking an offense.
So Captain Brand left his dwelling in charge of his dumb housekeeper Babette, and tripping down the rope ladder from the piazza in a clean suit of brown linen and straw slippers, his beardless face shaded by his broad-brimmed hat from the sun, and the bag of gold on his arm, he jauntily walked toward the cove.
"Ah! good morning, my doctor! Glad to meet you! How are the sick? Doing well, I hope!"
"Quite well, sir; but I was about to call upon you in relation to the conversation we had last evening, and--"
"Pardon me, _Monsieur le Docteur_, but I have been very busy this morning, and am now going to see Don Ignaçio on matters of importance"--here the elegant pirate took the cigar from his thin lips and held it daintily between his thumb and fore finger in the air--"and really, monsieur, I am very sorry to miss your visit. But," he added, with one of his usual smiles, "I shall be at leisure this afternoon, and in the cool of the evening we can take a stroll. What say you?"
The doctor nodded.
"Apropos, _docteur_, suppose we have a little game of _monté_ afterward at your quarters. I never permit gaming in mine, you know. The padre will not object; and I am confident our _compadre_, the Tuerto, will be delighted."
"As you please, captain," replied the medico, with a cold, indifferent air and averted face. "I will join you in the promenade, and I shall be ready to receive you in the evening."
"_Hasta huego, amigo!_" said Captain Brand, as he again stuck his cigar between his teeth, waved his hand in adieu, and walked to his boat.
"You don't love me, doctor," thought the pirate. "I don't fear you, captain," thought the doctor.
It was a touch of high art the way this notorious pirate pitched the bag of gold toward his coxswain, crying, "Catch that, Pedillo!" and then the almost girlish manner in which he pattered about the beach and held up his trowsers, so that he might not even get his slippers damp. Had that salt water been red blood, he would not have cared if his feet had been soaked in it. And then, too, the little exclamation of joy when he finally stepped into the stern-sheets, and sat down beneath the awning, while he stretched his smooth brown linen legs out on the cushions. Oh, it was certainly a touch of high piratical art!
"The old 'Centipede' is looking a little rusty after her late cruise, Pedillo!" throwing his head back to evade a curl of smoke, and casting his cold eyes like a rattle of icy hail at the coxswain. "But I am glad Pedro took your place"--puff, puff--"that knife-stab prevented you, of course"--puff--"and we shall have her all tight and trig again in a day or two."
"_Si, señor!_" said Pedillo, respectfully; "and how goes Señor Gibbs, _capitano_?"
The _capitano_ rolled his icy eyes again at the coxswain, and replied, carelessly, "Why, Pedillo, our friend Gibbs came to see me when the 'Centipede' anchored, but almost before"--puff--"he had given me an account of his unfortunate cruise he fell down in a fit. The fact is, however"--puff, puff--"that, what with hard drinking and inflammation which set in on the stump of his lost leg, he has been in a very bad way"--puff--"quite in a dangerous condition indeed, requiring all my old Babette's care and attention"--puff--"but this morning the good padre went to see him, and he told me a while ago that he left him without fever, and altogether tranquil."
Pedillo's wiry mustaches twirled of themselves.
Meanwhile the boat skimmed lightly over the basin, and as the captain ceased speaking she ran alongside of the felucca. Don Ignaçio, with his bright single eye in full burning power, and a cigarette between his wrinkled lips, was on the deck of the vessel to receive his visitor; and as he saw the coxswain follow his superior with a weighty bag under his arm, his glimmering orb became brighter, if possible--as if it was piercing through the thick canvas of the bag, and counting, ounce by ounce, the contents--and putting out his fore finger, it was grasped cordially by the white hand of Captain Brand.
"_Como se va?_ How goes it with my _compadre_? Stomach and head all clear after our long dinner of yesterday?"
The _compadre_ said that his head was particularly clear that morning, and as for his stomach he had not yet inquired; but if the _capitano_ had any doubts as to the former proposition, he had better step below and decide for himself.
In accordance with this ambiguous invitation, the visitor and commander disappeared down the small cuddy in the afterpart of the felucca, where was a low, stifling hole of a cabin, dank with stale tobacco-smoke, and smelling awfully of rats and roaches. There was a little round table in the middle, and on one side was a single berth, with some dirty bedding, which had not been cleaned, apparently, since the vessel was built. Light was shed from a skylight above.
Captain Brand gave a sniff of disgust as he entered this floating sanctum of Don Ignaçio, but, without remark, seated himself on a canvas stool, and waved a perfumed cambric kerchief before his nose.
Commander Sanchez, catching the inspiration, merely observed that it was a little close certainly, and not so spacious as the superb cabin of the schooner, and that sometimes, when lying in a calm off the lee side of Cuba, it was hot enough to melt the tail off a brass monkey; but yet it was his duty, and he did not particularly mind it.
Hereupon Captain Brand requested Don Ignaçio to produce his papers, and they were presently laid upon the table. For a few minutes the pirate was absorbed in running his cold eyes over the accounts--making pencil-notes on the margins, and comparing them with a memorandum he took from his pocket; but at last he threw himself back and exclaimed,
"_Compadre_, the account of old Moreno, at the Havana, is correct to a real--three hundred and twelve doubloons and eight hard dollars. Yours, however, has some few inaccuracies--double commissions charged here and there; all losses and sales charged to me, and all profits credited to you."
Don Ignaçio spread out the palms of both his hands toward his companion, as if to exorcise such unjust charges from the brain of his confederate.
"_O si, si, compadre!_ it is as I state, and you know it is true; but, nevertheless, a few dozens of ounces more or less makes no difference; and, to make short work, I am ready to pay. But," said Captain Brand, laying a hand on the heavy bag of money beside him, "though I am quite ready to cancel my debts in hard cash here on the spot, yet, as I am bound on a long cruise--Heaven only knows where--I would prefer to keep the gold and pay you in something else."
Don Ignaçio threw his head back and fixed his eye like a parrot on the captain, waiting to hear farther.
"What have I on hand besides gold? Well, there are a few bales of Mexican cochineal, and English broadcloths, and some cases of French silks, which you can have at a fair market value; then there is all that collection of silver table-service, which you can take by weight; and, besides, lots of rare furniture, which you may set your own price upon--altogether much more than enough to pay Moreno and you both. What say you, _compadre_? is it a bargain? or shall I carry the stuff with me, and run the chance of disposing of it on the Spanish Main?"
It was a long time before the crafty old Spaniard could make up his mind whether to receive his pay in a simple portable currency, or take more bulky matter, with the hope of making double the money by the operation. Finally, however, his greed overcame his prudence, and he accepted the last proposition, with the understanding that the articles should be transferred to the felucca the next night.
"Ah!" said Captain Brand, with another sniff of disgust, as he spat on the dirty floor of the cabin, "I am glad the affair is settled, for I wouldn't remain another hour in this filthy hole for all the money you have cheated me out of, you old rascal."
He said the last portion of this sentence to himself as he emerged from the cuddy.
"But listen, _amigo_!" he continued, as they both reached the deck. "You will give me duplicate receipts on the part of Señor Moreno, so that I can forward one to him from the next port I visit. And, by the way, suppose you come on shore this afternoon for a stroll, and in the evening we will have a little game of _monté_--eh?"
"_Cierto!_ (certainly!)" returned the commander of the felucca; when Captain Brand, with his bag of gold intact under his arm, got into his boat and was pulled to the shore.