“We all assured Kidd that it was foolish to think of such things—that conscience was only a form of fear—that no stains were as fleeting as those upon gold, and that there was no odor in the world that could cling to it, not even that of sanctity.
“IN THE MIDST OF THAT WEB OF BELIAL WAS A CHRISTIAN SPIRE”
“For years we helped Kidd guard his idle capital. All sorts of men came after it. Several times Kinisi and Kidd visualized when the wrong people were getting too close to the big iron chests. They could of course only do this at night. In the day time all we could do was to keep the dirt falling back into the hole until it became dark. Teach wanted to let the diggers get the hole well opened and then tumble them in and cover them up, the way he used to do when he had somebody help him dig a treasure hole. He always shot the digger and left him in there with the chest so as to insure future secrecy. Many business secrets are made safe now on the same principle but the method is more indirect.
“The years rolled on and there were many changes on the lower end of the island. Clusters of robber baron towers projected into the sky. The narrow streets became deep canyons through which ran streams of gold, and among them were congregated the mad hordes of avarice, including some of the most expert malefactors in the world.
“At the head of the principal canyon the tall steeple of Trinity Church stood like a monolith to the memory of Christianity, for in the midst of that web of Belial was a Christian spire. The money changers had engulfed the temple and its mission had become a mockery.
“We met many interesting spirits in the church yard. Countless suicide shades flocked to the island from all over the country, for it was here that the tentacles of the octopi centered that had felled them. In life they had been tortured, crushed and driven to despair by organized rapacity and chicanery. Feeble salutes from among the sunken timbers of long lost galleons may greet these gray files as they drift away into time’s obscurities.
“We kept our little party well together and we had to be somewhat exclusive. There were many lady shades. They seemed fascinated with Teach and floated after him wherever he went. He had a peculiarly devilish and swashbuckling air about him, and a subtle suggestion of original sin that lured them on.
“The shade of an old money shark, who used to burn his warehouses and send out rotten ships to stormy seas for the insurance, and who had once sold his grandmother to a medical college, kindly offered us the hospitality of his crypt during the day time, provided we would agree that it would in some way benefit him later. He complained that just before he was translated he had been ‘trimmed’ and ‘ironed out,’ as he expressed it. Some skunks had high financed him and had filched practically all his gold by what he considered ‘dishonorable methods.’ We extended our heartfelt sympathy and moved in.
“At night we usually congregated in the belfry of Trinity, or down the street in the sub-treasury. We enjoyed being there, and Red Beard and Teach liked to float through the small crevices and air pipes into the big steel vaults and fondle the gold. The vast piles of bonds and paper money did not seem to interest them.