Pirates 69 



pic of the fate of all who attempted to interfere 

 with their royal sport. Putting the small boy 

 where he would have to witness the execution, 

 they proceeded to once more arrange the young 

 Woodpeckers on the drop, this time successfully 

 pulled from beneath them. They swung by their 

 necks, but it was found that their weight was not 

 sufficient to even strangle them to death, much 

 less break their necks. Captain Shanty Pete was 

 equal to the occasion; the "little Eatons" were 

 ordered to get five stones, each bigger than the 

 body of the captive to whose feet one was to be 

 attached, then the hanging might proceed after 

 the fine model set by the great Captain Ludlow. 

 If the small boy was really afraid of being hung, 

 he could never afterward tell for certain, for 

 like the "Tar Baby," he was saying nothing, but 

 was alert and watchful as no "Tar Baby" ever 

 was. Possibly it was on account of being so 

 much closer to the earth than the rest that he was 

 the first to hear the approaching footsteps of his 

 deliverers. 



Ben Burroughs and Ira Smith, two youths ap- 

 proaching what Lowell calls "the awful verge of 

 manhood," strolling along the lake, by the merest 

 accident, flanked the pirates and captured their 

 captain and hangman, before those worthies 

 knew their danger. Shanty Peter fairly roared 

 for mercy and prayed for clear weather beneath 



