"Ay, there was a good deal to be said for Prince Rupert," answered Astbury, judicially—"a good deal. He were a proper man—a very proper man, and valiant. But, caramba, we had no luck! Luck don't run in his family, folks say. We overhauled a many good ships, and many a pretty bout of fighting we had; and when we went ashore, well, there wasn't any of old Noll's provost marshals after us. But for all the ships we took, we didn't seem to get no richer; so being a prudent man, I thought the time had come to shift for myself, and I slipped off one fine morning without troubling nobody. And there I found my luck! Those islands in the Caribee Sea are a very paradise, and no mistake! And all around there and down the Mosquito Coast the Indians are very good folk, and civil. And plenty to eat there—turtle and wild pigs, and pineapples and bananas, and more fruits than I can count; and drink too—wines very curious and hearty, made both of grapes and pineapples. And if we got tired of swinging in a hammock, and eating of fruit and smoking tobacco, why there was a many jolly fellows ready to whip into a little sloop we had handy, and off to—to—to spoil the papishers. There is a many papishers in those seas, sir—black idolaters all on 'em."
"Spaniards?" asked Dick, idly, amused by the ne'er-do-well's yarn.
"I reckon they were mostly Spaniards, or Portugees, or some such sort of outlandish cattle; but soon we got so as it wasn't only ships we made prize of. Why, I could talk all night if I was to start in telling you of all the brave sport we had! One time, I mind, we landed, there was a town, Santa Ysabel they called it, as it might be here"—arranging a tankard at the corner of the table—"with a good high road leading up to it from the sea, as it might be my tobacco pipe"—laying it down with care; "and if you'll believe me, sir, we took and run races, as it might be along my tobacco pipe, and as soon as them Spaniards was 'ware of our coming, they took and ran out by 'tother gate, and left the town empty! There was seven churches all chock full of gold and silver idols and candle-sticks, and such like: 'twas just who'd fill his pockets fastest!"
"But how is it you left such a prosperous life?" interrupted Dick, who had some recollection of Astbury's powers of imagination.
"Ay, indeed! There it was that luck was against me. Shipwrecked we was, me and four others, on a little sandy key, where there was nought to eat or drink, and the rest, they died, and a Bristol ship come along and took me off, and I wish I was back again!"
Half idly, Richard asked more questions and grew interested in the man's tales, for the fellow's varied experiences had given him a sort of shrewd cunning, which in a higher walk of life might have been almost worthy the name of diplomacy, and he knew how to fit his tale to his audience. It was obvious that he was nothing better than a pirate, but he managed to gloss over the barbarities of the life so well, and to dwell on its picturesque and adventurous side so successfully, that Dick began insensibly to soften in his judgment of the wanderer. As the night wore on, Astbury's description of a buccanneer's life grew more and more glowing; he exercised a good deal of rude art in his pictures of the career that awaited a gentleman of spirit among the keys of the Carribean Sea, and at last he burst out—
"Now, Measter Dick, I don't ask no questions, but seems to me pretty plain your luck's not of the best. Why don't you shout Westward Ho! and come along o' me? I know many a roaring blade that would be proud to ship under such a captain as you'd make!" Then leaning forward, he continued in a solemn whisper, "What though I seem no better than a beggar—cavado, cleaned out, as the Spaniards say—if I could but get a loan of as much as would carry me across sea, I'd be a rich man again. I have a nice little pot buried in a safe place on a certain key; I've got a map here"—and he thumped his broad chest—"here, sewed in the lining of my coat, and the place marked with a cross; and I tell you, sir, there's enough gold in that pot to fit out the snuggest little pinnace any man need want to see. Now, don't say nay in a hurry, sir, but turn it over abit. Why, I mind how the Major—General I should say—would be for ever talking of commonwealth. Why, you could make a commonwealth to any pattern you please on that Mosquito Coast, and learn all the Indians to be saints!" He chuckled. "Why, you might be a regular king among them, sir, like Solomon in his glory, sitting there in golden jewels among apes and peacocks, leastways currasows, and as many queens as you please." Harrison frowned. "Ask your pardon, sir; my tongue runs away with me sometimes, and thinking of Solomon made me say it, and 'tis all in the Bible, sir, now isn't it? But to go back to what I was a saying, you know well, sir, as no one would follow a chap like me as captain, but if we could get a real gentleman, and one used to command to lead us—why, hang me, sir, if we wouldn't be masters of St. Jago de Cuba before many months were out!"
It was all impossible, preposterous; yet the wild tales of the pirate began to exercise a curious fascination over Dick.
"What good do you gain by stopping here?" urged Astbury. "What did the Major gain by all his fighting and praying? Nothing but the gallows! Now, for me! I've been near the gallows a good few times, but I bean't hanged yet, and I've had a merry life of it; and I've got that pot of gold I told you of. Strike hands and join me, sir! What have you got to look for here, if you'd excuse me, but to hang like Major Harrison?"
Strange, that this ignorant man should once and again put his finger on the vulnerable spot in Dick's armour.