Prince Rupert, the Buccaneer

by Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne

"No, I am a Protestant, and heed papal thunders as little as a duck fears water; but, señor, I will permit you to ransom what remains over of this consignment of indulgences on easy terms."

The Spaniard stepped forward eagerly enough, then stopped and frowned. "Señor," he said, "you are playing with me. You know me to be a ruined man."

"On the contrary," said the Prince, "you still own one small commodity, and I would buy that from you on easy terms. You have information about the pearl fisheries in this bay, which I have marked here on your chart. Tell me how they are guarded and how worked, and I will wed you once more to freedom, amigo, with the parchments as your dowry."

"You ask me to be traitor to my country."

"These good gentlemen on deck," suggested the Prince, "might offer you the alternative of having your nose and other portions of your honoured anatomy carved in slices, and lighted matches put between your fingers. It would injure my feelings sorely if I had to hand you over to their power of persuasiveness. And in the meantime, these excellent parchments from Rome, on which you seem to set so much store, are flickering away to ash. If a layman might judge, it seems to me that you are now personally responsible for their destruction."

"Señor," said the Spaniard, "your diplomacy is as invincible as your sword-arm. May you live a thousand years. I must ransom these holy writings at whatever cost." And forthwith, so soon as the Prince had bidden those on deck burn no more of the papal indulgences, the Spaniard broke into narrative and told all about the pearls and the manner of their fishing.

It appeared that the industry was then at its zenith. The fishing had gone on for years with always increasing success; but now that many towns of the Main had been raided by enemies, and Spain was still clamouring for the undiminished cargoes of treasure, a greater effort than formerly was made to wrest this wealth from the fastnesses of the sea. First and last two thousand men were toiling at the fishery. It was worked from small brigantines of ten or a dozen tons, of which there were an amazing number. Each night these brought their catch to a great storeship which lay at anchor in the bay, heavily armed. And for the protection of the armed storeship was a war-carrack, full of arms and men always on guard, together with two armed galleys of fifty oars apiece.

The Spaniard said it was the easiest way imaginable of gathering wealth, the only difficulty being a shortness in the supply of the Guinea blackmen who were used for the diving. These, it seemed, through being forced by their masters to remain under water for twenty minutes at a stretch, deteriorated in strength, and indeed with frequency would most exasperatingly die. There was no relying (said the Spaniard) on the blackamoors to be useful servants, and this was the greater pity because no other substitute could be used, since the sharks which abound in these latitudes attack white men or the native Indians when swimming in the water, but avoid the blacks by reason of their pungent smell.

Much more too upon this matter the fellow told, because having once (as he termed it) done treachery to his country, it mattered little whether the treachery was big or small; but it was plain to see that there was a method in his telling. He admitted that the pearls were there, which of course Prince Rupert had learned already; he spoke upon the methods of fishing, which carried with them a certain pleasant interest; but he was unmistakable in his painting of the care with which they were guarded.

"They know, señor," quoth he, "that your Excellencies, the Brethren of the Coast, would be only too happy to make a transference of these precious gleanings, and they are quite prepared to defend them to the uttermost. The storeship and the guardship are both mighty vessels, and crammed with men. The bay is land-locked and smooth, and they lie there to their anchors, with guns run out and loaded, with boarding nettings triced up to the yard-arms, hand-grenades ranged ready, and close-quarters all set up convenient for a fight. They are fine ships both, with lofty forecastles and aftercastles. Their crews are picked men, and constantly exercised with their weapons. They are in sooth, señor, floating fortresses, and nothing but an armada could reduce them."