You may be sure that we were anxious enough to get away from these mad revellers, who, after the foolish fashion of too many sailors, both abroad and at home, were spending, in a few hours or days of insane debauchery, the money which they had risked their lives for months to obtain. At first, they were not willing to let us go, insisting that since we had paid for the additional keg of wine, we should bide the drinking of it out; but upon our telling them that we were busily engaged in fitting out a privateer, and that the Blue Peter would speedily be hoisted at the fore, they consented to let us depart—first drinking success to our cruise in great bumpers, with cheering and firing of pistols, and almost every man shouting out some advice, as to whither we ought to proceed. Here was one bawling out in favour of the Mosquito Coast; and there another screaming that most booty would be found to the eastward of the Gulf of Venezuela. At length, we got free, and devoted ourselves for some days to preparing the schooner, internally, for the accommodation of a larger crew than she had ever before carried.
There was no lack of hands, for Captain Jem was known as a commander, and as soon as we hoisted the Blue Peter, seamen came off in great numbers and applied to ship with us. Captain Jem personally examined all claimants, and when they passed his scrutiny successfully, it was for those who already formed the crew to receive or reject them. In this way, in a couple of days we were well manned by thirty-six stout seamen, including our original party. Except two Frenchmen and one Dutchman, all the new part of the crew was English. Our boatswain was a short, square-shouldered, powerful man, who had once commanded a ship, and was a good West-Indian pilot. His name was John Clink. We had also a good carpenter, and what was of almost as great importance, a surgeon, esteemed very skilful, a young Scotsman, like myself, bred in the University of Glasgow, and very eager in prosecuting researches into the natural history and productions of the teeming islands and continents of the West. The surgeon’s name was Wood. Meantime, Old Pratt had come on board, and after inspecting the schooner, presently sent four guns, with a great quantity of ammunition, and near sixty stand of musketry, with boarding-pikes, cutlasses, and hangers in proportion. We also carried a great boat which took up almost all the space between the masts, and we slightly altered the rigging of the schooner, setting up square foretopsails and foresails, so as to make her handier going before the wind. Our victualling being now completed, and all things ready for sea, we had, as is usual among Buccaneers, a general meeting of the crew to determine and sign articles. A paper of indenture was drawn up by Mr. Pratt, and to it we all affixed our names, or our marks. First, the indenture stipulated that the terms upon which the voyage was to be undertaken, were ‘no prey, no pay.’ Then it was provided, that all the booty obtained, of whatsoever nature, should be flung into one general stock, nobody whatsoever keeping anything back for himself, but acting fairly and honourably to his comrades; out of this common fund all were to be paid in due proportion, considering their station on board, or their share in the venture. First came the proprietors of the ship, who were three—being Le Picard, Nicky, and myself, for they did not count the Indian. A certain proportion was awarded to us, in the capacity which I have mentioned, and another proportion to Mr. Pratt, calculated by the value of the sea-stock, &c., wherewith he had supplied us. Then the salaries of the captain, the quartermaster, the boatswain, the carpenter, and the surgeon were fixed, and certain sums were determined upon, to be given in compensation for the different species of wounds which we might receive. These compensations were upon the following scale, and they applied alike to all the ship’s company. The loss of a right arm, six hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves; of a left arm, five hundred pieces, or five slaves; for a right leg the same; for a left leg, four hundred pieces of eight, or four slaves; for an eye one hundred pieces of eight, or one slave; and for a finger the like sum. As for the proportion of pay, the captain had as much as five ordinary seamen, and the quartermaster, or master’s mate, which was my station, that of two. The rest of the crew shared equally, and two boys whom we had on board drew the pay of one able-bodied man. Furthermore, it was stipulated, that each mariner, without any distinction of rank, should be daily entitled to two full meals of the ship’s stores, besides what game or fresh meat we might fall in with, and the indenture concluded by reciting that all those who signed it by name or mark, did thereby take a solemn oath, not to hide or conceal from their comrades the slightest article of value which they might become possessed of, but to fling all, without let or drawback, into the common fund. This document was committed to the care of Mr. Pratt, and a copy made by one of his clerks, which was deposited in the main cabin, and of free access to all. It was then proclaimed that next morning, on the setting in of the sea-breeze, which, on the southern side of the island, is favourable for leaving the coast, we would weigh anchor and stand off upon our voyage—so all was bustle and hurry—the schooner being surrounded by fleets of canoes, selling vegetables, fruit, and such wares, to be added to the sea stock of all who were minded to purchase them.
