BIMBO
My king? I know but one king.
ROBERT
Aye! That’s Satan!
BIMBO
Satan? Now, hark ye, mate! I’ll not have Satan mentioned lightly aboard my ship. I’ll have no blasphemy here.
(He claps his hands, and a member of the pirate crew enters quickly in response. This is a burly man of dismaying aspect; his hair is like the mop of an Australian bushman; he wears a shirt of gaudy calico, dirty red cotton pantaloons, loose and long, fringed with gold above his bare ankles, and he is so swarthy that he might be thought a Negro. His face is a map of ancient scars; he wears a long black beard, forked and done into two braids tied with orange ribbon, and in his sash are two long-handled tomahawks.
Bimbo makes a gesture to the cupboard; the Man with the Braided Beard at once fetches from there a decanter and a silver goblet upon a tray. He places these before Bimbo and then joins the Deaf-and-Dumb Man, where both glare fixedly at Robert and Lydia, who have intently watched the fetching of the liquor.)
BIMBO (pouring from the decanter, speaks sternly)
Now, mark me. I don’t take this dram for pleasure. (He drinks; then looks at them severely.) Do you suspect me of it?
ROBERT (boldly)
No. You drink to get you in the mood for horrid deeds.
BIMBO (angrily)
I drink because I’m cold inside. Where is that fellow?
THE GUNNER (outside)
Coming, your honor; I’m here, sir.
(He enters, bringing by the arm an elderly and portly man dressed in good gray cloth, with fine lace and gold buttons and buckles. His grizzled wig is well curled round a large face, rosy with agitation. At sight of him Lydia springs to her feet.)
LYDIA
Father! (She runs to him and throws her arms about him.) Oh, poor Father!
(She clings to him, sobbing.)
BIMBO (impatiently)
Enough o’ that, now! Ha’ done!
DRISCOLL (glaring at him over Lydia’s shoulder)
Wretch! Horrid and bloody wretch!
(The Gunner and the Pirate with the Braided Beard growl fiercely and start toward him.)