Death of a Pirate, 271 



cap full of water, nearly the^ whole of which I managed 

 to introduce into his parched mouth, and begged him, for 

 the sake of his future peace, to disclose his history to me. 

 * It is impossible,' said he, * there will not be time, the 

 beatings of my heart tell me so j long before day, these 

 sinewy limbs will be motionless ; nay, there will hardly be 

 a drop of blood in my body, and that blood will only 

 serve to make tlie grass grow. My wounds are mortal, 

 and I must and will die without what you call confession.' 

 The moon rose in the east. The majesty of her placid 

 beauty impressed me with reverence. I pointed towards 

 her, and asked the Pirate if he could not recognize God's 

 features there. ' Friend, I see what you are driving at,' 

 was his answer, * you, like the rest of our enemies, feel 

 the desire of murdering us all — well— ^be it so — to die is 

 after all nothing more than a jest ; and were it not for the 

 pain, no one, in my opinion, need care a jot about it. 

 But as you really have befriended me, I will tell you all 

 that is proper.* 



" Hoping his mind might take a useful turn, I again 

 bathed his temples and washed his lips with spirits. His 

 sunk eyes seemed to dart fire at mine, a heavy and deep 

 sigh swelled his chest and struggled through his blood- 

 choked throat, and he asked me to raise him a little. I 

 did so, when he addressed me somewhat as follows, for, 

 as I have told you, his speech was a mixture of Spanish, 

 French and English, forming a jargon the like of which 

 I had never heard before, and which I am utterly unable 

 to imitate. However, I shall give you the substance of 

 his declaration. 



" * First tell me how many bodies you found in the 

 boat, and what sort of dresses they had on.' I mention- 

 ed their number and described their apparel. * That's 

 right,' said he, ' they are the bodies of the scoundrels who 

 followed me in that infernal Yankee Barge. Bold rascals 



