Pirates 67 



of shallow notches in the uprights. An old jacket 

 at the foot of a big white oak nearby held the 

 prisoners. Stub Miner, burlesquing English 

 Bone, though he knew it not, now proceeded to 

 place each captive in place and adjust the noose. 

 Merciful heavens ! They were five young Golden 

 Woodpeckers nearly grown and as innocent and 

 helpless as any other babies. They were clearly 

 not at all afraid and clung to the fatal drop with 

 wonderment in their bright eyes and one of 

 them actually opened its mouth to be fed. Now 

 or never if this slaughter of the innocent was 

 not to take place interference must come from 

 some quarter and it so happened that a certain 

 small boy, hidden behind a nearby cedar and 

 fascinated by the horror of what had been going 

 on before his eyes, was selected as the puny agent 

 of that mysterious something that we call Provi- 

 dence. 



When Shakespeare wrote of mercy as a uni- 

 versal quality that "droppeth as the gentle rain 

 from heaven upon the place beneath," he should 

 have made an exception of that flinty part of a 

 pirate's anatomy, generally called a heart; for 

 all pirates, especially little ones, know nothing 

 of such softening influences. Intuitively, the 

 small boy knew full well that any plea for mercy 

 would not only be denied but would add zest to 

 the gang's orgy of cruelty. Stub Miner, as Eng- 