CHAPTER XII.
OF THE DEATH OF AN OLD FRIEND.
About sunset, Captain Jem came up to me, and inquired whether I had any final business to settle ashore, in which case he could spare me a couple of hours, but no more. I replied, that I had no reason for quitting the vessel, when all at once, the thought of my preserver on board the French felucca, Wright, flashed upon me. I remembered how he had told me, that he lived in Jamaica, at Port Royal in all probability, and I reproached myself for not having before thought of inquiring after him. So I proceeded on shore at once, and went straight to Mr. Pratt’s, who I imagined would be likely to give me the information of which I stood in need. Nor was I disappointed. Mr. Pratt, indeed, knew no person of the name of Wright, but he had frequently seen the man to whom my description must apply, and whose real name was Blagrove. ‘He lives,’ said Mr. Pratt, ‘in great retirement, dwelling in a small hut on the outskirts of the town, and cultivating, with two or three negroes, such a small plantation, as suffices to supply him with the necessaries of life.’
Mr. Pratt then, at my request, called a negro lad, and ordered him to be my guide to Blagrove’s dwelling; adding, however, that the old Cromwellian lived in such solitude, and hated the faces of strangers so cordially, that he doubted whether I should be admitted. Determined, however, to make the experiment, I set off, the negro preceding me with a lantern. After clearing the town we had a rough and rugged walk, through trees and plantations, and deep Guinea grass, already drenched with dew. Fire-flies sparkled in every bush, and the hum of innumerable insects, and the harsh croaking of frogs in the swamps and ditches, made a melancholy music. At length we descried a distant light gleaming amid trees; at the sight of it, the negro stopped, and pointing, said, ‘Dat Massa Blagrove’s house!’ at the same time making as though he would return.
‘Well,’ said I, ‘do you not intend to come on and light me to the door?’
The negro suddenly fell upon his knees. ‘Oh, Massa, please not insist; let Juba go back, now. Massa Blagrove terrible man, Obeah man, no like oder white buccra; live all alone by himself, wid Fetish. Oh, most great heaps of Fetish.’
Now, at this time I did not understand the negro at all. I knew not what he meant by Obeah or Fetish, but I afterwards found that the gloomy life and austere manners of the old Republican, had caused the negroes to believe that he was a sorcerer, or being of supernatural powers, and that they dreaded above all things being obliged to enter his grounds after dark. Seeing Mr. Pratt’s negro, however, in a state of visible terror, at the idea of proceeding further, but having no time to stay to investigate the cause, I took the lantern from his hand, and told him to remain where he was until I came back. This he promised to do, but I had hardly advanced two paces, when I heard him scampering away through the rustling grass as fast as his legs could carry him. I called after the fugitive, but he gave no reply, so after muttering a curse upon his cowardice, I consoled myself by the reflection that he would be likely to get a sound flogging from Mr. Pratt for returning without the lantern, and then slowly advanced towards the light, which yet glimmered through the trees. I was not long in ascertaining that it shone from the rude window of a wattled hut, over which the branches of a great tree waved and rustled in the land wind. Having found the door, I knocked repeatedly, but received no reply, and as I stood listening, I thought I heard the sound of smothered moans. Thereupon I lifted the latch—the door was not otherwise secured—and entered. The cottage consisted of but one room, very rudely furnished. Hoes and spades, and such like implements, lay in the corners. There was a massive oaken table in the centre of the room, and at one end of it stood the candle, whose light I had seen from without. Hanging from the roof, close to the table, was a sort of rude curtain of canvas, which screened off a portion of the chamber, and from behind this curtain I heard the moaning come again: after hesitating for a moment I stepped forward and removed the drapery. Upon a low bed, without any curtains, his head and chest supported by a bag, such as that in which seamen keep their clothes, lay Wright, or Blagrove—now, alas, a dying man. He was terribly wasted, as though by fever or ague; his grey eyes so sunken that they seemed to gleam from the bottom of dark holes, and his features were shrunk and distorted, for the fingers of Death were pressing them. The sick man took no notice of me, so that I could mark a large Bible in which he seemed to have been reading, and which had fallen from his pithless hand upon the bed.
‘Mr. Wright,’ I said. He replied not a word.